Oppo Research in the Tradition of Einstein (Free Republic under fire)

The Corner at National Review Online ^ | 28 June 2008 | Byron York

[SE Mom]

The Washington Post has published an unintentionally amusing article this morning about one Danielle Allen, a "razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist" at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. Allen, with doctorates from Cambridge and Harvard, won a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation genius grant a few years ago and now conducts studies at the Institute, where, according to the Post, "she works alongside groundbreaking physicists, mathematicians and social scientists. They don't have to teach, and they face no quotas on what they publish. Their only mandate is to work in the tradition of Einstein, wrestling with the most vexing problems in the universe."

And one of the most vexing problems in the universe, which Allen has decided to pursue in the tradition of Einstein, is the origin of a number of e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Using the advanced research tools at her disposal, the razor-sharp Allen found…a couple of posters on the Free Republic website, plus a former political rival of Obama's who sends out zillions of e-mails to reporters every day.

The former political rival appears to have been completely open about the stuff he sent out, some of which was based on arguments similar to an op-ed that appeared in the pages of the New York Times. As for Free Republic, according to the Post, Allen "counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama's religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities."

Allen gave her information to the Post reporter, who used it to track down two allegedly offending freepers, one a 69-year-old retired grandfather in the suburbs of Boston and the other a 60-year-old schoolteacher in rural Washington state. Both said they had nothing to do with the emails. And that's about it.

But the article has a pretty clear subtext, and it is that the exchange of such information on the Internet should be controlled. "I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?'" Allen told the Post. "Citizens and political scientists must face the fact that the Internet has enabled a new form of political organization that is just as influential on local and national elections as unions and political action committees…This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment. It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."

Of course, we have laws that regulate the political activities of unions and political action committees. Is it going too far to guess that the scholar from the Institute for Advanced Studies might be searching for some way to do the same for Free Republic?

06/28 08:45 AM

[SE Mom]

Bingo!

[mnehring]

I don’t believe the real root of the issue is if he is or was a Muslim, it is how they are playing the media with this story. IMHO, they are using it to make us look like witchhunters. That is why I am focusing on showing her bias. It is Obama’s campaign that seems to keep bringing up this issue.

[hocndoc]

The problem is that she is *supposed* to do research in political theory.

( It’s inconvenient that she admitted, and the WP reported, that she acted because she got angry, but . . .)

[Shermy]

Obama has no religion.

He has money now, he has no need to “cling” to religion any more, using his own word.

Please attribute this rumor to me and FR if it goes viral.

thanks!

[hocndoc]

The genius doesn't realize that, with a little work, just about anyone can counter any speech on the web, by using the web. With a little talent and education (the latter easily available on line), history can be altered (at least superficially) on the 'Net.

(She should read Crichton's Next.)

Instead, she took the lazy way out and turned the story over to a (dead-tree-newspaper, dying old media) WaPo reporter -- one with a history with FR.

[expatguy]

JOHN HANCOCK

[pissant]

ROFLMAO!

Hey Danielle. I’ll like you sniff my jockstrap if you can get your marxist POS into the whitehouse.

[Earthdweller]

Now I know why you get in trouble with the boss. LOL. :)

[Terry Mross]

Okay, guys, which one of us is going to ‘fess up? One of us started that “rumor”. Go ahead and admit it and maybe the writer will interview you for her next article. hee hee

[kcvl]

I guess the Washington Post forgot to mention this about Allen...

Ms. Allen has been using tax exempt facilities to conduct her political research. Once again, an Obama supporter is caught apparently violating the law (by using tax-exempt facilities to do Obama campaign research)

according to Andy Martin.

ANDY MARTIN RESPONDS TO WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE NAMING MARTIN AS THE SOURCE OF COMMENTS ABOUT OBAMA’S RELIGIOUS ROOTS

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037797/posts

“How did Mosk find Allen if she had no public record of any involvement? Obviously he was steered to her by the Obama campaign, a fact Mosk neglects to disclose. I would suggest that if Mosk was steered to her by the Obama campaign Mr. Mosk needs to write a follow-up story and disclose his own research record; it raises serious suspicions.

