PA-Sen: Arlen Specter's Ties To Steve Pigeon, Roger Stone

by: robert.harding

Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 10:12:51 AM EDT

The Pigeon connection alone isn't good for Specter. Pigeon, while a former Erie County Democratic Party chair who has been photographed with Democratic Party leaders like former President Bill Clinton, has done more to hurt the Democratic Party than help it. He has ties with Republicans, including Sen. George Maziarz, which were key in coming up with the coup plan to begin with.

Pigeon's destruction has been seen in Erie County, where he recently canceled a fundraiser benefiting Buffalo mayor Byron Brown, who has been a Pigeon ally, and where he is still wreaking havoc. It was announced earlier this week that Pigeon teamed up with Republican Chris Collins to force a Democratic primary with Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz.

For Pigeon, it's about furthering his own political agenda, not supporting the Democratic Party. That is why his support of Specter (and Specter's presumed acceptance of that support) is questionable.

But Pigeon also had some help in the coup. He admitted last week that Roger Stone was in on the action too. Stone, of course, is a shady Republican political operative who has done a lot of his own damage in New York and also has ties to Specter.

So Arlen Specter, who switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in late April, is siding with two characters who have been key players in the dysfunction going in the New York State Senate. Pigeon and Stone both had a hand in taking apart the Democratic majority (something both men surely got a lot of pleasure out of) and now Specter, who is trying to show just how much of a Democrat he is, is welcoming their support. Pigeon is playing a role in raising money for him and Stone has held a fundraiser in the past for Specter.

If I were the DSCC and Pennsylvania Democrats, I would be asking questions about who Specter is aligning himself with. These aren't Democrats. Roger Stone is definitely not a Democrat. Steve Pigeon might claim that he is a Democrat, but he is not. He has helped lead many fights against Democrats over the years. Specter shouldn't be aligning himself with these two individuals if he wants to be supported by Democrats, not only in Pennsylvania, but outside of Pennsylvania as well.

NY-20: Roger Stone smears us, spins for Tedisco

by: devtob

Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 13:57:41 PM EDT

Notorious GOP operative Roger Stone's presence in the 20th was first rumored, then verified, at The Albany Project, and Stone evidently would have preferred that his involvement in the 20th had been kept between him and Jimmy.

Of course, he could have done that by advising Tedisco by phone or e-mail, but he decided to drop by Tedisco's HQ in Halfmoon.

He told Dicker he was just visiting friends.

The bridge Stone has for sale, below.

NY-20: Somebody Is Lying

by: phillip anderson

Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 14:37:51 PM EDT

"My parents still live in Northern Westchester." Stone wrote. "I visited them at the end of last week and then drove up to the Albany area to see some friends...I certainly have no formal role in the recount. I have many friends of long standing who are involved."

That's pretty much all I could get out of him after trying to reach him on several occasions.

He declined to say much more, and also declined to respond to any of the postings at TAP, which he referred to as "left-wing blog crap," adding in vintage Stone style: "Liberals are paranoid."

He also confirms, much as I suspected, that his buddy Michael Caputo in along for the ride, though he insists Caputo is only in New York to "revive his father's insurance business in Buffalo." Caputo is apparently doing all the reviving from Halfmoon. Or something.

Irene Jay Liu at CapCon goes a bit further and asks both the Tedisco campaign and the NRCC if Stone may be in the district at their behest. Both camps deny it and I'm pretty sure at least one of them is being, shall we say, less than truthful. She even gets a dig in at those of us who pay attention to such goings on as chasing a "white whale" in Stone. But, whatever.

Roger Stone, controversial GOP political consultant and white whale of sorts for New York's liberal bloggers, has been spotted in Upstate New York.

More specifically, the liberal "The Albany Project" alleges that Stone was spotted at the campaign headquarters of GOP 20th congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, which has pro-Murphy blog commenters all in a tizzy.

The Tedisco campaign says, unequivocally, that Stone has no involvement in the campaign. From Tedisco campaign spokesman Tyler Brown via email:

We've had no contact with Mr. Stone and he is not affiliated with the campaign in any capacity.

(He is not a volunteer and he is not on loan from the campaign committees).

Stone has not been retained as a consultant for the campaign by the National Republican Congressional Committee, said spokesman Paul Lindsay.

