Be sure to scroll down the page and read about the Winner & Associates astroturfing smear against Sarah Palin with possible links to the Obama campaign.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:22 AM | Comments (24)
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I would once again stress that this is the best confirmation of everything Rusty alleged... and the stuff he didn't quite allege but we're all thinking is most likely true.

"eswinner" is not sitting at the computer watching right-wing blogs post stories.

"eswinner" does not have a staff vigilantly monitoring the internet for damaging stories.

Neither, for that matter, does Winner & Associates.

But the Barack Obama campaign, headed up by David Astroturf, does.

Barack Obama and the DNC watch this blog. And I've put them on notice since this afternoon that a story about them was coming.

Within an hour of the story being posted, the videos began coming down. Within 90 minutes they were all down.

That's a pretty fast response time. I didn't mention Winner & Associates in my hints. So why would they be on notice?

I only mentioned Axelrod and Obama.

No, I do not believe that a random Winner & Associates employee just happened to be reading the Ace of Spades website and suddenly came across a link to a story about them and then decided to wake the bosses over it.

I believe the Obama campaign and the DNC have been watching since this afternoon. And they put the call into "eswinner" to get those videos down and bury the evidence.

And now "eswinner" has decided to end his short career on YouTube, despite the fact that this was his Best. Day. Eveehhhhh.

If he was just some ordinary schnook who wanted people to check out his rad smear-videos about Sarah Palin, shouldn't he be happy he was getting so many hits all of a sudden? Isn't that the dream of every basement-dwelling wannabe Murrow of the Internet? Attention? Fame? Hits?

Why is he suddenly so shy to have his work seen? Why does he feel compelled now to delete his account entirely? To erase any and all evidence of his YouTube presence?

Why, just a week ago, he was so psyched that "FINALLY THE TRUTH COMES OUT!" Doesn't he want the truth to come out any longer?

If none of this is shadowy, as they will all claim tomorrow, why did they so quickly retreat from sunlight?

They don't even want you to see the video they were once so proud of anymore. What changed, exactly?

Questions, questions.

Why, you'd almost think that perhaps these videos were intended to fly completely under the radar or something. And that now that they're very much above the radar, they're embarrassing "eswinner." Or the client who has hired "eswinner" to peddle vicious smears under the radar so that the client himself could pretend he doesn't traffic in viciously dishonest advertisements.

If the media wants to know why this story is important:

1) It's calculatedly dishonest to attempt to scam the public with videos by "concerned citizens" which are in fact professional electioneering communications put out at the behest of a supposedly new-politics politician. People trust average "neutral" and "independent" citizens more than someone known to be an interested party. It was a scandal when it was revealed that stockbrokers were pimping their own stocks on day-trader sites, pretending to be just average investors with hot tips. Same deal here.

2) Such ads don't get fact-checked, as they're supposedly from regular schnooks. No one fact-checks a regular schnook. So Axelrod and Obama can spread lies about Palin, completely refuted and debunked 11 days before the ad was posted, and not worry about media busy-bodies calling foul.

The plan in this case was to tap into the massive traffic of the Daily Kos and have each reader send the video, under the radar, to ten friends, and have them send it to ten friends, etc. The post in question was likely written by a Winner & Associates employee. Just as Winner & Associates employee tapped into Democratic Underground, linking it there. YouTube ads are big business -- and this one was so stinking of outdated lies it had to be done under the table, in the shadows. Where no one would take much notice of it; certainly not the media's fact-checkers. But, if successful, it would go viral and a huge number of people would end up seeing it.

And no one would know where this ad came from.

The plan didn't quite work -- the lies being pushed were already utterly rubbished, and there were new, exciting smears the netroots were more interested in. But it didn't fail for lack of trying.

3) This is just the tip of the iceberg. David Axelrod is known as "the Master of Astroturfing," and this is just his sloppiest and most brazen effort (thusfar detected). You know what also doesn't get fact checked? The tens of thousands of coordinated comments smearing McCain and Palin posted every day on media and blog threads, many of which are being written by "concerned Christian conservative commenters" who are in fact agents of David Axelrod and the DNC -- either directly, as in on-the-payroll sockpuppets, or indirectly, as in big internet groups determined to do "the dirty stuff Obama can't do himsef."

Obama can't cast doubt on Palin's fitness as a mother without risking electoral debacle.

But his legions of busy, busy, busy internet sockpuppets can. He gets the benefit of the smear without having to accept any of the responsibility for it.

Rusty, by the way, will have something on that angle later, too. (My single contribution to any of this was telling him to cut his story into two pieces and just focus on the videos for now. Good advice, I think. The netroots campaign wil be a follow-up.)

