In 1986, just before a crucial debate in campaign, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by Democrats. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that the bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. Critics, including other Republican operatives, suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race.With that image fresh in our minds, let us return to Weinergate.
Where ya going...? Get back here! This is important. And very relevant, as I shall demonstrate.
No, it's not a dead issue. Believe it or not, there are people behind the scenes who are still investigating the Weiner affair.
Actually, it's primarily the right-wingers who won't let the story go -- they've been milking every last drop of juice out of this scandal for over a month now. Odd behavior, that. I mean, we all had fun with the Mark Foley scandal but nearly everyone on the left stopped writing about it when he quit. (Frankly, I'm sorry he left politics.)
That said: In the case of Weinergate, a continued interest is justified, if only because of the gnawing, lingering suspicion that the full tale has yet to be told. The "Betty and Veronica" imposture and the antics of the anti-Weiner bornfreecrew indicate that, in the run-up to May 27, matters ran much deeper than most believe.
It's not just the righties who won't let it go. A handful of people with liberal-ish sympathies are also looking into this -- quietly. I'm not really one of these people, although I do get the occasional crumb of information. Intriguing as those crumbs are, some other writer will (probably) be the first to reveal the details of that investigative trail. Some people who once scoffed at my insistence that Weiner (despite his confession) really was hacked on May 27 are reconsidering their scoffs.
For now, let's talk about the topics of infiltration, sockpuppets and personas. All of these concepts come under the general heading of "perception management." Or, if you prefer: Manipulation.
The topic of infiltration came to the fore during the height of Weiner madness.
You may recall the appearance of that mysterious visitor from Norway whom I call the mighty Seixon. He created an entire website overnight just to debunk this site.
His real name appears to be George Gooding; Seixon is the nickname he adopted during his earlier forays through prog-land. He remains somewhat mysterious. We know that he's young. He says that he is an American living in Oslo.
His shtick is to pose as a big-D Democrat, a liberal, and even (in his most recent incarnation) as a socialist, or at least as someone who is socialist-tolerant. Yet all of his writings defend controversial Republican talking points.
For example, he published a piece in the National Review claiming that Valerie Plame/Wilson was the central figure in a CIA conspiracy against George W. Bush. He also published a piece claiming that Iraq really did have weapons of mass destruction. At the time he published, the Bush administration itself had backed down from that assertion.
All of Gooding's twitter associates skew far right: Michelle Malkin, the FOX News crew, and so forth. Nevertheless, he insists that he's a liberal. And he'll be very insulted if you suggest otherwise.
Seixon once caused quite a stir on the Think Progress site. At some point in 2006, he got into a huge tiff with Jason Leopold, the controversial left-wing reporter who now works for Truthout. The details are a bit hard to reconstruct, because so many relevant pages have been removed from the web. (I caught only a glimpse of that stuff at the time; for the most part, it was outside my field of interest.) It does appear, however, that Seixon accused Leopold of "sock-puppetry" and email forgery.
He also said that someone left a death threat on his telephone. Seixon fingered Leopold as the culprit.
Do these accusations have any validity? I don't know. I've never communicated with Leopold, and I have had mixed reactions to his work. Think Progress has scrubbed its pages free of all reference to Seixon, apparently because he made it his business to annoy everyone on that site.
As you try to gauge whether Jason Leopold did or did not leave such a stupid threat, you may want to recall the image with which we began:
Karl Rove bugged his own office to gain sympathy and blacken his opponent.
Speaking of sock-puppetry: Immediately after Seixon had created an entire website to debunk me, dozens of comments showed up in my inbox to screech a single message: Neener neener neener! George Gooding has debunked you!
Odd, isn't it, how all those guys just happened to discover Seixon's outta-nowhere site about three seconds after it was born? It wasn't even listed on Google yet!
In the past, we've discussed persona management software, which political operators use to create a bandwagon effect on websites. I believe that Axelrod used such software to whip up pro-Obama fanaticism back in 2008. Our previous post on this topic quotes from this Raw Story piece:
Revealed: Air Force ordered software to manage army of fake virtual people
As the text explains, the software would require licenses for 50 users with 10 personas each, for a total of 500. These personas would have to be "replete with background , history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographacilly consistent."
