David Nitkin on state politics issues: (BaltSun Political Editor answers questions on MD4Bush)

Baltimore Sun ^ | 02/06/06 | David Nitkin

[conservative in nyc]

--Snip--

Nitkin: These questions most frequently come from within the Republican Party of Maryland. The state Republican Party is offering the theory that the former executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, Josh White, left his post because of some connection to MD4Bush, the Internet identity of a person or persons who engaged former gubernatorial aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. into talking about how rumors about Martin O'Malley's personal life had been spread. There's no evidence to back this up. White may have landed a new position, but he has not yet confirmed for us his new employer.

Ryan O'Doherty is a former Democratic Party worker who has ties to people close to Martin O'Malley, and whose e-mail address from the state party appears as a registration identification on the freerepublic Web site -- as an identity for the MD4Bush identity. It's tantalizing evidence. And we've reported it. O'Doherty and the Democratic Party say they won't speak to the authenticity of the registration.

I continue to want to be able to answer the "So what?" question:

Let's hypothesize that O'Doherty is or knows intimately who MD4Bush is. Let's assume that the MD4Bush identity was created by someone close to Martin O'Malley for the sole purpose of trying to engage Steffen (a regular freerepublic poster) to talk about how O'Malley rumors had been spread. If that's the case, the strategy worked: Steffen did discuss the rumors, and when his identity was leaked to the Washington Post, he offered to resign, and the governor said he fired him.

After that, talk about the O'Malley rumors subsided greatly. Given that set of supposed facts, did the person who created the MD4Bush identity do wrong? Was it just as wrong as what Steffen did? These are open questions...

--Snip--

[conservative in nyc]

This is from Baltimore Sun Political editor David Niktin's regular Q&A column on Maryland state politics. I had to edit out a lot due to copyright restraints, including the questions that caused Mr. Nitkin to give this response. The questions were asked by "Rick from Reisterstown" and "Shirley from Upper Marlboro".

Another question from "Jen C. from Jarrettsville" took the Baltimore Sun for bias against the Ehrlich administration in the MD4Bush saga, including the statement that NCPAC/Joseph Steffen was the "governor's dirty tricks agent for years." Jen C. noted the questionable timing of the Washington Post article - the day after Mayor O'Malley put his foot in his mouth by likening President Bush's budget cuts to the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Nitkin responded that while Jen C. had a "good memory for Steffen e-mails posted on freerepublic.com", she didn't have a good memory for statements made by NCPAC/Joseph Steffen to the Baltimore Sun, where he made acknowledgements about his political past.

As always, there's more at the link.

[conservative in nyc]

MD4Bush Ping!

See also: In hiring probe, lawyers wage war of words (Baltimore Sun - 2/5/06)

[Coop]

Was it just as wrong as what Steffen did?

So telling someone to stop discussing a politician's personal life is now wrong, Mr. Nitkin? If that's your view, I call on you to resign for promoting slanderous attacks. If not, please correct this incredibly misleading statement.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"After that, talk about the O'Malley rumors subsided greatly. Given that set of supposed facts, did the person who created the MD4Bush identity do wrong? Was it just as wrong as what Steffen did? These are open questions..."

Guess what! The one talking the worst trash about O'Malley was MD4Bush. The rumors subsided because he quit.

[conservative in nyc]

The thing that annoys me most about the Sun and WaPo's coverage of the whole MD4Bush saga is that they have always blamed NCPAC/Steffen for spreading the O'Malley infidelity rumors without offering anything that comes close to proving that assertion. This wasn't the first website the rumors were spread on, yet the papers have focused their attention here. The Baltimore Sun in particular should look at how the rumors were spread through (deleted) postings on their own website, for example. If they archived the deleted posts, they probably have the IP addresses of the posters.

[Coop]

The thing that annoys me most about the Sun and WaPo's coverage of the whole MD4Bush saga is that they have always blamed NCPAC/Steffen for spreading the O'Malley infidelity rumors without offering anything that comes close to proving that assertion.

You and me both! It's disgusting, and yet another example of how the media only digs for basic facts if they're likely to result in dirt on conservatives.

[advance_copy]

Maryland Governor: Ehrlich Moves Past O'Malley, Duncan

January 13, 2006--The seesaw in Maryland's Senate race is echoed in the race for Governor. As in the Senate campaign, support for Democratic candidates bulged in November during a politically rough time for Republicans nationally, but has now slackened.

Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich—whose fiscal policies are credited by some with pulling the state out of the doldrums—currently leads Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley 47% to 40%.

Robert Ehrlich is the best thing to happen in Maryland politics during my lifetime. He is doing an outstanding job as Governor. The BalSun and WaPo can pack sand.

[ILLUMINATI_216]

here's my theory:

nitkin and mosk and white and odougherty and michelle lane are all part of the far left wing think tank that very early on created md4bush to make the very old omalley rumors a non-issue by the 2006 gub election.

it was all initiated with omalley's knowledge.

he's a political animal first and foremost.

his phony persona is so BELIEVE-able even to himself that he gets worked up sometimes by his own melodramatic nonsense.

and women voters eat it up.

liberal wimpy politically correct idealist men look at him like a superhero.

Maryland is full of such gullible folks thanks to the proximity to DC and all of the slack government and journalist jobbers living here.

with the print media at his side and the liberal TV program directors at channel 11 and 13, he's bound to ride the misinformed, the estrogenic and stupid vote to the statehouse.

the current channel 11 investigation into the Baltimore police department's poor statistical record keeping is a headline story now for three reasons: make it a non-issue by the primary election, make it look like a republican dirty trick so it's not brought up later on for the general election and capitalize for ratings sweeps weeks for local TV.

by the time jane miller is finished with the story, no negative conclusions will result for omalley, and the blame will shift away from omalley and onto police officials.

you'll only ever read it here.

every other outlet in the legacy media is politically connected for business purposes and won't dare comment on the plain old common sense i've laid out.

maybe wcbm's sean casey or tom marr might speak up or wbal's bruce elliott, but it's pretty much a plus for omalley to mention md4bush anymore, given the baggage of lies and smears and assumptions that gets dragged back into the 'story' by omalley's allies.