Exclusive News from the Muffled Oar:
The Department of Justice has hired a team of partisan Democrat campaign bloggers to work at the Department. The Muffled Oar has learned this decision was treated with a great deal of skepticism both inside the career ranks at the Department but also among some Obama loyalists who expressed concern that such a decision would lend itself to the growing appearance that the Holder Justice Department is more political than the Bush Justice Department was ever accused of being. Tracy Russo is one such blogger from the campaign of John Edwards. The unit is housed in the Office of Public Affairs. 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. One conservative editor recently told the Muffled Oar that they have noticed a significant increase in the number and aggressiveness of comments to stories critical of the Holder Justice Department. “There is clearly a designed effort to rebut stories that are exposing the Holder Justice Department as more political than the last. We’ve seen a change in the pattern of anonymous emails we receive and comments posted at our paper’s webpage.”
One shivers at the thought of a team of Department of Justice Bloggers anonymously trolling the web to spin the message of a President. It is particularly terrifying when those same anonymous government employees at the Department attack media outlets and newspapers anonymously. How much longer before the Blog Squad operates in the open to intimidate political opponents and critics?
Friday, October 2, 2009
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19 comments:
Somehow, I don't see Russo reaching out to The Muffled Oar anytime soon.
But she did, rather brilliantly, get DOJ onto MySpace. Where someone (presumably New Media Specialist Russo) agreed to friend "XXX.nipplebutz<." Well, anyone who worked for Edwards is bound to have some judgment issues. . . . Still, I'm keeping the screenshot of that, just for laughs.
Seriously, as I checked out the new DOJ website yesterday and noted the grave pronouncements about transparency, I kept thinking how that word justifies a thoroughly-useless blog . . . but is meaningless when it comes to statutorily-required cooperation with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights's investigation. Perhaps if Ms. Russo reads this, she can devote an entry to enlightening us on just how that word should be parsed.
This is hardly unexpected behavior from the Left. The question is what to do about it. If some of these hired internet ringers and their posts can be traced back to the Obama administration, I imagine they would be open to some real ridicule.
Do you have anything in the way of, say, "evidence" for this Blog Squad?
Just sorta think that might round out the piece a bit. You know, providing some basis for the claims.
Call me crazy. Just don't call me Russo.
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Mr vegas. Suggest you use Google to seel answers to your question. The fact she works there and has a skill set seemingly perfect for being a blogger and troll in fact constitutes evidence. It might not be all the evidence, but it certainly is some.
Mr Vegas. Excellent question. It would be nice to see something that resembles evidence. That's not to say that the Obama administration wouldn't do such a thing. It's just that one looks really stupid accusing them of intentional trolling without even one tiny little scrap of support/proof/evidence.
The news networks themselves would have to confirm this for us by releasing IP numbers and MAC addresses used to post these comments. I've believed for a long time that not only do our tax dollars pay for this, so do communist interest groups. It's completely naive to think otherwise.
This story is clesrly anopther prtisan hack job, conjured up by the "just say no" Republicans.
Ms. Russo.
Department of Justice? Ha. DOJ stands for Department of Jerkoffs. By the time this administration is done, we're gonna have to completely re-do every branch of government just to make sure we've gotten rid of all the Obama and ACORN cronies and crooks.
Making up fake comments to annoy anti-DOJ posters? Are you KIDDING me? That is so 1996. Flame wars are boring now. You'd think they'd at least use the resources at hand and go for some false investigations or something. Sheesh.
Brr... Forget I said that. Don't want to give 'em any idears.
We at the The Guild Of American Trolls strongly protest this action, in the middle of a recession, that deprives legitimate trolls of a chance to earn a living. Guys, we do the same thing every day, for free!
Gotta go bow in the direction of The One now.
Russo should be fired. There is an additional story at the Muffled Oar indiating this behavior may be taking place across the entire Federal Government with coordination out of the White House.
"The fact she works there and has a skill set seemingly perfect for being a blogger and troll in fact constitutes evidence."
Not in my world. That's just made up conspiracy crap. REAL EVIDENCE please.
It's an interesting theory, but like other comments point out, evidence is really needed before publishing the theory.
Server logs are the most frequent way astroturfers have been caught in the past.
"Not in my world. That's just made up conspiracy crap. REAL EVIDENCE please."
The story has sources. The circumtsances check out. Don't believe it, then do your own investigation and let everyone know what you find.
This story is obviously false. President Obama is so full of wonderful wonderfulness that its amazingly wonderful how awesome he is. I have never seen anyone on the internet anonymously blogging about how amazingly terrific Obama is, eve though he really is so amazingly terrific. By the way, did you know that President Obama has never told a lie and is a certified genius and can outrun an antelope? Its true, because he is so honest and amazing!
:)
Why would anyone doubt this story? Obama's operatives own the mainstream media. Why leave blogs...the new media...alone to speak the truth?
Angry White Dude
I know that I have had problems when I blog anything negative against President Obama's agenda. My posts are marked as "spam" or they somehow disappear from "Comments" even though my post are acceptable in content. I voted for President Obama but I am not happy with his lack of transparency and his spending. I believed he would do the line by line review of the budget and cut excess but he didn't. I am troubled by his choice of FCC Diversity Officer after Chavez revolution was praised by him. Overall, I just have an uncomfortable feeling something is going on and this just adds to it. We need some balance in our government so this election I'm voting for a Republican.
The actions of the DOJ are a VERY CLEAR violation of the "Hatch Act". May DOJ soon taste its own sorry excuse for "justice".
I've quietly traveled to D.C. and Virginia and secretly listened to TRACY RUSSO bragging about "her DOJ blogging team" and how much "Obama and Holder love her" and "how great the pay is". As a retired federal investigator with nearly thirty years field experience, I know how to obtain info and use it. "BIG" TRACY RUSSO, OBAMA, and HOLDER BELONG IN PRISON! There will be many "Hatch Act" indictments coming out of this sorry mess!
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