C’mon, Mitt: fire the guy. Anybody who is dumb enough to leave a trail of breadcrumbs this easy to follow should not be advising your campaign:
A top adviser to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney appears to be behind the launch of a new Web site attacking GOP presidential rival Fred D. Thompson during his first week on the trail.
The site, PhoneyFred.org, painted an unflattering picture of Thompson, dubbing the former TV star and senator Fancy Fred, Five O’clock Fred, Flip-Flop Fred, McCain Fred, Moron Fred, Playboy Fred, Pro-Choice Fred, Son-of-a-Fred and Trial Lawyer Fred. Shortly after a Washington Post reporter made inquiries about the site to the Romney campaign, it was taken down.
Before it vanished, the front page of the Web site featured a picture of Thompson depicted in a frilly outfit more befitting a Gilbert and Sullivan production than a presidential candidate.
Under the heading “Playboy Fred,” the site asked the provocative question: “Once a Pro-Choice Skirt Chaser, Now Standard Bearer of the Religious Right?”
Nowhere on the site was any indication of who was responsible for it. But a series of inquiries led to “Under the Power Lines,” the Web site of the political consulting firm of J. Warren Tompkins, Romney’s lead consultant in South Carolina. Tompkins did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The old New Yorker cartoon with the tag line “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog” should be amended to read “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog — yet.”
Provide a big enough provocation, and unless you are really really good some techy geek will track you down.
If you don’t got the tech mojo, don’t pull the stupid stunt online.
This sort of dirty trick is especially embarrassing for Mitt Romney, who projects a squeaky clean image of competence and honesty. All his campaign propaganda supports winning in a fair fight, no jabs below the belt or mud-slinging or rabbit punches. To retain that image, Mitt has to fire the jerk — regardless of whether Mitt knew about the PhoneyFred site or not.
(Hat tip: Rich Lowry at NRO’s The Corner.)
UPDATE 2007-09-16: The Associated Press reports that the Romney campaign claims neither Romney nor Tompkins had any knowledge of the PhoneyFred.org:
The site was created without the knowledge of Tompkins or Romney, said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. After the campaign received media inquiries about it, Romney aides traced the site to Donehue and complained. It was taken offline on Monday.
“We made it clear that we did not approve of the site and asked for immediate action to make sure it was again in no way affiliated with the campaign,” Madden said. “The person responsible is not an employee of ours, but we took immediate action to make sure it was clear the site was not affiliated with the campaign.”
“Donehue” is Wesley Donehue, identified as “a business associate of Warren Tompkins.”
Technorati tags: Election 2008, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Politics.
I saw the story on PhoneyFred yesterday. Interesting how the mud is flying already. Just wondered if you’d seen this in Big Head Dc:
http://bigheaddc.com/2007/09/05/abrad2345-watch-your-back/
I’d also note that before the Washington Post nailed Romney for the PhoneyFred site, the Thompson blog’s first suspect was Giuliani and his newly hired consultant, Scott Howell:
http://www.blogsforfredthompson.com/tags/scott-howell
In any case, have you guys covered the abrad2345 ads at all? They’re friggin hilarious, no matter what your politics.
I had not covered abrad2345 and his YouTube videos for Rudy. They ARE funny — if you can manage to take your politics with a heaping helping of hilarity. I note that his subscriptions have now risen to 40.