Bolton Accuser Admits Plagiarism at Daily Kos

little green footballs ^ | 4/26/05

[finnman69]

tuesday, april 26, 2005

Bolton Accuser Admits Plagiarism at Daily Kos

The movement to smear and discredit John Bolton is melting down. Bolton accuser Melody Townsel, former leader of Mothers Opposing Bush, is about to get outed as a plagiarizer, and she's whining about it to the people who understand her best-the lunatics at Daily Kos: Important Melody Townsel revelation - PLEASE DISSEMINATE. (Hat tip: DANEgerus.)

Hello, Daily Kos-ers:

Tonight, my deepest fears regarding my pending testimony in the John Bolton nomination process have come true: Republicans have dredged up un unfortunate chapter of my life and, clearly, are about to announce it to the world. When you read this, you may decide either that I was stupid to step forward, or that I no longer deserve your trust. I want, however, to be the one to announce this to you all since you've been so unbelievably supportive.

When I was in college, 22 years ago, I plagiarized some columns while working for my college newspaper, and I was removed from staff. Months later, while working for another college newspaper, I wrote a review for a local play that tracked closely in format to another writer's review - and, although it was not plagiarized, it made my editors, who had become aware of my recent past, very uncomfortable, and we mutually agreed that I would no longer submit stories to them.  

As you can imagine, I'm deeply ashamed to be forced to revisit these events so publicly - and, while I was under tremendous academic, financial and family pressure at the time, there is absolutely NO excuse for what I did so long ago. I knew it was wrong then, and I remain deeply ashamed and embarrassed.

I wish to stress that Amy, my friend who has been such a staunch supporter and has been keeping you posted on things happening with my pending testimony, was completely unaware of these events. There are some things you don't tell even your best friend.

It goes on and on.

UPDATE at 4/26/05 8:30:38 am:

Power Line outs another Bolton accuser as an anti-Israel State Department drone: John Bolton and His Enemies.

08:23 AM PDT | link: 188 comments | link only
last comment: BabbaZee 9:33:51 am 4/26/05
email this article

[add925]

Daily KOS? Bwhahahahahahaha!

[Leatherneck_MT]

KOS?

Kill On Sight?

:P

[D-fendr]

Even worse is she's a former MOB leader.

Melody Townsel, former leader of Mothers Opposing Bush

[Mamzelle]

Hey, I know personally an idiot who donated good money to MOBorg...Mothers opposing Bush....

Any more info would be HIGHLY appreciated.

[FormerACLUmember]

The Borking (coordinated character assassination) of the extremely competent, outstanding candidate Bolton is not going according to schedule.

[Holicheese]

Didn't the MSM and the Dems dredge up that the woman that outed Clintoon/ Lewinski had been arrested for shoplifting at age 18? Something of that sort.

[gunnedah]

Standard M.O. for Liberal and Democrats. Why do you thing they want to legalilze Criminals to vote? Between Criminals,dead people and the Judiciary America will be run by a dictaor before the year 2020.

[dead]

She lifted sections of this apologia from Biden.

[randog]

Ahhh, another one of those pesky "recovered" memories. They can be a real pain in the ass.

[mikeus_maximus]

Republicans have dredged up un [sic] unfortunate chapter of my life

"Unfortunate", as in misfortune, accident, happenstance, unintentional? Must be that liberal "non accountability" gene kicking in.

[T Lady]

The 'Blog Squad' strikes again!

-Regards, T.

[finnman69]

I think it's funny that she went running to the Kos kids for backup.

DKs record of backing candidates was awesomely bad in the 2004 elections. And their defense of CBSs fraudulent Rathergate memos was also a spectacular failure.

[dead]

The new twist is that she "recovers" other people's memories.

[airborne]

When you read this, you may decide either that I was stupid to step forward, or that I no longer deserve your trust.

I vote for both!

[Liberty Valance]

No wonder she's been "negotiating" her appearance at the committee hearings. She wants to make sure nobody ever hears what a rat she actually is. It's too late baby.

[Txsleuth]

Terrific articles and links that you have posted!!!

Thank you!

[randog]

The new twist is that she "recovers" other people's memories.

Yeah, I read her bio yesterday--she's a certified nutter. The fact that she was in Carter's admin just adds credence to that fact.

[Tuba Guy]

The other Bolton accuser's website: Lynne Finney (wacko lib)

[raccoonradio]

>>When I was in college, 22 years ago, I __plagiarized some columns while working for my college newspaper__, and I was removed from staff.

She's got a future at the Boston Globe or NY Times.

