Andy did you hear about this one?
Wednesday, Feb 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
Things can get pretty weird out there in Internet Land, what with those crazy kids and their web logs.
Take, for instance, this seemingly mundane post about that recent poll which shows Judy Baar Topinka leading Rod Blagojevich.
Everything seems fairly normal until you open up the post’s comments section. And then it’s as if you’ve stepped behind the looking glass.
A guy who implied that he ran the Democrat-leaning Election Projections blog posted several comments that were just beyond bizarre and obviously false. Remember as you read this that these are untrue rumors.
[All emphasis added.]
I have some very reliable friends in high places in this state and they all said that Topinka is connected to Abramoff and that story will break soon. Once it does she’s toast.
When questioned about the link to disgraced Washington, DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the commenter responded:
I just know that my friends Michael Madigan(the speaker of the House), Emil Jones, Jr.(president of the Senate), and Tom Holbrook have all told me that the connection is a sure thing, and their just waiting for the right time to release it.
I couldn’t reach Holbrook last night, but a spokesman for Mike Madigan said he’d never heard of such a thing.
When pressed for more details, the commenter boasted:
But I’ll tell a little about myself. I’m under 25 and as you can tell heavily involved in politics. This November I’ll become precinct committeeman for my town. Then in about 6 I’ll be a state rep. Not going to tell who I’ll be replacing but let’s just say I’ve made friends with the right people. That person will be retiring around then. But instead of retiring that person will run for re-election and appoint me to the position. So whenever I tell you all about Illinois regardless of what it is I would take it very seriously. Blagojevich along with many others in this state all know who I am and I get the dirt on everyting.
Pressed further, he wrote:
I’ll give you a hint I live in St.Clair county Illinois and if you pay attention to that county over the next couple of years you’ll figure out who I am. Thank you for your I guess “faith†in me and expecting big things. I know how laughable this is laughable to many of you. But if all goes according to plan I’m being groomed to become the next gov of this state but that’s a long way away. I can give you one clue though who the next gov will be after Blagojevich. Watch out for a man named Jay Hoffman he’s currently being groomed by Blagojevich to take control after he wins re-election and me and Jay are let’s say very very close.
Rep. Hoffman, reached last night, laughed so hard he almost split a gut when I read him the above paragraph. Hoffman had no clue who the young man might be, and said he figured it must be a right-wing Republican causing trouble.
I was killing some time last night and managed to contact the commenter via e-mail. He at first admitted he wrote the posts, then backtracked when presented with the impossibility of his story and said he only wrote some of them, then finally confessed that he had made the whole thing up. “I like messing with those right wing nut jobs,” he wrote.
He also denied that he is the guy who writes that Election Projections blog, claiming that he borrowed his friend’s identity to post at the other blog.
The funniest part, though, is that many of the commenters at the conservative blog took him seriously enough to engage him in debate.
- triplemstrategies - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 1:38 am:
Could you put up top that the following posts contain rumor. Funnt entertaining rumor but rumor nonetheless. I respect your work Rich but had I been ina hurry and read the first bit I could have had this as unconfirmed fact and spread an unintentional rumor. I know I try and be a careful reader but I’m sure you would be disheartened that you were causing this Topinka / Abramoff connection to gain legs.
- Easily amused - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 6:52 am:
The funniest part, though, is that many of the commenters at the conservative blog took him seriously enough to engage him in debate.
This from someone who made phone calls to Madigan, Hoffman, and Holbrook, and who engaged the young person in an e-mail interogation. “Hello, Pot? This is Kettle - you’re black.”
- shelbyville - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 8:41 am:
I guess James Frey is blogging, now.
- Corey - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 9:41 am:
I am the Republican that was “debating” him, and I also enjoy this blog. I find it very funny to have seen this cross over to the Capitol Fax blog.
Just for the record, I wasn’t really taking him seriously, but he kept saying such crazy things, I wanted to have him keep going.
This is hilarious!
- Beowulf - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 10:25 am:
If this guy admitted to you, Rich, that he deliberately posted information that he knew to be false, why not ban him from further postings on your website? Don’t we get enough false information from well-meaning people that truly believe what they have heard or read? Why tolerate someone who is deliberately trying to portray false and damaging information to others which they know to be false or incorrect?
I am all for free speech but not to the point where it allows individuals to pervert the free flow of Truthful information. It is one thing to make an incorrect or false statement if one truly believes it to be factual. It is another thing to deliberately pass on false information that one knows to be incorrect or untrue.
I would seriously consider banning this joker from further commentary. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?
- Corey - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 10:29 am:
The guy did not post at Rich’s website. He was posting at another blog, that Rich stumbled across, somehow.
Even though, I was sort of telling this joker that he should be careful what he says online because people from the other party might be able to get him in trouble with all his “friends†in high places, I had absolutely nothing to do with forwarding this to anyone. I just was laughing about the whole thing. I never expected that Madigan’s office or Jay Hoffman would really be contacted!
- Son of a Sailor - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 10:49 am:
You are keeping is in great suspense…
What’s the site?
- Son of a Sailor - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 10:55 am:
Found it
- SenorAnon. - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 2:37 pm:
Went back and read this dude’s posts. What a buffoon. There is plenty of self-aggrandizing on this blog (which I actually appreciate - it breaks up the rancor from time to time), but this guy takes the cake.
Then he has the hilarity to suggest his “friend - now former friend” posted all of that stuff. Yeah, sure, pal.
- Corey - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 3:19 pm:
For what it is worth, the webmaster of the blog where this occured traced the original posts from the guy to the same IP address as the apology post from the person who claimed had his identity taken by a now “former friend.”
So, its the same person.
- Blaine - Wednesday, Feb 8, 06 @ 4:51 pm:
Well here I go one more time. As many of you know I worte an apology on the site www.davidwissing.com, for what my friend did. I still don’t know all the details but I’m figuring them out more and more. He did have access to my e-mail address both of them and my blog. I have since changed all of my passwords so he doesn’t have access to them anymore. I tried to reach the reporter who wrote this article about the situation but I haven’t gotten a reply. The person who did this was Chad West and he lives in East St.Louis Illinois. For what it’s worth it wasn’t me it was him. I’m doing my best to clear that up. I don’t blame any of you for not beleiving my story I wouldn’t beleive it either. Once again I apologize for what he has done. Corey please tell everyone that no it is not the same Blaine. I never heard of that website till all of this happened sorry for all the confusion.