The story no one seems to be talking about in regards to Weiner

[justiceischeap]

And when I say no one I mean the useless MSM.

Whether or not he texted inappropriate things to minors (which it appears he didn't) or women at the age of consent is only part of the story. What no one seems to be really discussing is the cyber stalking that's going on by Repubs. There's something quite unnerving about having someone within the Republican party hire people to stalk Democratic politicians online. As if this were more important, than say, creating jobs or helping to fix the economy.

To me this should be the major part of the story now.

[madrchsod]

1. yes it is but sex sells soap.

it seems the du is buying a shit load of it.

what about that supreme court judge who has accepted bribes to over turn our democracy? where`s the fucking outrage?

oh shit i forgot..... it`s not about his penis

[justiceischeap]

3. Even when it was about his penis (or pubic hair) no one seemed to care

It really does seem there is a double-standard between the parties. Maybe this kind of behavior is expected from Repubs so when a Dem gets caught with his penis out, there's a different kind of outrage. :shrug:

[ldf]

42. iokiyar

....

[madokie]

18. You got it

[JDPriestly]

49. I agree with you. The real disgrace is the fact that Thomas is allowed

to continue to sit on the Supreme Court in spite of the terrible appearance of bribery and corruption in his failure to fully and honestly report his wife's income. That is the real scandal.

[Scuba]

2. Clarence Thomas?

[SpiralHawk]

4. Republicon occultism

This is the one of the darkest sides of republiconism. What they set in motion against America and democracy while skulking in the 'shadows.'

[Cid_B]

5. In other news...

... water is wet and politicians try and get dirt on each other.

Back to you Megan...

[justiceischeap]

6. True but it goes a bit far when those pols start getting water on minors

And stalking said minors online because they're connected with said politician.

[Cid_B]

7. Maybe I missed something

(and it is entirely possible in all the bruhaha)

Which parts do you think were stalking?

[baldguy]

9. "Following" someone on Twitter.

People who don't know what Twitter is & have never seen it think that constitutes stalking.

[Cid_B]

12. That's what I thought...

... *sigh*

[KittyWampus]

34. No, that person is incorrect. Rightwingers were harassing young women who followed Weiner.

[KittyWampus]

33. No, contacting twitter followers and harassing them is.

[baldguy]

35. But that's not what Weiner did.

Which is what I was commenting on.

Weiner's behavior, while being juvenile & stupid, can't be considered "creepy" by any reasonable measure. Worth nothing more than a giggle or two - not the tidal wave of false outrage it's generated.

The behavior of Breitbart & his cronies, on the other hand, is creepy and chilling in the worst way. What they've done - to both Weiner and the politically vulnerable people who might follow him on Twitter - IS stalking.

[justiceischeap]

11. I'm trying to find the DU thread that discusses the minor

And how the now identified Repub was harassing her on Twitter. This is one of the things she tweeted privately with Weiner about.

On edit:
Found link to article in NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/nyregion/weiner-says-he-sent-private-messages-to-girl-17.html?_r=1

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Of course no one's talking about it

IOKIYAR. If they didn't stalk our side, they'd simply make up lies, and the MSM would have to convict and condemn people based only on lies. You don't want the MSM to have to force complete republican domination of the entire planet based just on lies, do you?

[KurtNYC]

10. What they do is pro-active -- what Larry Flynt does is reactive.

In addition to trying to "take people down" they may be blackmailing others.

[Vinca]

13. What a great idea - the stalking part, I mean.

Think how easily the Republicans would be to target. I bet they have the photos stored in their cameras "just in case." LOL.

[ecstatic]

28. +1. I say do it back to them!

Well, those who can stomach it anyway.

[Cid_B]

31. Do you think they aren't?

... and haven't been?

[northoftheborder]

14. Very good point.

I don't tweet, therefore don't understand exactly how it works, however it appears there was stalking going on, plus using the internet to defame and distort - that stuff needs to be investigated and the public made aware of it and who was doing it.

[Warrior Dash]

15. Judging from the most popular topics of discussion...

A Weiner-Palin ticket could be the answer.

[leveymg]

16. Indict Clarence Thomas

[sabrina 1]

17. And Daryl Issa's office was kept informed about the stalking

not only of a US Rep. but of high school girls. They were harassed viciously by Breitbart's stalkers to the point where their mothers complained and they deleted their accts, the equivalent of hiding in RL.

Did Issa's office try to stop that harassment of young school girls? They were asked to comment on this by TSG but have not returned calls.

I think WE should call Issa's office to ask why he allowed schoolgirls and a member of Congress to be stalked and harassed without doing anything about it. The MSM certainly are not doing their job here.

