Who is "Ellie Light" ?

[Jolie Rouge]

January 24, 2010
Obama minions astroturfing an unsuspecting media?

http://sisu.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834518c7969e20120a807a671970b-800wi


"Bungalow Bill at BBCW alerted his readers to the fact that an Ellie Light Facebook page has been started; they also used the image that he created," writes Left Coast Rebel, a Photoshop montage merging President Obama's face with a woman's body, a stand-in for prolific letters-to-the-editor writer Ellie Light, rumored to be Samantha "Hillary's a Monster" Power.

"These letters really do strike that blame-others, self-pitying tone we have all come to know so well in Obama's 411 speeches in the past year," writes blog buddy Amy Kane, catching the conscience of would-be kingmakers possibly trying to shore up Obamacare by planting flagrantly astroturfed, identically worded snarky "letters-to-the-editor" in various publications across the nation. A sample quotation:


So let’s get this straight. Obama’s predecessor took America to war under false pretense, citing "weapons of mass destruction" that everyone agrees did not exist, and today’s Republicans don’t want Obama addressing children because of "indoctrination?"


Can you say right out of the Bush-Derangement-Syndrome playbook? The rhetoric is so tired, so false but accurate, so adolescent in tone. Where are the grownups? Well, since you asked, Dan Riehl, Pat from Patterico's Pontifications, Left Coast Rebel, Bungalo Bill's Conservative Wisdom and others are on the case, delving into IP addresses, twitter accounts and other such arcana to trace the propagandists back -- Where? To the White House itself? -- to the heart of darkness where taxpayers' dollars may or may not be being spent to soften an unwitting electorate into accepting the force-feeding of an unwanted, sweeping health-care overhaul.

More scripted talking points masquerading as grassroots concern intended to misdirect the reader's attention from what's really going on behind the curatin:


Our previous president preached war against Iraq to anyone who would listen, children, adults, young and old, making us partners in his blunder, and the Republicans dare talk of keeping their children safe from Obama’s ideas? What are Obama’s ideas? That the government can be an active partner in change, rather than a nuisance. And this notion is supposed to be bad? The Republican Party seems determined to be “against” everything Democrats want.

Here's delving Dan, rooting out the facts, ma'am, just the facts:


The story was originally broken by The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Patterico is adding up the number of times the letter has appeared - still growing, it seems. And the Left Coast Rebel seems to still be on the case, as well. Stay tuned ...

It increasingly looks as though there's a fairly sophisticated spamming, or astroturfing campaign going on in support of Obama. Its target seems to be the op ed pages, in part, anyway.

Left Coast Rebel:


The Ellie Light [the name signed on dozens of the letters, each claiming to be a local reader] story has been gaining more and more attention across the net, Pat from Patterico's Pontifications contacted me and we were shooting around some details (secret for now). Pat also put up a new post at HotAir on the topic. Dan Riehl and I also have been discussing the topic (woo-hoo, LCR is swimming with the big fish!).

And Patterico:


The story is exploding. There is Astroturf everywhere. Go find some yourself. Just take phrases from suspicious-looking letters and put the phrases into Google and see what you find. Then report back here.

The Samantha Power connection alluded to above is intriguing. Obama's NSC senior director for "multilateral affairs," the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy professor is married to "libertarian paternalist" Cass "nudge" Sunstein, head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where, among other things, he is responsible for "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality and statistical programs,"


as Salon.com explains:
In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites -- as well as other activist groups -- which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens' faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists.

There's no proof that the Administration is engaging in such bone-chillingly un-American activities, but as Dan Riehl says, stay tuned.This could be the next big under-the-radar disintermediation via the internet of the powers that be.


http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2010/01/these-letters-really-do-strike-that-blame-others-self-pitying-tone-we--have-all-come-to-know-so-well-in-obamas-411-speeches.html

Ellie Light, Now Mark Spivey

It increasingly looks as though there's a fairly sophisticated spamming, or astroturfing campaign going on in support of Obama. It's target seems to be the oped pages, in part, anyway.

