I'm With AllahPundit

I am with AllahPundit of Hot Air:

The greatest sock-puppet story ever told

How great?  John Dean makes a cameo.

It’s pure Le Carre.  Just like the Hiltzik thing was pure A.C. Doyle, just like the Greenwald thing is pure, um, Nancy Drew.

Did I actually make it through to the end of Seixon’s post? No.  Neither will you.  But c’mon.  John Dean and Jason Leopold and threatening phone calls in the same post?

That’s good blog scandal, baby.  Mmmm.

TS9, a regular commenter here, gets a mention in the Seixon post, so I'm hooked, but I'm waiting for the movie.

(If anyone cares/dares to summarize in the comments, I am sure I would not be alone in my gratitude.)

TURNING OVER AN ACE:  From the Ace of Spades:

Now, I am linking this stuff blind because I haven't read it all yet.  But from what I've skimmed, it is compelling.  And rich.

Stephen Spruiell of the NRO Media Blog attemtps to bottom-line this.

UPDATE:  Seixon provides a Cliff Notes summary, as well as today's action.

This bit made me laugh:

Perhaps most haunting was the email I received from Larry Johnson last night. He claimed I defamed him and called him a liar.

Hey, Larry - I don't know about defaming you, but here you go - you are a liar. 

I am going to ask a couple of the regulars here to provide a few examples (and I hope they do!).

Any questions?

Comments

[Sue]

Tom,

I could do it, but Top or Seixon should have the honors. I think it all began with our class trip to Scary's. ::grin::

[bennett]

Perhaps it is time to revisit what I think was TS9's favorite questions when the Townhouse story broke. Just who, exactly, are the "partisan journalists" that are on that list? And if I may make my own addition, are they coordinating more than just the message?

[clarice]

Seixon for Dummies:Leopold, Johnson and others appear to have worked together to smear others who criticized JL's work, and did so by employing a variety of sock puppets, by threatening those posters and by artfully editing their posts to mislead.

[clarice]

BTW, LJ when you read this as I've no doubt you will, lay off of ts , one of our most beloved posters or else *smack* upside the head.

[topsecretk9]

I'm not sure I actually get what Leopold and Johnson were doing.

[topsecretk9]

To add to Clarice ...they also believed someone involved was a Deibold employee shill, plant or something like that...or at least that's what Larry's emails had me pegged as.

[Wilson's a Liar]

No offense to Seixon, who I enjoy reading immensely, but this stuff is getting a little ridiculous. First we have the Deb Frisch vs. Jeff Goldstein soap opera, then we get Patterico boring us with his silly battle with Glenn Greenwald, and now 20 pages of a bad detective novel from Seixon. These bloggers need to remember that we read them because we care about what they think, not about their personal vendettas with other bloggers. Sure, some of the lefty nutroots types may be carrying the personal stuff a bit far, but really, who cares?

And we all knew Jason Leopold and Larry Johnson were nutcases anyway.

[topsecretk9]

Bennett...good question.

[topsecretk9]

Wilson..that's true.

In Seixon's defense though, these characters were engaging in threatening emails to him because he had written critically of them - threats of the sort to scare and shut people up. It's really about the thuggish behavior than a vendetta.

[topsecretk9]

Wilson..that's true.

In Seixon's defense though, these characters were engaging in threatening emails to him because he had written critically of them - threats of the sort to scare and shut people up. It's really about the thuggish behavior than a vendetta.

[Lesley]

One of the things I enjoy about my favorite bloggers is that they tend to be obsessive/compulsive. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Give them credit for sticking with a story. We've all read the same criticism about Plamiacs.

Someone over at Ace's referred to the Leopold meltdown as a "Dirty Sock Puppet" story. Too funny.

[BumperStickerist]

worse, 'they' found Seixon's parents phone number, apparently made threats, and started calling the parents at home.

The fun came later with the publishing of falsified emails, not of the stripe that Zengerele ended up with, but actual editing of content, inclusion of threats, and excising great chunks of the email.

Jayson Leopold for Mayor
Crazy Town. USA

I look forward to Leopold's upcoming article about how he was just doing research for a TruthOut series on "Tactics of the Right"

[Gary Maxwell]

Hey Top

We got your back if Scary and co start bugging you.

