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Ellie Light speaks
Politico ^ | January 26, 2010 | Ben Smith

Posted on 01/26/2010 6:36:29 AM PST by maggief

EXCERPT

Well, the mystery may be over. A woman who said her name was, in fact, Ellie Light called this morning into the radio show of Michael Smerconish, a national talker based in Philadelphia who has been friendly to Obama, to clear things up.

"I'm only me," she said, identifying herself as a traveling nurse who works for 13-week stretches at hospitals around the country, and whose primary residence is in Southern California.

"I need to own up – I did misrepresent my home town in some places," Light told Smerconish. Her logic in faking the addresses is one familiar to advocacy groups: "If I thought it was written by a neighbor of mine, I would give it more credence."

Light mused on why the letter was so widely circulated: "My letter was pretty darn good. It took a long time to write. I took more interest in honing it than most people take today."

"I don't know why others are not making the observation that, Why are we all abandoning the president we so adored so quickly?" she said.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bensmith; ellielight; lamestream; libs; politico; talkradio
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To: maggief
The stints of travelling nurses at various locations are usually months. She migt have been to two locations, not scores.

The CA nursing board probably has no RN's by that name.

41 posted on 01/26/2010 7:07:22 AM PST by Plutarch
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To: jennyjenny

Actually there are at least TWO Ellie Light letters.

Caller “Ellie” only mentions one.


(no links)

Your View: Letters to the editor (Jan. 24)
Las Cruces Sun-News (NM) - Monday, January 25, 2010

Unfair attacks on Obama

A year ago, if we had read in the paper that employers were hiring again, that health care legislation was proceeding without a bump, that Afghanistan suddenly became a nice place to take your kids, we would’ve known we were being lied to. Back then, we recognized that the problems Obama inherited as president wouldn’t go away overnight.

During his campaign, Obama clearly said that an economy that took eight years to break couldn’t be fixed in a year, that Afghanistan was a graveyard of empires, and it would not be an easy venture for us. Candidate Obama didn’t feed us happy-talk, which is why we elected him. He never said America could solve our health care, economic and security problems without raising the deficit. Instead, he talked of hard choices, of government taking painful and contentious first steps towards fixing problems that can’t be left for another day.

Right after Obama’s election, we seemed to grasp this. We understood that companies would be happy to squeeze more work out of frightened employees, and would be slow to hire more. We understood that the banks that had extorted us out of billions of dollars, were lying when they said they would share their recovery. We understood that a national consensus on health care would not come easily. Candidate Obama never claimed that his proposed solutions would work flawlessly right out of the box, and we respected him for that.

But today, the president is being attacked as if he were a salesman who promised us that our problems would wash off in the morning. He never made such a promise. It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.

ELLIE LIGHT

Bayard

/

Haitian help
Westport News (CT) - Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Author: Westport News - Staff
Generous and smart

A disaster has struck Haiti , and many struggle with the best way to give. Generosity is good, but it’s better to be generous and smart. Of course, most of the well-known charities have geared up to provide relief in Haiti of all sorts, including medical care, food and shelter, and I’ve provided a list of a few of those below. However, even in giving, it’s good to know where your money goes. If you’re considering making a sacrificial and heart-felt donation to people in need, there are still factors to consider. For example, one would prefer to donate to an organization that had a presence in Haiti before the earthquake struck. It’s best to donate to an organization large enough to make a substantial difference in this sad crisis, but not so large that your donation gets lost in the shuffle.

It only takes a few minutes to learn a bit about the charities you donate to, how accountable they are with their dollars, the percentage of your donation that goes to direct aid, and even the salaries of an aid organization’s CEOs. Even in times of crisis, it’s good to donate with your brain attached. Please note that many organizations will be overwhelmed with donations over the next few days, and donations occurring later in the month, will be just as welcome. Below are links to two organizations that thoroughly research charities operating in the United States. Charity Navigator provides info about all aspects of a charity’s finances, and the Better Business Bureau Giving Alliance centers more on a charity’s financial transparency and accounting practices.

Ellie Light

Bridgeport


42 posted on 01/26/2010 7:09:44 AM PST by maggief
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To: maggief
Does anyone remember those little puzzles you got in Cracker Jack? You know, they had a little steel ball in them and some holes, and you needed to get all the little balls in the holes?

