New Talk Of Possible Finance Misdirection, Lying And Anti-Semitism Swirl Around DailyKos

Update 2 and Ouch!: If this from DonkeyCons is Armstrong on a cancelled CBS report on the Iraq War - it's going to leave a mark. This isn't Anti-Semitism, it's racism.

Who cares. It's not like we need CBS to tell us that trying to create democracy with a bunch of iraqis is stupid.

As if it didn't have enough troubles, some readers and former readers of DailyKos are coming forward with new allegations about the goings on within the Netroots movement. Given other developments, said movement may find it increasingly difficult to mount a believable defense.

Up until now the leaders of the so-called Netroots movement have relied upon their credibility to fend off critics and those questioning their motivations. Said credibility could be damaged if, as it seems, the leadership of the Netroots allowed DailyKos Blog father Jerome Armstrong to tell a very public lie without taking him to task. As they say, it's always the cover up that turns out to be more damaging than the crime. That's why I'm addressing the potential credibility issue first.

When revelations of his star gazing past surfaced last week, blogger become political consultant to a would be Presidential contender Jerome Armstrong brushed them aside.

Oh yea, on the astrological stuff. I have done the new age type things over the years--life's never boring that way. Down that line, I dabbled with planets and predictions in the most abstract manner, as one of several different predictive mathematical disciplines, when coming out of finances and into politics during my early blogging days (nobody is surprised that remembers the early 2001 days here), and since then have completely tapered out of it over time. . .

So yea, the cons got me on this one being a little out of the ordinary... It has nothing to do with what I consult with in on line political strategy.

But one needn't remember things as they were in 2001, as it appears Armstrong has continued posting his in depth and detailed astro-political observations while performing his political consulting work right up through March 2005 as would be star-swami Vis Numar. I'm linking cached posts, so you'll need to scroll down or use find word.

Sally, did you see Jerome Armstrong on C-Span yesterday morning? He was representing MYDD, of course, and I couldn't help but think I was looking at Vis Numar. But what do I know? hay hay - He was very impressive!!
Keep up the great links folks, it is wonderful.
Posted by: Laurie on June 30, 2005 12:19 PM

In The Rise of The Theo-Con,  posted on March 21, 2005, star swami Vis Numar tells us the GOP is obsessed with 'gonad politics' which manifestated the plutonic sexual tensions that exist in the Republican Party. And he goes on:

What's notable about the Jupiter-Mercury oppositions of retrogrades in the law passed by Bush, is that they exactly T-square the Sun of the Republican Party and the USA chart. Hence, a hasteful move has been spearheaded through ideology to impact the judicial branch. ... The Republican Party does well when it deals with Neptunian issues ... but when it comes to issues surrounding Pluto, the sexual and the bodily emerge from shadows, and they go toward excess.

I could go on about how Dean's natal Uranus signals that Dean is going to get a new look by the people, and the "Dean Scream" is no longer going to be his tar baby. But I think we'll leave it at tar baby coming from the mouthpiece of the would be Warner campaign .. just for yuks! I'll let Crooks and Liars weigh in:

When I heard Tony Snow use the term "tar baby" while responding to a question in his first televised Press conference today, it actually startled me. Doesn't Tony understand what that phrase means to many people in this country?

Somewhere among the ramblings Vis Numar even points out that Presidential candidates who declare when Mercury is in retrograde are doomed to lose. No doubt he'll be sure to pass that timely bit of advice along to any current employer. The notion that he is dabbling is likely nonsense, the fact that he might not have come clean about some star crossed pre-occupation would amount to a lie. Assuming this is the case, what's so new and noble about the new political paradigm the Netroots professes to enjoy? Looks like the same old duck and cover for one another to me. It appears to have been a not so well kept secret that Armstrong is Vis Numar.

Mickey Kaus recently posted: Read my lips ... no new planets. Sorry Mickey .. you should get Armstrong on TV now, maybe we'll all learn the truth.

Before moving on from Armstrong, what I'd really like to know is if he's Freeper Vis Numar circa 2001, who made plenty of posts. And whether or not he had no real political background before the Internet as he said here, or was arrested several time with Greenpeace and Earth First as he recently told Salon.

Were you involved in politics before you went online?

Jerome Armstrong: Not much. I voted, that was it. Political participation
wasn't on my radar, really. I did some field organizing in in Portland,
Oregon in the early '90s.

via Salon: was arrested repeatedly at protests with EarthFirst! and Greenpeace.

I had wanted to stay clear of the Anti-Semitism charges some former KosSacks have emailed me about. But upon learning that Kos himself placed this item on his front page today, I thought I should bring it up. He cleaned it up but linked to the whole post.

I've always gotten a lot of traffic from Daily Kos, and my name is listed first under "Kos Alumni" on the home page...

Kos, and his blog allies and followers, appear to have touched an extremely raw nerve with tribunes of modern neoliberalism (like neoconservatism, but without the strength of its convictions.) ...

The overriding concern for the neolibs, I think, is not that Kos and the netroot activists will lead the party off to the far-left fringes, but rather that they are willing, even eager, to form alliances with conservative nationalists like Jim Webb (the Va. Senate candidate) who've been forced out of the GOP because of their opposition to the neocons and their insane schemes. From Marty Peretz's point of view, this is very bad. Left unchecked, it could even pose a threat to the sacred alliance with Israel.

