Today's Obama Smear Attempt

Here's one of the ways the right's smear machine works. Far-right blogs post something. Then a site higher up their food chain picks it up, like NewsMax, CNSNews, WorldNetDaily or Politico. Then the Drudge Report or Moon's Washington Times gets it from there and spreads the story further. Somewhere in there Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity talks about it on the air. Finally the corporate media picks it up and uses the excuse that "the story is circulating."

Here's an example today. "Someone" posted an anti-semitic comment at the Obama blog. (See if you can guess who posted a comment that a right-wing blog knew about a few minutes later.) A few minutes later the hate site Little Green Footballs wrote a post saying that the Obama blog says so-and-so. (If you don't know about this site, spend a few minutes there and you'll get the picture. No, it is not a parody of right-wing nuttiness.) Then dozens of far-right-wing sites quickly echoed the "story." It rapidly turns into a great big right-wing hissy fit.

Soon the right's Politico has picked it up. (Which shows they're spending time reading hate sites.) And then Rush Limbaugh talked about it on his show.

You see, someone (guess who) leaving a comment at the Obama site proves that Obama is anti-semitic. You'll be hearing about it from every direction very soon.

Here is what Politico wrote:

Little Green Footballs finds some eyebrow-raisin stuff on Obama's site with the search term "Jewish Lobby." Of course, it's not fair to hold Obama responsible for the occasional crazy post. But it seems reasonable to try to characterize the community, something I haven't seen done, and it's interesting to see what gets taken down and what doesn't -- inevitably a community and moderator choice.

So bloggers - watch out. Right-wingers are posting vile comments at blogs, and then claiming that blog's readers are saying vile things.

Follow Dave Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcjohnson

Comments

[vazzy13]

I have been looking on the Obama site for the blogs and comments mentioned in this article, and I'm not having any success. I can't even find a search function. No, I'm not a moron, apparently I'm just a BS detector!

I see how the GOP is playing this one - first Obama must be held responsible for what his pastor says, now he must be held responsible for what bloggers and commentors say. What's next - the bagger at the grocery store where his wife shops?

Can we PLEASE talk about the ISSUES that Americans are concerned with, and how the candidates plan to deal with them???

[anon004]

I said several months ago that Obama would ultimately be held responsible for what his dry cleaner said. God help us!

[msladydeborah]

Exactly!

[anfractuous]

So, do the same thing on the McCain site. However, racism and intolerance are such bedrock Republican attributes, nobody will probably notice anything unseemly.

[bethinaz]

Don't leave racist stuff on McCain's site. Say that he has re-thought abortion rights, or is seriously looking at pulling troops out of Iraq. Stuff like that will send his supporters screaming

[Dap]

Truer words were never spoken.

[Gma11]

Generally, Republicans CONTROL their web-sites much more than Democrats do.

Democracy, ya know!

[RobBob]

Does McCain even know what a website is?

[Clairvaux]

What fascinates me is that some of our trolls are clearly professionals. They do this for a living. Who pays these people -- our lovely alphabet agencies, Republican PACs, the Pentagon, conservative think tanks? There are many suspects.

I would like to see HuffPost do a taxonomy of trolls, enumerating their techniques and personas.

There is, for example, what I call an "Early Bird Troll." These trolls try to post the first comments for new articles. The theory being that an early comment is more likely to be read and have an effect than a later comment. Trolls know that they are vastly outnumbered here, so they try to maximize their impact.

Another type of troll is a "Concern Troll." These trolls affect an air of rational concern about some important issue. They are "troubled" and try to explain why the progressive point of view is incorrect.

Enumerating all the various types would be an interesting project --

[Dave Johnson - Huffpost Blogger]

"What fascinates me is that some of our trolls are clearly professionals. They do this for a living."

Yes, Huffington Post has a lot of traffic so it is a big target, and they show up with their nasty comments a few minutes after a post is up.

During the Net Neutrality fight bloggers took the time to trace the IPs of the commenters who were swarming our sites. Most of them traced to one PR firm. They're smarter than that now but there is no question the big corporate PR firms are offering professional blog and forum posting as a service.

So be careful not just with the comments you see in blogs, but especially at product sites. Forums where people discuss their products will have professionals posting things like "Well I used the Panasonic and it was much better for me than the Sony, which stopped working" and things like that. It is the new thing in marketing.

