Posted on 11/10/2005 9:21:35 PM PST by mr.sarcastic
Finally this week, the elusive MD4BUSH may not be so elusive. After dogged investigating by WBAL Channel 11 (note: not the Sun or the Post, who seemed intent on covering the earlier aspects of the story), the Maryland Democratic Party released a statement indicating that a member of their partys staff is MD4BUSH.
Following the statement by Keiffer Mitchell, co-chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, that decried the dirty smear campaign by MD4BUSH, Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party John M. Kane called on Terry Lierman to launch an internal investigation into whether a current or former state Democratic Party employee is MD4BUSH.
"If there is something happening within our party, then let's take responsible action and let's handle it, Mitchell said in a statement (Democratic Party Condemns MD4BUSH attacks, WBAL Channel, November 9, 2005.)
Chairman Kane released the following statement: The actions of MD4BUSH have finally been condemned by the state Democratic Party after months of denials and attempts to marginalize the role of the dirty trickster, MD4BUSH. Apparently the Democratic Party has now abruptly changed strategy regarding the internet poster, MD4BUSH, indicating the state Democratic Party does, in fact, play a very prominent role in rumormongering and despicable character assasinations on elected Democrats in Maryland. I call on Chairman Terry Lierman to put his words into action and identify whether MD4BUSH was or is a state Democratic Party employee and expose the role the state party played in this saga, Kane said. Longstanding rumors regarding Martin OMalleys personal life were apparently promoted by his own party. Without a comprehensive investigation and a full disclosure by the state Democratic Party, Lierman and the state Democratic Party lack credibility on their recent denouncements. The Maryland Democratic Party has an opportunity to set the record straight now or they can choose to wait until MD4BUSH is discovered by other sources outside their organization.
[WBAL reporter] David Collins reported MD4BUSH targeted Illinois U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, used ugly slang to describe Maryland U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, and repeatedly attacked the character, integrity and moral values of O'Malley (Democratic Party Condemns MD4BUSH attacks, WBAL Channel, November 9, 2005.)
Here are some comments over the last several months by Democratic officials and members of OMalleys family:
Catherine O'Malley's father, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, lamented the effect of the rumors on his daughter's family. "It is an outrage that people practice the politics of destruction rather than the politics of good government. I'm outraged that these things go on," Curran said.
(O'Malleys React To Rumors, Firing Of Governor's Aide, WBAL Channel, February 9, 2005)
The director of the Maryland Democratic Party, Josh White, said the apology sent by Steffen should have been in a more formal letter, rather than an e-mail.
(Governor Annoyed After Article Questions Rumor Content, WBAL Channel, February 11. 2005)
But Josh White, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, called the message "lame and immature" because it was in the form of an e-mail instead of a more formal, conventional letter.
White repeated calls for Ehrlich to apologize. "The governor won't take responsibility for his longtime political hatchet man's dirty work," White said.
(Laura Vozzella, OMalley gets apology from rumor-spreader, February 11, 2005)
Katie O'Malley: "I want to thank the press for really not buying into the stories, the falsehoods of these lies, that have been perpetrated against me, Martin and my children for the past 18 months."
In a March 10, 2000 article in The Washington Post, Katie responds to a compliment the mayor passed onto the reporter.
She says, "It helps offset the rumors."
The reporter writes, "Rumors? What rumors?"
Katie explains, "That he's running around on me. That he's been running around on me for years."
Katie blames the rumors on her husband's city council opponents.
Three days after that story is published, Katie's brother, Max Curran, a member of the state Public Service Commission, e-mails Deputy Mayor Michael Enright, O'Malley's top aide.
Curran: "What's this business about telling reporters that Martin is running around. Part of the deputies' job should be getting Martin home with the kids-I fear the worst."
Curran writes Enright a few hours later: "You have a loose cannon (i.e. Katie) who needs some help with both Martin's absentee-ism and the presses' cut throat inclination."
(OMalley Camp Worried About Rumors Years Ago, WBAL Channel, May 19, 2005)
Collins said the Maryland Democratic Party called the governor's accusation "another example of the governor trying to deflect blame for his staffers' misdeeds."
(Ehrlich: E-Mails Part of Dems Orchestrated Effort, WBAL Channel, April 21, 2005)
Josh White, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, said the Ehrlichs' comments are misguided. "We think the ... administration should address the Steffen issue before they start handing out blame for personal attacks," White said.