Let's make this simple. This is Roger Stone and (most likely) his pal Michael Caputo:

This picture was taken minutes after they left Tedisco's HQ. Period. Stone and Caputo may indeed not be technically working for the Tedisco campaign or the NRCC, but for the Tedisco campaign to claim that they have had "no contact" with Stone is simply not true. They know it. Stone knows it. Now you know it.

I have no idea who is paying for Stone's services up in the 20th, but someone is, and I can guarantee you that Stone and Caputo are not on the ground up there for the weather and they don't work for free.

It would be especially ironic if they were working for the NRCC, given that the NRCC blasted their list hours after the polls closed in NY-20 screaming, "Don't let them pull a Franken!" and steal this election. Then again, screaming "don't let them steal it!" whilst sending their chief election skullduggerer into the fight would be oh so poetic and par for the course these days.

NY-20: Roger Stone Snapped In Clifton Park With...Michael Caputo?

by: phillip anderson

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 22:06:27 PM EDT

In our tipster's words:

I ended up too busy to head over to the Tedisco HQ at lunch time but I did manage to get out of the office early this evening. I went over to the HQ parking lot and pulled into a spot. I think it used to be a restaurant or something. I wasn't there ten minutes when freaking STONE came out and was driven to Bellini's in Clifton Park. They were dropped off by a guy who left the parking area and drove away. He didn't come inside - or at least I don't think he did. I wasn't there long.

I went inside and asked for the bathroom. I walked in toward the men's room and saw Stone and the other guy standing there. They appeared to be waiting for the rest of their party.

When I returned from the bathroom they were still standing there so I snapped an iPhone photo. It isn't very good, but I only had one opportunity. It is pretty clearly Stone but the other guy suddenly looked up so his face is not so clear. He saw me take the pic and followed me outside the restaurant. He stood at the door, watched while I got in my car, and then went inside to rejoin Stone.

He also says that the other man in the photo was with Stone the other night at Loporto's in Troy. He goes on:

I think its that Caputo dude you outed for fronting that Stone anti-spitzer Web site long ago.

Michael Caputo? Could it be? You remember Michael Caputo, don't you? The guy who claimed to have "never worked in New York politics at Roger Stone's behest?" NYFacts.net, anyone?

Is it Caputo in the picture with Stone? I don't know. It certainly could be. Judge for yourself.

Regardless, I think it's safe to assume that Stone and his pal aren't here in New York and hanging out at the Tedisco HQ for, ya know, the scenery.

On the web: Protect NY-20.

BREAKING: Judge Rules Counting Of Paper Ballots To Begin Wed

by: phillip anderson

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 16:34:09 PM EDT

The Murphy campaign argued in Judge Brands' courtroom this morning that ballot counting should begin as soon as possible and had suggested Wednesday as date to start.

This is potentially a very significant decision. I'm told that the ruling also contains the judge's guidelines for challenging ballots.  More as I get it.

UPDATE: Here's the ruling (pdf)

NY-20: Tedisco Making A List Of Absentees To Challenge

by: phillip anderson

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 15:02:14 PM EDT

Attorneys representing Jim Tedisco and Scott Murphy met in court today to argue over a procedure for recanvassing voting machines and counting absentee ballots in the neck-and-neck race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress.

...

Brands may also rule on whether a federal stipulation stating no military and overseas ballots can be counted before April 13 applies to ballots cast by voters living in the United States.

Henry Berger, an attorney representing Murphy, argued that the counting of absentee ballots already cast and received by boards-there are about 6,000-should not  be delayed by the rule. He said his campaign is ready to start counting absentee ballots-if necessary, in all 10 counties-by tomorrow.

"We're ready to do it tomorrow or Wednesday," he said. "We will provide the staff and make sure we have people available in each of the 10 counties."

Republicans argued that no absentee counting should take place until the 13th.

"We think the count ought to be done fairly, we think every vote should count," said James Walsh, who, along with Michael Cuevas, represented Tedisco. "I don't think quick justice is good justice and I don't think quick counting is good counting."

The hearing was forced by John Ciampoli, who, on behalf of the Republican State Committee obtained an injunction impounding all paper ballots cast in the race.

