Community | May 24, 2011 | 125 comments

White House employs blogger to refute conspiracy theories and negative Obama stories

source: http://www.infowars.com/white-house-hires-terminator-to-squash-negative-stories-about-obama/

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maasanova
“The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position tucked inside their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community,” reports the Huffington Post.

The man tasked with the role of “disseminating push back” against Obama’s online critics by direct order of the White House will be Jesse Lee, a blogger who has previously put out White House spin in response to claims made by Glenn Beck.

“The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has been the purview of the Democratic National Committee (and will continue to be). Lee’s hire, however, suggests that a portion of it will now be handled from within the administration. It also signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive engagement in the online world in the months ahead.”

“If you’re going to post something online about Obama that isn’t true, Lee is going to be the one to handle you,” reports Chris O’Shea, noting that the move is about “squashing any negative stories” that could derail Obama’s re-election bid.

Related: "Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal"
by Glenn Greenwald

Cass Sunstein, one of Barack Obama's closest confidants, 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.
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125 comments // White House employs blogger to refute conspiracy theories and negative Obama stories

  • letsliveinpeace
  • savvy7
  • letsliveinpeace
  • August_K
    • +4
      August_K  

    • Frankly I'm glad to see someone, anyone........ fighting back.
      When I read absolutely bullshit posts that are reported as "truth" there needs to someone disputing the bullshit.

      One example is posts that I saw on Redstate telling their members that the
      Affordable Health Care Act was being expanded to cover PETS.... I couldn't believe.
      I kept reading......thinking it was a joke, but no.......they were repeating it and posting it as truth.

      I even took a screen capture of because I figured some people might not believe it.

    • 1 year ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • Mark701
    • +3
      Mark701  

    • So, FAUX News can make up any lies they want about the President or the US government as a whole, but the President isn't allowed to tell the truth, or even a different version of events in a blog??

      Here's the deal, if the SCOTUS perceives corporations as people and allows them to voice their "free speech" with millions in campaign contributions to their favorite congressional sycophant, I see no reason why the US President (who really IS a person) can't refute lies that are told about him or his administration in a blog. It's that pesky freedom of speech thingy, so LIVE with it.

    • 1 year ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • Saladin
    • +2
      Saladin  

    • Considering that the refutation of conspiracy theories held irrationally only makes those beliefs stronger, they're actually only hurting themselves.

      People who come out and say "why doesn't the government explain this" don't actually want that to happen, they just want an opportunity to uncover the "schemers" and "expose" them with whatever hair-brained shit they or the internet has come up with.

    • 1 year ago
  • maasanova
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • -2
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • maasanova:

      Well, since obviously that is not what Obama is willing to do (and, indeed, I don't think he ever intended to have a transparent administration when he promised us transparency during his 2008 campaign), then we just have to keep that little Obama troll-turd very, very busy.

      Really, the one thing that makes me suspect this story is that Obama would need LEGIONS of troll-turds to even make a dent in the number of negative stories and comments about Obama.

      So, to show our support for Obama's steady march to a fascist dictatorship, DO YOUR BEST to post as many critical posts and articles about Obama.

    • 1 year ago
  • maasanova
  • Saladin
    • -1
      Saladin  
    • maasanova:

      I didn't say I supported it, I said the entire notion was stupid.

      It's not like he isn't transparent. The man openly released his birth certificate, TWICE, to appease the most RIDICULOUS conspiracy theory about a president in American history for at least a century.

      I agree that if they're going to do this, they should be transparent and just admit that they're coming from the White House. But think about it, there's not a whole lot of difference between a hired shill and a fervent supporter other than quality of writing.

      When it comes to transparency, I'm far more concerned about his stance on the National Security monstrosity and his position on Bradley Manning. This stuff is, by comparison, the kind of shit all presidents do.

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
  • SIBob
    • +1
      SIBob  
    • Image

    • Good luck with this one. The explosion of commentary on the net is untamable, unless rules go into effect that wind up censoring it. We can all expect this to happen when it concerns the voice of the people being heard. There was no complaint previously, of course, about big media’s lies. Some committee or executive branch agency will probably take up the cause of “truth” on the internet and use that or a crackdown on other illegal net activities as an excuse to severely censor or shut down much of the content. You know that whether or not most politicians will admit it or not, they are paying attention to what goes on out here. If we ever let the censorship go through we can consider ourselves finished, put a fork in our butt and turn us over. http://sibob.org/wordpress/

    • 1 year ago
  • samthesixth
  • WagonMaster
  • ArchDruid
  • PoliticalAmazon
  • alexandrek
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • 0
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • alexandrek:

      The way I see it, online publishing is like being a prostitute in that, no matter if you get paid for it or not, you know there are the peeps who do it for free who are far better than you ever hope to be.