Though many questions remain about how the military would apply such technology, the reasonable fear should be perfectly clear. "Persona management software" can be used to manipulate public opinion on key information, such as news reports. An unlimited number of virtual "people" could be marshaled by only a few real individuals, empowering them to create the illusion of consensus.Was persona software used to attack this humble blog during Weinergate? I suspect so.
You could call it a virtual flash mob, or a digital "Brooks Brothers Riot," so to speak: compelling, but not nearly as spontaneous as it appears.
Think about it: In the aftermath of the various Republican scandals -- the Foley affair or the Guckert business serve as examples -- did lefties flood conservative sites with cries of "BWA-HA-HA!" and similar displays of erudition? Of course not. Nearly everyone on the left would consider such activity a childish waste of time.
No doubt, many of the BWA-HA-HAs sent to this site were sincere examples of hate-mail. Quite a few went unpublished, because I operated on the theory that once you've seen ten or twenty BWA-HA-HAs, you've seen them all.
But some of the messages sent to Cannonfire during that period were obviously machine-generated.
I received perhaps two dozen comments from people unknown to me who nevertheless claimed to be longtime readers. These "fans" demonstrated ignorance of my writings -- for example, the authors seemed to be under the impression that I favored Obama. With cloyingly ersatz displays of concern for my well-being, these newcomers-posing-as-oldcomers all suggested that I "get with the program" and denounce Weiner for fear of losing "credibility" and readership. (As if I ever gave a crap about anything other than speaking my mind.)
The wording of these messages was strikingly similar -- yet the authors all had different names and newly-created blogspot identities.
Persona management software in action? Methinks so.
Now step back a bit and ponder this tableau. Why would someone use persona management software to drive opinion in a scandal of this sort?
During the height of the controversy, I ran into a fellow named Lee Stranahan, who bears some interesting similarities to the mighty Seixon. Here we have yet another fellow who claims to be a liberal, even though all of his contacts go to RightWingWorld.
(Incidentally: In his other life, Lee is a photographer of erotica. I like his work.)
Stranahan also teaches a class in how to make money from blogging. I've been at this game since 2004; near as I can tell, the only way to make pay-the-rent money via blogging is to sell out.
Stranahan, it turns out, works for Breitbart.
But he's a liberal, y'see.
And he's still going on and on about Weiner. In fact, he promises us an exciting episode of Weinergate Radio.
Stranahan claims that one of Weiner's jilted cyber-lovers created the Nikki Reid (a.k.a. "Betty") family of false personas. Of course, this theory hardly explains why "Nikki" tried to trick Tommy Christopher of Mediaite into publishing actionable material about Andrew Breitbart. The ruse involved fake driver's licenses and telephone impersonations. We're talking about a fairly elaborate operation.
Logic tells us that only someone sympathetic to Breitbart would do such a thing to Christopher.
Once again, let us return to our key image: Karl Rove bugging his own office. And as you ponder that vision, consider this:
As we've seen in previous episodes -- and as the New York Times confirmed -- Weiner was targeted by a group of enemies who called themselves the bornfreecrew. One known member of this crew was a perpetually pissed off porn hustler and "cyber detective" named Mike Stack.
And now Mike Stack (much like the mighty Seixon before him) claims that he has received a death threat. (Click to enlarge.)Naturally, the righties feel that this "death threat" constitutes yet another example of liberal perfidy:
I see the “Left Wing” is up to it’s usual antics.Some of the comments are so wacky, they achieve orbit:
Hopefully, law enforcement will track down these “reality-based community” folks and make the appropriate charges.
Sarah, thanks for noting that Mike got involved with this because of his essential goodness, and his wish to help people.
Prayers for all…
IOW, the Left has a tendency to engage in mob-like behavior, collectivist thinking etc. That’s what this whole episode reminds me of – group cyber thuggery. I think you said last night on Lee’s show that you didn’t think there was anything especially “liberal” (Lee should have said “progressive” I think) about the sockpuppet drama. But I think it is very much something Progressives/Leftists would do, and not something Conservatives would do.This is all pure, barking madness. You'd have to be a kid to take that "death threat" at face value. As for "group cyber thuggery" -- need I mention Free Republic?
