There’s no need for the TCOT community to go into lock-down but, on her blog It’s Only Words, Paula Gardner has shed some light today about a problem that I think we all knew existed.  It seems that Daily Kos has been attempting to entrap conservatives on Twitter through dummy accounts and then frame the gleaned conversations in the manner to which Daily Kos has become infamous.

In the case Gardner cites, an undercover Kos writer – under the username ‘InTheStimulus’ – began posting a series of false items that were said to be in the stimulus package.  The purpose was to develop a narrative for Kos readers of conservatives as mindless and gullible.  Of course, this is the journalistic equivalent of placing a bag of feces on someone’s porch, lighting it on fire, and then waiting in the bushes with the long lens and a finger on the shutter trigger.

As Gardner writes:

Of course with perfect hindsight, I can see that it was foolish to recommend InTheStimulus without investigating further than my casual once over but to be honest, just like my experience with the State Trooper, it never occurred to me that someone would deliberately post false information because, well, I would never deliberately post false information.

The confidence game is a maneuver that has existed since before espionage was formalized. The great Julius Caesar pulled his own fat out of the fire as a young lad when, having been captured by pirates, was able to befriend the brigands, coaxing little pieces of information that then allowed him, after his release, to pursue and eventually crucify them in an act of personal justice.

Daily Kos should be ashamed, but likely will not break a sweat because in their worldview the ends will justify the means.  They should be thankful that conservatives do not share that view, considering that they proudly perpetuate the myth that every conservative possesses both a concealed weapon and an itchy trigger finger.

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