On Jason Leopold

[No Exit]

From The Next Hurrah
By blogger DHinMI

"On January 14, 2006 in an excellent post emptywheel closely examined an article by Leopold in which she demonstrated his claims were not supported by his sources. Leopold showed up in the thread, and things got interesting. Leopold called me a pussy. Some guy named Tom Marconi claiming to be former CIA threatened commenter jonnybutter. Andy Gumbel, a writer at the Guardian, vouched for Leopold. And someone named Adam Yorkshire shilled for Leopold's book.

But here's the problem. If all these comments came from different people, they appear to have all spent that evening together, because all those comments came from just two ISP addresses.

All eight comments from Jason Leopold came from the same ISP address. (Typepad allows the administrator of a blog to see the ISP address comments come from, as well as ban by that ISP.) That ISP was also the address from which we recieved all three comments by Adam Yorkshire. And so did the second comment from Tom Marconi, the one where he threatened jonnybutter. But the first comment from Tom Marconi, as well as the comments by Andy Gumbel and Joshua Klein, originated from a different but common ISP address. Thus, one Marconi comment came from the same ISP address as all the Leopold and Yorkshire comments, and those are connected to the Gumbel and Klein comments by the other Marconi comment.

One could conclude quite easily that Jason Leopold wrote all those comments himself. It would not be out of character, for on another thread a few months later Leopold admitted to posting comments on TNH under the moniker Harry Shep. The ISP address from which Leopold posted his mea culpa was, in fact, the origin of the comments on this thread by HS, and the comments by Harry Shep on these two posts. But I'll only go as far as we can be sure from the evidence here, and just say that at best it's peculiar that Jason Leopold spent the evening with all these characters, and they posted on emptywheel's thread as if they weren't all together, going so far in one case to claim to have been directed to the thread by Larry Johnson."

(snip)

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/

I know nothing of Jason Leopold except for my occasional reading of an article by him. As for the above blog, I read it regularly. It is, I think, done by some "Daily Kos alums".

To me, the most intriguing part about the above article was the part where the blogger says that the posters (whom the blogger assumes to have been Leopold posting under various aliases) "went so far in one case to have been directed to the thread by Larry Johnson."

I had not made up my mind about Johnson, but I read his blog regularly. From these readings, I had concluded that he was no liberal. No prob, I thought--I want to read all sides of the political spectrum (even though for the past 3 years I've been firmly in the liberal camp after having been pushed into it by my overwhelming disgust with Shrub and all repukes because of their America-destroying, fraudulent, Iraq war. I will NEVER embrace a repukelican cause or candidate again. They deserve to PAY for what they have done.) So I'm not saying anything against Larry Johnson--but if I ever found out that he had taken part in any sort of scheme to misinform us, I would drop him and his blog. Ditto, of course, for Leopold... I would not automatically drop Truthout, only Leopold himself.

[Caution]

1. On the IP issue.

While this could certainly point to a single machine, it could also be a result of a shared IP within an office where other people in Leopold's office took it upon themselves or were asked by Leopold to contribute to the discussion.

Pure speculation, but IP addresses are not definitive in this particular instance unless it can be shown that the IP in question is not a NAT address.

[No Exit]

3. I want to believe that Leopold is right.

I really, really, do.

But... would the guy "from The Guardian" have been in the same office with Jason Leopold of Truthout??

[JuniperLea]

6. Doesn't have to be

IP addresses are easily faked.

[JuniperLea]

5. IP addresses are easily manipulated

masked, proxy and faked many ways. I got junk mail once that said it came from my own computer...

Right now, mine says I'm in New York... and I'm really in Los Angeles... tricky, huh?

[No Exit]

7. But wait...

IP and ISP are not the same, right?

In the article, they explain that the webmaster can look at the "ISP address" which is ordinarily kept private. Isn't that an individual address? Not the same as the IP??

As you can tell, I know very little about these things.