Most liberals do not even know what the term "sockpuppet" means. That's why I linked to a Wikipedia definition. On conservative sites, the term is so commonly used as to make such a link unnecessary.
Mind you, I've seen lefties at their worst. During 2008, I was on the receiving end of a few death threats myself. When Daily Kos published a threat against Hillary Clinton, I contacted the Secret Service, whose annoyed reaction dissuaded me from ever again contacting the authorities about -- well, anything.
But in this case, I don't buy for a second that any leftist would care about Mike Stack enough to send him a death threat, one month after Weinergate broke open. Those few who can even recall the guy's name are going to great lengths to stay as quiet as a 3 a.m. fog.
Remember, Mike Stack claims to possess formidable hacking abilities.
Remember, in the past he has bragged about adopting false (usually female) personas in order to get what he wants.
Remember, too, the image with which we began: Karl Rove bugging his own office.
Most genuine liberals don't give a shit about Anthony Weiner anymore. They're done with him. Hell, even I was not exactly what you would call a Weiner fan. (His Israel ueber alles stance pissed me off.)
But in the rightist imagination, liberals are zealous hero-worshippers. The conservatives are trying to create an illusory picture: They want you to think that zombified Weiner-worshippers will stop at nothing to avenge their fallen hero.
In real life, lefties love to take shots at their own leadership. They treat their supposed "heroes" the way Diocletian's archers treated Saint Sebastian.
For example: Even though most conservatives seem to be under the impression that all progs adore Nancy Pelosi, actual progs can't stand that woman. Lefties have spewed more venom at her than conservatives ever have or ever will.
Throughout much of the Clinton presidency, The Nation and Z Magazine attacked the Big Dog viciously. Conservative rags like American Spectator could hardly match the anti-Clinton vitriol which informed the writings of (say) Christopher Hitchens and Alexander Cockburn.
Absolutely no-one on the right comprehends the left's penchant for forming circular firing squads. In my forty (!!) years of following politics, the only time I've ever seen lefties form a truly fanatical cult of personality was during the 2008 Obama campaign -- and that cult started to erode about six months into his presidency. (Thank god.)
In short: The lefties populating the right-wing imagination bear no resemblance to real-life examples of the breed.
Guys like Mike Stack rarely interact with actual liberals. They learn about the species by listening to Limbaugh and reading Coulter while gulping down corn-based pseudo-Pilsners and falling ever deeper into paroxysms of rage-gasm. Then -- if they are computer-savvy -- they will hop onto certain hacker bulletin boards, download some tools, and chuckle in mad self-satisfaction as they revel in their overestimated cyber-might.
So what do we have here? The full picture isn't clear, but here are the puzzle pieces gathered so far: People claiming to be "liberals" whose ties all go to the right. Sockpuppets. Persona management. And yes, hacking.
And now you know why Weinergate continues to be relevant.
Weiner was just the opening act. Expect to see similar operations in the future.
18 comments:
Somewhat related ?
->
“Various bodies dealing with international media campaigns continuously monitor and distribute internet content when they recognize content that can serve Israel’s campaigns,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Omer Gershon was not available for comment on his Facebook account or on the phone.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/did-netanyahu-s-office-distribute-a-fake-video-against-gaza-flotilla-1.370030
Definitely related.
You know what I like about Israeli spooks? The pros are really good at what they do, but they are understaffed. So they rely on "helpers." And the helpers are arrogant. Being arrogant, they get blabby. Their blabbiness gives us insight not just into how Israelis do things, but (more importantly) how spooks in general do things.
Not a bug but a feature ...
I remember the Rove bug flap in the media but not the outcome.
They're good a broadcasting the drama, but the facts of the aftermath not so much. It's like the corrections in a newspaper buried in the classifieds.
Republicans and their minions of evil have playing "journalists" down to an art. The Right will ride the Weiner Wagon 'til the wheels come off even if the outcome is only a few Dem voters staying home in 2012.
Between the stupidity of Democratic legislators and their staffs, the corporate bias of the media, and as you said our propensity for circular firing squads the Left is so boned.
Josef : "Truthout. The details are a bit hard to reconstruct, because so many relevant pages have been removed from the web."-but not from
my HD.
