Monday, September 8, 2008

Berkowitz Campaign Site Links To White Power Hate Site!

Somebody needs his or her head examined over at Ethan's campaign office. The latest header at Ethan in the News is:

New Ivan Moore Poll Shows Sarah Palin With An 81.6 Percent Alaskan Approval Rating, But Mark Begich Only Leads Ted Stevens By 3.3 Points

Someone pointed the weird headline out to me yesterday, but I only checked it out this morning. If you click on it, you're redirected to a site I've never named at this blog, and have only written about or called about, when a site in Alaska linked to it. Since the Berkowitz campaign has now refused to answer a large, growing number of e-mails and phone calls from PA, I'm not going to beat my head against that wall again.

If you click on the link at Ethan's site, you're redirected to a page that includes, among other creepy stuff, such hyperlinks as:

White Nationalist Sites:
--- Hal Turner Mirror Site
--- Stormfront
--- White Revolution
--- Mein Kampf (HTML)
--- A White Man Speaks Out (HTML)
--- Panzerfaust Blog
--- Anti-Semite Sam's Blog
--- South Africa Blog (PA notes - not a Black South African site)
--- Alaska Nationalist

We'll see how long Ethan's idiots keep this link up at his site.

Sucking up to Sarah's base, or incompetence? I do hope it is the latter, even though that isn't very reassuring.

Don't even get me started on the DCCC AM Radio ads that may be among the worst in recent Alaska history.

Update - 11:45 a.m. Monday: David Shurtleff, Ethan's communications chief, called me this morning, about the link to the racist hate site. He explained that - I'm paraphrasing - I shouldn't expect Ethan's web person to be as knowledgeable as I am about the internet. I was driving through heavy traffic in Eagle River at the time, so I had to tell him "Talk to you later, David," to keep from driving off the road, LOL...

The campaign page has removed the link. When you now click on it, you get:

Oh no!

You are trying to find something that is not here, no longer available, or just plain tricky to locate. May we recommend that you try going back to the home page and starting over?


Ethan's campaign people, or the candidate himself, need(s) to sit down with John Devins, and have it explained how nasty Don is going to get in the fight of his life. Commenters at this post who are enabling or defending these kids playing with Ethan's site, need to WTFU - wake the fuck up!

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear. This is really really bad.

clark said...

you think maybe they're working with jake's tech people?

Anonymous said...

Phil, it seems to have been taken down now, at least when I click on the link.

Anonymous said...

@clark Hahahaha! That was pretty funny.

@Phil Wow -- you've uncovered the deep dark Berkowitz is a white supremacist secret.

Kate said...

Phil,
I'm disappointed in you. Whether you like how Ethan's campaign is being run or not, calling the adult human beings who work there "Ethan's idiots" was childish and degrading. How does that advance the ball?

I also found that headline confusing when I saw it and clicked on the link, and was taken to the website it was intended to link to, at about 11:30 last night. Sometimes things get mixed up in the intertubes. Surely you could have pointed this glitch out in a more constructive way.

As I have observed that you don't take your anonymous commenters seriously, I'll identify myself as both a former aide and friend to Ethan Berkowitz, friend and supporter of many of his hard-working campaign staff, and independent, thinks-for-myself, intelligent Alaskan who would just like to see this dialogue elevated a little bit. I believe you have the ability to do that, if you care to do so.

Thanks,
Kate Sangster

Anonymous said...

Ethan's people are good at fake web redirects that allow their candidate to play the victim. I eagerly await the 'I'm under attack by Nazis, please send money' email that is no doubt being spell-checked as we speak...

Anonymous said...

I'm a republican and I remain anonymous but I read Phil's blog all the time.

He does not totally ignore anonymous comments.

I find that he is a good representative of the progressive mindset and he makes me think. He is pretty even handed in who he skewers and in who he supports.

He has tried to help Ethan but apparently Berky has a hard time burying the hatchet.

Philip Munger said...

kate,

Either Ethan's campaign people are ready for prime time, or they are not. At this rate, Don's gonna chew his childlike idiots up.

Anonymous said...

wow phil -- good to see you really helping us keep the seat firmly in republican control. again. thanks.

Anonymous said...

@Phil - So they posted a link to a blog that was inappropriate and have since pulled it off. It was a blog posting about the poll results. The site was totally fucking weird, but the article wasn't. I don't know why they would post anything from a blog as "news" to begin with, but considering it's now off their site don't you think you should get off their back? Is the half hour you've spent on this posting and the subsequent follow-up really helping Ethan? Or are you just hurt that their campaign isn't jumping for joy that you offered to help them? What exactly do you do again, anyway?

Philip Munger said...

1) Every time the blog that was linked to gets linked to, I get extremely upset. It tried to fuck with a good friend of mine - and of Ethan's - in a major, sleazy, racist way. I have no tolerance toward that site.

2) I'm not backing off. It was idiotic of whoever linked to that article to put it up without checking out the site's entire page. I do that.

3) There is no reason for me to try to call somebody for a fifth time, when the previous four calls were unanswered, or to e-mail somebody for the sixth time, when the previous five went unanswered.

