They still don't get the story right.
I find it interesting that a Google search for this handle only finds the news articles about the conspiracy and no actual posts or other references to this user name.
Old rule of survival in the jungle: If a lawyer asks you a question, "yes" or "no" are more than sufficient answers and sometimes excessive.
Feel free to pass this suggested talking point on to Ehrlich's people:
In the governors probe of this affair we must examine if there were others spreading these rumors. We already know of one state employee who engaged in this behavior, we must now determine if there were others.
We do not yet know if the person posting along with Mr. Steffen, with a screen name of "MD4Bush" on the web site Free Republic, is a state employee who was also involved in this scandal.
This individual's identity is fundemental in determining wether other state employees were involved as this person also spread rumors about Martin O'Malley and,in fact, did so on more occasions than Mr. Steffen. As this individual also spread rumors about Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, it is imperative we learn of this persons identity in order to make sure it is not part of a wider scandal.
who are you? ping
FYI ping
If you have any information that might lead to the identity of MD4BUSH, shouldn't you contact the Governor's counsel who is conducting this probe? If you are concerned about the confidentiality policies of FR, wouldn't the use of FR to carry out a public fraud and to breach the confidentiality of another, normal poster. be sufficient grounds for you to do this?
My thinking is that you have a right to do that. And, getting to the bottom of the identity of this person is an essential part of the story.
Congressman Billybob
Now let me get this straight. We have some bigwig in the MErryland Governor's office investigating this Steffen fellow who spread RUMORS about Martin O'Mally's marriage? Steffen worked for Ehrlich and was fired for his rumor mongering posts to FreeRepublic?
And we now have the government of Merryland chasing down RUMORS????
Rumors, dear Lord. Rumors have been going on since the beginning of time. Now the state of Merryland is going to put an end to them forever?
You want rumors? Mayor Willie Don Schaeffer lived with his male significant other for many years. Schaeffer lived a quiet private life, no flame and pomp, and was devoted to his partner. My ex-husband, a cop, said the Balto. police regularly drove Schaeffer's gentleman around as well Schaeffer to their house.
Let's see. Well I'll throw it out there. As a child I used to help my father rig voting machines in Baltimore city. My dad and some electricians from the construction unions used to go into certain precincts and boom, just whack them with a jolt of electricity that somehow reset them.
All this scuttlebutt about O'Mally is daily fodder and known by everyone in Baltimore. He's a real creep boat and has his own swanky apartment.
Let's see, hmmmm, Milkulski. Well rumor has it Mikulski is a lesbian but that's just idle Baltimore street talk.
I guess the Merryland government gonna come after me now. For spreading gossip.
I'm sorry, this is the very definition of "absurd".
Who gives a crap what some anonymous poster says on the web unless it's confiurmabble? Otherwise, it nothing more than watercooler gossip and should be treated as such. This is a BAD trend
bump
Bump
These "freepers" are also questionable:
VelmaCruther
terrapinfan
Gerry Jarcia
De Valera
All are newbies to the original rumor thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1190972/posts
Via google, terrapinfan is a named found posting to other forums. One terrapinfan poster lists their residence as Maryland. The majority of posts on another forum have been deleted.
http://www.google.com/search?tab=gw&q=terrapinfan&hl=en&lr=&
I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop on O'Malley. Will he be sorry that his is opening this can of worms by pressing the issue?
But .. when MD4BUSH prepared his/her login - didn't they have to use a name to sign up ..?? I mean .. can people just use any old fake name to sign up ..?? And .. if they can .. then maybe that's why they were so upset to find out Jeff Gannon was a "fake" name!
You know .. this could be just the usual "projection technique" whereby the WaPo is yelling about Gannon using a "fake" name - to hide the fact their people were using fake names to sign up at FR.
Why can't those records be subpeoneaed to find out who that person is ..??
I'll wait for the book/movie to come out...
For the record,
gathered a number of Steffen's most damaging postings on the Web
Steffan's "most damaging postings" were taken from Freepmail, not publicly posted. The man was clearly set-up and betrayed.
It used to be that reporters questioned the politicians and their reps, not the other way around. Seems like something is back-asswards here.
"In that case, he said, it was suggested that there are times when it is appropriate for the media to reveal information and sources."
Only if they do not ever want any further info from the source in the future. Protect your source. It's the number one cardinal rule of journalism, and many journalists have gone to jail rather than turn canary.