John McCain's own ACORN connection

McCain's campaign has been attacking Barack Obama for his ties to the organization, but in 2006 the Republican attended an ACORN-sponsored event.

Published October 13, 2008 8:15PM (EDT)

ACORN seems unhappy in its new role as a villain, cast by John McCain's campaign and others on the right as being part of a constellation of shadowy leftists behind Barack Obama’s throne.

Maybe the McCain camp's call for an investigation of ties between the group and the Obama campaign was the last straw, because on Monday ACORN started reminding people that as recently as March 2006 McCain himself appeared at an event the group sponsored. At the time, the Republican nominee was still campaigning for the immigration reform deal that nearly killed his presidential hopes.

Michelle Malkin -- who is, unsurprisingly, angry about the connection -- has a press release promoting the event, while Politico's Ben Smith has a photo of McCain smiling at a room full of ACORN volunteers (visible, Smith says, in other pictures), with a statement by the group’s chief organizer:

It has deeply saddened us to see Senator McCain abandon his historic support for ACORN and our efforts to support the goals of low-income Americans.

We are sure that the extremists he is trying to get into a froth will be even more excited to learn that John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with ACORN, at an ACORN co-sponsored event, to promote immigration reform.


By Gabriel Winant

Gabriel Winant is a graduate student in American history at Yale.

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2008 Elections John Mccain R-ariz.