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Sen. Susan Collins' foot-in-mouthpiece blogger (H/T cherish), Lance Dutson, is at it again. This time blogging on the local Fox News affiliate website:
...The run-up to next year's senatorial election in Maine provides some unfortunate examples of the power of big money in internet politics. The so-called 'netroots', a consolidated movement of left-leaning online pundits and their faithful readers, have put their muscle and money behind Maine Congressman Tom Allen and his attempt to unseat Senator Susan Collins. Comprised primarily of the controversial blog DailyKos, which was recently charged with anti-semitism by former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., and MoveOn.org, the 527 group funded by billionaire George Soros, the 'netroots' have made a name for themselves through their ability to direct millions in campaign contributions to the detriment of whoever disagrees with their extreme positions. These positions include their opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, and their comparison of President Bush to Adolf Hitler. Despite the over-reaching tendencies of these groups, the money they have commandeered has caused Democratic politicians like Tom Allen to think twice before voicing dissent....
Yes, we're called "voters." Good to know that accountability to the public scares the bejeebers out of you.
Poorly written, factually-challenged tirades aside, Mr. Dutson is a paid political consultant of the Collins' campaign as her "internet strategy director" (and I use that term loosely). As far as I can tell after a search of the Fox affiliate website, there is no factual response to Mr. Dutson's lengthy attack on Rep. Allen posted -- so one wonders if this is an in-kind donation from the local Fox affiliate to the Collins campaign or if a fact-checking response will be forthcoming from the network or someone else. Enquiring minds and all that.
Mr. Dutson and Sen. Collins are quick to launch diatribes against political opponents' supporters...but desperately trying to hide the Collins connections to President George Bush and his failed policies on the Collins campaign website. Because, on the merits of her bravura rubber stamp performance for the Bush Administration, Collins' own voting record is getting her into hot water with a whole lot of folks in Maine. As CollinsWatch points out:
...It's pretty obvious, now, that Dutson is working, with the Collins camp's approval, to make this election about the supporters of the candidates rather than the candidates positions on the issues.
It will be interesting to see whether, and to what extent, the Allen camp engages him on that level. But my hunch is that they'll be smart enough not to take the bait.
If the Rockland Courier-Gazette is any indication, the answer isn't a good one for the Collins campaign on whether Mainers themselves are taking her bait and switch routine on the issues seriously. Susan Collins: wrong on the issues, wrong for Maine. So much for that two-term, "clean campaign" false front -- using surrogates to launch your dirty tricks (H/T to BobbyG)and CYA distractions? The mud still accrues to the candidate, Sen. Collins. Tracy Flick wannabes..the gift that keeps on giving.
You can donate to Tom Allen's campaign here on our BlueAmerica page. Keep in mind that Lance Dutson doesn't want you to do it. And then donate accordingly...
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zed
cc– I hit publish accidentally while I was working on my draft. This will be up in a bit, but your zed will stand. :)
Afternoon, Christy!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 2
LOL. Thanks! I needed one to start the week.
That damn anti-Semite Soros!
-GSD
When is Sean Hannity going to rush to Collins’ defense?
Christy Hardin Smith @ 2
I hate it when I do that. I don’t have to worry about people kicking the door down at my place though.
LMAO.
Good morning Christy.
GSD @ 5
Tsk, tsk Noam Chomsky complex I guess. [edit: that was snark. I think Old Chomsky is genius as hell]
I thought we were the nutroots.
We opposed the invasion of Afghanistan? When did we do that?
So, Lance is the guy Collins paid over $25K last summer to set up her campaign web site - which then didn’t work for weeks - and do some “assorted tasks” for her? Like trash-talk YKos, Allen, us, who else? Has Collins paid Lance more since the $25K kickoff?
ccmask @ 9
Be prepared for all sorts of campaign name calling. She’s HoJoe’s friend after all. One day it’s the “lunatic left wing”, “trotskyites” “commies,” the next it’s rabble rousing “you need to get a job” “antisemite” etc.
Ed*ard Teller @ 11
Well, he’s her own little “swiftboat campaign” - perhaps we should call Lance “Swifty”…except he isn’t.
Ed*ard Teller @ 11
you get what you pay for, i guess
Frank Probst @ 10
I don’t think it was opposition so much as it was asking for the administration to be sure they carefully thought out their plans. After seeing the Soviets get bogged down there, a very carefull plan was definitely called for. Some people claimed this was opposition.