Metaphorically speaking, that's like anything to do with this administration and Congress...liberals/progressive democrats in general.

To me is seems that everything we hear and read about them, just doesn't feel quite right...the little balls won't go into the little holes.

This story has a bullsh*t rating of 9.9 out of 10...I just don't believe it.

This many weird "coincidences" could not happen to JUST the left, and no one else in the world. It's not possible.

The entire administration is a lie...the only exception to their message would be if they ever slipped up and told the truth.

Bottom line: it doesn't matter who, or what, "Ellie Light" is, she's one suck-up among the millions who change the channel as soon a obama appears on the tube.

Her "letters" were printed in various papers by editors who were fighting "obama tingle withdrawal" and needed a fix.

Everything she said is just dem talking points which have been repeated ad infinitum and will be repeated again.

I think she's a dem plant for distraction purposes to help cloak obama's sagging support and whatever reid and pelosi are doing in the cloakroom to push obamacare through. Can't disappoint daddy soros you know.
43 posted on 01/26/2010 7:12:04 AM PST by FrankR (There will be no jobs until it is profitable for employers to hire people....PERIOD.)
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To: onyx; Liz; hoosiermama; kcvl; STARWISE; SE Mom; Protect the Bill of Rights

PING!


44 posted on 01/26/2010 7:13:14 AM PST by maggief
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To: maggief

is it just me— or does anyone else notice that Elli Light is a lot like ELITE....


45 posted on 01/26/2010 7:16:03 AM PST by eeevil conservative (GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAND AND I WILL MOVE THE EARTH....Archimedes)
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To: Lazamataz

What I find even more disturbing is that there were that many newspapers that printed the letters.

Of all the items of incoming mail, “Ellie’s” rang the “Let’s print this letter” bells at too many papers. What “Ellie” had to say fit too many templates too well.


46 posted on 01/26/2010 7:18:15 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (Kill them until they stop.)
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To: maggief
"My letter was pretty darn good. It took a long time to write.

"My letter was pretty darn good. It took a long time to find some knee pads and go to DC so I could give zer0 a Lewinsky.

47 posted on 01/26/2010 7:23:07 AM PST by Arrowhead1952 (New Year's Resolution: Never, ever, ever again vote for anyone with a (d) after their name.)
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To: eeevil conservative; tubebender; Grampa Dave

More mulch to put on the pile!!!


48 posted on 01/26/2010 7:24:23 AM PST by SierraWasp (Ammunition IS the new international monitary fund... ! ! ! ... ... ! ! ! ... ... ! ! ! ...)
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To: Cyber Liberty

I suspect that many editors simply saw a letter they liked and didn’t bother straining themselves to confirm anything.

I also think it might be interesting to see how many of these papers are in dire financial straits and may be fishing for a bailout.


49 posted on 01/26/2010 7:29:17 AM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: alice_in_bubbaland
I can’t stand that loud mouthed “Obummer voting”, self promoter.

Worth repeating.

Smerconish: I am above everyone else. I look at the total picture. I am cut above those other talking heads.....

Smerconish: Didn't we have a great show today. Great calls. Really Good show. Lots of good stuff. Check out my web page.

50 posted on 01/26/2010 7:29:52 AM PST by proud2beconservativeinNJ ("In God We Trust")
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To: Cyber Liberty; FrankR

Correct, the letter fit the MSM agenda. The yahoo email account should have been the first astro turf clue.

http://patterico.com/2010/01/25/newspaper-editors-begin-to-address-pro-obama-astroturfing/

First, courtesy of SarahW on Twitter, we have the editor of Ohio’s Chillicothe Gazette.

Interestingly, he appears to understand the significance of the issue, and has implemented procedures to prevent Astroturfing. But they didn’t work, because of the dishonesty of “Light”:

By now, much is being made of the letter-writing campaign of “Ellie Light”, who apparently had her letter defending President Obama published in the Jan. 17 Gazette and — both before and after — a lot of newspapers and with different local addresses.

I’ve written several times on Astroturfing — a way of sending form political letters to multiple news outlets with a few key strokes — and authored a column on Jan. 17 on how the Gazette was bolstering Opinion page procedures to make sure the opinions submitted were true and accurate.

Yes, the irony of having a letter to the editor situation blow up in your face just days after saying the newspaper is following new procedures isn’t lost on me. It’s embarrassing and regrettable.

