"Progressives who remained silent while the nation's largest low income African American community organization was under attack also should re-think their lack of support. Did anyone think that if the right-wingers took down Van Jones and ACORN they would stop there?"

they haven't, now they're hacking university email correspondence.

it all boils down to the malice and ruthlessness of conservatives and the cowardice and perfidy of liberals. the former would do anything to rid itself of an organization that worked so effectively against its agenda. the latter decided it had to quickly disassociate itself from a political embarrassment before it became a damaging liability. the modern political jargon for it is "throwing them under the bus".

it's pretty clear the entire sting operation was a setup. a staged, edited, out-of-context recording of a cynical, street-smart black political operative counseling a white boy and girl trying to pass themselves off as street hustlers. how can anyone take that scenario seriously?

did something potentially disgraceful occur during that interview? i don't deny it. the acorn official should have been investigated and, if found guilty, prosecuted. it seems very convenient, but not too surprising, that that never happened. but did that snippet of film justify a blanket condemnation of the entire organization? of course not. the court acted rightly.