(These are just "rumors on the internets", so take with a spoonful of salt. Earlier today, conservative Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said he will vote against Alito, so anything is possible. Also, Senator Feingold voted against a Alito - the first time he has voted against a Supreme Court nominee in his career. If Nelson and Feingold can vote against Alito, so can Menendez. Make sure he hears that you expect a filibuster to prevent replacing moderate Justice O'Connor with an extremist. - promoted by jmelli)
From the chair of NJ NOW:
RUMOR HAS IT CLOSE TO FILIBUSTER: WE NEED MENENDEZ:
FORWARD AD NAUSEUM
Please take a few moments of your day TODAY to CALL Senator Menendez's offices. Let him know you expect him to continue his record of supporting women and their families, and that while you know these may be his first two weeks, we need these first two weeks to be his greatest. **Tell his office you expect a filibuster!**
**Leave a message if you can't get through. Each call from you is equal to 10 people who feel that way and didn't call! **
**1. CALL THE WASHINGTON OFFICE:** (202) 224-4744
**2. Call The South Jersey Office** (856) 757-4353
I'd say call Menendez, Lautenberg, Schumer (who's taking a tally) Reid, Feingold, Feinstein and Leahy and ask for a filibuster. Call Snowe, Collins. Congressional switchboard: 800-614-2803 or get individual numbers of gang of 14 at NJ Media Corps
In a New York Times piece out today titled Conservative Blogs are More Effective, Corzine's campaign blogger Matt Stoller cites the example of a New Jersey conservative blog that spread rumors about Corzine which were picked up by radio stations and eventually news papers:
Shortly before the election, a conservative Web site claimed that politically damaging information about Corzine was about to surface in the media. It didn't. But New Jersey talk-radio shock jocks quoted the online speculation, inflicting public-relations damage on Corzine anyway.
These lies were spread by the blog Enlighten-NJ, and we exposed the situation over a month ago. It has been 46 days since the website threatened that an incriminating tape of a drunk Corzine spouting racial slurs would appear. The tape of course doesn't exist.
Despite being outed as a lying smearmonger by a national publication, Enlighten uses the occasion to rejoice about how effectively his blog was used to smear Jon Corzine in a blog post titled Conservative Blogs Rock! Considering his complete lack of ethical and moral standards, this shouldn't come as a surprise. He knew from the beginning that he was lying, and his plan all along was to smear a good man through cowardly anonymous posts. Why should we be surprised that he would celebrate the recognition of his accomplishment?
Earlier we wrote about the revelation that Forrester's campaign manager was the source of rumors surrounding Corzine's personal life. Enlighten-NJ started dropping hints of these and other rumors about two weeks ago. Finally, the last piece of the slime machine, the Drudge Report, helped push the rumors to the mainstream press. This set in motion blowback for the Forrester campaign, and dispirited the New Jersey electorate even further. Even Forrester condemned the rumors he set in motion (then later changed his mind), though he won't go so far as to fire or discipline his campaign manager Rick England or communications staffer Sherry Sylvester for pushing them.
But I'm not so interested in the smear campaign so much as what it portends for the future, and specifically 2006.
Let's start at the beginning. I wrote earlier about a blog called Enlighten-NJ. It appears to be part of a network of blogs funded to push rumors on Democrats (another one is here). This is version 2.0 of a strategy outlined here in Personal Democracy Forum: Daschle, Thune and the Blog-Storming of South Dakota...
Yesterday we noted that while Forrester condemned his campaign manager for spreading lies about Corzine, he was unwilling to fire him from his campaign. That alone says a lot about his complete lack of ethics. Now, he's flip-flopped and won't even condemn the smearmongering of his most senior campaign officials:
Forrester, meanwhile, backtracked from his statement Friday condemning his campaign manager, Rick England, for fueling a rumor that Corzine had an affair with a young female political staffer. The Star-Ledger reported yesterday that England cited the rumor in an August conversation with a lobbyist for the New Jersey Education Association.