    • 1 year ago
  • alexandrek
  • WagonMaster
  • Stoneyroad
    • +6
      Stoneyroad  

    • Obama gets one blogger to refute the conspiracy theories.
      The GOP gets the biggest network in the world (fox) to create them.
      yeah . . that sounds fair & balanced.

      Although i didn't really read the article at infowars, one good thing came from me accidentally clicking the link . . .
      I now know where to go for my one stop end of the world shopping,
      that site has everything - from survival seeds for my crisis garden to water filters that remove radioactive isotopes.
      (i only wish they had the 'women defender' kevlar protection jeans
      in a men's cut.)

    • 1 year ago
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • -6
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • Image
    • Stoneyroad:

      QUOTING STONEY: "Obama gets one blogger to refute the conspiracy theories.
      The GOP gets the biggest network in the world (fox) to create them.
      yeah . . that sounds fair & balanced...."

      ---------

      I don't know why Obama hired his own. Why not just use the same blog-turds the GOP is using? Obama and the GOP are working from the same agenda most of the time. Just look at how well the GOP is doing since Obama has been in office. The GOP should be HAPPY to provide him blog-turd protection.

      Just another way Obama shows us about every day how this is the third Bush administration.

    • 1 year ago
  • WagonMaster
  • JohnA
  • Persecuted
    • +1
      Persecuted  
    • JohnA:

      how is hillary clinton better than anyone else? hillary clinton took millions of dollars to shut up when she tried to reform healthcare in the beginning of bill's term in office... shes smart... shes great... but shes a politician

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
  • zsignal
  • dudefromtherock
  • GRC54
    • +3
      GRC54  
    • zsignal:

      Glen Beck and Alex Jones should co host a show together.
      They can call it
      PARANOID CONSPIRACIES!!!
      There would be enough material there for Kieth to use he would need 2 shows, one just for the comedy they both spin.

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
  • Paratus
    • -8
      Paratus  

    • Perish the thought that anyone should have a negative thought about the great boy wonder. Looks like Obummer has his own Joseph Goebbels. Perhaps they can take time out from compiling negative stuff on Christie shuld he jump in the presidential race.
      Hey, you guys should not throw rocks at infowars and Alex Jones. You listen to Huffington Post, Media Matters and Olberman. That's a glass house.

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
  • maasanova
    • -4
      maasanova  
    • SFirman:

      Keith Olberman, with Mark Potok from the SPLC was one of the first ones to offer, with no proof whatsoever, the wild conspiracy theory and irresponsible speculation that the Tea Party was somehow responsible for the Tucson, AZ shooting.

      It also took Keith Olberman almost six years to report that the Saddam statue toppling was a Pentagon hoax. The bloggers and even the NY Times proved that this was a hoax in just a few days.

      I'll take the alternative media over Olberman any day of the week.

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
  • dudefromtherock
  • SFirman
  • TheAmbivalante
  • PoliticalAmazon
  • PoliticalAmazon
  • maasanova
    • +1
      maasanova  
    • SFirman:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORbEQZtkW_4

      Keith Olberman gives Mark Potok a platform to promote his baseless conspiracy theory that the Tea Party was responsible for the Tucson shooting. Potok offers no proof or even physical evidence to support his theory.

      Olberman even admits that it's speculation but never once asks Potok for any evidence.

      That's not very responsible journalism.

    • 1 year ago
  • maasanova
    • 0
      maasanova  
    • Image
    • SFirman:

      LOL I watched it live on the TEEVEE!

      Well there's your problem, you believe everything you see on the TEEVEE, and you believe Wikipedia, the online faux encyclopedia that anyone can edit (you even posted a broken link).

