"The Moving Finger" or Sleuthing the Smear Campaign

Who thought we'd seen it all during the last eight years of Bush Derangement Syndrome, that standards couldn't possibly be taken any lower, is in for a treat with Passive Aggressive Palin Hysterics.

But wait, there may be some good news. More than once in the last few days it has been put into question if the Obama default direction, instead of proudly pointing grassroots-up as claimed, isn't actually classic 'Leftist authoritarian' (meaning Marxist) top directing down.

While individual trolls continue to run amok making up slurs and slander as they go along, and others unhinge altogether (they MUST be desperate), whereas the MSM occupy themselves with the more serious aspects of character assassination ("Palin's town charged women for rape exams") there are some indications that the campaign's puppet masters themselves have also been pulling a few imaginative strings of their own, engaging in a bout of astroturfing (viz. simulating false viral grassroots activity - there's no unintended tautology here ;).

- Caption: Excerpt from Agatha Christie's "The Moving Finger" -

Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report believes a main source of some of the more outrageous slurs (Breaking News!: "Palin supports actual witch hunts!") can be traced back to the very top.

Enjoy the sleuths of My Pet Jawa in "Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them".

Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views.

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure. (...) >>>

P.S. Let's go viral on this.


Updates:

- The Jawa Report: "Are Obama or David Axelrod Responsible for Palin Smears? Some Thoughts and Reacts"

... today we have confessions of an astroturfer - but with a twist ... as can be expected he's keeping the leaders out of the heat and egged on by sheer 'idealism', fails to retract his lies ...

- The Jawa Report: "Ethan Winner Responds: Claims He Produced Video"

- Snapped Shot: "Red Alert: Obama Campaign Flagrantly Skirts Around Federal Law"

Linked and related:

- Ace of Spades: "No Defamation Without Representation!"
- Riehl World View: "Did Obama Fund Web-based Smear Campaign Targeting Palin?"
- Michelle Malkin: "Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign– and the cover up begins"
- Patterico's Pontifications: "The Cover-Up Begins"
- Hot Air: "Corporate sockpuppetry for Team Obama?"

- Filed on Articles in "The McCain-Palin Ticket" -