[topsecretk9]

Lesley

I thought this comment was pretty funny...

-Oh, it’s all so Scooby Doo. Thanks for linking.

Fly_in_Ointment on July 24, 2006 at 8:34 PM-

Russian Novel vs. the Mystery Machine!

[Other Tom]

I couldn't finish the Seixon thread either. The part about convicted felon John Dean was a bit too obtuse for me. By the way (OT), Christopher Hitchens has a great piece in Slate on Nigerien uranium and the fraud Wilson. It's at http://www.slate.com/id/2146475/

[jwest]

Wilson,

The Seixon situation has implications beyond a simple blogwar.

Leopold and Larry Johnson have received MSM attention, both being quoted with a surprising degree of media-bestowed credibility. Johnson is still being called on to be an anti-terrorism “expert” by a number of networks.

Seixon’s exposure of the mental instability of these individuals will (should) have an impact on who quotes them in the future.

[Lesley]

Topsy LOL

There is something YOU could explain to me: what was the deal with the captured screen shot with regard to you? I couldn't figure out how you got into that mix.

Sexion's story is definitely Inside Blogball (but I like it alot - rendered in my best Jim Carey voice).

[topsecretk9]

Thanks for the link OtherTom...Hitchens said last column he would have more.

Lesley,
I did a screen capture of "sealed vs. sealed" and I guess Leopold sent it via email to a critic - as proof his story was true (and then he denied he sent an email to the critic) I guess. I think that's what happened. Anyways, I think that is the only reason I popped up.

[Sue]

I guess it's just me, but I am enjoying watching Larry C. (a/k/a "Scary") Johnson be exposed for what he truly is. And the closer you get to Scary, the closer you get to Wilson and the game they are playing. Scary was carrying the water for Wilson and Plame on day one, yet claims he didn't know Wilson. Bullshit. And Leopold has been Wilson's go to man when the MSM took a back step away from him.

I could care less about Leopold's role in all of this. He is a bit player that is mentally unstable, or so it seems. It is Johnson I want to see taken down. And Seixon has started the smack down!

[Sue]

Seixon’s exposure of the mental instability of these individuals will (should) have an impact on who quotes them in the future.

Don't count on it. I have been on my own personal media war with Scary for over 3 months. I did read where Scary hasn't been quoted since June 18th, according to a Lexis search. So maybe someone, somewhere is listening!

If Scary wants to rant and rave at noquarter or over at Raw Story or Truthout. Fine. Don't put him in front of me as an expert though. He is a freaking nutjob, as anyone who has had dealings with him can attest to.

[topsecretk9]

Seixon has a better synopsis/outline up now.

I just think it was BS someone called his parents -- only intention there is to intimidate him.

[Rick Ballard]

Tom,

If you can believe this Pew study

"The Republican groups also have higher proportions of married people with children living at home. Four-in-ten Enterprisers are married and have children under age 18 living at home, as do 34% of Pro-Government Conservatives and 28% of Social Conservatives. Among Democratic groups, 28% of Disadvantaged Democrats, 23% of Conservative Democrats, and just 20% of Liberals are married and have children living at home. Conservative and Disadvantaged Democrats are just as likely as Republican groups to have children living at home, but larger percentages are single parents (14% and 19%, respectively).

studying the Kos Kids would be a rather futile gesture. Unless it was to determine whether they qualified as an endangered species. The demographics in every country which has embraced socialist nihilism support the proposition that such support has rather negative reproductive results.

Evidence that patience is truly a virtue.

[Rick Ballard]

My apologies for posting to the wrong thread.

[Sue]

Tom,

Have you banned Leo?

[Sue]

http://www.seixon.com/blog/archives/2006/07/the_shirts_get.html#comments>Seixon's latest

Johnson laced the email, to a personal account of mine which I do not usually give out and which is not available through Google, with personal details about my family and me.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

What strikes me about the paranoid fantasies of Leopold, Johnson, et al is that they are similar to that of Val and Joe's lawsuit against Cheney, Rove and Libby.

[Jane]

I'd like a list of all the lawsuits that Leopold has won for Libel and defamation. Or even a list of the ones he hasn't won.