But if we hadn’t followed those procedures, I’d feel a lot worse.

In this case we did follow them and were lied to about the local nature of the opinion and the address used. In short, we were duped.

Just how he was duped is fascinating, and I think deals a blow to the idea that Light is an unsophisticated grandma:

We received Light’s letter via e-mail (sent from a Yahoo! address) on Jan. 6. The letter did not appear to have the telltale signs of Astroturf (framed a specific way, key phrases, etc.). One thing the original letter did not contain, however, was a street address or a phone number, which is required for our verification purposes.

So, on Jan. 7, we wrote her a reply e-mail and asked her to provide both. She provided a street address on Cherokee Road in Chillicothe and a phone number and verified both her opinion and her street as local.


51 posted on 01/26/2010 7:29:56 AM PST by maggief
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To: autumnraine

One needs to be licensed in the state they practice. I would be interested in knowing what “type” of nurse she is. Easy enough to check her license. I call bull on this.


52 posted on 01/26/2010 7:32:24 AM PST by ThisLittleLightofMine
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To: tiki
I wanna see a birth certificate.

Birther Alert! Birther Alert! - LOL

53 posted on 01/26/2010 7:33:03 AM PST by chopperman
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To: maggief

Brent Bozell of Media Research Center was on FoxNews this morning. His complaint wasn’t so much with Light, but with the various newspapers who published her letter.

He said the newspapers are irresponsible because they failed to check out her residency before publishing the letters. He claimed it to be sloppy newspaper work, because most newspapers mandate that Letters to the Editor be from local/area residents.

He did go on to say that this was good work for the political machine because it demonstrated good coordination/effort.


54 posted on 01/26/2010 7:37:08 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: maggief

Boob/dye job, too.

55 posted on 01/26/2010 7:38:03 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: maggief

It is not just in newspapers that they are present.

I have been collecting the screennames for Dem Trolls on Twitter for several months.

Should we be trying to connect the dots and make a pattern image?

Here are some of them:

@EileenLeft (control?) @Greytdog (leader?) @Cody_K @jazgar @douglbutt @missmiranda @TreyPeden @Litzz11

@PhillyBella @onlineleft @lisabeth60 @memachel @LeeDunkelberg @svb123 @Tx4Obama

@hellonheelz @Teahupoo @twupsies @Cynicor @tllanes @augustePDX (leader?)

@Eric Robi (forensics) (associate Dave Kleiman - S-Lok)

@phive0phor @almostdorothy @Proudlib @1liberalmind @LindsayJoEcho

And after watching the posting pattern of many of them, I would bet they are on someone’s payroll (business hours- not 8-5).

And also came to the conclusion that some of them are “off-shore”.

All of them are insulting and try very hard to be annoying.


56 posted on 01/26/2010 7:38:11 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.)
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To: maggief

You make an attempt to verify. I bet a lot of these papers made no such attempt.

I don’t run a paper, but I’ve had letters printed. I’ve also had editors call me to see if I’m the person who wrote the letter, so I know some papers check.


57 posted on 01/26/2010 7:39:59 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (Kill them until they stop.)
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To: GunningForTheBuddha

“Ellie” used proxy servers in Italy and Saudi Arabia.

The first line of questioning should have inquired about the fake IP addresses.

Patterico notes that during the interview “Ellie” stumbles on the name of “Ben Smith’s blog” where her letter was initially published.

http://patterico.com/2010/01/26/ellie-light-revealed-and-then-revealed-again/


58 posted on 01/26/2010 7:40:30 AM PST by maggief
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To: autumnraine; narses; neverdem

I know a lot of nurses - and NONE of them acknowledge the basis for a “traveling nurse” - That degree of expertise that justifies a “nurse” going from hospital to hospital in multiple cities across the nation - plus paying the tremendous traveling costs and per diem does not exist.

Besides - Her “excuse” would not justify WHY the multiple letters all showed up in the same time frame in many cities: What? Does she spend only 2 days in each hospital?


59 posted on 01/26/2010 7:42:17 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: South Dakota

“and those innocent people in Florida just happened to have a scanner and a tape recorder when they just happened to pick up Newt’s private cell phone conversations”

God, don’t get me started on that operation.


60 posted on 01/26/2010 7:43:20 AM PST by PLMerite (Ride to the sound of the Guns - I'll probably need help.)
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