On Friday night, Sylvester said Forrester had spoken to England and "condemned" his actions. But Forrester said the issue came to his attention only yesterday morning through The Star-Ledger report. He said he would review the circumstances. Asked if there was any chance he would discipline England, he said, "Let me get the facts first."
Either his spokesperson is a liar, or Forrester approves of these smear tactics. A man of real integrity however, wouldn't let that happen in his campaign:
Corzine, however, said if such gossip were spread by senior people on his campaign, there's no question what he would do: "I would ask him to step down."
It's been revealed by the Star Ledger that the smear campaign against Jon Corzine has been led by Doug Forrester's campaign manager, Rick England. Forrester initially denied that he even knew about it:
Forrester said he was unaware of the details of a rumor Republicans have been circulating about Corzine: that the U.S. senator had a sexual relationship with one of his young female aides.
Riiiiighht. Then, one of the people who had been fed the smear spoke up:
In August, England spoke with Jim Schroeder, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Education Association, about the decision by the state's largest teachers union to endorse Corzine.
Schroeder, in an interview yesterday, said England "did tell me I was making a mistake" by endorsing Corzine. He said England relayed the rumor about Corzine and the staffer, saying reporters were investigating it and that resulting stories would embarrass the Democrat's supporters.
Earlier, I wrote about the Swiftboat machine that Forrester's camp is gearing up to smear Jon Corzine.
Please welcome the newest member of the smear machine: Enlighten-NJ. They're setting the stage for media outlets to pick up on unsubstantiated rumors:
...it’ll make Jim McGreevey look like a Cub Scout compared to Jon Corzine.
The fact that the Forrester camp is using Enlighten to put out this information means they can't get anyone respectable to bite.
The lies that Enlighten refers to originated on online message boards from anonymous posts and have already been repeated on NJ 101.5 radio. These smears are salacious. (Note: I've removed one of the rumors I mentioned here before. They are gross, unsubstantiated smears and don't even deserve repeating. Also, it appears that the link to the nj.com board is no longer working - the smear appears to have been removed from their site as well.)
Then there are idiots like Michelle Malkin who claim that Jon Corzine has been buying the votes of blacks. Last time I checked, it was the other party that was struggling with support from African Americans.
These people know they're about to lose, and rather than do it with dignity, they are choosing to smear Jon Corzine's name with rumors and lies. They aren't worthy of licking the bottom of his boots.
They are lies, which is why they haven't been repeated by any reputable news organizations. To the mainstream media - thanks for keeping these nonsensical rumors out of your pages.
Update: In the comments, Frogsdong reminds us that Enlighten is no stranger to smear tactics. In fact, it's all he knows.
Doug Forrester, with the help of the national GOP, has started a desperate swiftboating campaign against Jon Corzine. Using national GOP funds and a well-orchestrated whisper campaign, the Forrester campaign is resorting to the GOP’s tried and true tactics of race-baiting and questioning the patriotism of Jon Corzine and Democrats.
Radar reports that millions of dollars previously earmarked for Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) are being redirected by the national GOP into Doug Forrester’s coffers:
Increasingly dubious about Santorum’s chances, Capitol Hill sources report GOP powerbrokers have refocused their attentions—and dollars—on Doug Forrester, a little-known party hack who’s currently embroiled in a dead heat race with multi-millionaire Democrat Jon Corzine for New Jersey’s governorship.
“The party is pouring millions of dollars in PAC money into Forrester’s coffers, but most of that money was previously earmarked for Rick,� reports a well-placed Republican senate staffer. “It’s disgusting. Rick used to be Bush’s biggest booster on issues like stem-cell research, Social Security, and the Iraq war. Now the White House won’t even take his phone calls.�
Leading the charge on this effort is Forrester’s media advisor Greg Stevens – whose firm, Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm - the same firm that produced the Swift Boat ads against John Kerry, has been paid $16 million so far by Forrester’s campaign....