It looks increasingly obvious what the Tedisco/Stone/Ciampoli game plan is. They are trying to delay the counting of absentee votes while they build a list of paper ballots to challenge. It will be much harder for them to challenge those ballots once they are opened and counted, so they are looking to delay that for as long as possible so that they can prepare a list of names to challenge before those ballots ever see the light of day.

Yep, that's got Roger Stone written all over it.

On the web: Protect NY-20.

NY-20: Tedisco Polling Absentee Voters?

by: phillip anderson

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 14:26:49 PM EDT

This reeks of Roger Stone:
A friend in Columbia County just got polled (Monday) about how he voted on his absentee.

He quizzed the pollster, and it was done on behalf if Tedisco.

Why poll? I suppose the GOP could claim either pure curiosity or that they're trying to decide how/where to target resources for their challenge. Or if the result is favorable, to create an impression of victory.

The concern would be if the poll results are NOT  truly anonymous and become a basis for challenging ballots before they're opened.

Any other reports? This was in Columbia County.

It does indeed feel rather Stone-esque.

Anyone else out there been contacted?

UPDATE: Looks like plenty of folks have been polled about their absentee ballots. Since I posted this originally, I've received confirmations from about half a dozen folks. This message from a reader in Saratoga County is a representative example:

I got a call on Thursday of last week about my father's absentee ballot. My father uses my address for mailing but actually lives in a memory care facility.

Anyway they asked for my father and when I told them he wasn't there but I was quite sure he had voted, they asked me if I knew for whom he had voted. I told them I couldn't disclose that (I actually don't know) but I could tell them I voted for Murphy.

So this has actually been going on since right after election day.

UPDATE: From another reader in Dutchess County:

Funny you should mention that poll - I got polled a few nights ago.

Poll - Hi ***** how are you? We are conducting an exit poll in the 20th CD to see how people voted. Do you have a few minutes.

Me - Sure

Poll - Did you vote in the 20th CD?

Me- Yes

Poll- Did you vote in person or by absentee?

Me - Absentee.

Poll - Did you vote for James Tedisco, Scott Murphy, or Eric Sundwall?

Me - Wait - The order of your question neither makes sense alphabetically, or in order of how they appear on the ballot. You must be from Tedisco's camp

Poll - Ummmm ummmmm.

I voted for Murphy. ' Click'

On the web: Protect NY-20.

NY-20: Look What The Cat Dragged In: Roger Stone Makes His Entrance

by: phillip anderson

Sun Apr 05, 2009 at 12:28:39 PM EDT

Our tipster asks "Why is he here?"

I'd say that's rather obvious, no?

On the web: Protect NY-20.

Everybody must get Stoned, Roger that

by: Exile on Ericsson St.

Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 13:33:45 PM EST

Roger also showed up in the excellent Lee Atwater documentary "The Boogeyman".  There, he claims that he told Lee Atwater that the Willie Horton ad was too nasty and that Atwater shouldn't run it.  When Roger Stone tells you you've gotten too dirty....the only comparison I can make is the story of how Keith Richards fired Brian Jones for doing too much heroin.  

VIDEO: TPM On Stone/Spitzer

by: phillip anderson

Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 13:54:17 PM EDT

Roger Stone: "My work isn't done there."

by: robert.harding

Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 09:13:34 AM EDT

Yesterday was beautiful, bright and crisp in Albany, with just the earliest hint of spring. But before I could even make my way to the Capitol to gather up a new pile of reaction statements, my cell phone was ringing from a place even nicer than this.

The call-back number said 202, for Washington. But the sunny voice on the other end could only be in Miami.

Yes, it was Roger Stone. And the exuberance in his voice made high-fiving Albanians sound almost morose.

"I didn't make him go to a prostitution ring," said the most famous and ruthless Republican dirty trickster who still walks the earth. "He did that all on his own."

Stone said that even before I asked if his hand was somehow in Spitzer's latest trouble. I figured, somehow or another, it had to be.

"No comment on that," Stone said. "I will say I knew it was coming. That's why I wasn't too upset about the results of the special election," where a Democrat grabbed a supposedly safe Republican State Senate seat, leaving Democrats just one vote shy of control.

Conversations with Stone often go like that. Always cocky. A little cryptic. Leaving you wondering about more.

