GOP aide busted for fake blog posts on liberal sites

[onehandle]

Liberal bloggers in New Hampshire busted an aide to Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.) who was posing as a liberal blogger on such blogs as Blue Granite, NH-02 Progressive and others. Bass’ office admitted culpability to HOH and said the staffer would be “appropriately disciplined.”

The unnamed aide to Bass — who, like many others in his party, faces a tough re-election fight — was routinely trolling liberal New Hampshire political blogs calling himself “IndyNH” and more commonly IndieNH, pretending to be a progressive.

Finally, after noticing that lots of things he said just didn’t add up, a couple of the bloggers traced IndieNH’s IP address to the House of Representatives.

And they thought, “How many offices in the U.S. House would be interested in one race in New Hampshire?” The answer: Very few. Probably only one.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GOP_aide_busted_for_fake_blog_0925.html
_____________________________________

Ever since GOP operatives posed as Greens online to support Nader in 2000, lots of us eye negative nellies and "super-lefties" with some suspicion. Sadly, we're right to do so.

[Bhaisahab]

1. too clever by half, these idiots.

i gotta look out for such signs in DU. maybe kindasleazy and karl the ugly piggy are posting here...

[oasis]

4. The rightwing establishment certainly has agents here.(eom)

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. There are more then a few

Come on down to the 9-11 forum. The place is thick with them. I don't know why they're allowed down there? They only post lies, misinformation, putdowns and insults.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

12. LOL

Are you talking about the CT'ers? Hopefully so, because anyone who debunks CT's with FACTS is seen as a troll and immediately meets with insult and calls of being in the CIA or administration to debunk the truth.

I have even seen ATC controllers who work in Cleveland center ridiculed because he didn't support the CT's.

Oh well, this is not a 9/11 forum thankfully.

[earth mom]

14. In denial much?

Cause most freepers are.

on edit: though for a moment I had replied to the wrong person. Nope.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

16. My point exactly. Thanks N/T

[DoYouEverWonder]

35. This is the kind of crap I'm talking about

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x120990

See post #2.

Excuse me, I need to go post an alert.

[saigon68]

21. There are a few of them here

Some have thousands of posts

I have my list of these fuckers

[acmavm]

2. Is it a rule now that you have to have a mile wide streak of dishonesty

running through your core in order to belong to the republican party.

I understand that having an I.Q. is generally frowned upon.

[NVMojo]

3. sad for Nevada cuz that's where alot of these dishonest pukes live

[wordpix]

5. DU trolls and freepers, take note

[pinniped]

6. Just like those repuke voter registration punks.

They were caught changing people's party affiliation to repuke.

The repukes were paying repuke signature gatherers a bonus to sign up repukes.

[Justice]

7. Kean aide denies a hand in blog hits on Menendez - NJ

Happen' all over!!
At least now it is traceable!



A Kean aide denies a hand in blog hits on Menendez
Thursday, September 21, 2006
BY DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff
Someone on the liberal political blog Blue Jersey has been posting -- gasp! -- anonymous criticisms of Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez.

And the blog's founder said yesterday he has traced the bogus postings, through Internet addresses and other evidence, back to Jill Hazelbaker, the press secretary for the Senate campaign of Republican state Sen. Tom Kean Jr.

[tanyev]

8. Aha! There were two different incidents.

I thought I'd read about another one, but I wasn't sure.

[SpiralHawk]

10. The republicons pull this shit all the time

And I would bet a sack of doughnuts that most of the time they are using our tax dollars to underwrite these propagandists.

What crapola. republicons are lacking in honor, fer sure.

Ever wonder where these LOW REPUBLICON MORALS come from?

Interrogate commander AWOL

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

11. Love your photo

Bush-nokio.

[DrunkenMaster]

13. so let me get this straight

this guy was a fake progressive. He spoke one way -- anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-corporate -- but acted in a fashion that supported the opposition, like driving an SUV alone four miles to work every day, shopping at anti-union chain stores like Wal-Mart because they are "less expensive" (they aren't really when you look at true cost, but we will skip that for now) and denigrating opposition leaders like Hugo Chavez and Cindy Sheehan. Nope, never seen that before.

[earth mom]

15. They are easy to spot.

Just look for the Cindy Sheehan and Hugo Chavez bashers. :puke:

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

17. Anyone who disagrees with that tin-horn dictator is a Freeper?

Hah.

Then I guess you don't want Bill Maher perusing these forums. I would call him as far from a Repug Freeper as anyone.

[earth mom]

19. Bill Maher???!!!

Don't make me laugh! :rofl:

That dude is a freeper if I ever saw one!!! :puke:

[Scout1071]

20. Chavez was elected under supervised elections.

Can Bush say the same?

Agree or disagree with Chavez, but he is not a dictator, so stop pushing that meme.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

23. 'cause I might get arrested in Venezuela for criticizing dictators

Dictators often try to silence their critics with jail.

In March 2005, amendments to the Criminal Code came into force which extended the scope of Venezuela’s desacato (disrespect) laws, and increased penalties for desacato, criminal defamation, and libel. By broadening its desacato provisions, Venezuela ignored the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and bucked a continent-wide trend toward the repeal of this type of law.

