June 8, 2011

3 months before the Weiner story broke, "a small group of determined, self-described conservatives were warning young women on Twitter... to be wary of him."

The NYT reports:
Calling themselves the #bornfreecrew on Twitter, members of the group closely monitored those whom Mr. Weiner was following, taking it upon themselves to contact young women they believed to be “schoolgirls,” and urging them publicly to stay away from him, according to an analysis of posts on Twitter’s public stream.
Among those warned was Gennette Cordova, the 21-year-old who received the infamous gray-underpants pic. It was the leader of this group Dan Wolfe — @PatriotUSA76 — who caught that pic and passed it on to Andrew Breitbart, touching off all the recent publicity.
In several instances the congressman dropped his online contact with women after they were identified by the crew, suggesting that Mr. Weiner might have been aware of its actions....

Throughout May, [Dan] Wolfe and other members contacted other young women Mr. Weiner was following, including a 16-year-old from California who started a campaign on Twitter to get the congressman to be her prom date.

The next day, [Michael] Stack, posting on Twitter, sent her a message saying in part, “if you’re a minor and he’s following you, well, seems a little creepy if not in ny,” copying @RepWeiner on the post. The next day, on May 18, the girl posted: “Well @RepWeiner unfollowed me.”
The Times characterizes #bornfreecrew as an example "cyberstalkers, who track and criticize [a targeted politician's] every move." That makes Weiner sound like a victim. But monitoring politicians, for the purpose of exposing faults of legitimate interest to the public, has little similarity to following a private citizen for the purpose of horning into her (or his) life.

It would make more sense to say that Weiner was stalking those girls than that Wolfe and Stack were stalking Weiner.

50 comments:

Fred4Pres said...

Oops, there it is.

Carol said...

Didn't Wolfe talk about this himself in that online interview? big deal.

test said...

"The Times characterizes #bornfreecrew as ... [those] who track and criticize [a targeted politician's] every move.""

Sounds a lot like how the NYT would describe journalism. But somehow journalism targeted at Democrats is illegitmate?

Revealing.

Fred4Pres said...

Oops there it really is, with a little hang to the left (no surprise there).

edutcher said...

If the Twit (or twat, if you will), had been Eric Cantor, how, dare I wonder, might the Gray Lady have described #bornfreecrew?

Protectors of innocent womanhood?

Scott M said...

It would make more sense to say that Weiner was stalking those girls than that Wolfe and Stack were stalking Weiner.

I don't know about that. What these guys' actions amounts to is a coordinated, ongoing op. What Der Weinerr was doing was just trying to score a little strange here and there.

themightypuck said...

They were definitely stalking Wiener and Wiener almost certainly wasn't stalking the girls. It's just that stalking politicians is a public good and following young girls on twitter who aren't your wife is a wee bit creepy. For what it is worth, the only thing Wiener did that bugs me is lie.

Scott M said...

For what it is worth, the only thing Wiener did that bugs me is lie.

Calling the totality of what Weiner did with his public statements a "lie" is like calling Mt Everest a gentle slope on the back nine.

chickelit said...

It would make more sense to say that Weiner was stalking those girls than that Wolfe and Stack were stalking Weiner.

Bingo. This is not a chicken/egg scenario. In other words, Weiner came first.

Alex said...

It all smells of a sting op organized and funded by Breitbart, Koch Brothers, Richard Scaife and Fox News.

Alex said...

Explain me why lying about peccadilloes is worse then lying about policy and war? It seems Democrats are always lying about their sex lives and Republicans are lying about trashing Medicare and reasons to go into a phony war.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act".

George Orwell

Ann Althouse said...

I made a new post for the Opie and Anthony photo of the photo thing. Talk about that there.

Scott M said...

Explain me why lying...

The prima facie on that would would seem to be the fact that he adamantly denied the whole thing, only to come forth and admit the whole thing was his fault. If you can show me where that's true for your other example, I'd love to read about it.

traditionalguy said...

I blame Julian Assange at Wiki-leaks for ending the power of this secret. Breitbart wanted that photo as his insurance policy. Now Mr Breitbart had better hire him a food taster and a team of bodyguards.

Dark Eden said...

"It seems Democrats are always lying about their sex lives"


Or about whether they've paid their taxes.

Or about whether they're going to raise your taxes.

Or about how much of those taxes are going back as kickbacks to their cronies.

Or about how often they drive that electric car parked behind their 37 SUVs.

Or about how much Obamacare is going to cost.

This is surprisingly fun.

chickelit said...

Alex said...
It all smells of a sting op organized and funded by Breitbart, Koch Brothers, Richard Scaife and Fox News.

Breitbart is a mortal threat to the hard left. They must destroy him at all costs. Don't be so stupid as to play along.

chickelit said...

@Alex: Seriously, your little Janus persona is what stinks here.

Alex said...

I'm entirely consistent. I hate hypocrisy and I hate prying into personal business.

Scott M said...

I hate hypocrisy

Der Weinerr's display leading up to his admission of complete guilt you've really go to hate then, I take it?

Anonymous said...

"cyberstalkers, who track and criticize [a targeted politician's] every move."

It's not "stalking."

It's "citizen oversight."

The Democrat Party fucking works for us and they forgot that but we're going to remind them.