      Took Olbermann more than six years to report this was fake.

      http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/293155.shtml

      WJLA Channel 7, the Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate, this evening aired a special investigative report on the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Basing its coverage on the release of an internal report by the Army, Channel 7's "I-Team" concludes the event was completely staged.
      The Channel 7 "I-Team" found that:

      1. The toppling of the statue was not the "spontaneous" event it was reported to be

      2. The event was staged by a Psychological Operations unit of the U.S. Army

      3. Iraqis were told where to stand and what to do while the cameras rolled

      4. Only a dozen or so hand-picked Iraqis were present for the event, not thousands as virtually all news organizations reported,

      5. The cordoned-off square was pretty much deserted apart from these few Iraqis, a large number of U.S. military, and many members of the press and camera crews (the photo showing the large view of the square was shown),

      8. At the exact time of the toppling and filming of Iraqis celebrating their "liberation", only a few blocks away U.S. forces were engaged in a furious defensive gunbattle with Iraqi resistance fighters.

      Sort of lets the wind out of some of the administration's propaganda sails. Of course, much of this was reported at the time in the foreign press and on Indymedia - including the photos showing the square pretty much empty and the adjoining streets blocked off. Nice to see that the truth of that propaganda stunt finally reaches home, although I somehow doubt the story will go much further than this single report on the local D.C. news hour.

      The transcript of the "I-Team" news segment is at:

      http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0704/161032.html

      and the (complete) Army report is at:

      http://globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/onpoint/

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
  • August_K
    • 0
      August_K  
    • Paratus:

      Christie? LOL
      He's an idiot. Do you know how he balanced his budget? He slashed so massively out of education that now the courts have said it's totally illegal.....he has to put money back.
      (he hit the poorest areas the hardest)

      He also decided that the state would NOT contribute their share in this budget cycle to their state employees pension fund. He "kicked the can" as they say .....over to some guy in the future who will have to deal with why the state pension fund is underfunded.
      Other red state legislators have done it too.......if they don't have laws banning it.

      At least in WI and other states they have laws (for now anyway) that don't allow them to use pension funds for pet projects or for ignoring their funding.

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
  • SFirman
    • +2
      SFirman  
    • maasanova:

      I didn't put up a bad link. If you go back and do what i said. When the link comes up, LOOK FOR SEARCH FOR FIRDOS SQUARE> CLICk ON AND WILL COME UP IT'S an old story but trust wikipedia over bogus links.The Army did not stage this. Any smart person would know this.. No one can edit a link.

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
    • +2
      SFirman  
    • maasanova:

      No conspiracy here. They were discussing report from the sheriff.As of today Loghner not stable to stand trial yet. It is responsible journalism to discuss a sheriff's report.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
  • Mark701
    • 0
      Mark701  
    • maasanova:

      Not that I think staged events are a good idea, but this isn't the first. The photograph of the US flag being raised over Iwo Jima was a staged event (the actually flag that was raised, as well as those who raised it weren't in the picture) as was the photograph of General MacArthur returning to the Philippines. I'm sure there were others.

    • 1 year ago
  • figgdimension
    • +2
      figgdimension  

    • Oh Really? , hmphf.. Alex Jones please,... what a douche. I do that for free already. don't most of us fight the barage of garbage about Obamacy's

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
  • JohnA
  • SFirman
    • +1
      SFirman  
    • JohnA:

      Jones over the The President of the Free World. You got to be kidding. I have never been as proud of our president as I was this past few days. He acts like, looks like, talks like a president. He knows what he's doing. You'll see!

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
    • -2
      JohnA  
    • SFirman:

      Wow. I think someone must have put some ruffies in your Obama kool-aid. He's been a complete embarassment in England. What must our allies think of us.

    • 1 year ago
  • SFirman
    • 0
      SFirman  
    • JohnA:

      They loved him in England and Ireland. One six year old was so happy in Ireland, because President Obama was coming and he was the most famous man in the world. Children have such a way of telling the truth.

    • 1 year ago
  • jennilamb007
    • -1
      jennilamb007  
    • SFirman:

      You are right. They have shown overwhelming support of President Obama in the UK. They like him and treat him with respect which is more than I can say for about 1/2 of our own country. Shame on us.

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
    • 0
      JohnA  
    • SFirman:

      Please, I just ate. They love him? They don't have to live with him. Seeing those pictures of Prince William and Kate Middleton meeting Barack and Michelle made me as embarrassed as I've ever been to be an American. What a third world country they must think we are.