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/venezu12258.htm

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.htm?tbl=RSDCOI&page=research&id=43cfae994

http://www.wpfc.org/site/docs/pdf/Publications/Hiding%20From%20The%20People-English.pdf#search=%22venezuela%20desacato%20law%22

On 9 January, the National Council for Children and Adolescents' Rights informed the newspaper TalCual that it had violated the reputation and privacy of the president’s daughter, Rosinés Chávez Rodríguez, due to a November 2005 op-ed. One month later, on 8 February, television presenter José Ovidio Rodríguez Cuesta was charged with insulting the judicial system.

As a sign that descato laws continue to be used in Venezuela, on 2 November, broadcaster and lawyer Carlos Gibson was sentenced to 11 months in prison for libel and slander in Ciudad Guayana, state of Bolívar, southern Venezuela. As a first-time offender, Gibson's sentence was suspended. He was placed on probation and ordered to report to the Bailiff's office twice a month. The trial concerned accusations against a company owned by a notable businessman and aired on "Sin Bozal" ("Without a Muzzle") on the Maxim 99.5 radio station.

From: http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/watchlist_detail.html?country=KW0032

[LivingInTheBubble]

32. If we pull your string

what more tales will you tell?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

33. Not me telling the tales

Merely passing along the facts about tin-horn Hugo.

[Zhade]

40. No. Anyone who thinks the democratically-elected Chavez is a dictator...

...is too stupid to hide their freeperism.

Now, if you can convince us that the Carter Center signs off on bullshit elections, then maybe you'd have a point. But you don't, because you can't, because the Carter Center doesn't.

We're not NEARLY as stupid as you seem to wish to believe we are.

[BlueSpark]

26. Well...

Sheehan bashers, maybe. But Chavez, probably not. There are some illiberal aspects to his approach, and disagreeing with those aspects does not make one a saboteur.

It does disturb me a little bit that you seem to think that we should be able to dismiss anyone as a GOP operative simply because of an opinion that doesn't jibe with yours. Perhaps we should set up a Committee on Un-Democratic-Underground Activities?

I am new here. Does expressing these sorts of opinions make me unwelcome, in your eyes?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

18. Opposition starts from within.

We don't need that tin-horn blowhard helping us.

Sheehan, she's a welcome voice.

[Zhade]

39. ...

:rofl:

[Kingofalldems]

22. How about a DUer who seems to delight in posting bad news

about Democrats, such as polls and news stories about Dems who are supporting the GOP candidate?

[onehandle]

30. That's one common sign of the dumbest trolls.

Makes them easy to spot.

The GOP operatives blend in and become one of us. Make us waste time and resources on pointless subjects. Goad us into looking crazy. Encourage infighting. Drive good people away.

Oh, they're here alright.

[treestar]

24. More proof that the right is about power, not substance

They like to play these games more than they like to think through the issues.

They really care about nothing but getting themselves and their buddies into what they deem positions of power over others.

[BlueSpark]

25. Pathetic, but...

The aide's actions are pretty pathetic here. What exactly did he envision? That everyone would just heed his clarion calls?

I think it is important to not take the lesson here too far, though. It would be very easy to just face any post that doesn't toe the ideological line with the dismissive, "well, he's probably just a GOP operative." Websites are pretty insulated places anyway, and such an attitude just makes them more so.

[BlueSpark]

27. Even a fake progressive is better than a real Republican

Hey, wouldn't it be better if more Republicans pretended to be progressive? Maybe it would start to rub off on them. What this aide did was certainly dishonest, but at least for a moment his brain was piecing together progressive-sounding strings of words. A much better use of his time (from my point of view) than thinking about whatever it is Republicans think about when they are being real Republicans (probably Jesus kissing little white babies or something).

This is a tricky subject to post a response to: if you say anything that mitigates in any way the guilt of this dude you run the risk of being accused of being a secret agent yourself. Perhaps in some very small measure it is not unlike how people in the 1950s who didn't agree with our government felt: the voice of disagreement would be met with the brand of communism.

My solution: there are probably a number of fake posters here and elsewhere (even on right-wing sites). Since you can't really tell for sure one way or another (apart from doing the investigation the way the bloggers did) it is probably best to just address each poster on the merits of what he/she/it actually says.

[LiberalFighter]

28. Will he be prosecuted for using govt property illegally?

[Vidar]

29. Probably headed for a staff job with Rove already.

[brentspeak]

31. k & r

[Eugene]

34. AP: House Aide Resigns Over Fake Blog Posts

House Aide Resigns Over Fake Blog Posts


Tuesday September 26, 2006 6:46 PM

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday
after disclosures that he posed as a supporter of the Republican's opponent
in blog messages intended to convince people that the race was not competitive.

Tad Furtado, Bass' policy director, posted messages to two liberal blogs whose
operators traced the postings to the House of Representatives' computer server.
Bass' office traced the messages to him, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call
reported Monday.

Bass issued a statement announcing Furtado's resignation.

"Tad Furtado posted to political Web sites from my office without my knowledge
or authorization and in violation of my office policy," Bass said. "I have referred
this matter to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for their
review."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6106937,00.html

[Supersedeas]

36. More Filthy from the ReichWing

[gully]

37. Yep, happens all over and these people are PAID to infiltrate and

discourage.

[Zhade]

38. mr. benchley?

:evilgrin: