Patterico's Pontifications

1/23/2010

Ellie Light’s Obama Letters

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 4:53 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

This post gathers links to letters by Ellie Light or Ellie Jeanne Light written to newspapers or other online media sources as discussed in Patterico’s posts here and here. It will be updated with additions and corrections as we find them.

Current totals:

  • 69 publications in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
  • 3 national publications and a Yahoo link.
  • 2 foreign publications.
  • Please leave links to new Ellie Light letters in the comments to this post.

    — DRJ

    NATIONAL:

    Ben Smith at Politico, 1/7/2010, (Hometown: None provided).

    USA Today, 1/22/2010, (Hometown: Long Beach, CA).

    Washington Times, 1/22/2010, (Hometown: Long Beach, CA).

    Yahoo News Buzz, 1/22/2010, link to USA Today, (Hometown: Long Beach, CA).

    INTERNATIONAL:

    India Times, 1/15/2010, [links a letter in The News Leader, Staunton, VA] (Hometown: Waynesboro, VA).

    The Bangkok Post, 1/17/2010, Bangkok, Thailand (Hometown: None provided).

    ALABAMA:

    Huntsville Times, 1/23/2010, Huntsville, AL (Hometown: “Huntsville, 35811”).

    ARKANSAS:

    Courier News, 1/22/2010, Russellville, AR (Hometown: None provided).

    CALIFORNIA:

    Daily Breeze, South Bay area, Los Angeles, CA — Letter quoted 1/10/2010 by columnist John Bogert, (Hometown: None provided).

    Gilroy Dispatch, 1/11/2010, Gilroy, CA (Hometown: San Felipe, CA).

    The Californian, 1/12/2010, Monterey County, CA (Hometown: Salinas, CA).

    Good Times, 1/12/2010, Santa Cruz, CA (Hometown: Santa Cruz, CA).

    Vallejo Times Herald, 1/14/2010, Vallejo, CA (Hometown: Vallejo, CA).

    Los Banos Enterprise, 1/15/2010, Los Banos, CA (Hometown: Gustine, CA).

    Sacramento Bee, 1/18/2010, Sacramento, CA [reprint from the Myrtle Beach Sun News] (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    San Francisco Examiner, 1/20/2010, San Francisco, CA (Hometown: Daly City, CA).

    The Willits News, 1/20/2010, Willits, CA (Hometown: Willits, CA).

    The Tribune, Page 4 — 1/20/2010, San Luis Obispo, CA (Hometown: San Luis Obispo, CA).

    Morgan Hill Times, 1/21/2010, Morgan Hill, CA, (Hometown: San Felipe, CA).

    Sierra Star, 1/21/2010, Oakhust, CA (Hometown: Ahwahnee, CA).

    The Union 1/22/2010, Western Nevada County, CA (Hometown: Grass Valley, CA).

    CONNECTICUT:

    Stamford Advocate, 1/13/2010, Stamford, CT (Hometown: Greenwich, CT).

    Danbury News-Times, 1/13/2010, Danbury, CT (Hometown: Greenwich, CT).

    Greenwich Time a/k/a Ctpost.com, 1/13/2010, (Hometown: Greenwich, CT).

    Westport News, 1/13/2010, Westport, CT [cached version] (Hometown: Bridgeport, CT).

    DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:

    McClatchy DC, 1/18/2010, [reprint from the Myrtle Beach Sun News] (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    FLORIDA:

    West Volusia Beacon, 1/14/2010, Deland, FL (Hometown: Barberville, FL).

    El Nuevo Herald, 1/25/2010, [Spanish language version of the Miami Herald], Miami, FL (Hometown: Via email).

    GEORGIA:

    Statesboro Herald, 1/9/2010, Statesboro, GA (Hometown: None provided).

    Gainesville Times, 1/13/2010, Gainesville, CA (Hometown: Gainesville, GA).

    Barrow County News, 1/13/2010, Barrow County, GA (Hometown: Winder, GA).

    IDAHO:

    Coeur d’Alene Press, 1/21/2010, Coeur d’Alene, ID (Hometown: Post Falls, ID).

    ILLINOIS

    The Peoria Journal Star, 1/19/2010, Peoria, IL (Hometown: Peoria, IL).

    IOWA:

    Newton Daily News, 1/12/2010, Jasper County, IA (Hometown: Kellogg, IA).

    KENTUCKY:

    Lexington Herald-Leader, 1/18/2010, Lexington, KY , [reprint from the Myrtle Beach Sun News] (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    MAINE:

    The Free Press, 1/14/2010, Rockland, ME (Hometown: Rockland, ME).

    Bangor Daily News, 1/21/2010, Bangor, ME (Hometown: Bangor, ME).

    MARYLAND:

    Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel, undated, Baltimore, MD (Hometown: None provided).

    The Daily Times, 1/13/2010, Salisbury, MD (Hometown: Fruitland, MD).

    The Capital, 1/19/2010, Annapolis, MD (Hometown: Annapolis, MD).

    MASSACHUSETTS:

    The Berkshire Eagle, 1/12/2010, Pittsfield, MA (Hometown: None provided).

    North Adams Transcript, 1/13/2010, Northern Berkshires, MA, (Hometown: Williamstown, MA).

    MICHIGAN:

    Midland Daily News, 1/21/2010, Midland, MI (Hometown: Midland, MI).

    NEW HAMPSHIRE:

    SeacoastOnline, 1/14/2010, online version of several New England papers including the Portsmouth Herald, Exeter News Letter, and others. (Hometown: Portsmouth, NH).

    NEW MEXICO:

    Ruidoso News, 1/12/2010, Ruidoso, NM (Hometown: Three Rivers, NM).

    Las Cruces Sun News, dated 1/24/2010, posted 1/25/2010, Las Cruces, NM (Hometown: Bayard, NM).

    NORTH CAROLINA:

    Raleigh News & Observer, 1/18/2010, Raleigh, NC [reprint from the Myrtle Beach Sun News] (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    NORTH DAKOTA:

    Benson County News, undated, Benson County, ND (Hometown: None provided).

    OHIO:

    Mansfield News Journal, 1/13/2010, Mansfield, OH (Hometown: Mansfield, OH).

    Hudson Hub-Times 1/13/2010, Portage County, Ohio (Hometown: Streetsboro, OH).

    Chillicothe Gazette, 1/17/2010, Chillicothe, OH (Hometown: Chillicothe, OH).

    Gateway News, [original letter removed], 1/20/2010, online website for several Ohio newspapers (Hometown: Streetsboro, OH).

    OREGON:

    Source Weekly [cached version], 1/13/2010, Bend, OR (Hometown: None provided).

    The News Review, 1/15/2010, Douglas County, OR (Hometown: Winston, OR).

    PENNSYLVANIA:

    The Daily American, 1/12/2010 , Somerset County, PA (Hometown: Somerset, PA).

    Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/14/2010, Philadelphia, PA (Hometown: Chestnut Hill, PA).

    And 5 days later, in the Inquirer’s online sister paper:

    The Philadelphia Daily News, 1/19/2010, Philadelphia, PA (Hometown: Philadelphia, PA).

    Lebanon Daily News, 1/23/2010 ( Hometown: Cornwall, PA).

    SOUTH CAROLINA:

    The Sun News, 1/18/2010, Myrtle Beach, SC (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    SOUTH DAKOTA:

    Argus Leader, 1/24/2010, Sioux Falls, SD (Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD).

    TENNESSEE:

    Shelbyville Times-Gazette, 1/17/2010, Shelbyville, TN (Hometown: Tullahoma, TN).

    TEXAS:

    Waco Tribune, 1/16/2010, Waco, TX (Hometown: Waco, TX).

    UTAH:

    Spectrum.com, 1/12/2010, St. George, Cedar City, and Southern Utah (Hometown: Washington City, UT).

    Park Record, 1/14/2010, Park City, UT (Hometown: Wanship, UT).

