Sen. Sherrod Brown: When Republicans Have Nothing To Say, They Invoke ACORN

Last April, President Obama nominated Craig Becker, a highly-qualified labor lawyer, for a five-year term on the National Labor Relations Board.  For almost ten months, the confirmation was held up in the Senate. Earlier today, however, the Senate voted against invoking cloture and once again, blocked one of President Obama's most important nominees.

The concerted effort against Becker was led by industry-backed anti-union groups, including Rick Berman's Center for Union Facts and the Workplace Fairness Institute, and their campaign attempted to portray Becker as a radical.  Not missing a step, ACORN, one of the nation's largest community organizations, was routinely invoked in defeating Becker.  Republicans and two conservative Democrats ultimately voted against culture, but not before some of them also attacked Becker using guilt by association.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) chastised his colleagues for needlessly bringing up ACORN in the discussion of Becker.  As he put it, when Republicans can't come up with anything to say, they invoke ACORN.  

Brown: They brought up ACORN.  You know when Republicans are...when they can't think of anything else to say, when they can't think of any arguments that really work, they throw in ACORN.  Well, he knew somebody at ACORN or he must have had something to do with ACORN.  If no arguments work, its time to trot ACORN out and tie Craig Becker right to ACORN, whatever ACORN is.  And it's just...It would be amusing if they didn't use time after time after time.  He must be a bad nominee because he worked with somebody from ACORN.  Or he worked with someone from the Service Employees International Union or he worked with Governor Blagojevich in Illinois.  That's the kind of guilt by association that I thought this institution stopped doing 55 years ago when Joe McCarthy was censured, that we weren't going to continue to use guilt by association.