George Smith: I, Vermin From Under Rock/ aka Drudged! (a cautionary tale)

[0rganism]

"Once I dared criticize Richard Clarke. Now I live in infamy."

I, Vermin From Under Rock
by George Smith
March 30th, 2004 11:20 AM

The phone rang promptly at 8 a.m. A colleague in Alexandria was on the line. "The RNC is sending one of your columns to everyone," he said. There was some concern for me in his voice.

The date was Monday, March 22. Thanks to the Web and drudgereport.com, I was about to begin my week-long career as an unwitting hit man for the right.

At first, my friend's alarm seemed misplaced. So what, I thought. I've written lots of columns. The one he was referring to had focused on Richard Clarke, back in February 2003, more than a year ago. It had nothing to do with Clarke's new book, Against All Enemies, or his fresh testimony on Capitol Hill about the Bush administration's alleged absence of diligence in the war on terrorism.

What if a few copies of an old article were mailed around? It's a free country... Late Sunday evening Bush supporters had found it through Google and started uploading to Usenet political chat groups. Soundly sleeping in Southern California, I'd been sent out as a Republican political assassin...

more at http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0413/smith.php

Watch what you say, watch what you do, watch what you said last year, etcetera.