    • 12 months ago
  • TypeMemeHere
  • Persecuted
  • Warren_Merrill
  • figgdimension
  • maasanova
    • -1
      maasanova  
    • TypeMemeHere:

      Well I guess you can say that it's a good thing that Obama is openly doing the same thing that Bush did (or tried to do) secretly.

      Let the White House try to use Bush tactics to protect Obama and we'll see how far that gets him.

    • 1 year ago
  • TypeMemeHere
  • SFirman
  • Warren_Merrill
    • 0
      Warren_Merrill  
    • TypeMemeHere:

      Attention: Bush left office over two years ago. The economy belongs to Obama now. It's still in the dumps. Unemployment is higher than when Bush left office. The only hiring that's up is government hiring. That doesn't grow the economy. Growth is stagnant, The dollar is down. Inflation is up. ObamaCare keeps handing out more and more waivers proving it's a fraud.

      Obama can say he got bin Laden. He's been off target on everything else in foreign policy. We're not out of Afghanistan. Gitmo is still open. He attacked a country having a civil war calling it humanitarian while doing nothing with other countries with larger social unrest. He's ticked off our two biggest allies, Israel and England.

      Bush was not a good president. But Obama doesn't seem to be up to the task either. I don't believe he wants his legacy to be "I was better than Bush."

    • 1 year ago
  • TypeMemeHere
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • Warren_Merrill:

      I'm not even going to pretend that I know anything about how a president should manage the economy but as far as everything else goes I agree. Using Bush as a reference is essentially placing the bar at ankle level.

    • 1 year ago
  • Warren_Merrill
  • Warren_Merrill
    • 0
      Warren_Merrill  
    • Ricky84:

      This is why I said "It's better than Bush" is not going to cut it. The economy has to improve significantly over Obama's four years or the voting public will go to the polls and vote "Next!"

    • 1 year ago
  • August_K
    • +1
      August_K  
    • Warren_Merrill:

      "Bush left office over two years ago. The economy belongs to Obama now. It's still in the dumps."

      Typical BS.....take the absolute disaster Bush left and point a finger at Obama and say "It's all his fault" and he's to blame because he didn't use his magic wand to fix it in a few days. Get real...... only idiots wouldn't notice that Wall Street and the Banks almost took the whole world down with them and the whole world is STILL trying to recover.

      The right wing Cato Institute even said the right should quit blaming everything on Obama.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
    • +1
      noxidereus  

    • If true I wouldn't have a problem with the White House employing people to write comments on articles on the Web. I would however have a big problem with them being covert (sneaky) about it. There's no reason to be covert. Just tell the truth and say who you are and who you work for.

      ... But someone definitely has to think of a way to correct all of that ridiculous right-wing/teabagger rhetoric honestly. I would have thought the ridiculousness of that rhetoric alone would serve to dispel itself, but nope there really are enough people who are that dumb. It is one thing for people to disagree politically, but it is a totally different thing when one side is mentally lost somewhere on the dark side of the moon.

    • 1 year ago
  • KB723
  • Holly348328
  • KB723
  • CalPal
    • +4
      CalPal  

    • My god, people! Next thing you know, Obama will just cut the middleman, and go right for the brain-chip implants!

      #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
    • -2
      Persecuted  

    • well... rest assured anti-obama'ers... he's not doing a very good job, otherwise we wouldnt even know about him... or that obama is a secret kenyan muslim who likes to have sex with animals... (i heard that somewhere)

    • 1 year ago
  • littlwarrior
  • samthesixth
  • Alanb4130
    • +5
      Alanb4130  

    • The game that the right is playing of fear and lying and propaganda and all the different ways they are trying to paint Obama is just ridiculous. To fight back without looking petty like the Republicans do is a smart move.

    • 1 year ago
  • zsignal
    • +2
      zsignal  

    • I'm not a fan of Obama by any means, but I can't really blame him for doing this. There are legitimate points of criticisms, but the "Obama is a Muslim" and "birther" conspiracy "theories" are absurd.

      That being said, it's also not loony to suggest that government engages in propaganda. Noam Chomsky has written extensively on this--the Progressive movement's idea of "manufacturing consent."

    • 1 year ago
  • August_K
    • 0
      August_K  
    • zsignal:

      And then we have the scandal about HB Gary that anonymous exposed.
      HB Gary.......all GOP.