Stone added later:

He set up a 527 political-hit committee. He's been shopping anti-Spitzer stories for months. He's been warning darkly about some "really ugly" stuff to come.

Even though there's no evidence he sent the governor to a hooker or made the Bush Justice Department follow up on a banking tip, he's been energetically working to undermine the governor.

And he may not be done.

"Everything's about to change," Stone said.

Well, sure.

Of course it is. Spitzer, mortally wounded, will almost certainly have to resign. Standing ready to take his place and make double-big history, too, Lt. Gov. David Paterson would be the first black governor of New York - and the first nearly blind one.

That wasn't what Stone meant.

"My work isn't done there," he said.

"Just watch."

Anyone else not surprised by this? He's trying to act like he knew all along. That's a little worrisome to say the least.  

VIDEO: So Faux

by: phillip anderson

Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 17:01:02 PM EDT

Good Morning, John McArdle!

by: phillip anderson

Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 09:15:27 AM EST

On Friday, in the wake of his party's humiliating defeat in a special Senate election in a northern district, Mr. Bruno accepted the resignation of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee's longtime director, Edward Lurie, who was in charge of the campaign's field operations. Calling Mr. Lurie a "mechanic who never had any strategic authority," Mr. Stone insists that Mr. Bruno pinned the blame on the wrong guy. The man, he said, who ought to have taken the hit is John McArdle, Mr. Bruno's tough-talking communications director whom Mr. Stone described as the primary force behind the Senate's Troopergate monomania.

"John McArdle is a believer in one thing: Troopergate," he said. "Anything that distracts from Troopergate, he's against. Bruno needs to fire McArdle."

Note to Bruno: Please do not fire John McArdle. He's doing a fine job for you and is worth every penny of our money you are paying him.

Then you have to go out and whine to the New York Times because your boss apparently no longer knows what the term "on the record" means.

"New York magazine did a tremendous disservice to its readers and to Senator Bruno by shamefully and purposely taking out of context comments Senator Bruno made several months ago to its reporter that clearly were not intended to appear in print," Mr. McArdle said. "It is especially troubling that this reporter chose to misrepresent his intentions and violate trust and access given him at a time when Senator Bruno was dealing with difficult personal and family issues."

Not that he didn't say these things, but that he didn't think they would be printed. Stuff like this:

"I provided the entrée. In that business, the biggest problem is access. I provided access." Bruno, who makes $121,000 a year in salary as majority leader, believes there is nothing improper about steering people he does business with in politics to open portfolios at Wright. There was no quid pro quo, he says. If Wright wanted to meet with trustees of a union looking to invest pension money, Bruno would make the phone calls. "My pitch to them was, 'If you like what they have to say, take it to the next level. If you don't, say good-bye.'?"

Or maybe this:

Ask him about his legacy, and he'll point to his mastery of the pork process. "Take a look around Albany. Take a look around Troy. Take a look at the airport. Do you think that airport would be there if I wasn't the leader?" he says. "You know how the airport got there? We're trying to close the budget and Shelly wouldn't close. So Pataki says, 'What's it take to close?' Shelly says, 'I need a library in Brooklyn.' 'How much?' Shelly says, '$65 million.' Pataki says, 'Well, that's all right.' It was a $100 billion budget. So I said, 'It's not okay with me. I don't have a single member in Brooklyn.' 'So what do you need?' 'I need $65 million for the airport.' Pataki says, 'Shelly, do you care?' 'No, I don't care, as long as I get my library.' Pataki says, 'Good. Done.'?"

This image can't be helpful either:

Joe Bruno has his loafers off in his vast sanctum on the New York State capitol's third floor. He saunters around on the plush white carpet in dress socks. There's a set of dueling pistols and pictures of himself in political postures, at groundbreakings or saddled up on one of his eight horses at a parade, in his Stars and Stripes cowboy shirt. Many of these pictures were taken a while ago, but Bruno, who will be 79 next month, somehow looks like he hasn't aged. There are three golf clubs in his office and a green Astroturf mat against one wall. Bruno picks up a five-iron, checks his grip, pulls the club back slow, and rips a clean, full swing.