[BurtWorm]

12. I think the person meant IP, not ISP.

[JuniperLea]

18. Yes, different

The ISP address is the internet service provider; the IP address is your computer's signature. Both are totally useless now that there are so many ways to get around them. If you Google "internet proxy" or "masking IP address" you will find oodles of ways. For now, that is.

I'm betting the NSA knows all about all of us:) Bastids.

[high density]

20. I assume they mean "IP address"

Typically people do have unique ones, but anybody going through a proxy server/firewall (I think AOL is set up this way) could appear to be coming from the same IP address. People using those dialup "accelerators" would be in the same boat.

I don't really care what Leopold posted as comments on some blog, but I think all of us will want some sort of explanation if his Rove story turns out to be total BS.

[No Exit]

13. Okay; hey, I've got a question.

Is an IP address the same thing as an ISP address?

[Caution]

16. There is no such thing as an ISP address (unless you mean their physical

location). IP stands for Internet Protocol and is the address by which computers on the internet are able to communicate with each other (in theory every IP address is unique at any given moment on the internet, however advances in IP technology have made this no longer true).

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Was the ISP AOL?

eom

[EST]

4. My, oh my!

The mystery deepens.
I feel like such an innocent, what with all the high powered intellect around me.
So, does this quandry begin to look like a plot to discredit the not so rabid part of the blogosphere?

[No Exit]

8. Please direct me to the high-powered intellect.

(I want to listen in.)

[applegrove]

9. Food for thought. Perhaps there is someone jumping the gun on the

story he believes to be true - hoping the be the first out. Which would be highly not journalistic. And so reminds me of the National Guard story in that very way. You know getting people so emotionally worked up that they change their behaviour & break their own rules.. as Dan Rather & producer did in regards to confirmation and timing of Nat. Guard Story. I have no idea of Leopold's past.

Certainly as more comes out about the whole story - it will be very interesting. Unless of course the people lied or started the rumour mongering work with secret clearance and are in government. Then the full story may never be known.

Perhaps too - if Rove get obstruction of justice or some other charge.. people's expectations will be so high that it will look like Rove is somehow more innocent (Remember how GOP politicos ran around the country lowering expectations for Bush Debates with Kerry? Bush did not dissapoint but was not as abysmal as was expected - so he somehow "won" even though everyone agreed he lost the debate).

So whatever charges or not are brought against Rove or any other WH Admin types.. have our expectations changed?

There is more to this story.

I still want to find out about the sources. If they were all speculating? Or if there were lies spread.

Only time will tell.

Hard to be discerning on the net!

[papau]

10. Leopold nailed the RW Sec of the Army and was killed when sources

email copies were deemed not enough to documents Bush's buddies' theft.

That story was my first and only review of a Leopold report - but he came out smelling like a rose to me - and his media bosses looked like bought and paid for whores for the right wing.

The NSA spying violates 4th amendment story is not one I have direct knowledge of, either. And perhaps he had the started pre-9/11 start date claim justified by some weak sources.

But I will give him this week to see if the Rove story is true, except for the announcement date being not Monday.

I note that Greg Pallast continues to amaze with verified stories of GOP corruption - which are not picked up by our media. Perhaps Jason is on the same list of folks to tell that Greg is?

[No Exit]

15. Thanks for the hope

and that reminds me... I've got to read more Greg Palast.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Just more Leopold-Haters, IMHO.

[symbolman]

17. You show up on every thread and attack anyone who disagrees with Leopold.

Many are tired of your attacks on anyone who asks a question.

Are YOU going to apologise to all those people when it's shown that Leopold is DEAD WRONG?

[JuniperLea]

19. Are you going to when we find he was right?

I think you and many others would owe Will Pitt an apology as well.

Just the fact that TO would come out today and reaffirm their staying with their story speaks volumes. And the fact that no one, including Drudge (who would love to tear TO a new fecal elimination orifice) have been silent should clue you in as well.

[MelissaB]

14. self delete

not going to say anything.

[pinto]

21. Locking.

We've been here before, the discussion was locked yesterday. Thanks.