Posted on 10/08/2009 4:27:34 AM PDT by IbJensen
Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, has apparently hired a cadre of left-wing, Democrat campaign bloggers to troll through the Internet looking for news stories and blog posts that denigrate the Obama agenda. After such websites are found it is the job of these secret lefty bloggers to leave comments that come to the support of Obamaism in the comments sections. It seems that Eric Holder has created his own little propaganda unit in a valiant effort to become the Bloggi Riefenstahl of the Obama era.
As reported at The Muffled Oar, a blog that first broke the story of Holder’s secretive blogging unit — dubbed the “Blog Squad” by blogger Isaac Muzzey — Holder has housed this unit in the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice. It also appears that former John Edwards staffer Tracy Russo is part of this special unit.
A site called whorunsgov.com reported back in May that DOJ hired Russo to do “media outreach for the whole department.” It is, according to whorunsgov.com, the first time such an effort has been made at DOJ.
Of Russo’s duties, The Muffled Oar says:
Not only is the Department of Justice Blog Squad going to reach out to nontraditional media like TPM Muckraker or the Muffled Oar, but they are also tasked with fostering anonymous comments at conservative leaning blogs such as the Free Republic. They are also tasked with fostering anonymous comments, or comments under pseudonyms, at newspaper websites with stories critical of the Department of Justice, Holder and President Obama.
If indeed this is what DOJ media outreach does it would most certainly qualify as “astroturfing.” Astroturfing is the action of using fake commenters and multiple screen names on all sorts of sites to push a similar opinion to create the appearance of a grass roots movement and make it seem as if there are all sorts of individuals naturally supporting a product or political movement.
It most certainly is a creepy, propagandistic sort of effort that Holder’s office is involved in and it is one that certainly seems an immoral one. After all, it most certainly is lying to the public if there are a handful of DOJ employees casting about on hundreds of different websites pretending that they are just your average citizen coming to the support of the Obama administration. But is it illegal? Hans von Spakovsky of National Review’s the corner blog certainly thinks so.
I doubt that the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) has received an ethics opinion from Justice’s Professional Responsibility Advisory Office (PRAO) saying that it is acceptable for OPA employees to be harassing critics of the department through postings that deliberately hide their DOJ affiliation (a practice that is not very “open” or “transparent”). DOJ lawyers also ought to be aware of ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4, which states that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. If the report in The Muffled Oar is correct, tax dollars are being used directly for such dishonest, deceitful behavior.
I must say, it’s hard to disagree with von Spakovsky (if that’s his real name! — a little joke there).
Mr. von Spakovsky also makes a perfectly pertinent point to wrap up his blog post on this matter. He wonders if the Obama administration will ever learn the difference between political campaign and the “entirely different responsibility it now has to enforce this nation’s laws in an objective, nonpartisan, nonpolitical manner”?
I think that the question is a good one. After all, after nearly a year in office, we have yet to see the end Obama’s constant blaming of Bush for every little problem he runs up against not to mention the constant campaign speeches and appearances on TV at every hour, day and night. One gets the uneasy feeling that President Barack Obama has yet to put in an actual day’s work as he constantly campaigns for office instead.
The left will never ever condemn actions taken in the name of furthering their leftist agenda.
I agree with this post, if this is not illegal, it is highly unethical, probably immoral, is a total waste of taxpayer money, and reeks of fascism.
They won’t, until someone screws up and they find themselves the victim.
Maybe Gomer Pyle can CITIZENS ARREST! CITIZENS AREEST!
Impeach! Impeach!
:-)
When the 'feces hits the ventilator', that just Maaaaay happen.
Who’s funding them? If they are being funded by Bammy or $oro$, it’s not illegal - although housing these folks in a gubmint building might be. If WE are funding them through tax dollars, then there is no question about its status - it’s illegal as the day is long.
Another reason we need to overturn this government and hit the “reset” button to return to the original government foundation established by the Founding Fathers with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Every Amendment after the Tenth is not assured of remaining in force after we hit “reset”.
If we know Bammy, it's in the works. Probably hiring someone from ACORN.
That works for me. All we need to do it take the House back in 2010 plus a couple seats in the senate.
But Biden would have to go too. Holder prolly has a file on him.
Vince
Maybe Free Republic has standing to sue to shut down the unit for defacing the website, if in fact that is occurring.
Have you seen some of those people's resumes? Far left, pro-criminal, like bombs a lot ....... and then there are the ones we know are soft on porn, soft on rape, soft on pedophilia.....
Not that Eric fears them yet but he really should.
Eric's "Obama Truth Squad" people have been in here quite regularly. I always report them when I one of them addresses me, and sometimes I report them when they address someone else (depending on time of day and nature of the discussion).
They usually "disappear" in moments thanks to the good work of the site moderators.
I don't recall a specific program name but I do recall that the FBI and all Police are forbidden from even filming or taping gubmint protesters.
In Chicago the CPD had the 'Red Squad'(1). They'd film and/or try to infiltrate anti War (Vietnam) groups. They were found out and the Fed courts went nuts. Ordered everything destroyed and the squad disbanded post haste.
(1) I had a casual friend who was on it. After the Red Squad he became an Undercover Outlaw Biker Narc. Needless to say he led a very dangerous life. He turned me on to 'Super Vel' ammo (wish that was still made). That was back in the mid 70's and everyone in our circle of friends 'carried'.
Yep. He picked a fine bunch to work 'In Justice'. They should be in prison or a mental institution.
*** Eric's "Obama Truth Squad" people have been in here quite regularly. I always report them when I one of them addresses me, and sometimes I report them when they address someone else (depending on time of day and nature of the discussion). ***
I'm leery of all the Newbies. A lot of suspicious sign-ups back in the summer and fall of 08, they came here in droves. And their FR 'about pages' are still all blank, not even a state flag. I mostly ignore them.
Well, for one thing, it’s pretty bad when you have to hire (for money or not) someone to stand up for you. If there aren’t people who will do this kind of thing out of personal conviction alone, what does that say about Obama?
And one more thing—conservatives should ridicule this practice in the most humiliating of terms. “Obama—so bad he has to HIRE people to support him!”
Is this why Willie Green is back with his same old high speed train stuff ?
Is this why Willie Green is back with his same old high speed train stuff ?
Hey, if George W. Bush had taken my advice back in Y2K,
he would've been elected for a third term in office.
But he didn't listen to me, and LOOK what happened...
Might as well do that now as later when they start visting you at home. We sure don't want that.
They tried it blatantly and openly - but the outrage shut that down.That does not for a minute mean they aren't doing it - they just went ‘underground’ -
One way to do it is to collect names via email adds/ISP’s = and where better for leads than on FR and such venues?
Be very aware of posting directing you to links that look innocent and friendly/simpatico.
I clicked on one in FR yesterday that took me directly to my email! rather than replying - I spammed it - and from now on, I will copy/paste and do a web search to see if it's legit - then I decide where or not to link - but it won't be linked to my email box where my - and everyone in my addresses - can be captured.\
BTW after the link to my email box yesterday, I ran my spy ware and up came a Trojan - I have not had a Trojan in months - SO?????
Beware, be vigilant. We are up against an evil and dangerous enemy - it's hard for us to get our minds around it, but there it is.
This Internet is our greatest tool of communicating and quickly dispersing information. But like all great things, it can also be deadly - water sustains life but you can drown in it. Fire keeps us warm but.....
There are also evil entities that use the INternet against us.
BE AWARE
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