One of those thugs is an ex con btw. I will put up an OP tomorrow when I gather all the emails (TSG has a record of everything as it happened)

But you are correct, all Weiner did was engage in cyber sex, but this vast operation that is funded by numerous rightwing billionaires, hiring thugs like Breitbart and apparently aided and abetted by Republican members of Congress, like Daryl Issa, is a huge story that needs to be exposed.

The MSM gives huge credibility to Breitbart, even though he has been caught time and time again editing and lying and smearing and is now being sued by two of his victims. Now I believe the MSM is in collusion with them. Because if this was a leftwing group, you can bet it would be covered.

[justiceischeap]

20. That's what I mean, there's a real story here beyond cyber sex

And it would be great if it were investigated in a meaningful way. I mean it's one thing if one of the sexted women came forward with this information but it was right wing operatives that seemed to have been following Weiner online. Why were they following him? That's what I don't get about the whole thing, why was he targeted for this? Besides his stance on Clarence Thomas. Is Thomas somehow involved in this? There are lots of questions in regards to how this was brought to the forefront that aren't being asked or answered.

[sabrina 1]

21. Well, from what I can gather they really began this stalking

around Feb. of this year. But someone would need to verify that of course. And if that is so, it was in Feb. that he wrote the letter asking Thomas to recuse himself from any HC issues that came before the SC.

He got about seventy other Congressmembers to sign it also.

So, it's just my opinion, but I do think they were desperately trying to sve Thomas and they knew Weiner is like a dog with a bone and would not shut up about it.

There is a huge network attached to this organized rightwing attack machine. Someone noticed eg, an org. listed on one of their twitter feeds and when you checked it out, it had a list of people who belonged, politicians like Issa, and operatives like Breitbart which shows they are connected. And then there are the funders.

But someone did put together a track record of this operation, the 'Get Weiner' operation and it did start several months ago and it was very aggressive from the beginning.

I don't know why Weiner did not report them. But it may have been because of what he had on his hard drive and he knew they would respond by accusing him of sexual contact with minors or something. They were fabricating this kind of thing, and if they can't prove something, they will simply lie.

But what was going on was nasty, and it wasn't confined to twitter, these thugs wee everywhere slamming him, insulting him, his wife, calling her a terrorist online etc.

One of the thugs who was doing the stalking is an ex con as I said, and accused wife abuser and he's the one who had the contact at Daryl Issa's office. He has been identified.

Anyhow, I'm going to try to put it together with their emails and whatever is available and then maybe send a link to RAchel, who fell for the Fox story tonight. They really are good at what they do, I have to give crfedit where it's due. They know how to drop a story and get the maximum coverage before it falls apart and know people will only remember the initial story, not the exposure of the lies.

[tularetom]

24. I've suspected from the start there was a lot more to this story than we were being told

It looks like you've done a lot of work trying to connect the dots.

If this sort of electronic harassment is going to become the new norm in politics, it would behoove the Democratic party to learn how to defend against it. I'll go a step further - it would be to the Democratic party's advantage to assemble and train squads of online hacker/stalkers to cybersnoop into the personal lives of prominent republicans including a certain supreme court justice and air a bit of their dirty laundry. The liberal media would of course try to ignore what they turned up, but it would be easy enough to give it widespread online coverage until it had to come out.

Anyway keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to your summary OP.

BTW it appears that Weiner's position has improved over the last few days as more and more of those (like my wife) who were calling for his head are starting to realize there is something pretty stinky about this entire episode.

[seabeyond]

19. why would that surprise anyone. we have boards cyberstalking du.... nt

[Uben]

22. Cyber stalking is what Wikileaks does, no?

How can one be against cyber-stalking yet still like what Wikileaks does? They are doing the same thing, aren't they?

[ljm2002]

36. No, Wikileaks does not do cyber-stalking...

...at least, that is not the model that Wikileaks operates on. Wikileaks provides a secure platform where whistle-blowers can place information they have got that they think should be exposed. I don't think they are interested in Breitbart-style character assassination leaks; they seem more focused on real governmental wrongdoing such as war crimes and money laundering and such. I haven't heard of them actively following people online. They provide a place where people can come to them with information.

[Hissyspit]

43. No.

[JVS]

44. bzzzzzt

[Love Bug]

23. Very true, and knowing this Weiner should have known he'd get caught

Watching each other to find something that can be exploited for political advantage probably goes back to the beginning of the republic. We can all argue until we're blue in the face the unfairness of it all and how Weiner did nothing illegal, etc., etc., but the fact still remains that he knowingly did something that he knew if found out would discredit his party and sink his career!

