What motivated man accused of sending threats [Olbermann launches on right-wing blogs re: Castagana]

MSNBC ^ | Nov 14, 2006 | By Keith Olbermann

[Jim Robinson]

Over the weekend, authorities arrested 39-year-old Chad Castagana on suspicion of sending threatening letters to media outlets and the homes of several public figures including "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann.

On Tuesday, Olbermann spoke to Radar Online senior writer John Cook who has been covering the story. Cook said Castagana appeared to be admirers of conservative pundits Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham.

"Ann Coulter and Malkin...sort of present a kind of rhetorical world view where they have their troops out there," Cook said, "and I think he thought of himself as one of their troops and wanted to live up to their standards."

~~snip~~

Castagana has also been identified as a gushing online admirer of Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham. And the Web site RawStory reports that many bloggers believe he is also a contributor, under a different name, to the conservative Web site FreeRepublic. In fact, the name used is supposed to be Marc Costanzo.

~~snip~~

COOK: Well, we should point out the evidence is not conclusive, but—it’s circumstantial, but it’s good evidence. It appears that Mr. Castagana was a poster to the FreeRepublic, which, as you know, is an online library of some of the most thoughtful right-wing thinkers out there. And his—the Marc Costanzo alias that he used, his profile said, “Ann Coulter is a goddess and I idolize Malkin and Ingraham.” And there are a lot of posts that suggest that he’s a big fan of Malkin and Coulter.

~~snip~~

OLBERMANN: Until it, you know, bursts into gunfire. Nobody wants to see that in any direction. It’s madness.

~~snip~~

[Jim Robinson]

Unfortunately, looks like this guy did have an FR account. And even more unfortunately, we had not caught him yet. Chasing down Marc Costanzo's IP address and other Internet footprints, looks like he had at least four earlier FR accounts, each of which had been banned. He was a "retread troll." It happens.

[kinoxi]

Thanks for posting.

[Paleo Conservative]

Unfortunately, looks like this guy did have an FR account. And even more unfortunately, we had not caught him yet.

Aren't there over 200,000 Freeper accounts now? There's bound to be a few bad apples in any group that size.

[KoRn]

Interesting. It has to be difficult being on lookout for the nuts who are out there.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

There has been a lot of call here for a probationary period before new accounts can post on FR.

Maybe the time has come to look into that.

My .02

[SoDak]

It wasn't TLBSHOW was it?

[Just Lori]

We know you'll do whatever you can to help track the bum down.

[daybreakcoming]

Yes, it happens. There are no mental clarity tests given in cyberspace. And there are nuts among us wherever we go. Good riddance to the freak.

banned from FR at least four previous times needs to be repeated.

[KoRn]

Your tag line makes me want to shoot at people.....

;^)

[fatima]

(((Hugs)))

[Just Lori]

Hard to spot a troll until you see his posts.

[TAdams8591]

"Well, I mean, if he is idolizing them, that sounds like hero worship to me. I mean, I think, you know, these, Ann Coulter and Malkin, you know, they sort of present a kind of rhetorical world view where they have their troops out there, and I think he thought of himself as one of their troops and wanted to live up to their standards.

And I mean, I don’t think we can always hold these people responsible for the actions of the least hinged of their followers, but I think it is clear that he was an acolyte of the Coulters and the Malkins, and I think that they clearly enjoy having acolytes, and they clearly sort of issue calls to action -- not necessarily to send threatening powder-filled envelopes to you in so many words, but they certainly exhort their followers to let themselves be known."

Cooks really not blaming Ann Coulter or anything..../sarcasm

[GoLightly]

I'm shocked to see MSNBC called Free Republic "some of the most thoughtful right-wing thinkers out there", instead of far right wingnuts.

[Vinny]

"FreeRepublic, which, as you know, is an online library of some of the most thoughtful right-wing thinkers"

______________________

At least he thinks we're thoughtful.

[finnman69]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=+tlbshow++ann+coulter&btnG=Search

[nevergore]

Open public forum...even with moderators there is only so much you can do....

Keep up the good work!

[umgud]

Sorry to hear he posted here. We all know that the odd nut doesn't characterize FR, but outsiders will surely zero in on these exceptions. I'm here for the long haul and am proud of it.

[CindyDawg]

I could be wrong but I don't think it was meant as a compliment:')

[claudiustg]

I see his post on the powder is still linked back to FR through DU

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1727261/posts?page=215#215

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2704188

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Correct.

However, on average, trolls begin posting 4.5 seconds after enrolling. An embargo would dissuade many of them.