    VERMONT:

    Bennington Banner, 1/12/2010, Bennington, VT (Hometown: None provided).

    The Bridge, January 2010, Montpelier, VT (Hometown: Montpelier, VW).

    VIRGINIA:

    Daily News Leader, 1/15/2010, Staunton, VA (Hometown: Waynesboro, VA).

    WASHINGTON:

    The Reflector, undated, Battle Ground, WA (Hometown: Vancouver, WA).

    Bellingham Herald, 1/18/2010, Bellingham, WA [reprint from the Myrtle Beach Sun News], (Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC).

    WEST VIRGINIA:

    Weirton Daily Times, 1/17/2010, Weirton, WV (Hometown: Follansbee, WV).

    WISCONSIN:

    Marshfield News Herald, 1/13/2010, Marshfield, WI (Hometown: None provided).

    Green Bay Press Gazette, 1/13/2010, Green Bay, WI (Hometown: Algoma, WI). Also published at the Stevens Point Journal.

    NOTE: The editors of the Green Bay Press-Gazette responded with an explanation and apology. Kudos to them.

    Sheboygan Press, 1/17/2010, Sheboygan, WI (Hometown: Howards Grove, WI). Also published at the Stevens Point Journal.

    Oshkosh Northwestern 1/21/2010, Oshkosh, WI (Hometown: Oshkosh, WI). Also published at the Stevens Point Journal and the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.

    Wausau Daily Herald, 1/21/2010, Wausau, WI (Hometown: Oshkosh, WI).

    221 Responses to “Ellie Light’s Obama Letters”

    1. Wonderful work! Great job.

      CCC (679517)

    2. Found more:

      Gainesville Florida
      http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/28238/

      CCC (679517)

    3. A new one I think:

      http://www.sanluisobispo.com/letters-to-the-editor/story/995597.html

      Our friend is on page ‘4’.

      mudskipper (342d38)

    4. Oh maybe you already had that Gainseville one under Georgia. Sorry about that. We might be running out of links lol.

      CCC (679517)

    5. Hi DRJ– great work! I’m sending you my chronological master list at patterico.tips@gmail.com.

      Thanks!

      Callie (dc27b3)

    6. mudskipper — Good find. I’ve added The Tribune of San Luis Obispo.

      CCC — It’s getting confusing, isn’t it? I’ve decided this is a test of wills between Ellie and us, but I think we’ll outlast her/him/it/them.

      Thanks so much, Callie. I’ll look at it as soon as I catch my breath.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    7. Well done, Bill. That’s the first one we’ve seen from Illinois.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    8. DRJ– I’ve tried multiple times to send you the list but Yahoo.com keeps blocking me– says I’m sending spam email.

      I’ve never had that happen before, and don’t know what’s going on.

      I do know that Yahoo.com says I succesfully sent a list to patterico@gmail.com at about 7:37 PM, eastern. That’s an un-updated list, but possibly better than nothing. I simply have been blocked by Yahoo.com from sending any email. Maybe you could check that gmail account at that time period and see if it came through.

      Thanks.

      Callie (dc27b3)

    9. If Ellie Light truly is a private citizen (of liberal persuasion), would she (or he) have really made such a concerted effort to send letters to so many publications throughout the country, if not world?

      I originally believed that probably was the case. But after seeing such a large number of papers attached to the same letter, coming from a presumably private-party sender who is that obsessive about and committed to getting her (or his) comments out to the public, does make me suspect that “Ellie Light” may be a variation of something as tricky and underhanded as the ACORN phenomenon.

      Mark (411533)

    10. Callie,

      I’m sorry you’ve had so much trouble but thanks for persisting so diligently. I’ll get it from Patterico.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    11. I think this is new. Delmarva, Delaware?
      http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100113/OPINION01/1130442

      CCC (679517)

    12. Say… maybe Ellie Light is married to Greg Packer!

      Dafydd

      [Sorry, Dafydd. Found in and released from the filter. — DRJ]

      Dafydd the Puckish (96b517)

    13. Thanks, Jason. Another good one for the list.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    14. Say… maybe Ellie Light is married to Greg Packer!

      (Trying the comment this time without the link — to Patterico’s Pontifications.)

      Dafydd

      Dafydd the Puckish II (96b517)

    15. DRJ:

      Splendid work. Thanks!

      The “letter” is obviously a fake. Every single line and idiom betrays a well-schooled politico in Obama-speak.

      Pansy (fe3aae)

    16. CCC,

      The Delmarva link threw me at first but I think the print name is The Daily Times headquartered in Salisbury, MD. The online name is probably a composite of DELaware-MARyland-VirginiA so it could be listed in any of those states, but I put it in Maryland. Hopefully a reader who knows this newspaper can correct me if that’s wrong.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    17. http://blog.buzzflash.com/mailbag/996

      Buzzflash is a progressive blog.

      January 7th. It’s the 3rd or 4th post down.

      Jason (2494ac)

    18. I’ve got 2 links for an Ellie Light writing to the Stamford Advocate about Haiti relief.

      http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Letters-to-the-Editor-330146.php

      http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Haitian-help-328743.php

      Steve (CT) (0d2086)

    19. Thanks, Steve (CT). I need to list the Haiti letters, too, but I want to keep them separate from the Obama-themed letters.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    20. You already have the “President can’t waive a magic wand” story for the Ruidoso News (New Mexico), but note that “Ellie Light” also wrote another letter to the editor on the Haiti relief effort that was published on Jan 19.

      In the “Give with your heart and your smarts” letter, Ellie Light again claims to be from nearby “Three Rivers”:

      http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-letters/ci_14226499

      Note that the Ruidoso News does not keep archives on their website, so the above letters will disappear in a matter of days.

      J.M. (052373)

    21. After reviewing your excellent list again, I have a few comments:

      1. Why was Politico first to the story? We need to go much deeper there.

      2. Why did the extremely conservative Washington Times run this story? I could see the Washington Post doing it but the Times?

      3. The majority of these papers are fairly small local papers. Like the last one I found where we don’t even know exactly where it publishes. It makes me think the group behind this (and I’m sure they are paid to do it) just spammed a ton of papers. If they had put a “Please post me from Obama” message on it I don’t think the Washington Times would have printed.

      CCC (679517)

    22. My only two questions are:
      1)Why keep using the same name?
      2)How the hell many letters must have ‘she’ spammed to get that many published?

      TTC (ba61d5)

    23. I challenge the Washington Times to do some email address digging on this letter. I think the rest of them, including Politico, will decline to investigate it further.

      CCC (679517)

    24. Correspondence with Ellie Light and a journalist can be found here:
      http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/letter_writer_claims_diverse_r.html

      Her emails consist of bashing Sarah Palin and Bush (obviously) and this:

      “So the reason why I expanded my submission was because I found that editors were eager to present a point of view on the topic that wasn’t so overheated and angry. Indeed, I think the viewpoint that my letter expressed was less important to the editors than the even and non-emotional tone.”

      Audacity (2fd5ad)

    25. Wow checking with my local newspaper to see if they were duped!

      Spot on Plain Dealer!

