Degree of Madness

Obama, Axelrod and disappearing YouTube videos

***Updates below***

The Jawa Report has posted an incredibly detailed article on the smear campaign against Sarah Palin:

Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views.

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign.  Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod’s firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as “astroturfing.”

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe.

The evidence is compelling.  And seems to be confirmed by the disappearing You Tube videos and accounts which are the basis for Rusty's claims.  Ace, from Ace of Spades HQ, who assisted the Jawa Report in compiling the story:

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.

Who directed eswinner to close his account?:

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.

Sounds about right.  Bloggers are all over this story, I don't believe the mainstream media can ignore it.  Obama and Axelrod are well-versed in the "dark arts" of Chicago politics and this smear campaign is just one example.  This story won't matter to left-wing, die-hard Obama fans.  It should matter to the rest of us.

Here is the video in question.  A "quick-thinking watchdog" captured and reposted it on YouTube.  I think Michelle Malkin is right: 

I highly doubt “eswinner” will dare to send a takedown notice and reveal himself — and the lawyers and money behind him.

The New York Times was shown as the source for the claim that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence party.  Here is the correction from the Times:

An article on Tuesday about concerns over Senator John McCain’s background check of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his choice of running mate, misstated the history of her political party affiliation. As The Times has since reported, she has been a registered Republican since 1982; she was not for a couple of years in the 1990s a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which advocates a vote on whether her state should secede.

Patterico:  The Cover-Up Begins:

Shortly after Rusty’s post appeared, the video and related YouTube videos started coming down. Winner’s YouTube profile, that of his father, and several others were closed. This began happening within an hour of the posting of Rusty’s post. Michelle Malkin has the entertaining details, complete with screenshots.

In the criminal law business, we call evidence like that “consciousness of guilt.”

There needs to be follow-up to this story. The connection to the Winners and their PR firm is solid. The evidence tying in Axelrod and Obama is circumstantial but suggestive. The lightning-quick cover-up goes a long way towards convincing me. Now the baton needs to be passed to a media organization that can demand answers from the parties involved, who are unlikely to respond to a bunch of bloggers.

Bueller?  Bueller?

***Update 8:17 PM CT***

Ethan Winner admits he produced the video but claims he's paying for it and he found the voice over artist through a talent agency:

The idea for the video was mine. No one paid me to produce it. The only out-of-pocket cost will be the fee for the voice-over narrator, which I will pay personally when I receive an invoice. Contrary to the allegation in the Jawa Report, the voice-over artist has never done any work for the Obama campaign. I retained her through a talent agency based solely on the quality of her voice.

Oh really?:

Winner's complete response can be read at the above link.  Ace had a little fun with the salutation and postscript, and adds:

As Commenters Point Out... How is it, exactly, that Ethan Winner found out his homemade, handcrafted, completely DIY video had become the center of internet attention a mere ten minutes after My Pet Jawa posted his article?

Is Ethan Winner, dyed in the wool Democrat, claiming he's a My Pet Jawa fan?

Or an Ace of Spades fan?

If so, why won't he return my emails or phone calls?  Dude -- if you're a fan, I totally want to hang with you!  We can totally drinks some beers and spread some smears.

You pay for the hookers, of course.  You're the rich guy who pays actors to fancy-up his DIY YouTube videos.

And Dude...  I guess you're just the unluckiest DIY YouTube video free speech enthusiast alive, given that your voice-over woman sounds exactly like David Axelrod's.

unseen writes-- 

so let me get this straight. His family started to recieve threatening calls and emails 15 minutes after the post? That's record time for the gun carrying bitter americians from Pa. Way to be on the ball folks.

Ummmm... sure, why not.

More to come, no doubt.

From the Front Lines...Over $1 Million!

The goal was $500,000.  When the Web-a-Thon for the troops officially ended at midnight the final tally was $1,055,719.