48Mb,html,in context.could be reduced as .txt.
bit of work, though.let me know, if interested.
no need to publish THIS.<-
Great expose on use of sock puppets by right-wing organizations. Keep up the good work.
I thought we did communicate a while back via email. But perhaps I am mistaken. Regardless, should you ever want to reach me you may at jason@truthout.org
BHO was not born in Hawaii. The ‘documentation’, ‘photos’, and biographies presented for public consumption have all been Photoshop fabricated, and a pro such as you, Joseph, should be able to spot this pronto.
BHO was not born anywhere in the continental U.S., and he has used various bogus Social Security numbers because of this fraud.
BHO was not born in Kenya EITHER. All that business about his African grandmother was just a disinfo-distraction. The birthers' ‘documentation’, ‘photos’, and biographies have all been fabricated and do not hold up to scrutiny, nor to logical or methodical forensic examination.
BHO was not born to an American mother and a Kenyan father. “Stanley Ann Dunham” was not an American and “Barack Hussein Obama, Sr.” did not attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, nor Harvard University.
The “Dunham’s,” alleged ancestors of BHO, were not born in Kansas or anywhere else on American soil. The “Dunham” name was borrowed from the husband of Emma Bernice (Bishop) Dunham, a Hawaiian relative and royal-family heiress who married an American ship captain, John Dunham, who had dealings in the Port of Chicago. Bernice’s uncle, Charles Reed Bishop, founded the Bank of Hawaii and trained Madelyn Dunham (aka Magdalena Maduna) in the intricacies of escrow accounting and mortgage lending. Charles Reed Bishop was likely a Rockefeller agent.
BHO’s alleged “Dunham” ancestors were Soviet agents (spies) working with the CIA/Mossad and were brought into the U.S. via a phony “rescue of WWII refugees from a fictitious Italian concentration camp” and taken to Fremantle, Australia by passenger ship. Their surnames were “Maduna” and were also aliases. Their numbers on the ship’s passenger list were “0436, 0437, and 0438.” The list was found by researching the serial number, “YA-438,” (i.e. “Yugoslavia-438”) found on one of three pornographic photos of “Stanley Ann Dunham” (aka “Sofiya Maduna”). “Stanley Armour Dunham’” (aka “Mr. Al from Chicago and Lebanon”) was listed as “Friderick Maduna.”
Fremantle is located on the Indonesian side of Australia, which gave the Dunhams the opportunity to set up future operations in Papua, New Guinea (the future location of Michael Rockefeller).
Michael Rockefeller’s ‘disappearance’ and subsequent ‘rescue operation’ in late-November, 1961 was a staged media event, as analyzed in the above-mentioned article. Subsequent media productions and biographical accounts in books, magazines, TV shows and movies still dispute each other’s accounts, further adding to the fraudulent ruse orchestrated by Michael’s father, former NY governor and Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller.
BHO was not ‘adopted’ by a “Lolo Soetoro” nor anyone else. The “Soetoro family photo”– the only one– was also faked.
BHO’s appearance permitted him to pass as a Moluccan (from Mulaka), and he would have been raised as such.
Claims that the “Soetoro” family existed and lived in Jakarta are false (i.e. the Hawaii/Kenya dialectical argument).
BHO likely spent his early years on the island of Bali, Indonesia. (Recall the Bali nightclub bombing, 2004.)
BHO’s actual birth records are hidden in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. The 2004 Indonesian tsunami was an artificial event orchestrated to blackmail officials into complying with his request to hide his birth records. The earthquake that spawned the tsunami that killed 146,000 occurred one day after a child sacrifice that occurred in Maryland on December 25, 2004, the 110th anniversary of the death of “Charles Rolla Payne,” (another alias for a Rockefeller agent) and “Madelyn Dunham’s” alleged father and BHO’s alleged great-grandfather. The infant sacrificed, “Renee L. Abena Obama,” was BHO’s and lived 56 days. All of the numerology of these events symbolizes the number “11,” an Illuminati magical number symbolizing “the end of all things.”
BHO’s claims to have been ‘schooled’ in Jakarta are false. Documents and photos are all fabricated, and no one recalls ever seeing or meeting him or anyone else in the “Soetoro” clan.