[Gma11]

The aim: divisiveness.

The solution: never engage in ad hominen attacks against other Dems.

[robiform]

Interesting, and very informative! I've often wondered, while reading comments on HuffPo, why certain names (we all know who they are!) keep popping up with inane, illogical comments on any given thread. Of course, it makes sense that these nitwits would get PAID to spew their tripe; I can't imagine why anyone with a brain (and a job!) would spend their time writing comments on a website that is purportedly disgusting to them. Oh, I forgot--these yokels don't have brains, and I doubt very much that they have REAL jobs!

BTW, regarding alleged anti-Semitic comments at Barack Obama's site: in the past several weeks, I've passed a number of vehicles that have bumper stickers with Barack Obama's name on the sticker. That's not unusual--what is interesting (and delightful to me!) is that these bumper stickers are in Hebrew!

[protagonia]

See Rick Overton's TROLL'S HANDBOOK.

He has written a parody piece on the topic.

Good for a giggle.

[Atticus]

I agree! I'm sick and tired of trolls and their insidious oozing of poison.

[ProFromOre]

My reaction for a long time was the same. Then I realized they were giving me an opportunity that the article itself might not. Now, when I spot such a flagrantly biased and insipid post that it's either a troll or someone who only watches False News, I utilize the chance to make a counter point. At the worse, if a real person is posting it, they might get a more open perspective - if it's a troll, there's typically never a rejoinder.

I do get sucked in once in a while. Sometimes, I writing away in repsonse to something and suddenly realize, 'Oh, no wonder I'm so fired up --- it's a web troll, then I just laugh at them'.

[CornellRedneck]

I suppose you see trolls behind every bush?

Get a life!

[ProFromOre]

trolls surrounding Bush is more accurate

[ObserverinVancouver]

Your description of a "Concern Troll" sounds just like Tucker Carlson, except he isn't trying to his.

[grendl]

The GOP is going to have to go into extra vicious mode for this campaign season, not only because of Barack's wide appeal, but because they have on their hands one of the stiffest, stodgiest, ornery critters that ever sputtered a sentence before a camera.

And I hope they read this. Because my campaign to bring down McCain is just starting.

[CornellRedneck]

Well grendl, I'm your Beowulf ! ;-D

[Hedonist]

What a joke. Little Green Footballs is a "hate site" and this site is not.? How typical of the pathetic lies constantly spewed by the bloggers on this disgusting site.

[Dave Johnson - Huffpost Blogger]

"What a joke. Little Green Footballs is a "hate site" and this site is not.?"

Correct. Most of the posts on that site are hateful diatribes against Muslims and other groups.

"What a joke. Little Green Footballs is a "hate site" and this site is not.?"

So I'm curious why you are here. Is this your day job?

But thanks for letting readers here have a glimpse into the mindset of the right.

[urweatherman]

Some of us are here so the the real truth be told.....o­ccasionall­y at this site! We feel sorry for all the disillusioned and downright blind hypocrites.

[HotheadPaisen]

"...pathet­ic lies constantly spewed by the bloggers on this disgusting site...."

Wow- the truth is hard for you to swallow, isn't it?

[ProFromOre]

"How typical of the pathetic lies constantly spewed by the bloggers on this disgusting site."

Instead of just blathering on spewing opinion, why don't you point to one example, even just one example to PROVE your point?

[RodefShalom]

1) These were not a few "comments" as you call them but dozens ( hundereds ?) of full scale blogs on the Obama 08 official web site focused on one topic, Jew hatred, whose creation was officaly approved by the Obama web site moderators. The rules for creating these blogs is right there on the Obama web site and you can see for yourself that it says the blogs will only be allowed after review and approval by the Obama web staff.

2) Many of these blogs existed for not "minutes" as you claim but have been there on Obama's site for months.

3) Some of these racist blogs on the Obama 08 look so fishy that they very well may have been created as dirty tricks as you say, but were then let through as mistakes by the Obama moderators as you neglect to acknowledge. The Obama web site has the IP addresses of the originators, and if they are able to trace a single one back to a known Republican activist then I will believe you. It is a criminal offense by the way. Until then, please put up some real evidence for your kooky conspiracy theory or shut up.

[Dave Johnson - Huffpost Blogger]

Uh huh.

