Who is Behind HillaryAttacks.com?

Last week, I wrote about Hillaryis44, an anonymous website that relentlessly touts Hillary Clinton and slams her rivals. Many people think the insidery site is "too professional to simply be a 'fan' site," as MSNBC's Domenico Montanaro explains, but no one has figured out who is behind the HTML. Now another anonymous site is getting feisty as the campaigns hit the homestretch -- but this one is devoutly against Clinton.

HillaryAttacks is a savvy site assailing Clinton for being too eager to "attack" her opponents -- and other countries. "The way to go on offense against Hillary is to talk about the other meaning of the phrase 'Hillary Attacks' -- as in Hillary attacks Iraq or Iran," advises the anonymous author, who says he is a 34-year-old "former politico," and "just a guy in Las Vegas with a blog." Think more politico than Vegas blogger -- the site has the pointed feel of opposition research, with several crisp videos arguing that Clinton is Rovian in her fights with Democrats and Cheney-esque in her rhetoric against Iran. (A professional-quality video posted this weekend even crunches data from 485 general election poll questions.) The site, which has drawn links from DailyKos, Wired and the official Edwards campaign blog, often sounds like a campaign conference call: key points are "top-lined," "right-wing frames" are scorned, and the strategic and moral agenda are one: "Iran is Hillary Clinton's Achilles' heel, both politically and substantively." The end-game is a pragmatic anti-Clinton union:

Even though most Democrats don't support Hillary, she could still win the nomination by dividing her opposition. To make sure that doesn't happen, at some point we may have to switch candidates to make sure Edwards or Obama wins the nomination. For most of us, that day will come sometime between the South Carolina primary (1/26) and Super Tuesday (2/5).

It all sounds like an experienced insider to me, though there's no evidence that the site is connected to any campaign. And of course, citizens have the right to advocate positions anonymously -- a tradition that goes back to The Federalist Papers. The web has simply exploded the opportunities for such activism, which naturally creates more controversies. This Friday, in fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is going to court to defend daTruthSquad, an anonymous blogger who is fighting a New Jersey municipality which tried to reveal his identity by subpoenaing Google's Blogspot service. These free speech fights will increasingly turn on web activism. And EFF's pro-bono work is one cause that the authors of Hillaryis44 and HillaryAttacks clearly agree on.

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Ari Melber writes for The Nation, where this post first appeared.

Follow Ari Melber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AriMelber

Comments

[lovethesinner]

Hillary's biggest problem is that she chose to run smack down the middle of American politics.

She thought it would give everyone a reason to love her, but it just gave everyone a good reason to hate her.

It's anyone's guess what she could do to America in four years with that kind of logic. I sincerly hope we will never find out.

[liberalrebuttal]

I have it on good authority that you will never find out who's behind it.

;p

[OkieMon]

I say it is the health insurance industry which has a history of smearing Hill. They know they are toast if she gets elected.

[Synoia]

Hillary Attacks who is.

dillc DomainAdmin [e-mail]
9858 Clint Moore Rd C111-234
Boca Raton
FL
33496
US
Phone: [phone]­950

Next, look up the the Florida Secretary of State who is the names person for service for this llc.

Google the address and you get:

Yourfilehostadultvideos.com - Your File Host Adult Videos9858 Clint Moore Rd C111-234 Boca Raton FL 33496 US Administrative Contact [830854]: dillc DomainAdmin 9858 Clint Moore Rd C111-234 Boca Raton ...
whois.domaintools.com/yourfilehostadultvideos.com

and

Lang Realty 9858 Clint Moore Road, C-124, Boca Raton, FL 33496 [phone]

Call Lang realty and ask them who's in C111-234, adn for the phone number...

[melanie]

This is so nuts. Hillary hasn't attacked anyone. God help the Democrats if they nominate an empty suit like Obama. Only a dolt would think Hillary is eager to attack Iran. Obama and Edwards have attacked Hillary's character for months, can't they take any criticism. Well, Edwards can. He's not a puff piece like Obama. Obama is a first rate loser. I have no idea what anyone see's in this guy except he is not hillary. Well, that may work in a primary. But, not being Hillary isn't going to go very far in a general election. If Obama is nominated I hope Gore will run as a third party candidate.

[lafrance]

This should not be confused with the Barack Obama site called Hillaryattacks. Theirs list all the attacks by Hillary Clinton and the answser as a kind of warehouse for reporters and the public to look up.
That is different from the bloggers Hiilary attacks. I've been to that site and it is in answer to the Hillaryis44.
I have my suspicions about who hillaryis44 is. A blogger with a radio program and living in Las Vegas who is a woman and has done some columns on Huffpo.

[EinChicago]

10 will get you a 100 hillaryattacks.com is yet another episode of plausible deniability from teh Hussein Osama camp. Like teh 1984 ad, the tax memo, the cheap SNL shots, etc. It will be some friend of an Obama status and he will, of course, as usual, have no knowledge of it.


Why else do you think karl Rove is advising him?

[nomobull]

are they attacking based on bias or providing information that can be proven like voting records is the true dffderence

[Kane]

Thanks for the link!

[NCSteve]

People in the MSM are all hot and bothered insisting that both of these sites "must" be done by "insiders," but the truth is that it's pretty hard to tell the difference between a real insider and some guy/gal with OCD and mad html skills.

[Orikinla]

How can we win a war where there is no enemy?

How can Hillary Rodham Clinton prove her bravery if she cannot overcome those against her?

The more people attack her, the more the majority of Americans would be informed about her and as she has shown by her tenacity, she is capable of leading America and taking the leadership of America to the next level.

[Thorn]

Answer: Bill Clinton.

[timm0]

The difference between someone who has a beef with a municipal government (as you described it) and advocating for a candidate for federal office is simple. The latter falls under the jurisdiction of candidate advocacy and subject to federal election law which requires disclosure of the financial backers while the former is a person writing about his/her problem with government.

To put it more simply, one is clearly flouting the law (and apparently still not denounced by her highness) and the other is clearly protected by the 1st amendment.

Sites that attack candidates without advocating for a particular candidate are not covered by FEC. That may be wrong, but it is what it is. I think these people should have a little more courage when blasting people, but given the current gestapo infrastructure built by dubya, the person who inherits it will have some scary powers to exert revenge... and I wouldn't put it past someone like HRC to embrace that, uh, resource, and use it.

[ebbtide]

What difference does it make? One is for, the other not so much. They balance each other out.

Bringing up Hillary's votes on war, or potential war is perfectly good and legitimate strategy.

She voted for war. Period. No attack there--just a simple fact.