4) To the anon directly above - even when the Benson campaign asked me to pull down a post because action had been taken or because there was a disagreement with me, the post stayed, usually with an update, as has been made to this post.

5) Apparently, my complaint about the awful DCCC ads is just one of many coming into Ethan's campaign.

The campaign itself cannot complain to the DCCC or request changes, because the DCCC "helpers" and the campaign cannot communicate. I've volunteered to help deal with this in a creative way that will help get the issues in those ads across to Alaskans.

Anonymous said...

@Phil What DCCC ads?

Philip Munger said...

on AM radio - perhaps elsewhere...

Anonymous said...

Do you know what is really spooky? If a group of racist can hack into a Jewish guys campaign site they can hack into anyone's computer.
The groups you listed from the site are all very dangerous. Hal Turner, very well known to the FBI, is constantly calling for some crazed fool to set off a bomb during times like the Presidential swearing in...not a good lot to be ticking off if you ask me.

Anonymous said...

Now that I think about it...maybe it was one of your own that did this...hmmmmm! Something to think about!

Philip Munger said...

I doubt it #15 - from what I learned this morning, the person who posts this stuff for Ethan is merely under-qualified for the environment in which that person has been given responsibility.

Pamalah MacNeily said...

I am from down South in California and I tried to update on Who was Ethan Berkowitz? His website does not make it clear if he is a Dem.or a Rebub.

Maybe he is independent. What'z up?

clark said...

he's a democrat.

Anonymous said...

Phil,

You've lost me. This post was merely the last straw. As a fellow progressive Alaskan, I have read this site often, looking for an insightful take on our uphill battle in this state. But recently, the election politics have resulted in more vitriol on this site than I can tolerate.

I, too am frustrated by the polical climate in our state and our country. The other side seems intent to spread lies and hate to win power. We don't have to stoop to their level. We can do better than that.

There was no need to post this article. Because of the traffic you get, you did as much to spread the false notion that Berkowitz supports White Power as Berkowitz's web lackey did. The difference? You did it intentionally.

I, like you, was a Diane Benson supporter. I, like you, vowed to support Berkowitz in the general election if he won the the primary. Yet you still seem intent on doing your best to undermine him.

You can try to spin your actions as a last resort because Berkowitz campaign wouldn't return your messages. But I'mnot buying it. Which is worse: them taking too long to fix an obvious mistake (or hack), or you adding flames to the fire by pointing it out to everyone?

So long. I sincerely hope that the negativism of this election cycle does not prevent Progresive Alaska from making progress.

clark said...

there's nothing wrong with what munger's doing. if we didn't want to live in a world where we challenge each other to do better and where dissent is not only tolerated but encouraged, we'd be republicans. his point isn't that berkowitz is aligned with the people behind those sites -- no one in their right mind would believe that. it's that he has amateurs working on his campaign. and he needs to clean house and assemble a more qualified team immediately, before he figures it out the hard way. get a grip.

Philip Munger said...

cory,

It was meant to shake up a campaign that is adrift. If you failed to recognize that, see you later, friend.....

Anonymous said...

@Clark, @Phil:

I don't disagree with the motive. I simply disagree with the execution. This has recently become a reoccurring theme when I read this blog. I guess I just have a different temperament. To each his own.

Anonymous said...

So, Phil are you saying Berkowitz did this on purpose? Wow! Kind of a low blow even for you.
Accusing a Jew of using Jew hatred to boost up his campaign. Interesting...haven't you been contacted by a racist that goes by "Anchorage Activist"?

VG said...

I'm not from AK, but I can understand the frustration very well. I've had a somewhat similar experience with a Senate campaign here- just plain naive/ stupid about the use of the internet, the potential for dirty tricks from the other camp, etc. etc.

Living in some kind of time warp, they are (here), in a campaign where the other side is gonna get down and dirty in every which way. You only have to have followed a few very contentious campaigns via the internet to get a clue about dirty tricks involving candidate web sites. It's like uh common sense and paying attention.

Better to get a sharp slap upside the head now, while the problem can still be fixed.

Philip Munger said...

anon @ #23,

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Anonymous said...

@VG I don't see this as naive about the internet. Their newsreader picked up a story about poll numbers in the AK-AL race. The article was innocuous, the blog where it resided NOT innocuous. It was pointed out to the campaign and they pulled it down. That would be the end of the story, except that Phil and his Philbots (can I get credit for that term?) won't fucking let it go.

@Anonymous #23 Like Phil, I want to know what the fuck you are talking about. Contacted by a racist...?

Anonymous said...

Phil you know who I am talking about. The person has a blog called Alaska Pride. I seem to remember you mentioning him some where...

Philip Munger said...

anon @c#27 - go back through every article at PA. I have never mentioned the name of the blog you mention in your comment. Nor have I ever linked to it in html or indirect reference, other than the one that Ethan's campaign acknowledges as having put up at their site at the end of last week.

Anonymous said...

Nice try Phil but you did once mention you refused to talk to this same person because of their beliefs. So there has been some contact between the two of you.
I'll just leave it at that because I know how busy you are posting dirt about 17 year old girls.
Have a lovely hate filled life!

red said...

thank you


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