These are all election communications -- and these in particular are putting out the most vile smears imaginable. But no one bothers checking their veracity -- and, crucially, no one connects them with the "New Politics of Hope and Change" Obama -- because they're supposedly just the chatter of ordinary citizens in cyberspace.

They are not.

Just like there really were not a lot of "regular concerned citizens" united in their urgent desire to see Chicago utilities raise their rates for gas and electricity.

They were fictions created by David Axelrod to dishonestly manipulate public opinion.

They were lies. It wasn't just what they were saying were lies. They were also lying about who, in fact, was speaking those lies.

Everything they said was a lie, including the "a's" and "the's." And, as a new twist: including the "I's."

Not only is this tactic dishonest, but it demonstrates a flagrant contempt for the intelligence of the average voter.

Here's a story:

Obama thinks you're fucking stupid. And furthermore, he thinks the only way he can win your vote is to lie to you.

On that last score, he's probably right.

Thanks to MatthewW for the head's up.

All the Winners Have Left the Field... "cnwinner" has deleted his account too.

The coordinated the beginning off this and they've coordinated the end of this, too.

Well... not the end of this. But they did successfully remove their accounts.

Don't you guys do crisis communication? I gotta tell you, you pulling the ads and your accounts down is, what is the phrase, consciousness of guilt. You realize you've pretty much scotched all the various "innocent mistake" defenses?

And how on earth are you going to credibly explain that you had no calls come in from the Obama campaign, that "eswinner" just happens to be a huge fan of Ace of Spades and Prof. Rusty Shackelford and just happened to catch the posts within minutes of their going up?

You guys are fans, huh? Really?

I don't remember any donations, guys.

I guess I'm more popular with Democoratic media firm executives than I thought.

Screencaps: of the accounts, before Mr. Average Concerned Citizen "eswinner" erased them all.

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 AM | Comments (318)
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A reporter fabricates a story and interviews to make sensational headlines? No way!

Media Caught Fabricating White Racists?

An article in the St. Petersberg Times, quotes Cichon as having said, “I can't imagine having a black president . . .”

In a phone interview Saturday, Sandra Cichon of Spring Hill, Florida denied that she ever spoke with any pollster or reporter concerning Obama or about anything regarding race. Cichon was taken by surprise when phoned by this reporter, and she was not aware that she had been quoted in any newspaper.

The piece goes on to note that Sandra Cichon had been previously interviewed by the St. Petersberg Times for a local election: eight months earlier. It had nothing to do with the presidential election. Nada. Nil. Nothing.

Looks like this guy pulled a name out of his a$$ and never imagined anyone would question it.

Which is why I find reports like these so jarring because it just sounds nearly implausible that some guy sitting in a cafe is just going to pop off to a reporter or other stranger that:

"We still don't like black people," said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Maybe it's time someone starts calling all of these alleged racist people and confirming they actually exist much less had an interview?

My favorite line from the whole deal is when the editor, Adam Smith, said:

it is understandable that Cichon wouldn’t want to admit over the phone to making that statement, but “polls all over are showing that people are not hesitant in stating that they won’t vote for a black person.”

So, she won't say it over the phone, but she was happy to give a racist quote to a reporter face to face?

Something is stinking in Florida and it ain't the fish.

Plus, re-interpreting the AP poll that concluded race would lose Obama the election. Apparently not. h/t hotair

(Ace's rules please)

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:30 AM | Comments (84)
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Obama Connected PR Firm Uploads, Publicizes Lying Anti-Palin Ad on YouTube, Then Pushes it Virally as "Grassroots" Effort; PR Exec Sockpuppets Praise Video for "Getting the Truth Out;" Company Employee Uploads it to Democratic Underground; DKos Diariast Urges Readers to Send it Out to Ten People Each

Just posted.

If, as seems to be the case, Axelrod hired Winner and Associates to do this, then there had better be a disclosure somewhere in Obama's FEC filings that he's hired this company through Axelrod. If he's deliberately hiding firms he knows to be working for him, that has got to be a violation of the law.

I know Rusty has been searching the disclosure forms and hasn't seen Winner and Associates listed yet. If Axelrod is hiring them through some cut-out to deliberately avoid disclosure....

Background: David Axelrod, "the Master of Astroturfing," according to other PR agents quoted by Business Week.

In the past he's created "grassroots" front-groups to, for example, gin up public enthusiasm for utility company rate hikes.

And you know how quickly "grassroots organizations" spring up to demand utility companies raise their electricity rates.

As many have noted, legions of CCC's (Concerned Christian Conservatives) have suddenly sprung up all over the internet to attack Palin and repeat Obama talking points.

Update: I asked Rusty earlier, when I was teasing it, if they'd yanked the videos yet.