From Dutson’s post:
“DailyKos.com, whose publisher Markos Moulitsas sparked national outrage when he condemned murdered U.S. contractors in Iraq as ‘mercenaries’”
LOL
JF at 15 — Yes, because the Bush Administration’s laissez faire lack of planning fubar has been such a fun time for all of us, hasn’t it?
O.o
ET at 11 — Yes. Every time he opens his mouth, Tom Allen gets more donations. “Internet strategery” at its finest, that one.
Wait, I’m confused, are we anti-semitic because Harold Ford suggested we were (thanks, Harold!), or are we pro-semitic because we’re taking Holocaust-survivor George Soros’s money?
I don’t care which side I’m on, but this Dutson doofus can’t slur us as *both* at the same time… (/sarcasm)
Even the apologists for shrub cannot hold the line –the only defenders they think won’t be attacked are the sick –Tony Snow and the under armed Jenna Bush,
Apparently Susan Collins thinks she is better than Lincoln Chaffee
Chris @ 19
The right-wing gets to decide according to the orders of the day. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, because apparatchniks just toe the line.
Boy would I like a paycheck from His Lefty Evil Highness George Soros.
mui @ 22
You and a few million others of us.
mui at 22 — Wouldn’t everyone. *g* And yet…none for me, either. Would that these strategery-challenged buffoons would check their facts before tossing out the idiocy…
Frank Probst @ 10
If anything, the outrage from netroots has been that BushCo took the eye off the ball in Afghanistan to focus on a useless invasion and occupation of Iraq. We didn’t stay in Afghanistan long enough to effectively and decisively root out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, which to this day have both regrouped and are attacking the US and NATO armed forces.
Lance Dutson is simply moronic.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 18
from Dutson’s Autobio:
Maine Coast Design concentrates on the development of comprehensive internet strategies for small businesses. Dutson specializes in gearing site architecture to be compatible with search engine indexing, and has developed a methodology that allows a site to persist in search stature while major search algorithms evolve.
Seems like a sound business model. Where did this brilliant young man go astray? The loose and highly inaccurate descriptions he’s used over the past six months of Markos Moulitsas and DKos as “anti-Semitic” are pretty disgusting. He’s beaten off (pun intended…) one big lawsuit, but he’s treading on some very thin ice.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 24
Unfortunately, facts don’t really matter to the ditto heads. It doesn’t matter to them if they contradict themselves in the same sentence, as long as they can get someone else to repeat it.
1,614 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Patriots:
Collins’s calculated attack on the netroots and the attempt to make this next election about the demons who support progressive candidates rather than the issues, record and reality of the horrendous mess we’re in and how we got in it, IS the 2008 election and is a bellweather for how Mrs. Clinton and her corporate bosses are gunna run nationally away from the Democratic base. Bill Clinton took the corporate money and the fascist playbook and triangulated Bush senior away from the economic “moderates” in the Republican Party and, with the help of Ross Perot, made the election in 1992 a 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 fight over a bad economy. In consolidating power, Clinton triangulated the progressives out of the Democratic leadership and,in the process, gave the majority in Congress to the Republicans. This left the Democratic Party with only 2 sources of cash to play, corporate PACs, large single donors and A*P*C. The Republicans consolidated cash and power in the Congress and left the Democratic Party isolated and dependant on a smaller and smaller donor base for national campaigns. In addition, Clinton’s “deal with the devil” disarticulated the Democratic Party from it’s populist constituency and left the elected leadership in the hands of corporatist-A*P*C shills like Rahm Emmanuel, Steny Hoyer, Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer.
Mrs. Clinton and her corporate handlers are fixin to make this election the same…she needs to reduce the Democratic majorities in the Congress or even lose them while makin the Presidential race much tighter’n it should be. The only solution to this strategy, as far as REAL Democrats are concerned, is to defeat Mrs. Clinton either for the domination or in the general election and focus on expandin’ the Democratic majorities in both Houses.
The fight is on and it’s inside the Democratic Party, whoever wins control of the elected leadership of the Democratic Party in 2008 wins control of the immediate future of the country no matter who is elected President.
KEEP THE FAITH AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER!!
….”and their comparison of President Bush to Adolf Hitler.” I must confess that’s pretty accurate.