What a tremendous success!  The blogosphere came through for our troops in a big way.  Melanie Morgan and Michelle Malkin, who did a fantastic job, were helped and encouraged by quite a few special guests who took time yesterday to promote this most worthy cause.  (Including some really special guests: We heard from the White House and the office of Gen. David Petraeus and troops from Ft. Leavenworth.)

If you were unable to get through last night, you can still contribute at the Move America Forward Campaign Store.

What a great way to show our love and support for the men and women who sacrifice so much for us.

From the Front Lines, Thursday June 26...

Michelle Malkin and Melanie Morgan will be hosting a web-a-thon today in support of our troops.  The goal is to send the "largest number of care packages in history to our men and women in uniform serving overseas".  Care packages can be purchased at the Move America Forward store, with prices starting at $15.99.

Michelle and Melanie will go live on Ustream.TV at 4PM Eastern:

I’ll be in beautiful Mountain View, CA all day today for “From the Frontlines,” our ground-breaking web-a-thon for the troops. Move America Forward’s Melanie Morgan and I will go live on Ustream.TV and right here at MichelleMalkin.com (as well as at HotAir.com) at 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific. (Just hit the play button on the embedded video player above when showtime arrives; if you’d like to join the live chatroom, make sure to register at UStream beforehand!) I’ll be updating this post all day as I liveblog the event from UStream’s studios. Thanks to all our fellow bloggers who’ve helped spread the word!

Hot Air has a widget that will track the progress towards the goal of $500,000 in donations.

Thanks to Michelle and Melanie for hosting this "Internet first".  Time to go shopping.. 

What do you think?

I'm pleased to announce I'm a recipient of The Thinking Blogger Award.  For the record, here are the rules:

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.The participation rules are simple:

    1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
    2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
    3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
    Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!

C.A. Marks was kind enough to honor me and I will now return the favor.  She not only makes me think, she makes me laugh and that's even better.  So first pick, Alabama Improper. 

Next up, Jane at seejanemom.  She has a great blog that forces me to think.  But sometimes she puts thoughts in my head I can't get rid of.  I forgive her.   

Now I know this is cheating, I always cheat on memes, but I must include Brian at Flashpoint.  (C.A. Marks tagged him too.  But since I tagged her back, what the hell.)   At our Alabama Bloggers meet up he mentioned Loretta Nall.  I had never really thought about her except as sort of a wacky person who ran for governor of Alabama.  I visited her blog the day after the meet up and read a wonderful story she wrote about her MeMaw.   I loved the story and it dawned on me that I'm more than a little wacky myself and although politically we don't have a whole lot in common, I'm glad I "met" her and I thank Brian for making me think.  Not only that, Brian has an indispensable blog, especially for Alabamians.

Debbie at Right Truth is a great thought provoker.  She's always got information and links that I would never see if I didn't visit her blog.  She's a workhorse and I have a real hard time keeping up.  But I do try.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm tagging the Milbloggers.  They make me think and I can't imagine going through the War on Terror without them. 

Thanks to C.A. Marks for making me think.

Julie

N.Z. Bear Blogger of the Year at CPAC

N.Z. Bear was named Blogger of the Year at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington.  He used his thank you speech to promote the Victory Caucus:

"Thank you. If you believe as I do that victory in Iraq and in the global war is our only option, please go to VictoryCaucus.com . We need your help to win the media and information war so that our soldiers can win the real war."

From the Victory Caucus web site:

• Deliver the perspectives and news on the war effort which the mainstream media neglects to help the American public understand the nature of our conflict and its true progress

• Provide tools and infrastructure to help citizens who are committed to victory organize into a recognized and influential caucus

• Identify opportunities for the caucus to act and exert influence on America’s leaders and to directly aid and support the men and women of our military

The final word from "Our Beliefs:

We support leaders who support victory.

Sounds like something we should support.

Congratulations, N.Z.

