The Gloves Come Off

So the denizens of DailyKos are calling for a smear campaign against Alan Greenspan (h/t Ankle Biting Pundits)

As you've probably noticed, there have been several Alan Greenspan-related posts on the main page in just the past day or so. In one of those threads, blogswarmer Bob Brigham suggested that we "unleash the blogosphere" on Greenspan. It's a brilliant idea - no one is more worthy of having a halo-ectomy than St. Alan - so let's have at it.

If you're interested in joining this research project, here's my thinking on how it should proceed. (And feel free to chime in with suggestions on the process as well.) We should hunt down anything Greenspan has ever written, said or done that reflects poorly on him. This would include erroneous predictions, older statements which contradict things he's said recently, and anything that's just plain wrong, venal or stupid. The only rules are that it has to be true (of course) and sourced (preferably with a link, but if you're using Lexis, that's cool too - just tell us where it's from).

And for those of you who want to really get down & dirty in the trenches, we can turn this into a one-degree-of-separation venture. That is, if you can find similar material for anyone who is closely linked to Greenspan, that's fair game, too. Good examples would be Greenie's idol, the nutbag "objectivist" Ayn Rand, and Andrea Mitchell, his NBC reporter wife. (An aside: We can debate the merits of this approach all you like, but suffice it to say, there is no question that Republicans do the same crap to us all the time. If you still want to play by the Marquess of Queensberry rules, fine - but I've moved on to brass knuckles.)

First, lets not worry too much about this. The left wing have proved woefully deficient when it comes to campaigns. While Oliver's Brit Hume campaign stutters and stumbles to an embarassing halt, the mighty Talon News reels from the loss of Jeff Gannon.

We already know that the brass knuckles of the Left are cushioned, but that isn't the point, is it? No, the point is that DavidNYC proposes, quite openly on a site that attracts what? 360,000 readers a day, that the Left go after Greenspan's family - specifically, his wife. Why? Why are they so desperate for a scalp that they would prey on an innocent man, a man who served under both Republican and Democratic Presidents? Why would they declare open season on his family and friends?

We should repay the favour. We should have a little smear campaign of our own - not targeting a random figure on the Left, but the diarists of Daily Kos itself. Lets dig up the dirt. These people all have a heavy presence on the Internet. In just five minutes Googling I discovered that DavidNYC - despite his clear efforts to protect his identity - is a native on New York (duh), relocated to DC and has a bizarre, slightly worrying obsession with Disney. Those are just the harmless facts - lets find the damaging ones. Lets find out what dirty magazines this guy subscribes to. Lets see if he has a criminal record. Lets pull on our own brass knuckles - the ones that knocked out Dan Rather and Eason Jordan. You wanna see a smear campaign, David? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Others talking - Protein Wisdom, Wizbangblog