The rest is hilarious. Since when is Congressman Harold Ford, Jr the mouthpiece for all Jews? Where are the facts on which these off-the-wall accusations are based? If I had submitted that article in my writing class I would have received an F, on all accounts.
JF @ 27
Indeed. The truth seems to have a liberal bias these days.
Please note that Dutson has also resorted to sockpuppetry at allenvcollins.blogspot.com.
Also, honestly, if anyone has an election law background and wants to weigh in on the “in kind contribution” question regarding the local FOX affiliate, I am interested in thoughts on this. It seems rather shady to give a paid campaign operative a mouthpiece spot on a news affiliates website to me without immediately providing a reciprocal opportunity for an opposing viewpoint. Especially when the person in question has a history of playing fast and loose with the epithets on Sen. Collins’ behalf.
Blue America donations:
I’m in.
MaineVoter at 31 — Oh my. He’s a real gem that one, isn’t he? Do you have a link on that? Would love to see it, if so.
I never read DailyKos. But I *do* admit to controlling Tom Allen with my eyebrows.
egregious at 33 — As always, you are a peach. Thanks much!
Roxanne at 35 — Mwahahahahaha…
Sorry to interject a complete non sequiter, but I have visual images of several of the commenters here. Whenever I see NorskeFlamethrower, I picture an old bearded guy in a Viking helmet with a blowtorch.
If one Democrat had to lose last time, I’m damn glad it was Harold Ford.
Wanker.
BTW, according to Howie, he’s doing his best to unseat Steve Cohn (who took his seat in TN) and replace him with a DLCer. If anybody is thinking of supporting Steve, who has an amazing voting record, he’s a really loyal and wonderful Blue America candidate.
Roxanne @ 35
You do have remarkable eyebrows, Rox.
Re: Harold Ford, Jr.:
‘Nuf said.
Jane at 39 — Amen. Harold Ford is a complete and total wanker who is in it for one thing, and one thing only: whatever he thinks is good for Harold Ford.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 42
Well, IIRC, Harold is considered the least corrupt of a corrupt political dynasty in Memphis.
Damning with faint praise?
Ed*ard Teller @ 26
Oh, really. I’d love to see the patent on THAT one.
You’d think that Ford would let it go now that his idiot sibling is no longer seeking that seat. But noooooooooooo.
Jane Hamsher @ 39
Harold is doing his level best to turn religious African-Americans into clones of the Pat Robertson/Christian Coalition set.
Way to go Harold.
-GSD
P.S. I found a picture of the “I hate Iranians” Def. Dept. woman.
America is coming unglued at the seams.
Nice little smackdown of this banal crybaby here.
1,614 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen JF and the Firepup Patriots:
“Whebever I see NorskeFlamethrower, I picture and old bearded guy in a Viking helmet with a blowtorch.”
Pretty close there BF, butcha fergot the pajamas and Mrs. Norske doesn’t let me close ta sharp objects er hot stuff.
KEEP THE FAITH AND A SENSE A HUMOR BUT REMEMBER THIS WAR AND THE FASCISTS WHO BROUGHT IT TO US AIN’T NO JOKE!!
Michael Chertoff steps up to the plate to lob more anti-immigrant bile into the bonfire.
Immigrants are dirty…..they “degrade the environment”…..
-GSD
Ed*ard Teller @ 26
Big lawsuit?
BobbyG @ 47
So Dutton was for net neutrality before he was against it? This kid is confusing, to say the least.
Like Hillary, Harold Ford, Jr. also keeps good company:
GSD @ 46
Oh, yes, Debra Cagan - love the red leather and the “I just had my ponytail tied too tight” look. I’ve tried Googling her and can’t find any backgrounder on her. Any idea what demon’s hiding place she emerged from? Where she went to school? Did she go to school? I would definitely not want to be in a confrontation with her without either Hillary Clinton or a large dog with big teeth.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 32
The first step is to establish the value of the blog as advertising. And they probably violated other campaign laws for failing to indentify the author as a paid representative of a campaign.
Loo Hoo @ 50
Big enough…
Ed*ard Teller @ 55
“libel, defamation and copyright infringement”
GSD @49
P.S. I found a picture of the “I hate Iranians” Def. Dept. woman.