Egyptian blogger disowned by his family

Michelle has the latest on Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman and it is not good.  His family has disowned him and his father has demanded he be killed if he doesn't repent.  From the Free Kareem website:

Reported by Al-Masree Al-Yawm (The Egyptian Today), with thanks to Dalia.

The article is in Arabic. Here’s my translation:

Family of Al-Azhar Student, Accused of “Contempt of Religion”, Disowns Him Before His Court Verdict Session

Written by Nabeel Abu Shal and Tamer Al-Sharqawy
18/2/2007

The family of Al-Azhar student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, accused of “contempt of religion”, has disowned him before his court verdict session on the upcoming Thursday. His father, a retired mathematics teacher, has demanded applying the Sharia [Islamic law] ruling on him by giving him three days to repent, followed by having him killed if he does not announce his repentance.

The father of the Al-Azhar student, who is accused of contempt of the Islamic religion, harming the reputation of Egypt, and inciting to disrupt the peace and to overthrow the regime, has decided to rescind from boycotting his trial hearing sessions. [He has decided] to attend the court verdict session with his four brothers, who completely memorized the Holy Quran, to announce disowning the accused Abdul Kareem inside the court room, in order to reduce the embarrassment and pressure that civil rights organizations are applying on the court panel.

The father of the accused also described the organizations that are working on having his son acquitted as “monkey rights” organizations, in his own words. He also described his son as the “monkey” who has imitated the atheists of the West in their intellectual thinking.

The family also said that they will announce their disownment of their son on the Internet as well...

This must be heartbreaking for Kareem.  Now more than ever he needs all the support he can get. 

Michelle asks "Where the hell is the State Department?"  And that's a good question.  From her site, here is the contact information for the State Department:

Contact the State Department:

Public Communication Line
(202)647-6575

Office of Public Liaison
Bureau of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW, Room 2206
Washington, DC 20520-2204

From Kareem's profile:

I am down to earth Law student; I look forward to help humanity against all form of discriminations. I am currently studying Law in Al Azhar University. I am looking forward to open up my own human rights activists Law firm, which will include other lawyers who share the same views. Our main goal is to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all form of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.

If there ever was a time to pick up the phone, this is it.  Kareem faces 10 years in prison.

Make the call and spread the word.

How weird am I.........

Debbie at Right Truth tagged me with a meme a few days ago.  So here goes.

Each player starts with posting 6 weird things about themselves. Persons/blogs who get tagged should write something of their own and state the rules clearly on their respective blog. Then select an additional 6 bloggers to be tagged and list their names. Leave a comment that says you have been tagged in their comments section and hope they don't hate you after tagging them.  (Debbie, I don't hate you)

For starters, I'm way more weird than Debbie, but I'm going to go easy on myself:

1.  I put my make-up on at the computer.  (And it shows)

2.  I panic if I'm about to run out of Tova perfume.

3.  I will go outside in the middle of a thunderstorm to feed the birds.  (And they thank me by pooping all over my deck)

4.  I set the kitchen timer when I'm boiling water.

5.  Beer, my beverage of choice, has to be ice cold and I must have a hugger.

6.  I set the kitchen timer when I put beer in the freezer to get it ice cold.

And there you have it.  (Oh and I do cheat because I really don't know enough bloggers well enough to "tag".  It really is all about MeMe)

The Victory Caucus

Via Hugh Hewitt:

Today is the day: we're now publicly launched and welcoming anyone and everyone to The Victory Caucus !

Where should you start? Well, first, take a look at our Mission and Beliefs. They start with this fundamental statement:

We support victory in the war against radical Islamists.  We supported the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and we believe victory is necessary in both countries for America's self-defense.

Please visit the website of the new Victory Caucus.  If you like what you see, register and get involved.  (I tried to register and have so far had no luck.  I keep getting an error message.)

They have just posted the text of the Democrats' House Resolution, and have noted the word "victory" is not included.  Another good example of why we need a "Victory" caucus.