I don't like it, either, but it's a political reality. If we, just common voters know this, then why do they continue to take the risk? The sex can't be that good.

[sabrina 1]

26. What would he get caught doing that was wrong??

He was engaged in perfectly legal activity. And if the polls are any clue, the public agrees.

Stop blaming him for what they do, because next on their list is Al Franken and Sen. Sanders, and don't try to say they will not succeed with them, we all would have said the same thing a month ago with Weiner. They are GOOD at what they do and they really want Franken, as much as they wanted Weiner. I really wish people woudl stop with the petty 'it's his fault' and ignoring the danger now aimed at the next target. It's misplaced anger, it's like focusing on a blade of grass and missing the view of the whole picture.

It wouldn't have mattered if he was pure as the driven snow, they would have taken him down, by lying, by editing tapes as the last resort as they've done so many times before. You just don't get it, they wanted him gone just like they wanted Van Jones gone, and Shirley Sherrod and ACCORN and so many others and they win, every time, because of attitudes like yours, guilty or innocent, they win.

And no, the left has absolutely nothing comparable to this organization. Not even close, but I think it's necessary now. This is not politics with them, this is based on pure ideology, a dangerous ideology that they are laser focused on every day, and that is to get rid of all 'liberals' from this country's seats of power and they are not kidding.

Franken is next, maybe they'll find something like they did with Weiner, maybe not, it won't matter they will make it up. So, go ahead and keep tsk tsking over Weiner's engaging in legal cyber sex, that's what they want you to do. I watched a few of their followers today talking about how great it was to 'get another liberal' that 'even Democrats want him gone.

[Love Bug]

32. I get your points but he was still stupid to think this wouldn't bite him in the arse

Illegal, shmillegal. I don't care who Weiner gets it on with; knowing how purient the press is and how puritan the public is, he was monumentally stupid to think this was a good idea ever. I don't think he should resign, but when he dies some 40 years from now his obituary will mention this debacle. THe conservative press will make sure this dogs him for the rest of his life.

Franken is my senator, and if knowing about all the drugs he did while working on Saturday Night Live didn't sink him, I can't think of anything else that would. And believe me, Norm Coleman had the strength of the republican party behind him and they went after Franken HARD. And if next week it is discovered that he had sex WITH Weiner, I would be disappointed for his wife's sake (unless Frannie didn't care) but I would still support him. Unless he was stupid enough to post photos on Facebook and expect that no one would notice.

I absolutely agree the Democrats need to have a 'laser focus' on this problem instead of reacting when it's already too late. But first they need to stop giving the other side easy evidence to use against them. Did they learn nothing from the total distraction of Clinton's impeachment?

Why does anyone have any expectation of privacy on the internet? We have none, really. Didn't Daniel Ellsburg just say all the illegal stuff that Nixon did to him is now legal? How can this change in light of the Patriot Act? Questions the M$M won't ask because the status quo feeds the maw of their 'beast.'

[aikoaiko]

25. I'm not convinced that watching publicly posted messages is stalking.

:shrug:

[starroute]

27. Do you think following a woman around in public is stalking?

Following somebody on Twitter is not stalking. Even following somebody you are against politically in hopes of finding out what harmful legislation they're planning to introduce next is not stalking.

But following somebody with malicious intent -- whether to plan ways to do them harm or simply to harass them -- *is* stalking. And the fact that Twitter messages are public does not change that.

[aikoaiko]

59. If the woman was a public figure and the "harm" was telling the truth about her behavior then no.

I think you have conflated stalking and hard core politics. Its the political version of paparazzi.

[Zax2me]

29. So, major part of story should be how he got caught?

Okay.
Doesn't lessen the blow Weiner is receiving.
No pun.
Or, pun if you like.

[NYCGirl]

30. If you don't think the same thing goes on by Democrats

you are naive. It's always been called "opposition research."

And following someone on Twitter is not "stalking."

[Cleita]

37. K&R

[ClarkUSA]

38. If a Republican had done what Weiner did, I'd applaud liberal bloggers who did the same thing.

Besides, the conservative Twitter group copied Weiner on all their warnings to young women but even though he knew he was being scrutinized, he ignored their warnings and continued his perv behavior.

That's how crazy arrogant Weiner is. Then when caught, he lied about it and blamed others for a week, even though he knew the truth. He knowingly manipulated his liberal base in the most shameless political display of CYA cowardice since Bill Clinton, creating a media firestorm that has yet to abate as the House Ethics Committee prepares to investigate whether he used Congressional resources in his predatory masturbatory pursuits.