[Mamzelle]

Notice how she clings to the holy rags of Motherhood when the going gets a little tough?

You know, this is pretty big. Bob Schieffer of CBS let this story ride without any background.

[maggief]

LOL

My first thoughts were about Biden. (Kind of like Kennedy talking about torture drownings.)

[disraeligears]

What are the chances of Biden conveniently being absent from the hearing when this issue is brought to bear.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM???????????????

Too ironic.

[Mamzelle]

Would someone PING TEXAS and DALLAS area freepers? There's probably lots more to this story still out there.

Mothers opposing Bush, indeed...!

BTW--MOBorg is a SOROS-funded operation.

[finnman69]

More good stuff on Melody Townsel:

April 18, 2005

Let's not dwell on the past . . .

We have a lot of moms who are concerned about everything from the deficit to air quality, particularly in North Texas.

-- Melody Townsel, of Mothers Opposing Bush, last summer.

John Bolton put me through hell -- and he did everything he could to intimidate, malign and threaten not just me, but anybody unwilling to go along with his version of events. His behavior back in 1994 wasn't just unforgivable, it was pathological.

-- Melody Townsel, last week.

Who is Melody Townsel? Did she retreat from politics to raise her children as she was quoted in the New York Sun?

When asked why she did not make this matter public in 2001, when Mr. Bolton's nomination for his current post as undersecretary of state was being considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she said that at the time she had retreated from politics and was raising young children.

(Link from Power Line, via InstaPundit.) At the time, she would have been working for a Dallas PR firm named Alexander Ogilvy:

Five Executives Gain Senior Vice President Position At Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.
....

Melody Townsel, Dallas

Since joining Alexander Ogilvy in the summer of 1999, Melody Townsel has made significant contributions to clients including Netpliance, ManagedStorage International, Ineto and eCertain, and to the growth of the Dallas office. Her 12 years of international experience in Eastern Europe, South America and Asia gives her a keen global perspective and an ability to provide counsel on media relations, business models and financing events. She's also listed as doing PR work (involving "whistleblower" issues) for this legal public relations firm, and runs her own firm, whose website describes her as "generating more than 1.5 billion financial and consumer impressions." (I guess "impressions" is insider language for advertising.) Her PR work is described going back as far as 1998, but nothing is said about politics -- least of all leaving politics to take care of children. So I'm puzzled over the claim. I do know that for some people, there's no inconsistency at all between politics and raising children. And eventually, Ms. Townsel found her "return" to politics when (according to the Sun) she "helped organize the Dallas chapter of Mothers Opposing Bush."

And the Mothers Opposing Bush certainly has no problem mixing child-raising with politics. Here's a comment by "the woman" (whoever she may be) who "started" Mothers Opposing Bush in Dallas:

I'm the woman who started it all here in Dallas - you would not believe the press and death threats we've received here because a two-year-old girl took a swipe at a Bush punching bag. Tell your friends to join the MOB. As for the Richardson mom, please tell her to email mobdallas@hotmail.com and come join us!
Posted by: MOB Dallas on June 17, 2004 03:18 PM

A two year old takes a swing at Bush?

Now that's what I call raising 'em right! Teach your child early to stand up to the prezzident!

Why, that's absolutely precious, and I'm glad the Internet is here to preserve such moments. Here's the photo itself (taken from a link at this post):

For her part, Ms. Townsel stated that her daughter never punched the Bush bag, and condemned the punching bag stunt in this letter to the Dallas Morning News.

Mothers Opposing Bush member responds

Re: "Respecting Fundamentals-Punching bag stunt oversteps partisan bounds," yesterday's Editorials.

I'm one of the Mothers Opposing Bush, and my daughter attended Sunday's event in Reverchon Park. While there, she made a new friend. She ate a red, white and blue cupcake. She bounced with the other kids in the Bounce House.

What she did not do-and all but two or three of the 30-plus kids who attended did not do-was play with the punching bag that one mother brought on her own initiative to the event.

Should the bag have been there? No. Were our children encouraged to punch it? No, as your own reporter can attest.

I'm dismayed by the photo you've published twice. It is grossly unrepresentative of the spirit of the play date that we attended.

You use the word "obnoxious" in your editorial, and decried strident partisanship. I couldn't agree more. Why? Because, as of yesterday morning, I'd received more than 250 hate calls. They used the "f" word, death threats, threatened visits to my home-and one threatened my child.

I joined the Mothers Opposing Bush because I want to protect my daughter from a future defined by an administration that has waged war and hampered health care and environmental concerns. I'm a sadder, wiser Mother Opposing Bush today-and, thanks to death threats, more committed than ever.

