The Other McCain

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TwitterGate Update: Neal Rauhauser Switches Account to ‘Protected’ Status

Posted on | October 9, 2010 | 41 Comments

After my first post about TwitterGate, many of the “Beandogs” in Democratic campaign consultant Neal Rauhauser’s network were laughing as if it were all a big joke. Yesterday, I came back with a second post that connected the dots a bit more clearly — and highlighted Rauhauser’s status as a Daily Kos contributor.

In the comments of the second post this morning, Right Klik had linked numerous communications between Rauhauser and his “Beandogs,” both from his “StrandedWind” and “WingNutWatch” accounts.

In one of those Tweets, Rauhauser said, “my role is trainer, coordinator, develop methods, etc. If civil or criminal proceedings begin deposition is lawyer’s job.” In another key message, “Obamagician” — who had previously Tweeted that conservative blogger Greg Howard had “sexy, f***able children” — told Rauhauser, “Thx for you hard work.”

Such messages obviously lend credibility to the TwitterGate video’s suggestion that the “Beandogs” harassment against Howard and other conservatives on Twitter was carried out with Rauhauser’s knowledge, if not indeed as part of an orchestrated effort of which Rauhauser described himself as “coordinator.” And now look what we find:

Rauhauser has now switched his “StrandedWind” account to protected mode, and if you click on any of the messages from Rauhauser’s “WingNutWatch” account you get this:

Rauhauser deleted that account and protected the other, the kind of gesture a detective might say was indicative of “consciousness of guilt.”

The obvious question: If Rauhauser has nothing to hide, why is he hiding? Let me suggest an obvious answer: Rauhauser is becoming an embarrassment to his Democratic clients, especially Arizona 7th District Rep. Raul Grijalva.

Rauhauser had boasted of his relationship with Grijalva — who sent the consultant a “thank you” note — and like so many other previously “safe” Democratic incumbents this year, Grijalva is in the toughest re-election battle of his career. The Yuma Sun reported on Thursday’s debate:

Incumbent Democratic Congressmen Raul Grijalva admitted Thursday that it was a mistake to call for a boycott of Arizona after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070.
“On my part it was a strategic mistake to call for the boycott,” he said. “I felt that it would have an impact on the leadership of this state … but the fact of the matter is that they’re not going to change their mind…”
One student, Lisa Griffin, informed the candidates that according the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Yuma currently has an unemployment rate of 30.2 percent and asked them what they plan to do to usher more industry into the area, thus creating more jobs. . . .

Grijalva called for an economic boycott of his own state at a time when unemployment in parts of his own district is over 30%! Now imagine the horror of Grijalva’s staff when they saw this video exposing what their consultant Rauhauser had been up to since August:

When I first linked that video Thursday, it had gotten 288 views; as of this morning, it had nearly 5,000 views. If you Google “Grijalva” and “Rauhauser,” you see that this was becoming a big enough story that other journalists might be starting to ask questions. (Hey, Kossacks: You’re not the only ones who know how to use Google.)

Congratulations to Greg Howard, Patrick Read and others who helped compile the “Twittergate” research. That video dossier may not have connected all the dots, but if you show people enough dots, sooner or later the pattern becomes clear enough that only a blind man can miss it.

I’m leaving for Boston this afternoon to do some more shoe-leather campaign reporting. Please hit the tip jar.

UPDATE: The “besieged” Democrats now have their own Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE II: Linked by Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress.

UPDATE III: To understand just how desperate Democrats have become, check out Professor Donald Douglas’s post about how the Left used a “Nazi” smear against an Ohio Republican for his participation in a WWII historical re-enactment group.

UPDATE IV: Why is the Left getting so desperate? Even progressive poll analyst Nate Silver is now projecting that Republicans will gain 50 House seats Nov. 2. Small wonder that Democrats are trying to pull the Jedi mind-trick on the Rauhauser scandal.

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Category: Arizona, Congress, Daily Kos, Democrats, Election, Scandal, Tea Party, Video

Comments

41 Responses to “TwitterGate Update: Neal Rauhauser Switches Account to ‘Protected’ Status”

  1. Guest
    October 9th, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

    I live in the district next door to NC05 where Bill Kennedy (who is listed in the vid as employing Rauhauser’s firm) is running against the local conservative. I have many family & friends who live in NC05 & vote.

    I sent a link to the vid to that candidate & also to Bill Kennedy’s campaign hq. I specifically asked the Kennedy campaign to explain to the voters why they would employ someone like that. No answer, of course.

    Wonder how many others did the same in their districts?

  2. Srsly
    October 9th, 2010 @ 3:31 pm

    Or, you know, there might be trolls just doing this for the lulz, because Tea Partiers are fun to bait. Just saying.

  3. onthego
    October 9th, 2010 @ 11:31 pm

    “Sarah Palin’s hairdresser in Wasilla”

    Er, is she a paid political consultant?

    Was she commenting about a politician that the NYT and others think requires vetting to the level of sifting through her garbage and hiring numerous fact checkers for her books?

    Apples and pineapples. The words have superficial similarity and that is it.