We are watching EVERY SINGLE THING you do in public. If you fuck up, we will end your careers. And we will not do the same thing to Republicans ... ONLY DEMOCRATS.

It is that simple.

If you don't like that, get the fuck out of politics.

Scott M said...

And we will not do the same thing to Republicans ... ONLY DEMOCRATS.

I don't think I've ever ready anything with a more blatant moby shadow just behind it.

SteveR said...

Weiner's problem is he needed his real identity to create interest but that made it easy to be caught. If he just wanted an anonymous relationship on line, he could have done so with much less risk.

Anonymous said...

Greenpeace - an organization who tracks and criticizes a fisher's every move.

Unknown said...

Weiner's problem is he needed his real identity to create interest but that made it easy to be caught.

Bingo!

If he just wanted an anonymous relationship on line, he could have done so with much less risk.

But he couldn't have had an anonymous relationship like those he already had. His position and power as a Congressman were what got the girls' attention. You think they would have been as interested in him if he were just some schmo from Queens?

I don't think so.

Shanna said...

I can't imagine that one girl was thankful for getting unfollowed...

Seeing Red said...

Sarah Palin

Let's move in next door, shall we?

RuyDiaz said...

Meanwhile, in Bizarro World:

"The young woman could not believe her luck. It was really him! After all those youtube videos, her Knight was in front of her.

Her ample bosom jumped in unison with her heavy breathing. Dreams did really come true. The bony, testosterone-laden hero smile slyly. She could not take it anymore.

Take me Weiner! Her fate sealed, she advance carefully, hoping not to crush the slightly built man...."

jr565 said...

How could anyone be stalking the Weiner? Twitter is a public site. You tweet and people can see what you tweet. If you're a well known person don't air your dirty laundry on facebook or on Twitter, or any social networking site.

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Anonymous said...

Among those warned was Gennette Cordova, the 21-year-old who received the infamous gray-underpants pic.

So this is how it goes according to Althouse: Genette Cordova was "warned" by somebody on Twitter to stay away from the Congressman. She didn't heed the warnings, which seem to be no different than the inane chatter that occurs on Twitter all the time. Therefore, she is complicit in Weiner's behavior and deserves all the maltreatment and harassment she got.

Or maybe you are trying to go a little further, Althouse, and suggest that Cordova was actually soliciting the Congressman in a romantic-- nay, sexual-- way?

Why are you so insistent to blame Cordova in this mess, Althouse?

test said...

Julius,

Is the new site's insider-only area open? Because one has to wonder what the hell you're talking about.

Ann Althouse said...

"So this is how it goes according to Althouse..."

I'm paraphrasing the New York Times!

RuyDiaz said...

Or maybe you are trying to go a little further, Althouse, and suggest that Cordova was actually soliciting the Congressman in a romantic-- nay, sexual-- way?

Oh, get out of your diarrhea-laden high horse.

Cordova waited over a day to give a statement, after scrubbing as much as she could of her web presence. Once she gave a statement, it was a P.R.--type thing--much like the statement given by Ginger Lee, whom we now know was coached by the Weiner.

The simplest explanation is that Ms. Cordoba was engaging in the same behavior the other three women in the story.

Try Occam's Razor Julius. Hint: it isn't for shaving, but for thinking.

YoungHegelian said...

"Try Occam's Razor Julius. Hint: it isn't for shaving, but for thinking."

Since this post concerns young women and a razor that isn't for shaving, we may have finally made Peter IronRailsIronWeights a happy man!

Freeman Hunt said...

How can they be demonized when it has turned out that they were right?

Rob Crawford said...

I hate prying into personal business.

They couldn't see anything private; all they could see are the public messages. What they did was keep their eyes open for public behavior, and react to it. In the particular case of the underage girls, they arguably performed a public service and possibly prevented a tragedy.

Which opens the question of why the professional journalists never saw any of this behavior.

DANEgerus said...

They are stalkers and Weiner is a victim because they are exposing a (D)emocrat. When Soros stalks (R)epublicans and misquotes them it's called "Whistleblowing".

zefal said...

Remember the NY Times owns the Boston Globe that staked out Mitt Romney's home concerning the use of hispanic labor by the private landscaping company he used.

Supposedly he was suppose to find out if they were legal or not and if he had done that the same liberal (insert expletive here) would have screamed bloody murder and called him a racist.

Anonymous said...

In grammar school terms, Mr. Weiner made poopie on himself by showing off his pee pee. I'm guessing that is the way some of his younger "friends" explained it to their parents.

Rick Jones said...

What a great service these people were performing!

Foobarista said...

If you can't stand the heat, don't be a twitter...

TOTWTYTR said...

The NYT covering for a Democrat politician? I'm shocked, shocked I say!

Pat said...

Minor correction, Ann. Cordova was the intended recipient of the infamous photo, but by her account she never received it. She only saw the screen cap Wolfe took of it,

ampersand said...

If the Twit (or twat, if you will), had been Eric Cantor, how, dare I wonder, might the Gray Lady have described #bornfreecrew?

Do the word macaca ring a bell?

Thorley Winston said...

How can they be demonized when it has turned out that they were right?

I imagine they’re just following the time-honored tradition of shooting the messenger.

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