(Associated Press, Kendel Ehrlich joins husband in fight against newspapers, April 26, 2005)
"We have no knowledge of who MD4BUSH is," White said. The governor "should stop chasing a hero and start apologizing to the people of Maryland because Joe Steffen said he did it."
(Jennifer Skalka, Democrats, Post named in Steffen web scandal, The Baltimore Sun, November 2, 2005)
bump
PING!
Where does Steffen go to get his life back??? Now that it is looking like, he was set-up and taken down.. on as a purposeful, considered dirty trick. I would think they guy would be entitled to some compensation by the MD Democrats and if proven that there was collusion, WaPo too.
Where is a prosecutor when you need one? I seem to have seen that this little play could constitute a felony on the part of the Washington Post (accessing a computer system without authorization) because this was done for financial gain. (selling papers) The sort of authorization that WaPo asserts they had is forbidden by the rules here even if they managed to communicate through a lawyer (necessary to keep the fiction that WaPo doesn't know the identity of MD4BUSH).
And now that the Washington Post have said they had access to this account illegally, why isn't Jim Robinson enforcing this rule by serving legal notice to the holder of MD4BUSH of their violation?
In spite of the "Prince of darkness" claptrap the guy actually appears to be very nice and very outgoing. That's what got him in trouble. He shared too much about his work life on this forum. The 'rats picked up on it and may have had inside info from statehouse staffer working with Steffen as well. Once they knew NCPAC was Steffen, they set the trap and drew him in. He's no prince of darkness. He's simply a good and very loyal guy who unfortunately was a little bit too nice, too forward and too trusting for his own good. Too bad - he did not deserve what happened at all.
MD4Bush Ping!
Thanks.
The Compost will never come clean. They will fire some reporters like CBS fired Mary Mapes.
In the meantime their stock will continue to take a hit as advertisers don't want to pay for ads and enable the liars of the Compost to continue their decades of lying.
Only the mentally ill Bush haters will buy their miserable rag, and only the mentally ill who own businesses will buy ads in the Compost.
the Maryland Democratic Party released a statement indicating that a member of their partys staff is MD4BUSH.
They know this for fact. And are not releasing a name? Why not?
Unlike the very honorable Steffen, no one in the MDDP is willing to fall on their sword for the good of the team. it's all about character (or LACK THEREOF!).
Great - double ping!!!!!
It strikes me that this confession is BS intended to slow down a ship which is sinking. If the public buys the "apology" the whole truth will never see the light of day.
They may be closer than you think, especially WP editor Leonard Downie.
I don't know if any of you have seen this, but VRWCTexan dug up some interesting "coincidences" a few days ago regarding some unknown posters who apparently signed up last summer to post on one single thread. Just in case no one saw it, I'm posting it here.
The posters they were talking about (see below) all signed up at FR within the same time period. They all posted on an MD4BUSH thread, then disappeared and never posted again. (What are the odds of that happening?!) I found it very curious. Here's a cut and paste of a reply where someone summarized what VRWCTexan found. (SOURCE: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1516499/posts?page=258#258):
To: kristinn; MrEd1964; baltimore; Bug10; genevaz; chloec; maica; Quilla; VRWCTexanHere is a summary of what was discussed last night, just so you and others don't miss it. (and to make it easier to find all in one spot).The ones we found weird coincidences about are bolded in red in the reply below. With the new one found by maica on "Baltimore," we're now up to 5 "coinkydinks."
To: maica; GOP_1900AD; CollegeRepublican; Jim Robinson; Admin ModeratorI have no knowledge of another thread on FR that has been pushed by drive-by posters like that one. Could someone have learned that Steffen was a Freeper and the attempt at dragging him in have started last summer?
JimRob will know from where the posts were made - how many different computers were used for the onetime posters.
Man, you're not kidding. Talk about your "drive-by poster." You and GOP_1900ad and CollegeRepublican did a great job of sniffing them out way back then.
Here they are. All these screen names are active (i.e., they haven't been banned), they have nothing on their home page, and, with the exception of MD4BUSH, they've only made one post. They haven't posted anything since this thread.
