Anti-Palin Astroturfing Traced Directly to Obama-Connected PR Firm
UPDATE: LIKE CLOCKWORK, VIDEOS TAKEN DOWN!!!
Update: Rusty Uploading His Copy Now

Obama Connected PR Firm Uploads, Publicizes Lying Anti-Palin Ad on YouTube, Then Pushes it Virally as "Grassroots" Effort; PR Exec Sockpuppets Praise Video for "Getting the Truth Out;" Company Employee Uploads it to Democratic Underground; DKos Diariast Urges Readers to Send it Out to Ten People Each

Just posted.

If, as seems to be the case, Axelrod hired Winner and Associates to do this, then there had better be a disclosure somewhere in Obama's FEC filings that he's hired this company through Axelrod. If he's deliberately hiding firms he knows to be working for him, that has got to be a violation of the law.

I know Rusty has been searching the disclosure forms and hasn't seen Winner and Associates listed yet. If Axelrod is hiring them through some cut-out to deliberately avoid disclosure....

Background: David Axelrod, "the Master of Astroturfing," according to other PR agents quoted by Business Week.

In the past he's created "grassroots" front-groups to, for example, gin up public enthusiasm for utility company rate hikes.

And you know how quickly "grassroots organizations" spring up to demand utility companies raise their electricity rates.

As many have noted, legions of CCC's (Concerned Christian Conservatives) have suddenly sprung up all over the internet to attack Palin and repeat Obama talking points.

Update: I asked Rusty earlier, when I was teasing it, if they'd yanked the videos yet.

He scoffed at the idea they read this (or his) blog. I know for a fact they do.

Anyway, they're down now. Gee, that was fast.

Trouble is, boys, we got copies. Of everyfuckingthing.

You goddamned rats.

Tomorrow they will claim this was all inadvertent, etc. They'll say they did produce the ad, and sent it to Winner and Associates to, um, focus-group or something, then decided not to run it, but that dirty Winner family and its employees attempted to get it to go viral without their authorization.

Whatever.

If this is all so innocent, why are the videos being yanked even as we speak?

Just about one hour after the post went up, "cnwinner," "eswinner" and the rest of the winner gang are yanking their videos.

Almost as if... I don't know, some kind of major campaign organization was patrolling the internet 24/7.

Can we believe "cnwinner," "eswinner," and etc. just all suddenly were monitoring the internet and decided to take their videos down simultaneously?

No, we cannot.

Can we believe Winner & Associates scours the internet 24 hours a day for derogatory stories about them?

No, we cannot.

But -- can we believe the Obama campaign has people watching the internet 24/7 and just sent out the call to Winner & Associates to bury the evidence?

Yes we can, friends.

Yes we can.

Update: Rusty's uploading his copy of the suddenly-disappeared ad now, but I'm sure unnamed persons will quickly demand YouTube pull it, based on copyright infringement.

YouTube, I'm thinking, will not say who in particular is claiming copyright, even though it is their standard practice to ID the copyright claimant. It will just be a general "someone" claiming copyright. Mustn't let out the secret of who claims authorship, after all.

Well, after that, we'll just start hosting it on our servers.

You guys put it out there. Dishonestly. You tried to get it to go viral without the Obama campaign's fingerprints on it.

Well, it's about to go viral, guys. More viral than you ever expected. And it's now news, so you can take your copyright infringement claims and stick them straight up your asses.

Sweet Info from YouTube:

ESWINNER signed in 18 minutes ago.

I'll bet he did.

Update: "Gocamerica" YouTube sockpuppet video now deleted too, the last one remaining, I think.

Let's just say that the impression intended -- that these were all uploaded by different users without any connections between them, just plain old "grassroots" Palin critics -- is no longer operative.

And "eswinner," whoever that might be, no longer has any videos he wishes to share with us.

Maybe he's changed his mind and has caught Palinmania?

I'm told that Axelrod's wiki page is being altered. However, reading it through, it appears to just be a reorganization of material, and doesn't seem to be a "friendly edit." But I'm not sure. Someone familiar with Wikipedia will have to check.

Thanks to Brenn, Skiwd, Mr. Right, and, um, "Abu Al-Poopypants."

I have to say, Mr. Al-Poopypants, that your screenname is not exactly adding the credibility we need here.

Hah... Very funny comments being left on "eswinner's" YouTube channel.

CandidateObama (25 minutes ago)

This is not the Winner and Associates I thought I knew.

Via Dan Riehl, with a bit more on this.

Day by Day: already on it.

Well I've Given It Enough Time... to officially say, "Attempts to reach Mr. Winner were unsuccessful, and requests for comment or denial were not answered."

Anti-Palin Astroturfing Traced Directly to Obama-Connected PR Firm
UPDATE: LIKE CLOCKWORK, VIDEOS TAKEN DOWN!!!
Update: Rusty Uploading His Copy Now&bodytext=Obama Connected PR Firm Uploads, Publicizes Lying Anti-Palin Ad on YouTube, Then Pushes it Virally as "Grassroots" Effort; PR Exec Sockpuppets Praise Video for "Getting the Truth Out;" Company Employee Uploads it to Democratic Underground; DKos Diariast Urges Readers to...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 12:42 AM

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