      RVB (8734b3)

    26. […] of Patterico, a sample excerpt from her bountiful, revisionist, apologetic pen: A year ago, if we had read in […]

      » ‘Ellie Light’: Indefatigable Letter Writer or Axelrod/Plouffe Sock Puppet? - Big Journalism (4556c3)

    27. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=968232&id=1056234422#/group.php?gid=261752540668&ref=nf

      This is nuts. The propaganda arm of the WH is filled with rank amateurs.

      dean (80bda7)

    28. From The Spectrum, a paper covering St. George and Cedar City Utah.
      This is a letter to the editor dated January 12th 2010.
      http://preview.tinyurl.com/ycm3rq3

      Also got a screen cap just in case

      SaintGeorgeGentile (dc531b)

    29. http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/20422/

      Here’s another one in GA on Jan 9th

      Jason (2494ac)

    30. Shelbyville Tennessee.

      Think this is a first for TN

      http://www.t-g.com/story/1602781.html

      Jason (2494ac)

    31. […] First, the original states targeted – California, Maine, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, South Carolina, and Iowa – all have vital political importance, be they crucial electoral prizes, November swing states, or the home states of Congressional members who represent make-or-break votes on healthcare.  Some states even saw multiple major papers publish the same letter inside of a week.  In fact, Ellie managed to make it into USA Today, The Washington Times, and the Bangkok Post.  For the complete list, including dates of publication, hometowns listed, and links to the articles, see here. […]

      Peoples Press Collective » Who is Ellie Light? (80ac91)

    32. Re: WISCONSIN.

      If you look at the five currently listed publications under “Wisconsin”, you will find that they are somehow associated with one another (go to any of their main sites, scroll to the bottom, and you will see a list linking to the other Wisconsin publications, starting with “Appleton Post Crescent”).

      I don’t know if they somehow pool their stories/letters to the editor or something, but type in the words “Ellie Light” into EACH of their individual search engines, and the same editorial, with the ALMOST the same HTML link, pops up.

      January 13th, in the Appleton Post Crescent, the Wausau Daily Herald, the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter and the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, and says from Algoma:

      http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101130409

      http://www.htrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101130409

      http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101130409

      http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101130409

      Does that “20101130409” start looking a little familiar? I think there must be some sort of search engine pool among them?

      The outlier, date-wise and HTML-wise, is the Fond du Lac Reporter, dated January 21st, says from Oshkosh:

      http://www.fdlreporter.com/print/article/20100121/OSH0603/100120188/Letters-Obama-said-fixes-would-not-happen-overnight

      C. (dc27b3)

    33. Hopefully by morning someone will have made a Downfall where Hitler finds out we’ve found out about little Ellie Light and her letter writing hobby.

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    34. Excellent work, Jason. Thank you.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    35. You know, now that I think about it more, she’s like Walter Duranty a little, asking all of us to look away to the bright shiney Obama (Stalin) and to ignore that other stuff, like the national debt, higher taxes and health tyranny .(Mass murder through starvation).

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    36. Now we have a restaurant review by Ellie Light from June 25, 2008 about a Greek place in Astoria, Queens, (New York). She says, “I live in the hood and I thought I should support local cafes.”

      Official Internet Data Office (c93f96)

    37. I wonder, OIDO, if Ms. Ellie Light is so totally hip as to live in the “hood” if her pants are on the ground?

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    38. Regarding the review linked at #39, I do not think that could possibly have been written by the same person who wrote all the Ellie Light letters-to-editors. (Not that Ellie Light actually writes anything.)

      Thanks DRJ for compiling this list!

      Ladyhawke (292af9)

    39. We’re going to have to give you a medal, Jason. Well done. It looks like McClatchy distributed this letter to its affiliate papers — that’s apparently why it shows up as “Commentary” in the Sacramento, CA, Raleigh, NC, and Washington, DC papers.

      Also, I’ve added a summary section with current totals. Everyone feel free to check my math — we want this to be accurate.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    40. Where is the summary section?

      Ladyhawke (292af9)

    41. Ladyhawke,

      It’s at the beginning of this post but I just added it so you may have to reload the page. And thanks for your nice comments.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    42. I think all of you have done a yeoman(lady)s job getting the list of Ellie Light letters together. Thank you. Thank you very much.

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    43. I pretty sure I read an Ellie letter to the editor in the “Aegis,” published in Bel Air, MD. I can’t search the online site, http://www.theaegis.com as I don’t have an account 🙁

      linda (e0579f)

    44. Vivian Louise:

      Er… OIDO?

      Dafydd

      Dafydd the Stumped (96b517)

    45. OIDO = Official Internet Data Office

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    46. Comment by Official Internet Data Office — 1/23/2010 @ 9:20 pm

      And she ordered the arugula. BWAhaha!

      SarahW (692fc6)

    47. Left coast rebel reports a letter from Ellie in protest of his post. Only it was weirdly spammish – mistaking Left Coast for a lefty blog, revealing ellie was more concerned with messaging than reading. He publishes the whole thing. It came from a blogger profile WInston44.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    48. Also being pushed in the India Times

      http://oneclick.indiatimes.com/article/0eYpf6s7Nl7bM

      Jason (2494ac)

    49. I’m Frustrated about the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I recognized the letter as one I’d seen sometime over my son’s Holiday break but they haven’t written back to confirm or deny. Any hard copy search of mine must wait until next week.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    50. Man alive, this is getting *really* good.

      I hope this story has legs enough to make it to Monday.

      Christopher Calandro (3149d0)

    51. this cheapens our little country’s discourse so badly cause you’ve no idea what’s not been discovered…

      it’s gross. How desperate and frantic these people are.

      happyfeet (e9e587)

    52. Organizing for America (GA) puts link to Ben Smith’s “Ellie Light” email on their Facebook page.

      http://www.facebook.com/OFAGeorgia?ref=share

      Jason (2494ac)

    53. Oh crap. You’re gonna need a bigger list.

      http://tiny.cc/nFEO4

      “It’s better to be generous and smart” now in heavy rotation.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    54. I don’t know what it means, maybe nothing, but here is an interesting letter with the same point of view and the same phrases from last year:

      “Obama has made it clear about how he feels about the housing crises, health care, Automobile and the credit card companies. I guess whoever wrote this does not follow the news or read a paper. The House passed a bill to keep financial companies from paying out such large bonuses. Secondly, Obama cannot wave a magic wand and fix everything within his first 100 days. With the **** load of **** that he inherited from Bush, President Obama will not be able to fix everything within a 100, 200, or 300 days to make everyone happy. People forget that things take time. The whole letter makes no sense to me. But everyone has their opinion and everyone is entitled to get on their soapbox.
      The whole letter is suspect, but I’m not a real American so what do I know.”

      It was posted at Chit Chat Politics
      http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=246710

      By a Brieannas21 on 05-18-2009, 10:48 PM from Texas

      Rick 2.0 (768c48)

    55. Thanks, again, Jason. Don’t you need a break? You’re wearing me out!

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    56. SarahW,

      I’m not adding the Haiti letters here. If I get enough energy, I may do them next week. I’m also adding “Obama” to the title of this post to help keep them separate.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    57. DRJ – I don’t actually mean for you to compile a new list – that much was humor. To the extent that this second spammination of the nation might lead to speculation or information about EL’s indentity/identities, it might be worth a mention that this letter too is making the grand tour.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    58. I think I found the earliest version of this letter

      jason (2494ac)

    59. RIck, it sounds like OfA or astroturf boilerplate to me.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    60. Email it. Patterico.tips-at-gmail.com.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    61. http://tinyurl.com/yb4b5ux

      It’s posted by a user by the name of anonymous273341 from Afghanistan? on Jan 6th. Only has 40ish views

      jason (2494ac)

    62. delete the link if you must. my bad.

      jason (2494ac)

    63. SarahW,

      I want to do it if I find the time and energy. One person might be invested in politics enough to send letters, but this degree of letters on more than one topic is hard to fathom. Someone needs to do it, and maybe it will have to be me. (But anyone who wants to help is more than welcome.)

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    64. It’s fine to post it here, Jason. I thought you didn’t want to post it.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    65. I’d be willing to bet this can be traced back to the White House or at least one of the cash-infused liberal organizations.

      jason (2494ac)

    66. I couldn’t get the original link to post. It makes me go “hmmmm.”

      jason (2494ac)

    67. It’s my understanding that the few IPs someone has been able to trace seem to be using anonymizers or other anonymous web techniques. This could be something similar.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    68. I’m sure they are running it through multiple proxies and whatnot.