It's not that Kos (or Webb, for that matter) are outspoken critics of the special relationship. Far from it. But it is clear that the constituencies they represent, or hope to represent, are much more skeptical about U.S. intervention in the Middle East than the Democratic old guard -- which, let's face it, is practically welded to the Israel lobby.

Kos' decision to link that post on his front page today while endorsing the likes of Ben Nelson and Jim Webb, yet fighting tooth and nail against Lieberman is hard to fathom. Either he has no issue with Anti-Semitism, or the Netroots political movement has the judgment of a bunch of Not Ready for Prime Time Players, as opposed to a movement come of age.

If you simply take Nelson versus Lieberman, there's no solid rationale for supporting one and not the other. The Netroots talks about a progressive agenda in all fifty states. By their own definition, they should have challenged Nelson and they didn't. Yet, even against party opposition, they are strident in their opposition to a loyal Democrat and the first Jewish Vice Presidential candidate in American history. It makes little sense.

Yet, as I'm not a regular reader, I'll provide another link for those interested to further explore any Anti-Semitism charges. The Protocols of the DailyKos via LGF And as best I can tell, it is absolutely KosSacks and former KosSacks who emailed me to complain and asked me to look at the issue. I've no desire to trump the charge up. And individuals should read the postings there and decide for themselves. I admit to not having read Kos much myself. If nothing else, it looks like that community needs to have the debate. Some who contacted me insisted they were usually shouted down when bringing the issue up.

Which leaves the latest allegation of impropriety including some possible misdirection of political funds through an inappropriately designed ad for a campaign run by Armstrong and placed throughout the Netroots network of blogs. The posts detailing that can be found via the Buckeye State Blog here, with two additional links in the body of text below.

Shortly after that Brown, who's internet strategy was being directed by Armstrong bought a massive blog ad buy. The ads themselves were especially deceptive, picturing both Brown and Hackett's face on them and initially directing people to Browns fundraising site, until later changed to an actblue general election fund page - after many people complained about it. It was all a mistake was the claim.

At this point I had had enough. I wrote these 2 pieces, here and here, laying the initial opinion of payola.

In an email exchange with kos, he played down the ad buy claiming that Hackett was going to be running ads in 2 weeks - there was no conspiracy. Hackett never did run any blogads.

Update: DC also points out that vis numar was quite a hit at DU.

Comments

[billmon]

Doug, really -- you need to find a real job. These obessions are getting out of control. Get control of your life man. Get help.

[Dan]

I'll be sure and let "Doug" know when he comes by. ; )

[Crank]

Shorter billmon: "uncle!"

[Mike S]

Wow. You are desperate. Your proof that Markos is an anti-semite is sad. You may also want to look up Tim Russo who wrote the original buckeye pieces but changed the author title to "staff." You'll start thinking that he must be a Republican what with all of the "trouble" in his past.

Crank. I have read some of your blather over at Redstate and if you think fools like you and Danny can make Billmon cry "uncle" you've been listening to the children at your blog a little too much. Maybe if Benji coppied an entire Billmon post and said it was his own he'd get close to Billmon's level.

Thanks for the laughs, kids. I can always count on the right side of the blogasphere for unintentional hillarity.

[Bill Connors]

http://www.astroworld.us/archives/000509.html

Sally, did you see Jerome Armstrong on C-Span yesterday morning? He was representing MYDD, of course, and I couldn't help but think I was looking at Vis Numar. But what do I know? hay hay - He was very impressive!!

[Bill Connors]

whoops...somehow i missed that you noted that...

but how about reuters november 2002: http://zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=4851

One of the more nontraditional forecasters online is Jerome Armstrong, the braintrust behind MyDD.com (www.mydd.com). After working as an options and futures trader, MyDD founder Jerome Armstrong said political forecasting was a natural extension of his interest.

Unlike the major network pollsters, he likes having his own Weblog for its flexibility and independence.

"With the Weblogs you can change your mind (often) looking at all the information out there ... You can make a quick summary of what that race looks like from the perspective of locals," he said.

Armstrong does not hide his liberal political bias or the fact he uses astrology to analyze some competitive races, but he strongly contends that the accuracy of his forecasts take priority over his personal views. For the record, he is predicting the Democrats will gain seven seats in the House resulting in a 219-216 majority while slightly increasing their tenuous majority in the Senate.

[Mike S]

I guess since b=that astrology is so amusing to you all you must agree that Saint Reagan was laughable too. At least if you are consistant you do.

Oh wait. You're Republicans so consistancy isn't even in your vocabulary.

[Bill Connors]

Vis Numar at Democratic Underground linked to mydd.com a lot in early day

october 2001
http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID22/arc_database.txt

and in this 2002 one he links to it at bottom as Mydd Weblog:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=4290&forum=DCForumID38&archive=yes

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

Mike S., that was Nancy "Just Say No" Reagan, not Ronald Maximus. And if you ever looked at any picture of her, she had eyes that made you think "hmm, something strange goin' on in there."

[Mike S]

You may want to dig a little deeper into your hero. And search a little for his attempt at creating an alliance with the USSR in order to ward of the UFO invasion. Maybe he had a little too much in common with L. Ron's followers than you would care to admit.