Dean Defense Forces (Exposed): Lobbing E-mail at the Enemy

[TrueAmerican]

Looks like Bushco and the Dean Campaign use the same tactics.

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4690
Dean Defense Forces: Lobbing E-mail at the Enemy




When Dotty Lynch, CBS's senior political editor, wrote a column criticizing Howard Dean on foreign policy, she was deluged with e-mails defending the Democratic presidential candidate, often in similar language.




"They were all rather insulting: 'Why don't you do your research?' " Lynch says. "When anything's orchestrated, you sort of smell a rat."

The letters were indeed generated by Dean Defense Forces, a volunteer outfit affiliated with the doctor's campaign. Day after day, the DDF Web log, which is linked to Dean's official site, hammers reporters deemed critical of Dean and urges its followers to flood the in-boxes of offending journalists.


(more)

[quinnox]

1. Journalists are not the only ones targeted

I have read on Dean's blog before that if you speak a less than glowing word about him, your inbox will get flooded by angry, self-righteous replies by some Dean supporters.

[wndycty]

6. Sort of like they did to Will Pitt. . .

. . .contacted his boss at truthout.org. . .very classy!

[Scott Lee]

13. Last I checked, donors talk to the organization they donate to

Or don't they?

[quinnox]

14. That was contemptible

It smacks of GOP tactics, when over zealous supporters want to shut down any negative comments on their candidate.

[Scott Lee]

23. I disagree. A donor has every right to pull their support.

If you had been donating to a given organization and felt they had reversed themselves, or in some other way made you feel that they are not working for your better interests, would YOU keep donating to them?

I sure as hell wouldn't. Where I come from, money is in short supply and hard to come by.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WiseMen]

76. Tactic of Concocting Personal Messages to Press Was Used to Slime Kerry

[bearfartinthewoods]

82. it's fear. it's spreading and you can smell it a mile off

they are afraid their candidare das an expiration date.

[Rose Siding]

17. I think that was "one" but the plural "they",

while presenting a completely inaccurate picture, serves to berate Dean supporters more broadly. Very classy!

[Patriot_Spear]

27. I could care less about Will Pitt.

He can freely say what he wants and people can donate to whomever they want. When the two clash, that's democracy in action.

i.e. you want my money? Don't trash my candidate.

[RetroLounge]

67. It was ONE person, and had nothing to do with Dean.

but nice broad stroke of your bash brush...

[Rose Siding]

11. Trolls post crazy stuff on candidate blogs,

as we are all aware. My questions have been answered there with consideration and offers of further assistance. There, anecdotal evidence for all!

**from the previous discussion thread on this topic:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=34217

Replies to this thread:

Imagine! Expecting research from journalists! party_line Dec-28-03 12:53 PM #1
Been around a while... as affiliated with Dean campaign as DU is mouse7 Dec-28-03 12:54 PM #2
It's called subverting the media HFishbine Dec-28-03 12:54 PM #3
How is this news? ryharrin Dec-28-03 12:54 PM #4
The real question party_line Dec-28-03 12:57 PM #6
deandefense.org killbotfactory Dec-28-03 12:55 PM #5
Uppity Deaniacs- don't they know their place is in the back of the bus! Patriot_Spear Dec-28-03 01:08 PM #11
When you fall in line... unfrigginreal Dec-28-03 01:00 PM #7
Tone Of the Emails Is What Matters Justice Dec-28-03 01:00 PM #8
I am glad someone can see the point TrueAmerican Dec-28-03 01:03 PM #9
How dare those Dean Supporters speak out! Patriot_Spear Dec-28-03 01:06 PM #10
Locking.....................

[wndycty]

2. Why did they lock the other one?

:kick:

[TrueAmerican]

4. Because I inadvertly did not follow the rules

an honest mistake.

I said "DeanCo".

Sorry.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Patriot_Spear]

7. Retracted

I'm trying to follow the rules, thanks for letting me know about that one.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[quinnox]

25. Also, stating you have alerted is

against the rules. But that doesn't stop some.

[Scott Lee]

28. Wasn't aware of that rule. But if so, I'll take my lumps. No biggie.

[Scott Lee]

26. Bragging? Try "preemptive announcement"

Realizing that it was highly likely a Clark supporter would respond with a lame insinuation about the identity of the one(s) who made the alert.

Proactive. It's a good tactic that comes from experience.

[TrueAmerican]

32. Damn IT

I already apologized! What more do you want?

Please stop smearing me.

[Scott Lee]

34. You're fine. I was not addressing you, but two others.

Who appear to have an issue with using the alert button for the right reasons.