That is one scary b…. It’s amazing how the inner soul of the person self-reveals in more than her words. That German cross and all that red and black! OMG. Yes, Lance Dutson has one fact right - a strong comparison to Hitler. This did not go unnoticed by the Brits, either.
katherine at 54 — Well, his bio blurb on the website does say that he is an internet consultant for Collins, so that does imply payment. But it’s a tiny blurb of to the side, and not at the end of the article clearly stating that he is a paid employee of the campaign.
It’s just weird — normally you see some broader, more obvious disclosure on something like this.
Ms. Collins better face up to the beginning of factually based charges that George Bush and the Republicans are, in fact, worse than Hitler in every way but one:
Adolph beat George and killed more people. But knowing George, and his control over the Congress and the Supreme Court, he’s got 13 more months of work left to do.
Hitler was also an avid environmentalist.
And was fanatical in his belief that all animals should be treated humanely.
George used to personally blow up little bunnies, has Herr Inhoffe running his environmental policy, and has Uber-Fuhrer Cheney taking care of the anti-humanitarian pro-white supremacist part.
Eat it Collins!
norske,
you are a god! And spot on re Hillary.
Back on topic. Isn’t it funny how Repugs respond to adverse questioning with some version of “the Clenis did it.”
Ok, assume the Clenis did it - they promised to restore honor and all that, right? So by tacitly admitting they are no better than the Clenis, they are admitting, by NOT restoring ‘honor,’ they are lying sacks of shit.
And the corporate media obliges them their talking points.
Feh!
Oh, oh. From the DLC website:
I’d be worried if Ford embodies where the country ought to be in the 21st century. And if he’s a results-oriented politician with fresh ideas, then why isn’t he in the Senate?
Maybe my last question has to with Johanna Goldsmith.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 58
Anyone can have a blog on this site –someone familiar with Tom Allen campaign can set one up too. No violation.
GSD @ 49
What a charming xenophobe.
Now that he’s found green religion, will DHS allow environmental review of their habitat-destroying border fence?
katherine at 62 — Thanks — I wondered if that might be the decision point on how this was evaluated. Much appreciated.
I’m SO tired of shitty, lazy reporting (although Collins’ staffer clearly goes into purposefully deceptive territory).
There was an article about John Edwards in yesterday’s LA Times with the sub-heading “…a factory closure and his-rich guy image may trip him up.”
And they just had to quote a Republican in Iowa who brought up the $400 haircut.
I sent off this letter to the editor, as well as the article’s author and the paper’s omsbudsman:
“The article “Edwards Machine Rolls Across Iowa” (9/30/07) questions whether John Edwards’ “rich-guy image may trip him up”. Senator Edwards is a self-made man from a small rural town. He only had a ‘rich-guy image’ if the media keeps pushing this hackneyed narrative. Both George W. Bush and Mitt Romney were born into wealthy, blue-blood political families. But the media doesn’t consider them “rich guys”? As for Edwards’ “widely derided” haircut — this is a self-perpetuating story on the part of lazy political writers. How much does Guiliani spend on his suits? Or Romney for his tan? Why can’t the press focus on the major issues confronting this country rather than such trivialities?”
HAZmaq @ 59
The hope that the GOP has is simple: I don’t believe and the American people don’t want their President held up to Hitler. They are not the same. The President has not sent people to gas chambers; the President has only attempted to defend his country. If you polled on the question of comparing Hitler to the President you would lose. So the more you do it, the higher the GOP chances will be.
dakine01 @ 43
Praiseworthy to be the least corrupt of a corrupt political dynasty.
I don’t like to see Steve Cohen being challenged by Ford. Steve Cohen if you ask me has done a darn good job at resisting some of the slam moveon.org, impeachment off the table crapDC-itis. And he’s great to watch in Conyers committee.
Christy, re the last post, the e-mail I sent to Richard Schmitt at the LA Times bounced back.
dakine01 @ 23
I asked first?
Lindy at 66 — Thanks much. Maybe the website had his e-mail listed incorrectly at the LATimes?
Thank God Jenna. As a Democrat I was very worried. Now I can sleep tonight.
At least one Bush doesn’t aspire to the White House
Jenna Bush, in her first live TV interview, rules out a career in politics
Lindy @ 67
Me too
I love this:
Harold Ford Jr. is a Democrat in the same way that Richard M. Nixon was a Quaker.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 70
Is she the one with the bright career as an author with a big advance and nothing to show for it?