      That’s Jan 6th is the earlier post I’ve seen, however it is not attributed to Ellie Light. I would assume that Ben Smith received his email on the 6th if he posted it on the 7th.

      jason (2494ac)

    69. Whew, cause too late, I already tweeted it. (The Kabul::Afghanistan anonymous allnews link)

      SarahW (692fc6)

    70. This is just sloppy though. Nobody could have assumed this wouldn’t get found out.

      jason (2494ac)

    71. When I first found that Kabul link, it had 4 views

      now, it has 59

      jason (2494ac)

    72. Jason:

      This is just sloppy though. Nobody could have assumed this wouldn’t get found out.

      But it wasn’t discovered until the Plain Dealer reported it. How many newspapers decided not to publish Ellie’s letter and discarded it? How many more published it that we haven’t found? Frankly, I think this shows how easy it is to do this, and how unlikely it is that someone would notice and do something about it. Kudos to The Plain Dealer reporter and editor.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    73. and i just flagged it as spam,. with a link to hjere….

      ’cause that’s the way i roll…. %-)

      redc1c4 (fb8750)

    74. contemptuous sloppy

      happyfeet (e9e587)

    75. But it wasn’t discovered until the Plain Dealer reported it.

      This is true. But Axelrod Rahmbo Moveon.org whoever was behind this was stupid enough to assume that there aren’t honest reporters out there.

      jason (2494ac)

    76. Sadly, that may be true.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    77. Way back in the day when I actually worked for a newspaper, we required letter writers to provide a phone number. Of course, we didn’t publish the phone number.

      Then, something really weird happened: We called the phone number to verify that the person had actually written the letter. We tended to look a little closer at the ones with area codes far outside our circulation area.

      Of course, we still could have been scammed, but it did cut down on the Heywood Jablome embarrassments.

      I know times change and newspapers have to deal with this whole new internet thingy, but telephones seem to be fairly common. At least someone at the Plain Dealer still knows how to use one.

      Ag80 (1592cc)

    78. This could always be a test run for some larger Cass Sunstein inspired plan.

      jason (2494ac)

    79. http://www.rifuture.org/content/3-barack-obama/8188

      This isn’t a paper, it’s a blog in Rhode Island linking Ben Smith’s Politico piece. Not sure what kind of clout it has in RI.

      Not really going to change alot of minds considering it’s a Progressive website and RI is probably bluer than Massachusetts.

      jason (2494ac)

    80. I’m looking at those and it’s good to save the links. Early on, a blogger was certain this is a David Plouffe effort but he got a visit from “Ellie” who denied it. Who knows? Maybe Ellie is very prolific or maybe Plouffe came back a little earlier than everyone thought?

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    81. it wasn’t done for free I don’t think

      happyfeet (e9e587)

    82. http://multiculturalfriends.blogspot.com/2010/01/defense.html

      Here it is on some little blog I don’t think anyone has heard of on Jan 7th. It could have just been copied and pasted from Ben Smith, but it doesn’t give any link or credit to him or Ellie Light. It says:

      A useless american blog. By Multicultural Friends: Rusty Barcelo, Peanut Butter Honey, Phil aka Armani Marley aka Change Clothes and Go aka CCG, and the legend of Skip Flanagan.

      jason (2494ac)

    83. 84.I’m looking at those and it’s good to save the links. Early on, a blogger was certain this is a David Plouffe effort but he got a visit from “Ellie” who denied it. Who knows? Maybe Ellie is very prolific or maybe Plouffe came back a little earlier than everyone thought?

      Comment by DRJ — 1/24/2010 @ 12:08 am

      It’s funny you say that, because the NY Times says Obama is bring back David Plouffe to help with the 2010 Midterms and stuff…

      jason (2494ac)

    84. Slimey Leftist bastards.

      jason (2494ac)

    85. Jason,

      I saw Multicultural Friends when I first started looking at this. The absence of a link made me wonder if it started there, too. It could be they saw the Politico article and blogged it without linking but I agree it’s curious.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    86. If you remember all of the references by his supporters to Obama as The Lightbringer or The Lightworker, I wonder if this is what they meant?

      And if Ellie’s middle name is May, then we should start looking for letters from Jethro, Grannie, and Uncle Jed.

      GaryC (4c812e)

    87. The other thing you have to remember is that Politico items are published by countless local news station websites and things of that nature.

      Take this for example:

      CBS5 in San Fran
      http://www.nfmpolitico.com/kpix/2010/01/07/a-defense-of-obama/

      Plus I’ve found a few Organizing for America Facebook pages that are touting the Ben Smith Politico piece from Jan 7.

      http://zh-hk.facebook.com/posted.php?id=18886507707&start=0&hash=c43df97e267f8a2aa2d64ddfd9f355e6
      http://www.facebook.com/OFAGeorgia?ref=share

      jason (2494ac)

    88. And if Ellie’s middle name is May, then we should start looking for letters from Jethro, Grannie, and Uncle Jed.

      The middle name given on some of the letters in Jeanne I believe.

      jason (2494ac)

    89. The only “Rusty” Barcelo I can find is Dr. Nancy ‘Rusty’ Barcelo, Vice President and Vice Provost for Equity and Diversity at the Univeristy of Minnesota.

      http://www.academic.umn.edu/equity/about_vp.html

      Wasn’t UofM caught up in some stupid liberal education scheme for up and coming teachers?

      jason (2494ac)

    90. That lady is definately a Leftist wackadoo:

      Dr. Barcelo’s guiding philosophy is that equity and diversity are fundamental to the academic enterprise. She believes that advancing equity and diversity is a shared University-wide responsibility and that leadership on diversity must be collaborative and focused on community building. She believes that an inclusive community that values and affirms differences not only supports individual success and wellbeing but also advances and sustains the university’s teaching, research, and service mission. Indeed, she believes that diversity drives learning and discovery, and that we ensure sustainable excellence only by ensuring that diverse cultures, identities, and ways of knowing and being are reflected, supported, and expressed in all aspects of University life.

      Dr. Barceló emphasizes that for students of diverse identities and backgrounds to be successful, they must feel welcome and supported on campus; and that for students to develop the competencies they need to thrive in the world’s diverse communities and workplaces, they need to be taught and mentored by a diverse faculty and have access to diverse knowledge systems and ways of knowing and being, as embodied in inclusive and diversity-infused curricula, pedagogies, resources, and services.

      Dr. Barceló has been hailed as a visionary leader for transformational change around issues of equity and diversity and as an astute and dedicated administrator with a gift for community building. Once the only Chicana student at the University of Iowa, she has since become one of the nation’s most highly respected authorities on equity and diversity in higher education. She is also an avid bicyclist and accomplished storyteller, songwriter, and guitarist.

      jason (2494ac)

    91. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=33YAL74K

      Hard copies of the links above saved as .mht files.

      Good luck and goo night.

      Jason (2494ac)

    92. good night even.

      Jason (2494ac)

    93. special mention here to “Ellie Light” getting three letters in from three different towns in WI

      http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/letter_writer_claims_diverse_r/3113/comments-18.html

      Posted by Reace
      January 24, 2010, 1:19AM

      bah. My links got messed up. Here are the same three leters she had published by a paper in the same week:

      http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101170302

      http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101130409

      http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100120188

      ice (b698c3)

    94. The article appears in the Lexington Herald-Leader (McClatchy) on 18-Jan-2010 reprinted from The Myrtle Beach Sun.
      http://www.kentucky.com/1084/story/1100830.html

      sailboatmosaic (e32f7c)

    95. Found ?

      Contact Info
      Office: President of the United States of America

      Astroturf for sure.