I was first alerted to Mark Spivey via a link to the Freepers in a comment. There are also other things popping up in comments on this post of mine. As you can read at link, of the relatively few number of people the Twitter nick Winston44 was following, one of them was a news editor punked by Ellie Light. That seems to take this a bit beyond sheer coincidence.

Patterico is following up on Mark Spivey. Left Coast Rebel on the Ellie Light affair.

A recent Associated Press article stated that President Barack Obama’s hesitancy on the Afghan war buildup implies weakness.

I wish world leaders had more of that kind of weakness. Clearly, Obama does not want to send soldiers into harm’s way without a clear goal, a solid plan and an exit strategy, three aspects sorely missing from former President George W. Bush’s military ventures.

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/01/ellie-light-now-mark-spivey.html


Someone has started Facebooks to track Ellie and Mark. Dan, your article is linked there.

Who is Ellie Light? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=261752540668
Who is Mark Spivey? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=272559025123

[Jolie Rouge]

Ellie Light” story turns a little bit freaky and a whole lot deaky
posted at 4:20 pm on January 26, 2010 by Allahpundit

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/26/ellie-light-story-turns-a-little-bit-freaky-and-a-whole-lot-deaky/

Actually, I take it back. It’s a whole lot freaky, too. The nutshell version: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer spoke to “Ellie Light” on the phone this morning and got her to admit — in a “husky voice” — that her name’s really Barbara Brooks, she’s a nurse, and that she wrote the letters on her own initiative. She gave them some personal information to verify her existence and it checked out. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/ellie_light_really_ellie_li.html

Later today, another woman — not husky-voiced — called the Plain-Dealer and said that she’s Barbara Brooks and that it’s actually her husband, a Kossack named Winston Steward, who’s responsible for the Ellie letters and has now taken to posing as her because he’s afraid the “right-wing crazies” will get him. (Question: If you think you’re in danger, why would you expose your wife to that danger by posing as her?) She too gave the Plain-Dealer some personal information, and her records appear to match those of “husky-voiced” Barbara. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/ellie_light_mystery_letter_wri.html

Can it get any freakier? My friends, it can:


This conversation with Barbara Brooks was followed by yet another call with the husky-voiced individual, who was adamant that “she” really is Barbara Brooks. The conversation got more weird, as “Barbara Brooks” of the husky voice claimed she had been divorced from Winston Steward for a year. (The other Barbara Brooks said that she and Steward have been married for 31 years, and still are.)

Asked to provide the name of “her” divorce attorney, the husky-voiced Barbara Brooks spelled out the name of “Tabone Enklery,” initially ending the first name with a “y.” “Enkerly” practices in San Antonio, according to the deeper-voiced Barbara Brooks, saying the divorce took place in Texas. He/she, however, could not come up with the divorce judge’s name on the spot.

Needless to say, there’s no “Tabone Enklery” in Texas’s attorney registry. Still not weird enough? Well, Gawker claims to have spoken with Barbara Brooks too — not the husky voiced one, the other one — and she insists that not only is her husband Winston Steward the real “Ellie Light,” but he was the one who called into Michael Smerconish’s radio show this morning posing as Ellie. You’ll find the clip below, via Breitbart; tell me if you think it sounds like a guy. http://www.breitbart.tv/mysterious-obama-supporter-ellie-light-speaks-i-need-to-own-up/

Oh, did I forget to mention that both Gawker and Ben Smith have received new e-mails from “Ellie Light” that don’t clarify anything? http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Ellie_Light_revealed.html?showall



----


To our readers: About that letter from Ellie Light
January 25, 2010

A woman named Ellie Light (if that is her real name) recently duped dozens of newspapers around the country, including some here in Wisconsin, into printing her letter praising President Barack Obama as if she were a local resident.

The letter appeared in three Gannett Wisconsin Media newspapers, including the Door County Advocate. As a result, it also appeared on the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Web site.

Since the Cleveland Plain Dealer broke the story Friday, Light’s bogus letter has been found in more than 60 papers and counting.