Jo Fish @ 72
Harold Ford Jr. is a Democrat in the same way that Richard M. Nixon was a Quaker.
Anti-semite? Who? Noam Chomsky? Soros?
BTW. Isn’t “self-hating Jew” in itself a sort of anti-semitic stereotype? It’s like a circle that goes round and round and gives me a headache. Ibupr*fin time.
Has anyone tried the Mesmer stare?
Glenn Greenwald has an interesting piece today on the double standard that seems to apply to the hurling of “Hitler” and “Nazi” epithets in political, um, “discourse.”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/g.....zi_insult/
Oklahoma kiddo @ 71
I saw part of it on NBC this AM, she also said daddy chimp is worried that criticism directed towards him may roll off on to jenna. Also her daddy Chimpy is “open minded” and “incredibly smart” and the criticism against him about his “word mix-ups” is unfair.
GSD @ 46
Good Grief! Don’t they have a dress code where she works??! She looks like a “Blazing Saddles” takeoff on some WWI Iron Cross recipient. Her attire does not speak well for what’s under the hood inside her noggin, IMHO.
Debra Cagan, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs in the US Department of Defense. Where did she come from? How did she get this appointment? What is her background?
How can Debra Cagan be given so much authority to speak for the American people to any foreign country. The “Commando Cross” is befitting her demeanor.
I can find nothing about her background on the Internet. Maybe some of you have better luck.
twolf1 @ 78
And yesterday she said that her daddy was really really really upset about the war and she wished people would just leave him alone.
And these are Harold Ford, Jr’s real plans:
GSD @46
I went to that picture. Shame on you for not issuing a spew alert!
Is that the Iron Cross she’s wearing?
In Dutson’s “MyFoxMaine” article cited by Christy, Dutson says this - “the controversial blog DailyKos, which was recently charged with anti-semitism by former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr…..”
But, later in the article, he also adds this about DailyKos - “and has received scrutiny from both sides of the political aisle after publishing harsh anti-semitic content….”
Is his second statement proveable? If it isn’t, how loose can one be with that onerous term, and get away with it? Some have even played with the term here in describing statements or actions which clearly were not deserving the accusation. Has anyone considered that Dutson’s second use is distinct from the earlier Ford reference? If it can’t be backed, isn’t it libel, pure and simple?
alank @ 76
Doesn’t work. Too many people laugh at you.
QuakerGirl @ 79
I tried to find her also - she’s been around for quite a while; I found a reference to her being in the State Dept. in 1998. So, perhaps she is a legacy from… someone. What I find is that I could not find any sort of backgrounder on her - no CV, no college degrees, nuthin’.
OT New Froomkin Covers the WH “Climate Change” summit and Sy Hersh among other points.
No doubt, by this afternoon Debra Cagan will rate a wikipedia article or two. As I pointed out this morning, she is 100% TRex fodder.
oddmommy @ 77
Yes, Chimpy and his apparatchniks like to think of him as “positively Churchillian”. Interesting. Not FDR. But Churchill? Why Churchill? FDR apparently thought of Churchill as the last of the victorian imperialists. And Churchill apparently didn’t think being an imperialist was all that bad.
Ed*ard Teller @ 84
Aye, aye, where’s the linkage.
OT–
Key figures about Iraq: A snippet:
The other figures are also quite interesting if they’re accurate, like these:
Christy Hardin Smith @ 64
Perhaps we should all sign up for blogs
Jane Hamsher @ 39
I agree 100% Jane. I never really could get behind Harolds campaign last year. DINO all the way. I’ve been following Steve’s career on the state and now federal level since I moved to Tennessee 14 years ago and believe me, he’s the real deal.
Ed*ard Teller @ 87
ET - no doubt about it. All I can tell you is that she’s had some sort of reasonably high level Pentagon or State Dept. assignment for every notation I can find for her and she seems to be some sort of specialist in Eastern Europe/Russia/former Soviet States.
yellowdogD @ 83
Kind of gives new meaning to ‘dominating the world’.
-GSD
Christy Hardin Smith @ 42
How true!
Toby Wollin @ 86
On the last thread, I linked a couple of interesting things about her.
1. She met with Scooter Libby on 5/30/03.
2. She had headed a nuclear anti-proliferation Project.
3. She dealt with Armitage in her work.
I can’t recall confirmation hearings for Frau Blucher.
-GSD