John McCain’s sputtering attempt to interject ACORN into the debate this week likely left anyone who didn’t know the issue confused as to who was doing what, and how it was “perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” In “Nuts to ACORN,” Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick illustrates how the victim in the specific instance McCain refers to is ACORN, and explains how, in effect, voter fraud is a myth kept alive “to undermine voter confidence in the elections system as a whole,” Lithwick writes.

Each time they spread the word that Democrats (especially poor and minority Democrats) are poised to steal an election, John McCain and his overheated friends deliberately undermine voter confidence. That is the point. It encourages citizens to accede to ever-harsher voter-verification laws—even if they are not needed. It musters support for voter purges that are increasingly draconian. Insist often enough that the other side is cheating, and you may even encourage partisans to take matters into their own hands, leading to the worst forms of polling-place vigilantism—from a cross burning in Louisiana on the eve of a 2006 mayoral election to the hiring of intimidating partisan “poll watchers” to volunteer at inner-city polling places. When McCain goes after ACORN, he’s really just asking you to join him in believing that the system is broken. And if you choose to overheat along with McCain, the Supreme Court promises to sign off on any measure that might calm you down later. John McCain might want to be a little more careful about accusing Obama, ACORN, or anyone else, of “destroying the fabric of democracy.” In so doing, he’s either deliberately or unconsciously encouraging his own supporters to grab a handful of the stuff and start ripping.