He scoffed at the idea they read this (or his) blog. I know for a fact they do.

Anyway, they're down now. Gee, that was fast.

Trouble is, boys, we got copies. Of everyfuckingthing.

You goddamned rats.

Tomorrow they will claim this was all inadvertent, etc. They'll say they did produce the ad, and sent it to Winner and Associates to, um, focus-group or something, then decided not to run it, but that dirty Winner family and its employees attempted to get it to go viral without their authorization.

Whatever.

If this is all so innocent, why are the videos being yanked even as we speak?

Just about one hour after the post went up, "cnwinner," "eswinner" and the rest of the winner gang are yanking their videos.

Almost as if... I don't know, some kind of major campaign organization was patrolling the internet 24/7.

Can we believe "cnwinner," "eswinner," and etc. just all suddenly were monitoring the internet and decided to take their videos down simultaneously?

No, we cannot.

Can we believe Winner & Associates scours the internet 24 hours a day for derogatory stories about them?

No, we cannot.

But -- can we believe the Obama campaign has people watching the internet 24/7 and just sent out the call to Winner & Associates to bury the evidence?

Yes we can, friends.

Yes we can.

Update: Rusty's uploading his copy of the suddenly-disappeared ad now, but I'm sure unnamed persons will quickly demand YouTube pull it, based on copyright infringement.

YouTube, I'm thinking, will not say who in particular is claiming copyright, even though it is their standard practice to ID the copyright claimant. It will just be a general "someone" claiming copyright. Mustn't let out the secret of who claims authorship, after all.

Well, after that, we'll just start hosting it on our servers.

You guys put it out there. Dishonestly. You tried to get it to go viral without the Obama campaign's fingerprints on it.

Well, it's about to go viral, guys. More viral than you ever expected. And it's now news, so you can take your copyright infringement claims and stick them straight up your asses.

Sweet Info from YouTube:

ESWINNER signed in 18 minutes ago.

I'll bet he did.

Update: "Gocamerica" YouTube sockpuppet video now deleted too, the last one remaining, I think.

Let's just say that the impression intended -- that these were all uploaded by different users without any connections between them, just plain old "grassroots" Palin critics -- is no longer operative.

And "eswinner," whoever that might be, no longer has any videos he wishes to share with us.

Maybe he's changed his mind and has caught Palinmania?

I'm told that Axelrod's wiki page is being altered. However, reading it through, it appears to just be a reorganization of material, and doesn't seem to be a "friendly edit." But I'm not sure. Someone familiar with Wikipedia will have to check.

Thanks to Brenn, Skiwd, Mr. Right, and, um, "Abu Al-Poopypants."

I have to say, Mr. Al-Poopypants, that your screenname is not exactly adding the credibility we need here.

Hah... Very funny comments being left on "eswinner's" YouTube channel.

CandidateObama (25 minutes ago)

This is not the Winner and Associates I thought I knew.

Via Dan Riehl, with a bit more on this.

Day by Day: already on it.

Well I've Given It Enough Time... to officially say, "Attempts to reach Mr. Winner were unsuccessful, and requests for comment or denial were not answered."

Posted by: Ace at 08:42 PM | Comments (444)
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1) David Axelrod's client list is top secret. Partly that is to disguise the fact that when he's not running the political campaigns of left-wing politicians, he's conducting dishonest astroturf campaigns on behalf of large deep-pocketed corporations considered "villains" to the left, such as utility companies seeking rate hikes or AT&T. But that secret list of clients -- and associations -- also comes in handy for disguising his political astroturfing, too. The media, of course, has shown no interest in investigating this.

For example: Are Fannie and Freddie among Axelrod's secret clients? We don't know, Axelrod won't say, and no one in the media has even asked him. (Well, that's not quite true -- Business Week did and was told to piss up a rope.)

2) In 1984, Republican Senator Charles Percy faced off against Democratic challenger Paul Simon in Illinois, David Axelrod heading up Simon's campaign. Simon prevailed, edging Percy 88,000 votes, despite the Reagan landslide which brought in a lot of marginal Republicans.

The difference in the race seemed to be a huge (in 1984 terms) $1.2 million "independent" ad campaign against Percy funded by Michael Goland, a California Democrat businessman. (SimonÂ’s campaign spent less than $7 milion, so $1.2 million of "independent" ads coming from an out of state Democrat was no small matter.)

Percy later filed suit with the FEC, alleging that Goland illegally coordinated with Simon and Axelrod. Goland was fined for $5000. However, he was later convicted for a similar "independent" ad campaign on behalf of Senator Alan Cranston (D-California). He was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison.

Bear these facts in mind about Axelrod tactics when the left begins spinning, "But this was an independent ad we had nothing at all to do with!"