"Ohhh." He stretches his back. "Ahhh." He puts down the club. "See, that's the problem. You should warm up when you do that shit. When you're my age, you have to warm up." He then plumps down in his cushy chair, picks up an empty water bottle from his desk, and wings it across the room at the garbage can.

Clank! A miss.

"Shit, first one I missed-first one I missed out of four," Bruno says. "Now, that's disturbing."

It kinda sucks to be John McArdle these days. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

Stone Pontificates On...Al Jazeera

by: phillip anderson

Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 16:22:07 PM EST

Roger Stone will provide political analysis for Al-Jazeera - ENGLISH
from 8pm EST to 11pm EST,
Today January 29th, 2008.

It can be seen in the United States live on the Internet at http://english.aljazeera.net/E...
(Click on "Watch Now" on the left-hand side of the page)

I invite everyone to write their own punchlines...

OMG: This Was The Man Bruno Hired To Save His Majority

by: phillip anderson

Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 18:28:07 PM EST

A couple of days ago, a group called Citizens United Not Timid filed papers with the IRS as a "527" organization. Then we saw that Roger Stone had signed on as the group's "assistant treasurer." Uh oh.

...

So what's Stone up to? Fortunately, he laid the whole scheme out to The Weekly Standard.

It's this simple: it's all about the group's acronym, which, used in conjunction with Hillary Clinton, is supposed to be irresistibly humorous. That is the beginning and the end of it. The group will not be running ads in any form and will not be making any robocalls. They'll be making T-shirts. That's it. You can buy them for $25 on their website

In addition to this website being blast-emailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses that Stone and [another GOP operative] have accumulated over the years (working off over 170 different email lists of everyone from opinion-makers to political activists to industry associations), Stone is counting on T-shirt sales to further serve as "billboard education." He figures the whole thing will end up taking on a viral nature, thanks to the yuks factor....

"The more people go to the site, the more people buy the T-shirts," Stone explains.... "The more people buy the T-shirts, the more people wear the T-shirts. The more people wear the T-shirts, the more people are educated. Consequently, our mission has been achieved." Though neither the word itself nor even the acronym is ever mentioned, "it's one-word education. That's our mission. No issues. No policy groups. No position papers. This is a simple committee with an unfortunate acronym...."

Presumably Stone learned this gimmick from working on Nixon's 1972 Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).

Yes, that's it. That's the stroke of genius from the man whom Tucker Carlson insists on calling "legendary Republican strategist Roger Stone" every time he appears on his show (twice this month). The Standard explains that Stone is "trying to tap into deep-seated sentiments about Clinton that pundits and rival candidates can't articulate."

I wonder how Joe Bruno feels about the actions of his former employee. Maybe someone should ask him.

Disgusting.

More Stone Astroturf

by: phillip anderson

Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 08:46:10 AM EST

This morning I got an email titled "Roger Stone Exposed" from "News-Desk.org." As I suspected, it comes from the fictitious "linkedcampaign.com", the same place that gives us not only the "StoneZone", but also "NYFacts.net", "SpitzerFile.com" and the thoroughly absurd "WJ Mahoney GOP Club".

Return-Path:
Received: from linkedcampaign.com (linkedcampaign.com [24.199.182.6])

Because what the world needs is even more Roger Stone Spam...

On the Cover of the Rollin' Stone...

by: phillip anderson

Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 10:08:06 AM EDT

In a word, ick.

The first time I laid eyes on Roger Stone he was standing poolside at a press conference on the roof of the Hotel L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills. With a horseshoe pinkie ring refracting rays from the California sun and a gangster chalk-stripe suit that looked like it had been exhumed from the crypt of Frank Costello, Stone was there to help his friend and longtime client Donald Trump explore a Reform party presidential candidacy in 2000.

Actually, it was more complicated than that. After having recruited Pat Buchanan to seek the nod ("You have to beat somebody," Stone says), he pushed Trump into the race. Trump relentlessly attacked Buchanan as having "a love affair with Adolf Hitler," but ended up folding. A weakened Buchanan went on to help the Reform party implode, and Republicans suffered no real third-party threat, as they had in 1992, thus helping Stone accomplish his objective. If, in fact, that was his objective. These things are often hard to keep track of with Roger Stone.