Scary Larry loves that "I know where you live" line. Makes him sound truly impotent.

[Tom Maguire]

Have you banned Leo?

You have penetrated the mystery of his/her unexplained (but for my taste, delightful) absence.

But with Typepad technology, banning is a pretty temporary thing anyway. Unfortunately.

[Sue]

Tom,

Nope. He/she emailed me. I just forwarded it to your email account for your viewing pleasure. ::grin::

Typepad banning is temporary? Does that mean I could eventually get back in over at Scary's? ::grin::

[Sara (The Squiggler)]

I read the entire Seixon post and two things I found disturbing ...

Calling his parents. There is no excuse for this and I would consider this more than a blogger war, I would be very frightened if this happened to me.

Falsifying emails. This is also very bad, but is more easily protected against. Suggestion would be to cc every email to one of these people or about one of these people to at least one and better 2 or more parties to be held for proof.

[Tom Maguire]

Nope. He/she emailed me. I just forwarded it to your email account for your viewing pleasure. ::grin::

Typepad banning is temporary? Does that mean I could eventually get back in over at Scary's? ::grin::

OK, now I am confused - half the folks I ban never leave, and half the folks I mean to ban go away of their own volition.

Anyway, I certainly meant to ban him/her, the subject had certainly come up often enough, and I thought I had used the premier Typepad technology to stifle his/her dissent. But maybe leo just left.

Well, sleeping dogs are best left lying.

[Sue]

Suits me. He/she is now hanging at Scary's telling them how horrible you are. ::grin::

[cathyf]

Well, I'm going to put on my best worried-mama hat and point out that youse guys are generally way too free with personal information. Use a fake email address, don't use your last name, don't mention where you live, etc.

(Although I do have to admit that sometimes the info comes in handy. Like the time on a group we had a poster come on and tell us about how her sometimes-abusive husband was making bizarre threats and waving his gun around and did we think she should do something. We had the local police on her doorstep within the hour.)

cathy :-)

[Sue]

Cathy,

Seixon has a blog. It is pretty easy to figure out who he is. Scary can't find me. I am not who I say I am. ::grin:: Besides, I ain't afraid of no ghost!

oh well, it sounded good when spoken out loud...

[topsecretk9]

Su-Z-Q

Did you see my post on "Send New Lawyers?"

[Sue]

Top,

I'll go check it out.

[Sue]

Okay. I don't remember what the connection is with Benjamin. Help me out.

[topsecretk9]

He was quoted in the glowing Fitz WAPO, and at CSIS with Mary O' marcarthy and on the law schoool thing too. It was just my little dot I kept obsessing on...I just thought it was interesting he was on the Africa trip.

[Sue]

He does keep cropping up.

I printed the article that Clarice linked to where Joe and Val attended a state dinner during the Clinton administration. I checked the guest list and was amazed at the people who were there. What I would really like to know is who sat at Joe and Val's table. I don't suppose there is anyway to find a seating chart for a state dinner held in 1999 is there? ::grin::

[crosspatch]

"Calling his parents. There is no excuse for this and I would consider this more than a blogger war, I would be very frightened if this happened to me."

Right. That would be the intention. The idea is to convey the notion that they can "touch" you. But what is sad is the idea behind it. They are saying "I demand you act according to my rules and stay within the boundaries I have set for you or you will pay a price". There's some kind of group insanity going on over there that is ingrained in their community. It is acceptable behavior for them. I often get the impression these days that the Democrats are the party for people with various behavioral disorders.

"Falsifying emails. This is also very bad, but is more easily protected against."

One easy way is to obtain a program that can digitially "sign" your emails. It doesn't encrypt them but it does provide a mechanism for verifying that the content hasn't been altered and did, in fact, originate from you. Those tools are not yet popular among the masses but games like these might push their wider adoption.

[Joe Mealyus]

All of this is pretty weird and slightly blogosphere-incestuous, but the interesting bits, to me, involve Larry Johnson.

When C-Span was re-running the Las Vegas Kos-whatever Plamegate panel, I watched quite a bit of it twice, and after the easygoing likes of Waas and Hardin, the bit where Larry Johnson emptied a few cannisters of self-righteous bile struck me as downright creepy.

