Kerry denies it on Imus. Why would he do that if it were true? He can’t be suicidal. Right now, you have to assume there is no truth to this. So I will. Meanwhile, the question of whether I’ve been “Moby’ed” arises. Was that highly polished email I received and posted yesterday, positing the possibility of a Republican plot … a plant? Jonah writes about a strategy openly discussed by Moby (one of my favorite musicians but a Bush-hater). Here’s what the techno-wizard told the Daily News:
“No one’s talking about how to keep the other side home on Election Day,” Moby tells us. “It’s a lot easier than you think and it doesn’t cost that much. This election can be won by 200,000 votes.”
Moby suggests that it’s possible to seed doubt among Bush’s far-right supporters on the Web.
“You target his natural constituencies,” says the Grammy-nominated techno-wizard. “For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you’re an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion.
“Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, ‘What’s all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?'”
So was I Mobyed? The email writer wrote me back again in the middle of the night – 4.57 am – to deny any wrongdoing. Here’s the text:
Dear Andrew,
I want to thank you for the compliment you paid me by posting my letter on your site, though in light of the day’s developments, including your brief exchange with Jonah Goldberg, I find myself regretting the decision to write it. It seems I did, indeed, jump the gun when I presumed the source of the rumor to be Republican. (It was a natural enough assumption, given that Drudge broke the story, but premature nonetheless.) At this point, I suppose I shall simply wait and see how the situation progresses.
As to your concerns that my letter may have been a plant and that I may be a Democratic activist in disguise, rest assured that I am not. I may be growing increasingly disenchanted with the Republican party, but if I decide to withdraw my support from them in November, I will likely just remain at home rather than transfer it to any of the lackluster crop of Democrats currently on offer.
In any event, I hope my earlier email did not cause you any unwarrented discomfort vis-a-vis your colleagues, and I thank you again for giving a wider voice to my concerns.Sincerely,
Paul
It’s Krugman! Only kidding. Actually, there’s a HUGE qestion-mark hanging over this email, and that is its email address. I should have worried about that before. It’s from “disillusioned_conservative@xxxx.com.” (I’m not giving out a person’s email address in full. The writer could still feasibly be genuine; and people are innocent till proven guilty.) But how many people have an email address that reflects exactly the sentiments of one particular email? It is impossible to verify all letters. My general view is that if they make good points, I couldn’t care less who sent them. And then there’s human nature. I think I was Mobyed.
The Dish 