[wndycty]

44. I think it was addressed at me. . .

. . .hey there is absolutely nothing with alerting, I do it as well. But I do have a problem with bragging about an alert. I would not have attempted to out whomever the poster was. Once I understood what the technical reason for the locking was I had no problem with it, I was not going to go any further, but then we had people bragging about getting a thread locked. I just think that is very classless.

[Scott Lee]

47. Yes, you and quinnox.

And remember, "bragging" is your term, and a very subjective one at that.

[wndycty]

52. Its accurate. . .

. . .I don't think I have seen people beating their chest about an alert before.

[dsc]

53. I have seen several times that people have comment on alerts

both trying to find out who did them and stating that they did. Given the many times that had happened I don't think Scott was entirely out of line to say he alerted but he did break the rules.

[wndycty]

54. Well is breaking the rules out of line?

I mean if a thread gets locked because it broke the rules, isn't bragging about getting a thread locked something that should b frowned upon as well?

:kick:

[dsc]

56. He says he had no idea it was against the rules

I know of at least three other posters who found out by breaking that rule that the rule existed. I was one and there have been two ATA posts that I personally read which asked the same thing. While ignorance is no excuse it is a different infraction than knowingly breaking the rules.

On edit there are now two more people who had no idea this was a rule as I was not talking about the thread currently on top of ATA.

[bearfartinthewoods]

83. chest thumping came to mind.......

.

[wndycty]

33. Well any Clark supporter who would insinuate about the identity . . .

. . .of the alerter is wrong as well. It seems like we are taking pride in all the wrong things.

[HFishbine]

29. Of course

Hiding behind anonmymity and not owning up to an alert is admirable, I guess.

[wndycty]

36. Bragging about telling on someone is???

:kick:

[HFishbine]

42. No

Not really.

[Patriot_Spear]

3. It's funny how shocked some people are at a Dem who fights back.

Sad. What does that say about them I wonder?

[Scott Lee]

8. Thanks to the DLC, that's how Democrats have been repainted.

Squeamish, handwringing confessors who would rather wear a crown of thorns than win an election and change things.

Thank you, Howard Dean, for doing so much to destroy that inhibitive stereotype.

[Patriot_Spear]

12. Unfortunately enabled by those unwilling to fight back in our ranks

You know, people on record as prasing Bush* and his cronies, and those who back wars for oil.

[HFishbine]

10. It says either

a) We have become lily-livered, yellow-bellied, pink tutu wearing (no offense to DU ballerinas), spineless wimps

b) Partisanship knows no bounds.

[bearfartinthewoods]

84. i thiik it means people are 'getting used to it'

they are stuck backing a candidate that like a kid, keeps sayi8ng the dardest things'. they have to try and threaten the media so they stop taking pictures og howard with both feet in his mouth.

thank goodnees we still have time....before we are all stuck with him.

[Eric J in MN]

37. We should be polite, but speak up.

When writing a reporter or editor, one should be polite.

But we shouldn't let bogus portrayals of candidates go unchallenged.

In the past week, the right-wing has implied that Howard Dean doesn't think Usama bin Laden should get the death penalty (he does (1) and that Dean "left his religon over a bike-path" (Dean attended a different church after the previous church refused to allowed land it owned to be used for community-needs. Dean showed he doesn't like hypocrisy (2)).

1- Mort Kondracke and Charles Krauthammer distorted this on Fox News Special Report.

2- Liz Trotta of the Washington Times distorted this on Fox News this morning.

[Patriot_Spear]

43. I disagree...

Polite will only carry you so far, and the repukes have begun to use our tendancy towrd being polite to our disadvantage.

It's time to call a 'son of a bitch', a Son of a Bitch, Harry Truman style!

[JNelson6563]

55. Yes, I agree

When we communicate with the media we should be respectful no matter how much it hurts. Otherwise they go right into defensive mode and you will get no cooperation, just bitterness.

Julie

[Pax Argent]

9. Use the tactics of the guy who's winning (Bush)?

Not the Dems. We're far too noble for that.

[Scott Lee]

15. No. We do it BETTER.

That's the tactic.

[Raven]

16. Haven't folks at DU done that?

I think we have been implored by varous posters to e-mail people who we disagree with. What the hell is wrong with that? Is this another Red Herring?

[Eric J in MN]

22. We should do this, and write the emails to journalist in our own words nt

nt

[Rose Siding]

24. Check the date on the article

A very old herring (color undetermined after this much decomposition)

[Raven]

30. Ha! Thanks, I don't come here that often.

n/t

[Eric J in MN]

19. People should use their own words when writing reporters, but we should

People should use their own words when writing reporters, but we should respond to the bunk which lazy or corrupt journalists may slime Democratic candidates with.

