Well, at least the New York Times is acknowledging something is going on. The title is “Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn, Favored Foe.” And while they try to end on a high note for ACORN — it’s all partisan — in the last sentence, it’s actually fairly critical:

Mike Gonzalez, vice president for communications at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the episodes simply reflected a Web-based democratization of investigative reporting, made necessary in part by the failures of the mainstream news media. “It should have been ‘60 Minutes’ doing this stuff — not two people whose combined ages are 45,” Mr. Gonzalez said.
Acorn describes itself as the nation’s largest grass-roots community organizing group, claiming 400,000 low- and moderate-income families as members. Founded in Arkansas in 1970, it has worked in recent years for higher minimum wages, more affordable housing and increased voter registration.
It was Acorn’s election activities that drew opponents’ attention last year, including registration cards filled out by Acorn workers in the name of Mickey Mouse and other imaginary voters. Republicans highlighted the fact that the Obama campaign had paid more than $800,000 to an Acorn affiliate for get-out-the-vote efforts.