Encouraging things in Iraq

Bill at INDC Journal is home from Iraq and has posted a couple of stories about corruption in the Iraqi army. He is encouraged by the fact that Iraqi Army Second Brigade Commander General Khalid Juad Khadim, who was stealing supplies and payroll, was exposed and eventually relieved of his duties.  The story appeared in the Times of London and was picked up by Arab newspapers.  While corruption no doubt continues, Bill believes this exposure will bring about a new accountability and will help reduce thefts that have resulted in the deaths of American and Iraqi soldiers.

.......American military officials contend that overall theft of supplies and ghost soldiers in the Iraqi Army are both real and in part responsible for the deaths of American and Iraqi soldiers.

Khalid's replacement is "a General Ali".  One marine is impressed:

"He's got a great attitude and is a true leader. He's been shaking things up around here, chewing Iraqi butt like it's cool, getting the Jundi to PT and making the brigade staff ... work."

Bill acknowledges Khalid is not the only one guilty of corruption.  However he was mentioned by name in the Times article and now he's gone.

To some extent, General Khalid was scapegoated. While he was certainly guilty of corruption given his position's authority over the Brigade payroll, he's far from the only one; skimming is so common in the Iraqi Army and Ministry of Defense, I'd bet that you'd be hard pressed to find a senior officer without a hand in the pot. But that said, the Times article called out Khalid by name. From there, the Arab media picked up the story and ran with it, which caused quite a stir among the general's staff as well as other Iraqi Army, marine and American civilian officials. I added a very minor contribution, and within several days, the general had been relieved and replaced.

Thus begin stirrings of accountability in the Arab world.

It would be naive to think that such an event will stop corruption in the Iraqi bureacracy, but it may help curtail it; General Khalid's demise could serve as a cautionary tale to his successor and other general officers and bureacrats up the line. Instead of misreporting and skimming 50% of the pay intended for the Jundi, they might skim 20%. Instead of selling half of the fuel budgeted for operations, they may cut back to a third. And so it goes. The more the media can specifically expose individuals who prioritize criminal activity and personal gain over the establishment of Iraq's security, the better chance Iraq has to build a working government, defeat the insurgency and find stability. And it's important to note that while the initial article appeared in a Western news outlet, it was the Arab media's repetition of the story that really generated heat among the IA officers. (my emphasis)

Regionally, this is a pretty new paradigm: the exposure of and quick accountability for General Khalid's corruption were among the more encouraging things I saw during my time in Iraq.

One down.............

I am a mop..........

Mike Stark:

I don't mean to be a dick, but the truth is by the time the 6-7 minute segment is over, CNN will want to hire me as a sanitation engineer because I will have mopped the floor with Mr. Riehl...

I saw the segment and I don't know whether Mike Stark is a "dick" or not but I don't think he is qualified to mop the floors at CNN.  I do think he is a childish idiot.  My comment at Dan Riehl's blog:

Nice job, Dan. You were very credible as I knew you would be. I'm so glad you were able to bring up the childish, idiotic stunt Stark pulled on Fox. Only childish idiots could take him seriously after seeing that. Fortunately for him there is no shortage of childish idiots.

LGF has the clip of his appearance on CNN.   Stark fancies himself a "reasonable" person and Howard Kurtz was so pleased to be included in Stark's "reasonable" people fantasy.  I happen to know some reasonable people and not one of them would ever consider going on national television holding a sign that says "Hannity sucks ass". Yet Stark seemed so proud of himself.  I would expect that from an eight year old. 

Dan's post after the show is here. An excerpt, his links included:

Stark promised his buddies a beat down, the idiot at SadlyNo posted ahead of time that he expected it. I expect a smackdown of epic proportions. Well, sadly, no, SadlyNo - there are only two rules to blogfight club. Don't brag about the result before the bell rings, and never send a guy who looks and sounds like he beats off to do a beat down. It could get messy.

Messy, indeed.