Mighty Scandals From Little ACORNs Grow

The New York Times has this disheartening story today:

"The Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay the community group Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing money to the group.

The department’s conclusion, laid out in a recently disclosed five-page memorandum from David Barron, the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, adds a new wrinkle to a sharp political debate over the antipoverty group’s activities and recent efforts to distance the government from it.

Citing dictionary and thesaurus entries, [Mr. Barron] said “provided to” could be interpreted as meaning only instances in which an official was making “discretionary choices” about whether to give the group money, rather than instances in which the transfer of money to Acorn was required to satisfy contractual obligations.

Since there are two possible ways to construe the term “provided to,” Mr. Barron wrote, it makes sense to pick the interpretation that allows the government to avoid breaching contracts."

So, forget about the damage already done to our electoral and political system.  And forget about what ACORN's continued  presence in the public eye means for the Democratic party.  And the public be damned.  ACORN will still get taxpayer money.  What a fraud this Department of Justice is.  Eric Holder makes me long for the days of Alberto Gonzales.