      "A group of House Democrats is calling on Republican leaders to investigate a prominent Washington law firm and three federal technology contractors, who have been shown in hacked e-mails discussing a "disinformation campaign" against foes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

      In a letter to be released Tuesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and more than a dozen other lawmakers wrote that the e-mails appear "to reveal a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber critics," including "possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech."

      The lawmakers say it is "deeply troubling" that "tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens."

      The call for a congressional probe marks the latest development in the controversy over tens of thousands of e-mails stolen from HBGary Federal, whose computer system was attacked in early February by members of a loose collective of unidentified hackers known as Anonymous.

      The e-mails, which are widely available on file-sharing sites, show HBGary Federal, Berico Technologies and Palantir Technologies teaming up with a sales pitch to undermine chamber opponents.

      The companies proposed forming a "corporate information reconnaissance cell" and discussed tactics such as creating online personas to infiltrate activist Web sites; planting false information to embarrass U.S. Chamber Watch and other groups; and trolling for personal information using powerful computer software.

      The e-mails contain test runs in which the firms culled personal information, including family and religious data, on anti-chamber activists."

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022805810....

    • 1 year ago
  • Almibry
  • SFirman
  • MDBard
  • Jeremy_Benson
    • +3
      Jeremy_Benson  

    • The question is, is he going after things that are obviously stupid or misreported, like the birther movement, or is it just a catch-all blanket that puts a positive spin on any story regardless of potential truth? If it is the former, I have no problem with this (and it's futile, anyway).

    • 1 year ago
  • gatormouth
    • +1
      gatormouth  

    • Internet cointelpro?? "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. --- or any other negative thoughts out there? If true, this is very disconcerting, but It is consistent with the push to continue the Patriot Act. The Congress must not allow its Constitutional power to be stripped away!

    • 1 year ago
  • congoboy
  • uShine
  • maasanova
    • -4
      maasanova  
    • uShine:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi9rlP1_dHs

      I feel compelled to respond to this because there is a vast amount of evidence that disproves both the governments story on 9/11 and the killing of Osama bin Laden, but this post isn't about 9/11 or Zeitgiest.

      Here's a compilation of mainstream news clips reporting that a truck loaded with explosives was stopped at or near the George Washington Bridge on 9/11.

      Loose Change/Zeitgiest conveniently left this out of their movies because it doesn't support their theory that it was the US government who did 9/11.

      9/11 wasn't engineered by the US government, it was the Israel/Neo-con/Likud extremists using intelligence fronts in the US like Urban Moving Systems and the "Dancing Israelis" who had truck bombs all over New York and New Jersey as well as the base of the twin towers. Israelis had to have had helpers/moles within the government though to pull it off, or course.

      Obama's Information Czar Cass Sunstein has even admitted in his Harvard white paper "Conspiracy Theories" that he was worried that online bloggers were pushing this theory that Israel did 9/11.

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
  • uShine
  • freehit
    • +2
      freehit  
    • maasanova:

      Gee how did they get those trucks all the way up the twin towers from the base, put wings on them, fly them out the windows and back in again. You make glenn beck look sane.

    • 1 year ago
  • maasanova
    • -3
      maasanova  
    • uShine:

      Call me whatever you want.

      You brought up that they have no proof and I'm giving you some evidence that they leave out.

      Zietgeist and Loose Change leaves these facts out because it doesn't support their theory that the US government did 9/11 and the 9/11 Commission leaves this out too, because it doesn't support their theory that Arab terrorists did 9/11.

      You don't like these facts because you can't disprove them. The Bergen police report of the dancing Israelis arrested on 9/11 with explosives has been available for quite some time. Why don't you try reading it.

      http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/46173840?access_key=key-2eiwxg5xyytir3lsfdpo

    • 1 year ago
  • maasanova
  • uShine
  • maasanova
    • -3
      maasanova  
    • uShine:

      The police report is of only the surveillance team of Israelis, not the ones with the vans packed with explosives. The FBI has maintained that the van packed with explosives doesn't exist even though recorded police radio confirms the explosives and people who say they saw men in Arab clothing driving the vans.

      If Arabs were arrested on 9/11 in a van packed with explosives, or with boxcutters, expired visas, $4700 in cash, maps of highlighted areas of New York landmarks, and worked for a fake moving company, trust me you would have known about it.

      The only reason it was left out of the 9/11 Commission is because they were Israelis.

    • 1 year ago
  • uShine
  • maasanova
  • SFirman
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