Now it turns out that Johnson (if this Seixon story is accurate) really is from Planet Ding-Dong. What does that say for the likes of TPMCafe that have judged him worthy to represent them? I'd much rather have been Stephen Glass's editor than Larry Johnson's....

[larwyn]

Sue wrote:
I checked the guest list and was amazed at the people who were there. What I would really like to know is who sat at Joe and Val's table. I don't suppose there is anyway to find a seating chart for a state dinner held in 1999 is there? ::grin::

Months ago I was ranting about the go go party D.C. scene during the Clinton years and the one photo I had seen of Joe & Val at black tie with Slick Willie.

Now you know that Vanity Fair goes to the fetes along with all the DC society media. Val and Joe dress for gawkers - and she is a man head turner, so the gals eyes follow what has caught the rubber neckers attention.

I will be shocked if Libby's team doesn't have guest lists and society pics from gala attended by the Wilsons and such as the A listers: Greenspans.

Sue what LSMers were at this event?

Oh and Matthew Sheppard has a nice post at Newsbusters on Leopold et al. Leftist Reporter Forges Emails, Smears Blogger Who Dares to Question 'Truth'
Posted by Matthew Sheffield on July 25, 2006 - 15:27.

[Sara (The Squiggler)]

Sue, if it was a State Dinner, there must be something in the White House archives. Social secretaries office or perhaps the Protocol office would have the seating charts. And no one would get in without being cleared by Secret Service. I was an assigned "meeter & greeter" at two White House events ... one was a Rose Garden photo op prior to a State Dinner with the PM of Australia and we had to turn in the attendee list to SS several days in advance. In another event, it was a sit down lunch when Reagan was President and each table of 10 had at least one person (like me) there to make sure all the important guests were taken care of. The seating charts were worked on for a long time before hand. (I ended up with Robert Bork to my right and Fawn Hall (Ollie's secretary) on my left. The rest of the table were seats "sold" for campaign donations of $1000 per plate. Figure at a State Dinner that you will have the head table with the Prez and whatever dignitary the dinner is being given for and then the rest of the tables will be high ranking officials mixed with high dollar donors and a politico or two mixed in to keep everything copacetic. I don't think State Dinner seats are "sold" as in campaign events, but who knows with the Clintons ... think Lincoln bedroom.

[Chants]

What I am unclear on is how John Dean came to beleive that our beloved and (mostly) harmless TSK9 was in fact part of a Dept. of Defense and Diebold plot to steal the election for Bush in Ohio.

[topsecretk9]

Chants...

at some point the character John Dean began to believe I was AnonymousArmy using another alias, and Dean and JL and Larry, believed AArmy to be a Deiblod plant shill employee (apparently there is a long history betwixt these 4 for concerning this). Dean has been "investigating" AArmy...and I think he may have thought Seixon was AArmy too.

I don't know, all complicated. But Larry sent me threatening emails out of the blue asserting I was an employee, used a mans name, of Diebold.

I guess an effort to scare me if I were this person (sort of like 'I know who you are and you are about to get it")

I had no flipping clue what he was talking about because his email WAS NOT ALL CAPS CALLING ME ALL MANNER OF INSULTS AND A MORON, LACED WITH PROFANITY, like it had the few time he emailed me in the past.

Around the same time, the Dean character left a lengthy comment at Seixon describing above, where he said Topsecret was a liar (seal vs. sealed screen shot), I was AArmy and a Deiblod person (same name)...almost word for word as Larry's email.

Had he not done that, I would not had a clue what Larry was inferring.

(also I have other hunches too, but not important anymore)

[Chants]

Heh. NO ALL SHOUT CAPS, EH?

Well it seems that by using your screen capture and his unmatched powers of fantasy, John Dean managed to convince himself and others that you were Pelletier -- who is, apparently, a highly scrutinized figure by those in the fever swamps.

How unnerving. And nuts.

[mojo]

Any questions?

Yeah - If Larry and his black-bag buddies dissapear ya, can I have your stereo?

[PeterUK]

Mojo,
Look at all the bad guys walking around out there that Larry's friends couldn't get,easier to buy a stereo,or go with the family.