To ACORN or not to ACORN; that's the question.

When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education.

Senator Obama stated, "I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.”


During last night's final presidential debate, this was Obama's response to John McCain's questioning of Obama's involvement with ACORN: "Now, with respect to ACORN, ACORN is a community organization. Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names. It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved. The only involvement I've had with ACORN was I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs. "

So did Obama work with ACORN just on the motor voter law OR has he been "fighting alongside ACORN on issues you (speaking to assembled ACORN representatives) care about my entire career"? Certainly these quotes contradict each other, leading one to question the depth of Obama's involvement with ACORN. No?