      Neo (7830e6)

    96. Here is one from today. I think it’s Idaho.

      http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100124/VOICES09/1240324/-1/voices

      CCC (679517)

    97. Or maybe it’s South Dakota. All these little papers are starting to look alike to me.

      CCC (679517)

    98. CCC, funny you should mention South Dakota. I sent an email to the editor of The Rapid City Journal last night at 2245MST informing him of this scam and to be on the lookout for any letters from a “Ms Ellie Light”. I included this URL for his information. My closeout lines were: “For the record, the infamous letter to which I refer here is a defense of Barack Obama. I make no secret of the fact that I do not care for the man or his policies. I don’t want your publication, to which I subscribe, to fall victim to the underhanded shenanigans of ‘Ms Ellie Light’, who in my opinion is probably a staffer working for the Democratic National Committee.

      Chuck Ellington

      dhmosquito (015866)

    99. Is Ellie Light really a chap named Lee Hill?

      This whole Ellie Light question is intriguing and I love a good mystery so I decided to do a little investigation of my own. My first thought was that “Ellie Light” was actually an anagram of the real author. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that was done.

      So I went to an on-line anagram maker and two names kept coming up–but not in the same anagram. They are Lee and Hill. In fact, Ellie is an anagram of part of Lee Hill:

      (L)ee (H)ill = Ellie. A quick search of the meaning of the name “Ellie” shows it to be “noble, exalted; sun ray, shining light; other,” of which it is easy to extract the word “Light.”

      Therefore we can see a possible connection between the anagram for (L)ee (H)ill as Ellie and “Ellie” as “Light.” Ellie Light.

      Was there a “Lee Hill” that could be connected to this mystery?

      Lee Hill is a fairly common name. I did, however, after little searching find a man name “Lee Hill” who works at National Public Radio (NPR) as a “digital media guy” on a fairly popular NPR segment called “Tell Me More.” Interesting.

      Upon further research, I found that the “Tell Me More” producers including Hill were hand chosen by NPR to cover the Unity: Journalists of Collor Conference in Chicago, July 2008. While in Chicago, Lee Hill set out to cover the community organizing community in Chicago.

      From the American Journalis, Review website

      http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4606

      “Tell Me More” Associate Producer and blogger Lee R. Hill wanted to do more than tell listeners the story; he wanted to show them the neighborhoods that organizers sought to empower.

      So he and fellow producer Jasmine Garsd hit the streets. There, they profiled a nurse whose 15-year-old nephew had been gunned down at her home the previous day. They interviewed the community organizers struggling to prevent retribution killings.”

      Hmm, Lee Hill has a connection with Chicago Community Organizers. Interesting.

      Another question: Did Lee Hill meet Cass Sunstein in Chicago while covering the Unity Conference? After all, Cass Sunstein was a Professor at the University of Chicago. Maybe. I don’t know.

      More intriguingly, I think we are all well aware of Sunstein’s position on communication inflitration:

      “Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government).”

      Sounds a lot like what “Ellie Light” has been doing.

      There is more.

      Lee Hill was asked by NPR to produce an Inaugural Blog for Obama’s Inauguration. You can view that here:
      http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2009/01/blogging_the_inaugural_tmm_on.html

      He wrote a live blog covering the event from his alma mater, Howard University in Washington, DC and covered the Inaugural Events for NPR. Did Lee Hill meet with Obama or Obama’s associates while covering this event? Who knows? NPR thought enough of this young man to have him cover the Inauguration. Maybe casual introductions were made?

      By the way, Lee Hill currently lives in Washington DC.

      Of course all this is pure speculation, but Obama did pay people during his campaign to help “get out the vote,” http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=9299280 . And, we all remember the legions of Obama volunteers who trolled the Internet during the campaign looking for anything negative about Obama and agitating blogs all over the nets.

      Hiring in a young, upwardly mobile communications guy to help “spread the word” doesn’t sound completely off the mark. Does it?

      Citizen x (b3dc27)

    100. I’d like the link to an anagram-maker that gets “Ellie” from “Lee Hill.” Is that the DNC anagram-maker?

      Andrew (612128)

    101. Jason, DRJ : Skip Flanagan? I had no idea who that was or is, but this google result gave a chuckle.
      http://tiny.cc/EXmBP

      SarahW (692fc6)

    102. Maybe they mean the Lacrosse guy, though. http://www.avonoldfarms.com/page.cfm?p=245

      SarahW (692fc6)

    103. “Hiring in a young, upwardly mobile communications guy to help “spread the word” doesn’t sound completely off the mark. Does it?”

      That certainly is much more researched theory than “samantha power did it with soros money and a sunstein paper.”

      imdw (de7003)

    104. A S T R O T R U F I N G.

      Nice work, Patterico.

      Good Lt. (7edfb8)

    105. Anyway, that multicultural friends blog is very light on prose content, what exists is borrowed, sometimes linked and sometimes not. I think they probably got the “defense” from a circulating email, or newsfeed.

      SarahW (692fc6)

    106. Imdw is really tiresome. Deflect. Look away. This is alright because his team is doing it.

      Off to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch the Colts stampede the Jets and their arrogant obnoxious tub-o-lard coach.

      JD (867246)

    107. Please make use of this list to post comments at the victimized websites simply explaining

      The “Ellie Light” letter is part of a nationwide astroturf voter manipulation campaign. Please see patterico.com/2010/01/23/ellie-lights-obama-letters for a list of mostly small newspapers across the country that have been victimized. Please use the list to post comments on the sites alerting readers to the scam.

      We need to make this backfire.

      Melanerpes Cao (d9a485)

    108. Actually, I met Elle Light at a fundraiser last year (don’t ask). Looked a lot like David Axelrod, poor thing.

      Ken (12307c)

    109. […] Click here to read current totals of her infatuation with Obama […]

      Ellie Light: The girl who probably masturbates to Obama posters. « What Is Logic ? (186bd9)

    110. This one driving some traffic Patterico??

      WLS Shipwrecked (3d3fb8)

    111. Someone needs to look at the headers of the various Ellie Light emails, and get the IP address and do an IP search.

      Might tell you a bit.

      DelD (1179a6)

    112. My local paper has run at least one. I’m 100% certain of it, and can’t prove it. I commented on the letter at the time (I can remember typing “Ms. Light”), but the paper has a terrible website with a search function that rarely works. It’s the Beaver County Times (timesonline.com) in southwest PA. AS SOON as I can get the search to give up the link, I’ll share. But I know it’s there, and anyone interested is welcome to help search their archives…

      Scratcher (c7c5d8)

    113. Every single newspaper that received an email from Ellie Light has the information needed to identify the author – in the “headers” of the email message.

      Will 60+ newspapers all refuse to investigate this? Knowing they’ve been deceived?

      Molon Labe (640aad)

    114. Of course they won’t look into it – after all, they didn’t look into anything else over the past two years:

      – Van Jones
      – Rev. Wright
      – Ayers
      – Southers
      – ACORN

      The list is endless – they don’t care.

      Dmac (539341)

    115. You would think that the reporter, Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer, who broke this story would be willing to sort through the email headers, get the IP for Ms. Light, and publish the information.

      Apparently she’s no conservative, but she’s got a huge story and this would be a great resume builder.

      On the other hand, she may have already done that and is hiring security.

      The Potomac might be littered with hard drives and email servers this morning.

      JayCee (00f5a1)

    116. The stuff from “Allvoices.com” mentioned above by Jason has been removed. But, the Google cache remains.

      Andrew (612128)

    117. http://theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/532945.html?startIndex=26

      Truthseeker’s comments at 1/8/10 4:47 pm

      jeeves (54251f)

    118. JayCee, hopefully Sabrina Eaton will investigate this and will release the IP and other electronic identifiers.

      Vivian Louise (643333)

    119. Maybe there is more of a chance of an internal investigation of the sender’s IP at the conservative newspapers who received Ellie Light’s letter: The Washington Times and the San Francisco Examiner.

      Official Internet Data Office (e46847)

    120. Vivian, I wonder what is taking her so long then.

      She either has lame IT resources or……the mind somewhat boggles here…..the story’s big enough to warrant caution, care and time.