BHO’s claims to have been ‘schooled’ at The Punahou School, Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard University Law School are also false. No one recalls him having been at any of those schools, and any ‘records’ that may exist will have been fabricated.
BHO’s biographical claims, whether authored by him or William Ayers, have been substantially disputed and debunked in the series of articles “The Three Stooges go to Washington, Parts 3-7B.”
The name, “Barack Hussein Obama” is a word puzzle. “Obama” is derived from two Moluccan words, “O,” which is a vocative, and “Bama,” which means, “when.” “Obama” means “O, when?” The first time this name was employed was in conjunction with the creation of this artificial, pseudo-biological being.
The name “Barack,” also a ‘new name’ on the planet, is a conjunction of two names: “Barry Rockefeller,” i.e. “Bar(ry)” + “Rock(efeller)” = “Barack.”
The two names say, “Barry Rockefeller, O, when?” Summarily, any official requests for BHO’s legitimate birth or school records have been met with denials, obfuscation, and political/media ‘spin’ and/or condemnation. Official bureaucratic agencies and educational institutions cannot produce what does not exist. Therefore, all parties who aid and abet in this fraud upon the American people (and the whole world) are equally culpable and should be immediately removed from office and/or positions of power– forever.
Dear anonymous:
Normally, I would never have posted a comment of this sort, since it is unsigned and off-topic. And, y'know, crazy. At least superficially.
But after studying your work more deeply, I can see by your elevated level of consciousness that yours is a truly enlightened soul. Evidence is for mere mortals; the best determiner of truth is pure, unassisted assertion.
I'm thinking of optioning your theory for possible development as a screenplay. But we need a cast who could do justice to your conception of history. Let's see...how about David Hyde Pierce as Barack Obama, Wendy Malick as Stanley Ann Dunham, David Lynch as Joe Biden, Ed O'Neill as Michelle Obama, Michael Anderson as David Rockefeller and O.J. Simpson as Adam Weishaupt?
With Anon @ 3:40 & 3:41 I thought there might have been a Loon Filter malfunction. But I see from your reply it was deliberate.
The scary thing about the posts is that the U S government allows the author to vote. Unless the tinfoil detector in the voting machine is tripped and it records the vote for Obama.
Mike -- so you DON'T like the idea of David Lynch as Joe Biden? I think it would work!
-> ALL about it :
(Just ONE hint, here)->
"Russell Jacoby comments: "Already Marx used the term "character mask" to mean not that men and women were mechanically divided into role and authentic self, but that character was the precipitation of extra-individual social forces that penetrated the individual". Russell Jacoby, Social amnesia (1975). Transaction publishers, 1997, p. 70."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_mask#cite_ref-69
(It's in "Note 70" , to be exact)
(Incidentally: In his other life, Lee is a photographer of erotica. I like his work.)
He may enjoy my YGroup
THE QUEST FOR THE HOLEY TAIL
Laughing....thanks for allowing Anonymous's tale to be published, Joseph. I enjoyed it. Let's face it, the truth (as much of it as we know) is so darn depressing, it's good to read a bit of fantasy now and again. I suspect anonymous enjoyed writing that, tongue firmly in cheek, as much as I enjoyed reading it. :-)
Though I live on the other side of the pond, I tweeted my followers about this post. Only by spreading the word -- near and far -- about the rise of the sock-puppets can we protect ourselves.
By the way, although Joe doesn't approve of social media, I'm trying to establish myself on Twitter. Anyway, I cordially invite those of you who are so engaged (Conservative cunts excepted) to follow me:
http://twitter.com/charrington84
Nice job again Joseph. I should have a piece up soon on the same subject, I'll send you a preview.
The most obvious puppetry can be spotted on Yahoo! News articles, and previously exploited flaws in sites like DIGG to get their material to the top. 500 (sock-puppet)'likes' or 'dislikes' 'recs' in a certain time period of one another, can substantially alter what articles/sites the average internet user is exposed to.
Mother of all sockpuppets ? :
"Roger Ailes' Secret Nixon-Era Blueprint for Fox News"
-> http://m.gawker.com/5814150/
good one.
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