The editors of the GWM papers exercised due diligence to one degree or another, in most cases calling the phone number provided by the writer to confirm she was the author. However, she responded with false information and a series of different hometowns.

Because the Press-Gazette’s search engine is linked to the other Gannett Wisconsin Media newspaper Web sites, when it calls up content that appeared in other GWM papers, our logo appears on the top of the page.

Therefore, a search for “Ellie Light” would have provided links to the letter under our banner, even though the Press-Gazette did not print it and our editors did not post it directly to our Web site.

People intent on duping us are using more sophisticated methods all of the time. We catch many mass-mailed form letters, but this person managed to get past editors with a simple misstatement of fact.

Like many newspapers, the Press-Gazette already requires writers to provide a street address and phone number (not for publication) for verification purposes. We still believe in the inherent honesty of many letter writers, but this case will find us reviewing the incident to determine whether additional safeguards are necessary.

We apologize that this letter appeared on our Web site.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100125/GPG0602/100125147/1269/GPG06/To-our-readers--About-that-letter-from-Ellie-Light

Comments


Folks, "Ms. Light" used mybarackobama.com to does this. This is THE PRESIDENT'S website! He is facilitating this sort of bogus spam letter writing to editors. This is the REAL story, not Ellie Light. I don't think these editorial boards around the country even realize they've been targeted for a propaganda campaign by their beloved Barack. Here is one way to fight back and have fun doing it: http://maceoc.blogspot.com/2010/01/snoopy-does-ellie-light.html maceoc


You guys get tons of letters, emails, comments from readers and you ALL just happened to post/publish the same comment by Ms. Light? Riiiight. Looks like you all got busted and are backtracking. 2013 cannot get here fast enough!

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/comments/article/20100125/GPG0602/100125147/To-our-readers-About-that-letter-from-Ellie-Light

[Jolie Rouge]

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ellie Light only the latest episode of Axelturfing:
Remembering the Anti-Palin Propaganda Campaign

Thanks to excellent detective work by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, a massive astroturfing operation involving pro-Obama letters-to-the-editor was uncovered. A mysterious individual named "Ellie Light" authored similar letters that appeared in 68 publications in 31 states and the District of Columbia, 3 national publications, a Yahoo news story and 2 foreign publications.

While questions remain as to the true identity of M(r/s). Light, one thing is certain: this isn't the first astroturfing operation orchestrated by those in or near the Obama campaign. Not by a long shot.

On 2 September 2008, I reported on an information warfare operation launched against the McCain-Palin campaign. Just hours after John McCain had selected Sarah Palin as his VP candidate, proxies for candidate Obama launched a massive astroturfing operation.

The same lengthy message -- reportedly authored by a feminist in Alaska -- was posted in hundreds of discussion boards across the Internet in a matter of hours. This type of operation, of course, would have required a significant amount of work -- prepping messages and creating pre-positioned sock-puppet accounts. The identical messages appeared in:

• Prout Assembly
• 09/01/2008 Topix Politics
• World of Warcraft Forums
• Politico Forums
• and many...
• ...many more.

Later that month, The Jawa Report noted that several federal election laws appeared to have been broken in a series of similar incidents and implicated David Axelrod (who else?) in the morass. Dan Riehl offered a powerful executive summary of the research: http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2008/09/did-obama-fund.html


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.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

Using the same research tactics they've employed in tracking terrorist supporters online, the Jawa team deconstructed the professionally organized campaign of lies aimed at undermining Sarah Palin's candidacy.

Ace of Spades summarizes... http://ace.mu.nu/archives/297465.php


...for two straight years Obama and his zealots have waged a massive propaganda war on the world to convince us all that Obama was inevitable and then, after having been elected, was massively popular. All of this was done to demoralize his opposition, and to delegitimze opposition as "fringe." And also to discourage his opposition from voicing that opposition in the first place, because if you're convinced that you're all alone in opposing Obama, you tend to shut up about it.

As Massachusetts aptly demonstrates, we're on to these disturbing tactics.

And we've had enough

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/01/ellie-light-only-latest-episode-of.html