O'Malley Rumours
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/postsMrEd1964
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=157529
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=53#53
dempublican
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=1575
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=55#55
baltimore
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=157778
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=60#60
bug10
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=158000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=63#63
?authority
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=158672
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=66#66
genevaz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=159690
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=70#70
tskitmir
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=160844
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=71#71
chloec
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=163901
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=72#72
superwoman4u2
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=165600
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=74#74
theheadman
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=215727
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=92#92
MD4BUSH
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=173184
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=75#75
This doesn't even include the ones who posted on that thread that are now banned.192 posted on 11/05/2005 10:28:00 PM CST by shutup_you_idiot
Now, here are the "coincidental connections" that were discovered for the screen names above that are in red. They may be nothing more than simple coincidence, who knows.
genevaz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=159690
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=70#70To: VRWCTexan-------------------------------------And also note that not only did they post on the one thread, they all opened their FR accounts within one week of each other (last week of July 04) - some on the same day.... The statistical odds of that happening by sheer coincidence on a single thread of just 100 posts are beyond calculation.
Yeah, well, I have another "statistical anomaly" for you. Well, I don't, but someone who FReepmailed me does.
From my post at 192: One of the suspects is "genevaz."
On a purely unrelated topic, I'm sure, how do you pronounce the "s" in the last name of "Overholser?" That's not a name that sounds very familiar to me.
You know... for example, as in "Geneva Overholser" of the Washington Post.
Not that I'm insinuating anything, of course. Coincidences like this happen all the time, I'm sure.203 posted on 11/05/2005 11:50:04 PM CST by shutup_you_idiot
bug10
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=158000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=63#63
To: shutup_you_idiot------------------------------------
Here is one more re: "Bug10"
http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/td/
Tom the Dancing "Bug" by Ruben Bolling - WaPO comic cartoons slaming Bush
219 posted on 11/06/2005 12:39:06 AM CST by VRWCTexan (History has a long memory - but still repeats itself)MrEd1964
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=157529
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=53#53To: shutup_you_idiot----------------------------------------------OK - try this on for size "MrEd1964"
Leonard Downie, Jr. was named executive editor of The Washington Post on Sept. 1, 1991, after serving as managing editor for seven years.From
Downie joined The Post as a summer intern in 1964.
He soon became a well-known local investigative reporter in....
http://washpost.com/news_ed/news/edit_bio.shtml214 posted on 11/06/2005 12:25:12 AM CST by VRWCTexan (History has a long memory - but still repeats itself)
chloec
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=163901
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=72#72To: decal----------------------------------------
Also "ChloeC" - Chloe is the name of a hot DC hang-out that is written up in more that one WaPo story or blog:Editorial Review217 posted on 11/06/2005 12:34:00 AM CST by VRWCTexan (History has a long memory - but still repeats itself)
Waiting for Chloe? Get in Line
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, April 8, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1107055baltimore
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=157778
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174344/posts?page=60#60To: Annie Gram
Speculation of course, but one has to wonder if the "intermediary" could possibly be someone on the Baltimore Sun's payroll - perhaps
Michael Olesker or David Nitkin?
########
I can't go back and check, but I remember that the Sun's website had the story within minutes of the WaPo posting. Drudge also had it very quickly. I believe that it was initiated by reporters, not some independent person who just happened to contact Matt Mosk.
252 posted on 11/06/2005 7:40:29 AM CST by maica (We are fighting the War for the Free World --Frank Gaffney)
And finally, readers can go read post #224 by Quilla, who compiled all of their replies in one spot to show how similar they were.
258 posted on 11/06/2005 9:15:56 AM CST by shutup_you_idiot
I'm not sure what to think about all this.
Hey, we're talking about you. Care to join us? LOL!
I meant to include your name in my reply but I think i forgot.
i'm so sorry. I accidently got your name mixed in with those of the "suspicious characters" when I was pinging them. It was purely a typo, I assure you. :-(
HHHmmmmm....the plot thickens....with the headline "NITA NEPRESS SAYS IT ALL!
Good point. I was thinking -- given the Dem mantra of "it goes all the way to top! (Plamegate, AbuGhraib, etc.), perhaps they know it goes all the way to the top in the Dem Party.
Thank you for this composite of the resarch -- excellent work done. And no, the data doesn't sound far-fetched. Sounds reasonably likely. Of course without the definitive data (ISPs, etc.) I agree with you about the wiggle room as in "I don't know".
I'm here - I'm here -
I was amused that you added my name in with the ghosts of MD4Bush. LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.