      JayCee (00f5a1)

    121. […] Comments Vivian Louise on Who is Mark Spivey?meep on Who is Mark Spivey?Official Internet Data Office on Ellie Light's Obama LettersVivian Louise on Ellie Light's Obama Letterspeedoffamerican on Who is […]

      Patterico's Pontifications » Who is Mark Spivey? (e4ab32)

    122. With all the attention this has gotten any new references to postings or comments since this story broke could very well be by anyone using that alias to flood the zone and hide actual posts / comments done by the target here.

      Three hundred nutroots dummies out there claiming to be her since the story broke are not beyond reason.

      daytrader (ea6549)

    123. This is starting to blow up. We have a few more authors. Check this link and keep researching.

      http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2435890/posts?page

      CCC (679517)

    124. From The Lexington Herald Leader:

      http://www.kentucky.com/1084/story/1100830.html

      svh (3721ce)

    125. […] then there were more.  and more.  and more.  and then I found a new one (and another).  I checked and organized links from the Cleveland […]

      an Ellie Light list « The Church of the Apocalyptic Kiwi (ef8c93)

    126. […] Gloria Elle writes to the Baltimore Chronicle — on the same page as Mark Spivey and Ellie Light: As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government […]

      Patterico's Pontifications » Still More Astroturfing: Gloria Elle and Jan Chen Write the Same Anti-Republican, Pro-Obama Letter (e4ab32)

    127. South Dakota
      Argus Leader Media
      Sioux Falls, SD 57104

      teresa (07312f)

    128. The Organizing for America website is actually set up to make it easy for supporters to send off astroturf letters to the editor in support of healthcare reform.

      I found this last October.

      http://becausenooneasked.com/2009/10/07/astroturf-opinion/

      I used the site to send letters to USA Today and the Des Moines Register to warn them that more letters may be coming and to not trust them. I should go back to see if any snuck through.

      Michele (8d2866)

    129. Kabul : Afghanistan

      By: anonymous273341 send a private message
      Kabul : Afghanistan | 13 days ago
      0 0
      Views: 29
      A year ago, if we had read in the paper that employers were hiring again, that health care legislation was proceeding without a bump, that Afghanistan suddenly became a nice place to take your kids, we would’ve known we were being lied to. Back then, we recognized that the problems Obama inherited as President wouldn’t go away overnight. During his campaign, Obama clearly said that an economy that took eight years to break couldn’t be fixed in a year, that Afghanistan was a graveyard of empires, and would not be an easy venture for us. Candidate Obama didn’t feed us happy-talk, which is why we elected him. He never said America could solve our health care, economic and security problems without raising the deficit. Instead, he talked of hard choices, of government taking painful and contentious first steps towards fixing problems that can’t be left for another day. Right after Obama’s election, we seemed to grasp this. We understood that companies would be happy to squeeze more work out of frightened employees, and would be slow to hire more. We understood that the banks that had extorted us out of billions of dollars, were lying when they said they would share their recovery. We understood that a national consensus on health care would not come easily. Candidate Obama never claimed that his proposed solutions would work flawlessly right out of the box, and we respected him for that. But today, the President is being attacked as if he were a salesman who promised us that our problems would wash off in the morning. He never made such a promise. It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a President can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.

      teresa (07312f)

    130. […] } I told you about Ellie Light earlier. More info about Ellie Light: The latest count is at least 62 publications in 29 states and the District of Columbia; national publications and a […]

      Liberal Prostitutes For Sale (Cheap) « Truth Before Dishonor (15b8a9)

    131. […] President Obama. Whenever something happens that reflects badly on the president, one Ellie Light pops up defending the good man against his detractors. Some conservative bloggers tried to figure out who […]

      Astroturfing for Obama | NewsReal Blog (d65a4c)

    132. […] told you about Ellie Light earlier. More info about Ellie Light: The latest count is at least 62 publications in 29 states and the District of Columbia; national publications and a […]

      Common Sense Political Thought » Blog Archive » Liberal Prostitutes For Sale (Cheap) (73d96f)

    133. Thanks, sailboatmosaic, CCC (they’re starting to look alike to me, too), Andy, and others. I will add your links.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    134. […] Seattle Times Edition Jump to Comments This story is getting so big and growing so fast, it’s nearly impossible to keep up. (More from […]

      Astroturf, Seattle Times Edition « It's Only Words (962ecf)

    135. Hey folks, if Patterico doesn’t pick this up on Twitter, OFA retweeted the original Ellie Light post at Politico from at least 12 different state offices: http://bit.ly/info/9392rN

      Who would have the organization structure in place to get the same message published in 60+ newspapers across the country?

      Hmmmmmm. Some sort of organization of Obama-supporters, what could it be, think, think, think.

      George (fdc2fd)

    136. […] has uncovered what appears to be curiously similar letters-to-the-editor by “Ellen Light” and “Mark Spivey” appearing in publications all over the country – decrying the […]

      The Letter Game – Missoulapolis (024b0e)

    137. I sent a request to the Park City (UT) Park Record asking what their verification process was and advising them of Ms. Light’s activities. I will let you know what (if any) response I get back or that the paper publishes.

      LL

      Lady Logician (1408e5)

    138. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has published more correspondence with Ellie.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    139. […] and another, and another… After we found out about Ellie Light (same pro-0bama letter meanwhile published in 62 papers in 29 states), Patterico just now introduced Mark Spivey, who seems to be […]

      Another “letters astroturfer” for 0bama – and another, and another… « Spin, strangeness, and charm (97ecca)

    140. […] Donald Trump Astroturfer. In fact, her real estate holdings would put Trump to shame. She published the very same pro-Obama letter in 65 publications — including 31 states, and the District of Columbia. It also appeared in 3 national […]

      Patterico's Pontifications » The Recent Evidence of Astroturfing, Summarized (e4ab32)

    141. […] Gloria Elle writes to the Baltimore Chronicle — on the same page as Mark Spivey and Ellie Light: As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government […]

      PoliGazette » Tracking Letter Writer Gloria Elle Throughout Time (9bf351)

    142. How to Write a Pro-Obama Letter to the Editor and Get It Published In Tons of Newspapers…

      It’s so easy, you don’t even need to take the time to actually write an original letter! Step 1 – Cut or copy this letter: One year ago, if we’d read in the paper that Barack Obama could ever undo……

      Dan Cleary (0436bf)

    143. […] by several blogs, mostly politically conservative, who have decided to do their own investigating. One such blog is keeping a tally of every publication that the letter has appeared in. The current totals are: 65 […]

      Who Is Ellie Light? :Steve's View (0308d8)

    144. If this was just one person, how long would it take to get it sent, entered into every single paper, website that has been found so far? I mean just from the amount of time it would take to do it would mean they don’t have a job..

      Rory (7d1335)

    145. Maybe “Ellie” used that same name in hopes of being caught because — again, maybe — this was actually an effort to discredit Obama, by planting the notion this was a White House effort. I know it sounds far-fetched, but as the publisher of a blog about newspapers — many of which ran this letter — I’ve seen similar disinformation efforts.

      Jim Hopkins (481f42)

    146. […] is a list of the 65 newspapers which published the letter, which includes the Chillicothe Gazette, Mansfield News Journal, Hudson Hub-Times, and Gateway News […]

      Right Ohio » President Obama’s Astroturf Campaign Identical to Ted Strickland’s (ba367c)

    147. A commenter at Kathleen McKinley’s blog has another sighting on “Who Is Ellie Light? That Isn’t The Question We Should Be Asking.”

      1/25/2010 12:31 AM D. Peckinpah wrote:
      Ellie’s letter was published in our very small town newspaper, print and online at http://www.sierrastar.com 01.21.10 edition, Oakhurst,Ca; titled, “Why We Elected Obama” word for word as the Cleveland,Ohio letter. She claimed to live in neighboring Ahwahnee, CA.