Melody A. Townsel, Dallas Yeah, I agree that the punching bag stunt overstepped partisan bounds. Maybe even parental bounds.

I hope it was unrepresentative of the event, because I don't think it's right to drag children into stuff like that at an early age. You'd think a parent sensitive enough to leave politics to take care of children might think twice before organizing an event where this took place, much less taking her child along, but hey. At least the organizer denounced it after it happened!

And none of this matters now anyway. The election is over.

The real issue now is whether Mr. Bolton yelled and threw papers in 1994.

(So where do these hypocritical bloggers get off digging up the past?)

AFTERTHOUGHT: Assuming the above letter to the editor is accurate, I think it's worth asking whether or not Melody Townsel was in fact the principal organizer of Moms Opposing Bush in Dallas. Otherwise, how would she have become the recipient of: "250 hate calls", "death threats", and even a threat to the very child she says she gave up politics to care for?

MORE: Regardless of how accurate the charges turn out to be, the Townsel letter certainly seems to be effective! From this DailyKos thread, some strong sentiments are being voiced about Bolton:

"The man's a thug."

"I hate these f*ckers with every fiber of my being. I hope that in the grand scheme, these jack-asses that have hijacked our country get their due..."

...in hell.

"mentally ill"

"evil"

"belligerent, violent, mendacious. Happy to terrorize anyone who stands in his way.

Oh, yes, and a misogynist."

"the leadership of the Nazi party. Mostly thugs and criminals. Need I say more?

9/11 was the Neocons' Reichstag fire."

"Unregistered Sex Offender

"Would you want this guy anywhere near your children?" Hmmm....

Does this mean they don't want him to be the UN ambassador?

UPDATE: Roger L. Simon is skeptical, and he has more -- including (via a comment) this letter from Melody Townsel's employer.

And Captain Ed accuses Republican leaders of "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," by ignoring the evidence about Ms. Townsel. He's so tweaked by their handling of this that he's refusing to give them anything: "Not. One. Dime."

UPDATE (04/21/05): My thanks to the National Review's Eric Pfeiffer, for citing this post in today's excellent Beltway Buzz column. Mr. Pfeiffer has more on the Bolton affair here -- as it turns out, Bolton supporter Jayant Kalotra (who wrote the letter cited earlier) is a generous Democratic contributor.

I suspect there will be more.

[Redbob]

But this reads like a genuine apology: no excuses, admitting guilt:

"I'm deeply ashamed to be forced to revisit these events so publicly - and, while I was under tremendous academic, financial and family pressure at the time, there is absolutely NO excuse for what I did so long ago. I knew it was wrong then, and I remain deeply ashamed and embarrassed."

[finnman69]

letter from Melody Townsel's employer:

http://www.nationalreview.com/pdf/IBTCI%20Letter.pdf

April 18, 2005
T h e H o n o r a b l e
R i c h a r d Lugar
C h a i rma n
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Washington, DC .

Dear Mr.. Chairman:

In reference to your review of Under Secretary John Bolton's nomination to be U.S, Ambassador to the United Nations, you recently received a letter from Ms. Melody Townsel making certain. accusations against Mr. Bolton; Ms. Townsel served as our Team Leader on behalf of our sub-contractor, a large public relations firm, on an USAID project in Kyrgyzstan, I came to know of these accusations from an article in
yesterday's New York Times. As President and 'owner of IBTCI, I am appalled by the content of her comments. She has not only made inaccurate and misleading statements as regards our firm's performance on the said project, but also on what transpired after she wrote that letter to USAID For the record, Ms. Townsel as only one of the five full time consultants on this project which worked for a subcontractor; the balance of the team was from our company. In her allegation, she said that she was forced 'to write to USAID because of "months of incompetence" of the prime [IB'TCI ] when she says "my hell began". This letter was a willful attempt on the part of a large sub-contractor to try to take over a highly successful contract from IBTCI, a small, minority owned firm. Her actions were reported to the authorities at USAID). As to IBTCI's performance on the project, i t was rated as "excellent" by USAID and highly commended by the host country counterpart. This will provide you with flair of Ms. Townsel's character and ethical standards,

To the best of my knowledge, Ms. Townsel had limited contact with Mr. Bolton, who at the time she claims was hostile to her, was working on another project for IBTCI in Moscow (Healthy Russia 2000). Ms. Townsel's recollection of what transpired, ten years later, is impossible to square with the fact Mr. Bolton was not engaged by our firm to have any contact with her on any issue related to her activities in Kyrgyzstan. In fact, later Mr. Bolton became our legal counsel to represent our interests before the U.S. Government in response to Ms. Townsel's efforts to try to grab our contract. Her claims against Mr. Bolton make no sense but are consistent with her belligerent attitudes towards others.

