Just a Bunch of Squirrels Trying to Get a Nut in this World

I'd say I don't even understand this kind of thing, but actually, I'm kind of afraid I do:

WASHINGTON -- A new short-term budget bill introduced on Monday by House Republicans includes a bizarre provision banning federal funding to anti-poverty group ACORN, despite the fact that the group has already been stripped of federal funding -- and has been defunct for nearly three years. 

ACORN leaders announced that the group was disbanding in March 2010, after Congress cut off all federal funding to the organization. The provision in the current GOP budget bill [PDF], buried on page 221 of 269, would duplicate legislation that has already passed, to target an organization that does not exist. 

ACORN, also known as the Alliance of Community Organizations for Reform Now, came under heavy fire in the fall of 2009 after conservative provocateur James O'Keefe released a set of selectively edited videos that appeared to show employees of the organization offering advice on tax avoidance related to prostitution and child smuggling. Independent investigations by the California attorney general, the Massachusetts attorney general and the Brooklyn, N.Y. district attorney would later clear ACORN of criminal wrongdoing, and an investigation by the Government Accountability Office would clear ACORN of charges that it mishandled federal funds.

So, in actual "reality-reality", ACORN was defunded and disbanded three years ago due to a pretty much now-mostly-discredited (I hope!) RW faux journalist who smeared them all over the place. In the mainstream (because these are elected officials, mind you) Republican bubble reality, ACORN is still an ever-present threat that is probably registering legions of zombies to vote in the 2014 mid-term elections even as we speak.

Part of this probably has an awful lot to do with the trust that conservatives still seem to place in what is a genuinely dreadful and dishonest media echo-chamber.  After all, in a world where Jim Hoft, Dumbest Man on the Internet, is going to be awarded for his efforts by a group called "Accuracy in Media" (he was also linked recently at the still-(conservatively-speaking)-relevant Drudge Report, the website that parties like it's 1999), you can't lose by appealing to the batshit. And no matter how many times you're debunked, your bunk will still have currency in some circles.

But I also think it's about an almost magical need to "repeat often" in order to banish the evil spirits of liberalism. Every now and again, resolutions need to be made to ensure that abortions aren't federally funded (though they aren't except in cases of rape and incest) or to ban gay marriage (no matter how many times it's been resolved, previously) to make damn sure people remember that, while your GOP elected representative might not seem to be doing anything for you in the way of making sure your government works well, or at all, they will reinforce the bejesus out of your biases until the cows come home.

I'm not sure why their base is heartened by these things, but, hell. Maybe they are.

(X-Posted at Rumproast. )