Oh: And remember this guy who famously created an ad completely without the knowledge of the Obama campaign? Yeah, he used to share a house with Obama's campaign spokesman.

A lot of people associated with Obama and Axelrod just sort of... do things for them, unbidden.

Actually... that 1984 ad was really the big start of Obama's viral marketing/astroturfing campaign, wasn't it?

Posted by: Ace at 05:24 PM | Comments (134)
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I don't suppose this university has any recruitment problems. Naaa. I bet Obama would have no problem getting tenured there if he loses in Nov. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 03:25 PM | Comments (18)
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Probably at about midnight or just before.

It's Rusty's story. It'll be posted later. Midnight ET or maybe a bit after.

The basics? Astroturfing, of a similar sort as practiced by David "Astroturf" Axelrod. An attempt to get a blatantly dishonest anti-Palin ad to go "viral" on YouTube. Gross deception in pumping out fake "amateur grassroots" ads which are really cooked up by a big PR firm connected to a top Obama advisor, David Axelrod, and Obama's officially-acknowledged ads. And likely bright-line violations of electioneering laws, which require those putting out "electioneering communications" to disclose the true creator and sponsor of such ads.

Oh, Yeah: I forgot to say:

IMPACTING...

Correction: The latest is that the law does not seem to require disclaimers naming the producers/sponsors of an internet ad if it was placed for free and not for fee. As it seems to have just been placed on YouTube in the normal course of things (that is, people from the firm just uploading it without paying YouTube), it doesn't look like this is outright illegal.

As far as that part goes, at least.

Posted by: Ace at 02:47 PM | Comments (243)
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Just in from Dead Career in comments:

You've been served.

Dave Kernell was served a search warrant at his apartment earlier today. The real bummer is that it apparently interrupted a party these half-wits were throwing. Likely from all the loot they got from AP for the pictures and story.

Kind of like those idiot bank robbers who make the take of their lives and then proceed to go out and spend all their ill gotten gains making Uncle Sam very, very suspicious.

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:37 PM | Comments (84)
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The one thing that Bill Clinton got right was not signing the Kyoto Treaty. [edit, big time...Bill Clinton had Al Gore "symbolically" sign the treaty on behalf of the United States. Congress, a republican congress?, refused to ratify...thank you Kevin; so Bill Clinton is still a giant rat]. George Bush took so much flack for not doing it either you would have thought he was personally responsible for the impending doom of the world to be subsumed into a fiery desert.

I distinctly recall watching a sort of "town hall" meeting with Jacque "full of crap" Chirac in which a young French woman asked what the individual citizen could do, beyond basic recycling, to help reduce global warming. Jacque "full of crap" Chirac responded in typical politician style by going all over the place and then pronouncing that it was the EU's job to convince the United States to join this piece of crap treaty that everybody was diligently pointing out would drive business away.

Well, now the chickens have come home to roost. European business leaders are threatening to take their businesses somewhere else where the environmental restrictions are not so damaging. They claim that the new carbon emissions offset programs amount to a "tax" (which they are, the EU just didn't want to call it that) and that the restrictions will cost "44 billion" a year in the next seven years.

China and India have no such restrictions and are exempt under the Kyoto treaty. Germany and Italy (both with some of the highest unemployment in Europe) are starting to wonder if these EU environmental demands shouldn't be scrapped while the head of the EU is confident that Sarkozy, with his environmental revolution campaign promise, will help ram it through the EU council.

Italy's minister of innovation says it best, "If it happens, it would kill the economic upturn. No one needs to kill themselves." You think?

But that is exactly how the west is going to die. Not by invasion, though possibly through population decimation from lack of healthy replacement. We will believe ourselves so advanced beyond the troglodyte ancestors of the industrial revolution that we will regulate ourselves in to irrelevance.

Hear that, John McCain?

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:29 PM | Comments (26)
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The MSM has been downright nasty to McCain/Palin, and knowing McCain, they won't pay a price for it if McCain becomes President.

But should they? This is no more just a case of benign bias on the part of media. What they have been doing is actively trying to tilt the election and subvert the democracy using their (unconstitutional) control over the information flow in this country. If they can't behave responsibly, they don't deserve this position of power.

Liberals want a fairness doctrine. Maybe we shove one up their ass. Every time a network shows blatant bias (e.g. Gibson's Palin interview V/S the regular tongue-baths given to Obama), treat it as campaign contributions to the Dems, and make them pay a price.

A detention and full FBI inquiry every time David Gregory tries to enter WH press room? A full body cavity search for Olbermann every time he is found on public property? The possibilities are limited only by our moron imagination.

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:23 PM | Comments (58)
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