[marytnurse]

actually creating a profile or a blog post or a thread on the Obama blogs is an instantaneous thing, no moderation. no review of them occurs with the exception of the HQ blog unless someone reports them as inappropriate. Nice try tho.

[Camel54]

The problem is if the moderators began removing every differing point of view, whether it was hateful or not, people would then say they inhibited free speech. The reason it is and should be okay to allow hateful speech is because we should be intelligent enough to know that just because some shmuck commented on a blog on a site, that speech does not in any way represent the candidate. Unfortunately, too many people on the right are not smart enough to make that distinction. I would much rather see offensive words allowed than to feel like I had to parse my thoughts in order to have a say. The freedom is more important than a few offensive blog comments.

[TRYKER]

If there is a smear, the GOP is near.

[era996]

really
and all that hate directed at Hillary from the left were GOP Driven?

[protagonia]

No, but a lion's share of the support she'd received in the primaries WAS GOP driven. Operation Chaos.

[Eoin45]

I didn't hear any hate towards Hillary. What I did hear was valid criticism which many of her less mature supporters took as hate simply because the comments didn't deify her. Do you think questioning her Bosnia sniper questions wasn't legitimate?

[Durango]

I have been curious about that fact.

Here in my precinct at our Democratic Caucus Obama outvoted Hillary 60-4. Hillary could not even get a delegate.

Now we are hardly San Fransisco out here. If we are liberal that is the first I heard of it.

So why did Obama have so much support here and not elsewhere?

I suspect Republicans were voting in vast numbers in states that had Open Primaries (a stupid idea if I ever heard one.) Limbaugh was even bragging about it.

How well did Hillary do in closed primaries when the Republicans still had a race?

[ProFromOre]

@ era996

Enough already, the 'hate attack' on Sen Clinton is/was as much a myth as the idea the race was 'close and she could win at any time'. Time and time again I was attacked viciously by Clinton supporters when I posted corrections or challenges to the Clinton campaign lies and insinuations. The campaign of Hillary Clinton can be summed up easily: do everything dirty we can think of and then accuse the Obama campaign of worse.

My gawd, even when she lost, she claimed she won!

If she would have been honest with her supporters, there wouldn't so many angry people with inaccurate perceptions of what transpired.

[blindjester]

I followed a chance link to a right-wing site earlier today, and saw exactly what you're talking about. At first I thought they were saying Barack had made these statements. When I saw that it was an anonymous post, I was surprised that anyone would bother to try to smear him with it. How does it represent Obama's thinking? Of course, it doesn't in any way.

Thanks for bringing it up here. We have to push back on every bogus smear attempt.

[Stonemason]

Well, no, actually. The sites I visited never once attributed the blog posts (not comments) to Obama, they were all attributed to the posters themselves. The problem seems to be that the Obama website can't seem to remain clear of hate speech. The posts mentioned at LGF had been on the site for over three months, not minutes as erroneously stated above.

Do it, take a minute and search the Obama site yourself, don't just take someone else’s word for it. I did it and it is sickening, almost (but not quite) as bad as this place.

[Dave Johnson - Huffpost Blogger]

You find this place "sickening," yet you come here and post comments defending right-wingers.

That's interesting. Is this your day job?

[Hedonist]

Notice how the ignorant Dave Johnson cannot refute your correction of his stupid post and instead resorts to ad hominem attacks of the most childish kind. How typical.

[leftcoastindy]

Stonemason says: who cares? But how about :

The sites I visited never once attributed the blog posts (not comments) to Obama, they were all attributed to the posters themselves"

How many did you visit? How long did that take you?

The posts mentioned at LGF had been on the site for over three months"

So LGF had to go back 3 months to find something bad enough to be worth excagerating?

Do it, take a minute and search the Obama site yourself"

It might take me a little longer than a minute to go back through 3 months worth of blogging if all the posts are as dumb as yours and Head'n jism.

Do it, take a minute and search the Obama site yourself"

[MPeter]

I have, long suspected this dirty trick. Republicans often infiltrated the Obama or Clinton blog and would post vile messages as directed by Limbaugh, then the two Dem camps would go at each other. I have always known this. But thank you for the validation. so, watch out Bloggers.

[Stonemason]

Project much?

[SanityClaus]

Is a "little green football" some kind of anti-pyschotic medication?

[Susanfrom29]

If it is, it needs to be mass-produced.