The media portrayed Al Gore as a liar who was contantly re-inventing himself.

That portrayal was a lie.

I'm glad we're fighting back this time.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scott Lee]

31. Yes, it exposes us as "mean" and all that.

It's amazing how quickly some modern Democrats have forgotten that politics is a down and dirty, fight to win game. We can thank the rise of the Pink Tutus for that one.

[Eric J in MN]

41. what do you mean by "Pink Tutus?" nt

nt

[Scott Lee]

48. The Old Guard Democrats - the ones that won't fight back

The ones that have been molded by the current and failing philosophies of the DLC.

The ones that Howard Dean is trying to fix.

[Patriot_Spear]

49. Pink Tutu's = Congressional Dems who enable Bush* n/t

[jonnyblitz]

20. man you guys seem so damn desperate..

Is your candidate doing that poorly?? you all must be just googling up a storm searching for something, anything....

[Raven]

35. The sad fact is

that all the Dem candidates are faring badly against Bush these days. So I guess we might as well eat them alive. Right?

[jonnyblitz]

45. yup. lets all join in the fun.

I have my candidate preferences but I don't feel that strongly AGAINST any of the them enough to go trolling through the archives in such a desperate pathetic manner in an attempt to dredge up dirt.

[patricia92243]

39. This is supposed to be wrong???? Republicans clamp down hard on anyone

that does not goose-step to their current rant.

It's about time that Democrats - any Democrat - stood up to these bullies - instead of criticizing Gov. Dean - more of us Democrats should be doing the same thing - BIG TIME!!

[Terwilliger]

40. let's not forget the Clark troops here at DU

and the people supporting Gephardt behind the attack commercials, and Lieberman and his Hippie-Hating Brigades

[madfloridian]

46. Nothing secret about it, links from the front page of the blog.

www.blogforamerica.com
It does not look all that active to me. When I write the media about Dean or another candidate, I usually have my own motivations for it. I think a lot of us do.

So does this mean it is ok for me to post some links to the Clark blogs? I found some real good stuff there today.

Fair is fair, since it links from the front page of the Clark official site.

[madfloridian]

57. I did not get an answer about posting links I found.

I guess I won't do it, as it would not be nice.

[dfong63]

50. uh, that's the same tactic used by moveon, union voice, democrats,

and a host of progressive organizations.

you got a problem with that?

[dsc]

51. Just what is missing here?

When Dotty Lynch, CBS's senior political editor, wrote a column criticizing Howard Dean on foreign policy, she was deluged with e-mails defending the Democratic presidential candidate, often in similar language.

"They were all rather insulting: 'Why don't you do your research?' " Lynch says. "When anything's orchestrated, you sort of smell a rat."


snip

Suggested themes: "Russert used Republican lies for his policy research. . . . Anyone who saw Dean's performance knows it wasn't his best, but it was a hell of a lot better than Chafets's columns."

Says Chafets: "They were polite, but they took issue with the idea that Dean hadn't done well. They were not unintelligent, but it was pretty clear to me they were writing from talking points."

end of quote

I would show you the whole article but that is against copyright rules. But go look for yourself. No where in this entire article will you find even one quote from the articles that were attacked. Not one semblence of a discussion of the accuracy of the DDF complaints. Also not one mention of a threatening email it should be noted. Simply put, the DDF seemed to have the unmitigated gall, to tell these people to do their jobs. Since when is that a tactic of intimidation? Since when are the people in charge of our public discourse immune from citicism? And why no links to these columns? Could it be the DDF was spot on? Could it be that the CBS senior political writer didn't do her research? Could it be that Russert did use Republican research for his questions? (that is a yes BTW).

I will state here and now. I will make no apologies for this conduct. In point of fact had Gore supporters done this when the press repeatedly told tales about him we might not be in this mess. Every candidate should have one of these. The press will bitch and moan, after all no one wishes to be told they are doing wrong, but they will change their behavior.

[candy331]

58. The media needs someone to

prick their conscience/lack of since they have been given a free ride. They now know that Dems have awakened from sleep and are just plain shocked that they will fight back. Fight Dems! Fight! Write! write! and still write more! Surely they want get angry because only the Dems are angry. right?

[curse10]

59. This is not surprising and has been going on for awhile

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002116.html

SEIU was innundated with calls from Dean supporters.

[RetroLounge]

69. "SEIU was innundated with calls from Dean supporters"

That's just because we have enough supporters to cause an innundation...

:cry:

[curse10]

72. Nice spin

:cry:

[Fleshdancer]

60. don't you people remember the media election of 2000??!!?