Vertical Response Tells Their Side of Stonegate

by: phillip anderson

Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 18:18:13 PM EDT

BROKEN: Roger Stone's "linkedcampaign.com" Is a Sham

When Bouldin and I were researching "linkedcampaign.com" we found that that particular domain redirected to a site for a company called Vertical Response, an email marketing company. We were puzzled as to why a seemingly perfectly legit company would resort to using a service like Domains by Proxy to obscure details about who runs such a site.

We were right to wonder because Vertical Response did no such thing. Roger Stone did. Stone is redirecting his own creation, "linkedcampaign", to Vertical Response and the Vertical Response folks aren't too happy about it.

Well, Vertical Response is finally telling their side of the story:

Someone Tried to Put One Over on VR? I don't think so...

It's 6:00 on a Tuesday evening, I've just arrived home, and what do I find in my inbox but a fairly cryptic email from Janine that says:

 

Does this make sense to you?

  http://www.thealbany...

I followed the link and found a blog article discussing some particularly annoying sounding political spam going out through a company called "linkedcampaign.com."  Makes sense so far.  But then I read:

 

Linked Campaign is an email marketing service provided by a company called VerticalResponse Self Service Direct Marketing in San Francisco, with servers in North Carolina.

This, of course, did not make sense at all.  First, I know we don't offer any sort of service called Linked Campaign.  Second, all our servers live here in San Francisco with us and don't often make the journey to North Carolina (at least not while they're on the clock).  Third, the type of mail described in the blog post would be very unlikely to make it out through our system.

Why would a blogger think we offered this "Linked Campaign" service?  I went to the linkedcampaign.com website in hopes of finding out.  And I certainly did find out:

Linkedcampaign.com was nothing more than a copy of our entire website as it appeared in March of this year!

I immediately commented to the blog post (and emailed the Albany Project owner) to explain the situation.  They very quickly edited the article and posted two very detailed correction posts explaining that we were not involved with the problem email.  I couldn't have dealt with nicer, more professional people than the folks at the Albany Project.

I then set out to track down the owner of Linked Campaign.  This was complicated by their use of Domains by Proxy to hide their WHOIS info (the owner of every website is required to have their contact info published to a WHOIS record, which can usually be looked up by anyone).  Domains by Proxy refused to release the information to me without a Court Order or a Subpoena.  I understood this was necessary to protect their customers, but that didn't make it any less frustrating (or any less suspicious that the owner of a website that was a copy of our site was hiding their WHOIS info).

Luckily, the spam emails had gone out through a perfectly traceable IP Address that led back to Road Runner (an ISP).  I contacted Road Runner, discovered they were hosting the linkedcampaign.com website, explained the situation, and they took the website down.

Ahhh...memories.

Stone Hooked Up Bruno, GOP With 'Cult'

by: phillip anderson

Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 08:59:58 AM EDT

Nowhere.

TOP GOPERS 'CULT' FAVORITES

Disgraced GOP operative Roger Stone acted as a middleman between a cult-like upstate group and powerful Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, The Post has learned.

Stone was hired by Albany-based executive-training group NXIVM in early 2006, according to sources.

Weeks later, two high-profile NXIVM devotees, Seagram's heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman, donated use of their private jet to the state Republican Senate Campaign Committee, records show. The next month, on March 16, the sisters gave $20,000 to the committee.

Stone, who resigned from his Senate gig in August after being accused of making a threatening phone call to Gov. Spitzer's father, declined comment, as did reps for Bruno.

Never a dull moment here in the Empire State...

Whole Lotta Trollin' Goin' On

by: phillip anderson

Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 13:00:41 PM EDT

Speaking of public comment-- it is looking like TAP has passed some hit-count milestone that makes it worth assigning some of the right-wing shills to defend through dems-are-as-bad slurs.  Too bad for readers, but I guess that is what public free speech is about.

We've always had trolls. In fact, I remember feeling like we had "made it" when one of our first trolls posted a diary titled, "NYBri and Lipris - Part of the Problem?". But, this new breed of troll is different. In fact, we seem to have a few that do nothing more than defend Roger Stone.

Oh, and the newest one? They appear to be posting from Miami.

TraceRoute to 207.244.170.47 [207-244-170-047-dhcp.mia.fl.atlanticbb.net]

Just sayin'.