In fact, Ms. Townsel's professional performance is central to understanding her behavior
and her extreme hostility to anyone associated with our company. As a Team Leader, she
attempted unsuccessfully to charge the U.S. government for disallowable costs. She became enraged and abusive when our Business Manager, Auditor, and Executive Vice President each questioned these activities/costs, The situation was so serious that we had to post an expatriate from Head Office to our project office in Kyrgyzstan to ensure that proper accounts were maintained as we bad lost confidence in her business and billing practices. Her poor performance, treatment of other employees and attempt to take over our contract became issues; and thus I was required to step in and remove her from her position.

Mr. Bolton's role with IBTCI was unrelated. to her activities at the time. At no time did we ask, or seek Mr. B o l t o n ' s intervention with her. I certainly did .not hear, contemporaneously; from any other employee in Moscow that anything occurred between Mr. Bolton and Ms Townsel in Moscow, Consequently, it is difficult to understand how Ms. Townsel could make such accusations with any veracity.

Mr. Bolton worked with our company both as an employee and a counselor. We found him to very intelligent, hard working, loyal and highly ethical, Mr. Bolton's work for IBTCI, a minority owned firm also confirms his ability to work with people of different ethnicity and backgrounds.

Sincerely,
JAYANT S. Kalotra
President

[Mamzelle]

Shades of Tawanna. Tawanna Townsel...

[LibFreeOrDie]

News about Melody Townsel!

[maggief]

Ping

[Enchante]

This is just too sweet.... plagiarist Biden uses bogus allegations from plagiarist Melody Townsel to derail the Bolton nomination. If the Rs can't win this battle then they really do lack any spine or political in-fighting skills.

The ambush of Bolton has been disgusting, and if the Rs can't defend and salvage this important nomination then they deserve only contempt. The Ds, of course, are far beneath contempt.

[smoothsailing]

Those evil biblethumping Republicans.

How dare they out Melody Biden.

[epluribus_2]

I was under tremendous academic, financial and family pressure at the time...

can you just imagine the tremendous academic, financial, and other pressure to do anything to derail the Bolton nomination? After all, the future of (their) world is at stake and the UN (their masters) are threatened.

[patent]

Bump.

[OXENinFLA]

Powerline has more too....

[Mamzelle]

Hey, check this link out--start at the bottom line...is this the same Melody Townsel?

[TomGuy]

I wrote a review for a local play that tracked closely in format to another writer's review

Tracked closely in format???? What the H does that mean? Most 'formatting' is per some type of literary or journalism guide anyway.

To para-shred Shakespeare, 'Me thinks the lady doeth parse thy nuance in an effort to confuse the truth.'

[Mamzelle]

Hey, check this link out--start at the bottom line...is this the same Melody Townsel?

[Redbob]

That letter's quite an indictment of Miz Townsel!

[Txsleuth]

Well, since ole Melody lives in Dallas, I think you would be correct!

[Howlin]

my deepest fears regarding my pending testimony in the John Bolton nomination process have come true

Sounds like she was looking forward to it.

[Calpernia]

Would someone PING TEXAS and DALLAS area freepers?

Hi Meekie! Can we use your ping list?

[tiredoflaundry]

bump

[Mo1]

I think it's funny that she went running to the Kos kids for backup.

Because that is where this all started ... supposedly

Here friend Amy posted her letter at the Daily Kos because they said the Senate didn't act on the letter she had sent them

From there the letter hit the Internet with lighting speed and papers like the LA Times reported on this story just days before the FR Committee was about to vote on Bolton

Now keep in mind ... Barbie Boxer is a poster at the DKos and has also been pushing this story over there

Though I can't prove it .. this whole thing about this letter smelled of a setup from day one

[Mamzelle]

link to Mothers Opposing Bush site

[tiredoflaundry]

awwwwwwww ya think? lol

[maggief]

Googling the phone number brings up Townsel Communication.

[Howlin]

She says:

Today, at 42, I can state emphatically that I've worked hard my entire professional and personal life to put my incredibly poor decisions and actions behind me -- and I believe my professional and personal life since that time speaks for itself.

From the letter you posted from her boss, I'm guessing she hasn't quite "put it behind her," what do you say?

[Mo1]

Good Job Powerline!

[IleeneWright]

BOLTON ACCUSER BUSTED *ping*