We bitch and moan every week about the lack of integrity in the media or their right wing bias, and now we have a group of Democrats challenging these people and that's suddenly a bad thing? What, we want journalists to somehow wake up one day and decide to write the un-twisted truth on their own?? Would the critics of this on DU be less "shocked" if the candidate of their choice had something like this?

The Dean Defense Forces started very early on by supporters for the purpose of pointing out when a journalist lies, distorts, or refuses to do his/her research on Dean's positions. Sure there are probably supporters who step over the line and write nasty emails or letters, but from what I've seen, many of the people responding do so in a civilized way.

I think what upsets most writers is that they're finally pressured by the public to do their job right instead of being lazy and regurgitate the ridiculous talking points they heard on CNN or faux news the day before. Explain to me how this is a GOP tactic?

[drfemoe]

61. Looks like Bushco and the Dean Campaign use the same tactics

Is "Bushco" just your nic name for Letters to the Editors written by Dean supporters? Or is there some evidence that * has grassroots supporters working together to inform the media?
ps The WH Press Office doesn't count.

[lurk_no_more]

62. To be the man, you fight like the man

Food for thought from….“JAFO”

[askew]

63. Is this supposed to be a valid criticism of Dean's campaign??

Because after reading the article, I can't find any valid complaints. Basically reporters are upset because, Dean supporters refuse to accept their lies and lazy reporting. Yes, this group notifies people of particularly bad Dean articles, etc. in the media and provides contact information and may give examples of taking points, but the letters are all individually written. So, they got a bunch of mail telling them to do research or check their facts. Did the Dean supporters have a valid reason to send those letters in? Funny, that wasn't addressed in this article. The media truly doesn't understand why so many democrats are pissed at them. But, we saw what they did in 2000 and they will not get away with it again whoever the nominee is in 2004.

[madfloridian]

64. If they misquote him, he often writes a letter to them. I like that.

He did that in the WP, and it got a lot of attention. They did not do their homework, he corrected them.

The media is lazy, and they tend to speak for the administration.

Yes, you are right about it not being a valid complaint.

:hi:

[TeacherCreature]

65. OMG you have convinced me

I am afraid if the Dean folks actually fight back, Bush could lose! Whatever will we do?

Note to Self: Must support Clark or Kerry now that I am sufficiently shocked and awed! :eyes:

[adadem]

66. It happens in person, too.

"grabbing on" to non-supporters to convince them otherwise. Very uncomfortable. Happened to my mom-in-law at an event just before Christmas, too. Hi Mom, if you're reading!

[bowens43]

68. Wow! Democrats sticking up for each other!!!

This is VERY good news! If they're spreading false information or they are attacking a candidate then they to be hammered and hammered hard.

[Hep]

70. Wow, July.

Pulling out the old classics, eh?

[Name removed]

71. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Myra]

81. Well, Dean certainly is a pioneer in this area.

Glad I haven't donated money to pay for this kind of attack.

[worldgonekrazy]

73. I've sent emails of my own volition

When a columnist smears Dean with a bullshit charge I often do send them an email to call them on it. I KNOW their bullshit charge isn't true, but maybe other people reading the article do not and thus come away with the idea that Dean will be clueless with regard to foreign policy. It is ridiculous. Clinton was a governor and he had the best foreign policy since...well I don't know, maybe Carter or something.

Plus the flip could be said. Clark has no domestic policy experience and that is what voters care more about according to polls.

[madfloridian]

74. How is that different than Clark's Army? I see nothing wrong with either.

http://www.clarks-army.com/
Strategize, Organize, Mobilize, Move (bush) Out!

I see nothing wrong with either candidate having groups to mobilize and defend them.

Look's like this site is pretty well-organized.

[rucky]

75. Looks like Bush & Dean use the same toothpaste.

Looks like Bush & Dean wear suits. Own dogs.

Dean IS Bush!

[Tinoire]

85. Nonesense

Clark is Bush. It's that simple.

[TLM]

77. Oh god NO!!! Not a candidate who hammers the media whores back...

this exactly what we've been demanding our representatives do. Now we've got a guy who has built an organization that does exactly that, fires right back at the media whores who lie and misrepresent and distort in order to attack a candidate.

If Gore had done that on the Internet crap and love canal, he'd be in the white house right now.


This smacks of desperation.

Clark and Kerry now have no campaigns other than attacking Dean. It's pathetic.

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hep]

79. So now Dean supporters are Nazis

Anything else on your mind?

[w4rma]

80. I suggest you guys start your own rather than try to tear this one down.

Sniping at a very efficient and good tool is one way to alienate *this* voter from supporting your point of view.