ACORN's Founder Blasts GOP Attacks

The founder of ACORN says the conservative portrayal of the group as a "criminal enterprise" is a “complete fabrication." Claims that the group systematically misuses federal funds for political purposes are being circulated as fact on TV talk shows and blogs, Wade Rathke tells the Washington Post. "It's balderdash on top of poppycock. It is a tactic they are trying to aggressively use to attack Obama.”

Rathke, who left the group after failing to disclose that his brother embezzled from it, said the "sneak films" that recently embarrassed the group are "too painful" for him to watch, and he said any employees that violated the "do-right" rule should be fired. He faulted Republican-led investigations of his group as biased and "part of the neo-McCarthyism that's going on this country right now." (More ACORN stories.)