[kcvl]

Any more of those $500,000 grants left to fund FReeping?Does this count as a $500,000 donation to Obama campaign? It bought a scholar/ researcher/ operative after all.

It sounds ILLEGAL to me since she is using her 'position' to do opposition research for the Obama campaign. She works for the Institute for Advanced Study which gets FEDERAL money.

[Billthedrill]

Hey Danielle - McCain's a Zoroastrian!

For a chunk of that MacArthur grant I'll tell you who I am. Or you can find me in the White Pages.

Dang it. Now I'm a racist too.

[SE Mom]

CAN’T KEEP UP!

Between this and the growing doubts about the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate we need copy/paste as never before :)

[cynwoody]

Big question. How would anyone get the identity of F.R. members? I smell B.S.

That all depends on what they post.

Example: A few months ago I was reading a thread about Uncle Jeremiah's new digs south of Chicago. Someone posted an aerial view of the new subdivision. The discussion veered off into mapping program accuracy, etc. By way of making a point, someone posted an aerial view of his own neighborhood with a yellow X marking his house and noted that Google was five houses off the correct location (fairly common – Google uses NavTeq databases to decode street addresses, and they aren't perfect).

Just for fun, I replied with a photo of his house taken from the street.

I simply looked up the domain on which his aerial photo with the X was hosted, then checked the domain owner's address in Google, observed that it looked like the right neighborhood, and then posted a cropped screenshot of Google's new street view photography of the house with the yellow X.

Moral of the example: If you post images, don't host them yourself. Leave them where they are currently hosted or dump them somewhere anonymous, like Photobucket.

[potlatch]

Thank you for pings.

[Fred Nerks]

Citizenship, Distrust, and Democracy.

Danielle S. AllenJuly 22, 2003

Danielle S. Allen, Dean of Humanities at The University of Chicago, discusses why our political life is characterized by so much distrust and gives her thoughts on how we can arrive at a place of more peaceful interaction...

THE OBAMA FILE.

Barack Hussein Obama A privileged African-American, who has not shared the black American experience By birth, blood and training, a Muslim, who has been a member of a Black-African church for 20 years A socialist whose politics are rooted in Marx and whose tactics were conceived by Alinsky A master at shaping his own mythology and completely unqualified to be Commander in Chief

What's the matter Danielle? Barry Dunham doesn't like the truth? Too late, it's already out there...sourced and documented.

[Political Junkie Too]

Here's something for WaPo to research. Obama's rise in politics is a result of the following:

1) Obama challenged qualifying signatures on all his Illinois State Senate Democrat primary opponents' applications (see Alice Palmer), running unopposed,

2) Obama had sealed divorce records of his Democrat primary opponent Blair Hull exposed, revealing accusations of wife-beating and forcing Hull out of the primary,

3) Obama had sealed divorce records of his Republican opponent Jack Ryan exposed, revealing accusations of wanting to perform public sex acts and forcing Ryan out of the general election.

4) Obama claims his legislative records in Illinois were not archived, and presumably destroyed, leaving no paper trail of his past government experience. (See last paragraph of article)

It seems that Obama can't win without legal technicalities or by destroying his opponent by exposing sealed private records. So now, Obama is coming after everyday people on the internet who dare to look into his past?

-PJ

[ebiskit]

What “certain places” as you put it, are you referring to sir? Please elucidate.

No government has a monopoly on perpetuity. The 2nd is THE line we all man.

the Deets

[dr_lew]

This is a Hindu idol, I believe. The trident is usually associated with Shiva ( I read ) but the figure has a mirror as well, so I surmise this may be "the androgynous union of Shiva and Parvati in one body (Ardhanarisvara)".

According to Obama's luck token charms Indians, it's a "tiny brass monkey king", i.e. Hanuman, but I don't see how they get this from the appearance of it.

Of course, this sort of thing would be anathema to a Muslim.

[ottbmare]

I don't see how this can be . . .

They pieced together isolated innocuous bits of information she had given out over the years. The internet is amazingly powerful. Haven't you ever watched CSI?