      The Sierra Star’s website has limited archive, so I haven’t been able to confirm this sighting.

      Looking Glass (103d60)

    148. Jim Hopkins wrote, “Maybe “Ellie” used that same name in hopes of being caught because — again, maybe — this was actually an effort to discredit Obama, by planting the notion this was a White House effort.

      “Ellie Light” is discrediting newspapers, not Barack Obama. The origin of the letters isn’t nearly as important as why they got mass published in allegedly “unbiased, independent” media.

      Kathleen McKinley makes this same point in the blog post I linked in my above comment.

      …the bigger question is why the hell is every newspaper in the country publishing it? As someone who used to spend a great deal of time writing letters of the conservative bent to newspapers, I know how hard it is to get published.

      Looking Glass (103d60)

    149. Looking Glass, it’s amazing to me that such a level of detail would be available. That she knows which small towns are compellingly within the readership of a small town paper? Dang.

      I’ve seen similar disinformation efforts.

      Comment by Jim Hopkins

      I’ve seen dirty tricks too, but this is such a widespread effort. I doubt the people realizing it’s fake are as many as read this in the papers all over the country. And it extensively bashes Republicans while not bringing up anything about Obama (other than generalizations about Republicans not liking him).

      It doesn’t feel at all like a GOP dirty trick to me, and I’m curious if your similar disinformation efforts really are anything like this, or just robocalls at 3 am supporting the buyer’s opponent.

      When I read Ellie’s defensive letter, I don’t see any reason why it would lead me to like Republicans, even if it is revealed to be astroturf. And it’s really hard to move beyond this level, where we know something dishonest happened, to an actual scandal that the national media will cover negatively on Obama.

      Whether you are right, or I am, I hope we find out who is behind this and they are discredited. But at this point, there’s no evidence or hint this is a dirty trick by the right, except that it’s an awfully shitty thing to do, and Obama’s org is notorious for wanting to do it (Cass Sunstein and David Axelrod).

      Dustin (b54cdc)

    150. Does she play bridge with Mary Rosh, perhaps?

      The Pathetic Earthling (694528)

    151. […] reader’s punditry. This letter appeared in many California new outlets, as chronicled here: Ellie Light’s Obama Letters. The San Diego Union Tribune was […]

      INVESTIGATIVE CITIZENS (and California Citizen Activists) « Temple of Mut (3d8069)

    152. Here goes: Please hear me out:

      I’m going to think outside the box here and ask a few questions, after doing my own research on this for the past 24 hours:

      1) Why was the middle name Jeanne used only in WI, NH, CT and FL? Why did the name Jeanne get thrown in there at all??? Just for the heck of it?

      2) In Thailand, it mentions she’s an American citizen, not so in India….why not?

      3) (I’m so untrusting) — the blog – Multicultural friends (which features ELEPHANTS (ellie??) — the message I got out of that was – CHANGE CLOTHES AND GO — a hidden message…CCG.

      4) Here’s where I prove my total suspicious mind that drives my dh crazy but which I inherited from my late father, a former FBI agent:

      rather than thinking of her as Ellie Light — could it not be a message? something like LE LIGHT – THE LIGHT and perhaps Jeanne means the green light???

      Any thought that this letter is any way a tribute of any sort to Obama is pure wishful thinkiing. In my lifetime of 58 years, such an occurrence as this has never happened.

      I think it’s a total warning – to all our citizens – that something’s going to happen, soon — I think it’s saying where and it’s originating in Thailand.

      all imho, of course.
      thanks for hearing me out,
      Kay

      kay (1b1e39)

    153. I posted on the Muffled Oar a little more than this. Everyone is missing the obvious that is staring them in the face on this one.

      Ellie Light neither snail-mailed this letter to all the papers nor spam-mailed it.

      It was syndicated. That’s why it was not vetted. Check into it. I’d bet a bunch this is a syndicated letter to the editor. If so, any one of these media outlets knows who the syndication company is … and the syndication company knows who Ellie Light is.

      sumtin 2 say (2163f5)

    154. If it’s a warning, how are we supposed to benefit from it? If it’s a signal to start an attack, why such a grandiose scheme when they could have simply done any number of creative things (not to mention the risk of not getting published). Why not take out a craigslist ad for 16 blue unicycles?

      Anyway, Britain is acting like there’s a big threat, there was a recent Osama tape, and Biden promised we’d be tested. I can’t say I ever understood this method of communication, so I guess I can’t claim to know enough about it to discount the possibility. But I think it’s just propaganda.

      Dustin (b54cdc)

    155. The Bellingham Herald didn’t get their own so they printed somebody else’s:
      http://www.bellinghamherald.com/321/story/1250141.html

      Kevin (30a5e9)

    156. The Bellingham Herald in Bellingham WA didn’t get their own so they printed somebody else’s:
      http://www.bellinghamherald.com/321/story/1250141.html

      Kevin (30a5e9)

    157. […] il Paese. Che, puntualmente, le sono state pubblicate pressoché identiche (c’è chi addirittura si è divertito a stilare l’elenco completo delle testate dove è apparsa la missiva che prende le parti di […]

      Chi si nasconde dietro Ellie Light? « Nomfup (15b8a9)

    158. http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_14263261

      LAS CRUCES SUN NEWS 1-25-2010

      Mark Richards (e2a40b)

    159. # 19 — Surprise surprise but Ellie’s friend/ alter ego John F. Stott also wrote in buzzflash 10/01/09. Not the same letter but similar to others

      http://blog.buzzflash.com/contributors/2082

      I made the switch- Indi (efb297)

    160. Glenn Beck did mention E L today, without attribution to any particular website.

      They should be able to track down any syndication, if it exists.

      Let’s keep searching, maybe tomorrow they can update the count.

      Ruhroh (fc978d)

    161. Glenn Beck TV show did mention E L today, without attribution to any particular website.

      They should be able to track down any syndication, if it exists.

      Let’s keep searching, maybe tomorrow they can update the count.
      RR

      Ruhroh (fc978d)

    162. […] a snippet from AmericanPower’s posting: Jawa Report’s got the summary: Patterico, The Cleavland Plain Dealer and some other intrepid souls have uncovered what appears to be a […]

      The Right Side of Life » The Curious Case of “Ellie Light” (fa89c7)

    163. Thanks to Mark Richards, Kevin, and Looking Glass for the links to new Ellie letters. Good work.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    164. Here’s another one. There are hundreds of Ellie Lights popping up all over the net like mushrooms after a Spring shower. Ellielight.info

      Titus Pullo (c99b20)

    165. just post ellie’s email and ips
      we’ll find her/ him/ it

      teresa (07312f)

    166. […] news of her serial letter-writing campaign surfaced in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one sleuth has tracked 70 sightings of Ellie Light […]

      The Mysterious Ellie Light: President Obama’s Number 1 Fan | Disinformation (4c6ff5)

    167. […] news of her serial letter-writing campaign surfaced in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one sleuth has tracked 70 sightings of Ellie Light […]

      The Mysterious Ellie Light: President Obama’s Number One Fan | NW0.eu (a019cf)

    168. […] is a most prolific supporter of Obama nationwide. Her output is being tracked most energetically at Patterico’s Pontifications, in a post that lists 73 letters to newspapers in the US and around the world, in the text, with many more […]

      Obama’s Most Energetic Fan, Ella Light « Down on the Pharm (553dcc)

    169. […] Patterico first wrote about Ellie Light on HotAir (Patterico also has a blog: Pontifications), readers have sent in news tips of other duplicate pro-Obama letters to dozens of publications by […]

      Obama’s Lettergate « Fellowship of the Minds (5c299c)

    170. […] En el blog de Patterico, DRJ tiene una recopilación. En el momento de redactar esta entrada, la carta de Ellie Light ha sido publicada en: […]

      ¿Quién es Ellie Light? ¿Salvará a Obama del naufragio? « Sarah Palin en Español (d9f52e)