Remember, there's a June 2 Twitter record of his advising one of Weiner's Women to lie and offering the services of his PR aides to help coach her to do so effectively. Note that this occurred AFTER he was found out.

Hardly a hero. Furthermore:

If Weiner was, say, Eric Cantor, we'd be trashing him 24/7.

If Breitbart was, say, Kos, we'd be cheering his ingenuity.

Weiner had a chance to stop what he was doing before he sent that FUBAR bulging brief-covered erect penis Twitpic. He didn't. Don't blame others for Weiner's incredibly stupid actions.

[loyalsister]

39. Exactly

Someone would have to be living under a rock to not have heard about the risks taken by using social media. He knew better and I want to be consistent in why and what I criticize. Stupidity and thumbing his nose at people who can take him down are his "crimes." He knew better, put himself at risk and democratic credibility on the line. He's an arrogant ass. Are we also forgetting that he called Pres. Obama and lied to him?

[sabrina 1]

46. I would never be cheering for Kos, nor would anyone I know.

I would not be calling for a Republican to quit, I would be calling for them to admit their hypocrisy and apologize to those they trashed for doing what they themselves have done. In fact keeping 'fallen' Republicans in office is a good strategy, they can no longer safely talk about 'family vaules' so they are effectively silenced on those issues. The more the merrier.

But since we are now part of their 'moral majority', I guess we will have to accept the same cries of 'hyocrite' each time Andrew Breitbart decides to remove a democrat from Congress and we try to object.

I would if I were in his position, and I would now move on, emboldened by Democrats, the man controls this party, to my next target.

I would love to have Eric Cantor admit to actual sex, for his own sake also, it really isn't a sin and then demand that he apologize to Weiner.

[MrMickeysMom]

47. "Perv behavior"?

Get fucking real and talk about some real news.

[Maru Kitteh]

50. Wow. Don't you have big britches! You don't get to tell people what they can discuss

ON A DISCUSSION BOARD.

[MrMickeysMom]

54. I sure do...

... cause it's a discussion board! You are so right.

[Enthusiast]

52. PLUS ONE...............nt

[ClassWarrior]

57. Why doesn't it surprise me that you'd applaud invasion of privacy and abuse of power?

NGU.

[Overseas]

40. Intense right wing propaganda should have been part of the Teabagger stories on broadcast media

but we saw very little such analysis beyond MSNBC. The way Dick Armey and the Koch Brothers diverted an originally perhaps sincere populist outrage against bank bailouts to serve the interests of the super rich should have been a bigger, much more widespread story than it has been.

We loosened media ownership rules decades ago now, so our broadcast media was conglomerated into very conservative hands. Therefore, instead of pouncing on right wing guerrilla PR techniques when the ACORN scandal broke, all the networks jumped on bashing ACORN, as did too many Democrats. The more fascinating story was just how the whole scandal was faked and promoted.

We lost an amazing community organizing group that really helped the Democratic party by empowering the poor to find housing and learn to vote. They helped the Democratic party because it was supposed to represent the downtrodden more than the other big party has. And yet, with a heavy barrage of 24/7 condemnation of ACORN, taking the vicious right wing PR campaign as is, we lost a strong advocate for the poor.

And too many Democrats wanted to grandstand about their outrage, assuming the story was true, rather than waiting to see that the preposterous video was highly edited to serve conservative purposes.

Amazing that so many Democrats were willing to throw ACORN under the bus due to the dirty tricks of the Lee Atwater clones.

[Enthusiast]

53. Excellent post.

When they don't even mention intense right wing propaganda they are participating in its dissemination.

[sendero]

41. It's not illegal.

.... so what is your point?

[tblue37]

45. AND perfectly innocent bystanders, some of the minors, also get

targeted in these cyberstalking ventures.

[LynneSin]

48. Bullshit!

You(and that refers to anyone not the OP) post anywhere, text anyone you leave a trail out there on the Internet. That means you run the risk of someone sharing that to others. If you are a notable person then the stakes are even higher if you get caught. Weiner should have known better. Let's stop making excuses for him.

[Enthusiast]

51. It should be a major part.

But apparently we no longer concern ourselves with such.

[malaise]

55. Are you following the Murdoch scandal in England?

Looks the same to me

[Le Taz Hot]

56. Are you sure we haven't talked about it

because I'm sure at some point it was addressed in one of the 4,365,205,375.397,563 Weiner's weener threads. :eyes:

[treestar]

58. Republicans have more time for it

They don't care about the economy or jobs or any other issues, and all they care about is winning, so their focus is on their opponent. And of course they want it to be about people, not issues. Judging others is their reason for living.