    171. […] Donald Trump Astroturfer. In fact, her real estate holdings would put Trump to shame. She published the very same pro-Obama letter in 65 publications — including 31 states, and the District of Columbia. It also appeared in 3 national publications […]

      Who Is Ellie Light? Michelle Malkin on Hannity About Fake Pro-Obama Letter Published in Dozens of Newspapers: “Obama Administration Is ‘The Astroturf Presidency’” (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042)

    172. […] story was originally broken by The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Patterico is adding up the number of times the letter has appeared – still growing, it seems. And the Left Coast Rebel seems to still be on the case, as well. Stay […]

      Andrew Breitbart on FOX News: Did White House Mastermind the Ellie Light Astroturf Letters to Help Push ObamaCare? (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042)

    173. Like the work you are doing here, someone needs to smoke this woman(?) out. But would like to point out, the yahoo news buzz is not really a published letter, just a link to the USA Today published letter. Just trying to keep our numbers accurate 🙂

      Bill (0f9ce0)

    174. IMO, this person probably is female, just by the sound of her writing. Probably also from the newspaper/press-related/journalistic/organizer group. I wouldn’t even know half these papers existed, much less the local zipcodes. Probably has access to a database of news organizations. Her writing, while not noteworthy sounds careful and probably educated. Almost like any “accent” has been purposely subtracted.
      I’d bet she doesn’t have young children or a real house to take care of, probably not the most popular girl at the dance either, otherwise she wouldn’t have time for all of this. She has a wide ego, too, obviously.
      I can’t believe no one has traced it yet, but they keep publishing her propoganda. BTW, the reason she doesn’t use different names is because she wants credit.

      m (2d5873)

    175. […] Patterico’s Pontifications blog posted links to 65 local publications, three national publications and two foreign publications […]

      Busted! Obama praise planted in U.S. newspapers (8fd7f7)

    176. Is this a scenario will many panties will be bunched? Who really cares? I’m not to political or care for Obama policies but all these Nancy Drew’s on the scene; ready to EXPOSE this fraud like he is Jayson Blair need to get a life. Treat it like a prank call and move on.

      Waltsense.com (d94133)

    177. It looks like the whitehouse is working on a ground roots lye-a-thon.

      Thanks Barr.ie…ugh, uh, I mean uh Ellie.

      Seriously though, most of us read that tripe from Ellie and friends and it repulses us. The problem is Ellie, no one actually believes what you write to be true or even close, so it is hard for us to sway our opinion based on your plea to us comrades.

      Bulldog (a40aa6)

    178. […] Web site Patterico’s Pontifications, which has compiled a comprehensive list of Ellie Light appearances, found the letter so far has […]

      The Obama Whitehouse » Newspapers Slam ‘Bogus’ Pro-Obama Letter From Mystery Writer (c8df7a)

    179. waltsense, it matters. It may not matter to you, but it’s not your place to tell this country what matters.

      I don’t want a government that employs Axelrod or Cass Sunstein. I don’t want a government that specializes in using my tax dollars to shape American opinion. I don’t want newspapers that are lax in ensuring they aren’t conduits for lies.

      You’re the one who needs to get a life. You don’t see me commenting on your blog that people shouldn’t care about the top 20 movies of all time… I don’t think that’s important or interesting, but it’s none of my business what you want to talk about. People who tells others what they should think about are the people who need to get a life.

      Dustin (b54cdc)

    180. All I have to say is – L.A. Light…L.A. Light…L.A. Light…why has no one said it this way & focused on it being a “womans name”? Leave it to us Clevelander’s to unravel everything on this one 😉
      Does it mean much? Maybe not – but I guarantee that’s where the name “Ellie Light” came from. Lends credence to the probability that the author is from Cali.

      Jack (39ce4c)

    181. […] a blogger affiliated with Andrew Breitbart fan fiction-blog BigJournalism.com goes galloping along racking up more than 70 instances of newspapers and other media outlets publishing the same paper. […]

      Who needs Obama’s birth certificate when you’re on the trail of ‘Ellie Light’? - Michael Roston - Newsbroke - True/Slant (b57c44)

    182. Waltsense, it will not be overlooked. It has gotten so big that whoever undercovers Ellie Light will have the biggest news story in the land. If it ties back to the Obama administration, it might get a Pulitzer.

      Bulldog (a40aa6)

    183. I didn’t see this anywhere, but she shows up here too: http://blog.buzzflash.com/mailbag/996 on 01/07/2010.

      The site is a liberal blog.

      Joe Friday (4ae51e)

    184. […] Patterico’s Pontifications blog posted links to 65 local publications, three national publications and two foreign publications […]

      Busted! Obama praise planted in U.S. newspapers »• for •, >> and » » Conservative Viewpoint Blog (1cad67)

    185. […] song, different verse. Astroturfers abound. His minions continue to do his bidding. Yadda – yadda – […]

      Obama’s SOTU Speech Leaked! « Obi’s Sister (942eaa)

    186. Hi, been checking Spanish see if someone in any Spanish newspapers have picked up the letter, so far nothing. That would trigger big question marks on newspapers from Puerto Rico, because the owners have close ties to Democrat Party, but the Governor is Republican.

      So far, blog articles from a pro-Sarah blog from Spain, and another blogger from Argentina. Wow she does get around! Will check remaining newspapers from Puerto Rico; like I wrote, extremely weird to pickup letters in English. Will update you if anything pops up. CUALQUIER PERSONA QUE HABLE O SEPA ESPANOL, INVESTIGUEN!

      ProudPalinFan (0f2e2f)

    187. […] Light had letters to the editor published in what Patterico’s Pontifications reports is, “68 publications in 31 states and the District of Columbia, 3 national publications […]

      You Gotta Love Ellie Light « The Western Word (b78058)

    188. Miami Herald translated this to Spanish, found this blogger’s comment below:

      To: jerod
      As I posted on another thread:

      The Spanish-language version of the Miami Herald (El Nuevo Herald) published this letter by “Ellie Light” this morning IN SPANISH.
      It seems to me there are only two possibilities.

      1) The organization behind this is translating the letter into Spanish and targeting Spanish media.

      2) The editors at El Nuevo Herald translated it themselves and published it without doing any checking and obviously without being aware of the controversy of the last few days.

      Neither conclusion says much good about the newspaper.

      22 posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 2:45:44 PM by Sigurdrifta

      ProudPalinFan (0f2e2f)

    189. ProudPalinFan,

      wow, that’s a great catch.

      Dustin (b54cdc)

    190. Good one, PalinFan. Awesome work by Patterico, DRJ, everyone posting here – and the reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

      Vermont Neighbor (1a9eb2)

    191. When this first broke, I remembered reading the original ink version in the local paper. Not the writer’s name but just the soft clarity of the content. Actually, when I read it I shuddered. It was eerily persuasive and not shrill. The phrase about taking our kids to Afghanistan and the general reminder ‘how hard’ he’s working were shudder-y. I thought collectivist… then forgot about the letter.

      This Cass Sunstein creature and his lovely bride Samantha Power are quite a duo. Radical chic with dynamite in one hand and keys to the kingdom in the other. Shudder.

      Vermont Neighbor (1a9eb2)

    192. Thanks for the tip, Proud Palin Fan. I found Ellie’s letter in El Nuevo Herald and I’ve linked it above.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    193. Did you guys check HillBuzz? They are getting close to this problem, but they are skiddish of arriving to a certain conclusion (don’t blame them).

      ProudPalinFan (0f2e2f)

    194. […] be allowed to read at all, let alone vote (and query why the N&O is even on the list, seeing as they didn’t publish any representation at all as to where she supposedly lived). […]

      damnum absque injuria » Light Offense of the Day (490ac4)

    195. Re: Jack’s comment above, #191: got me thinking about an article in the New Yorker I read years ago. It was in 1998, an essay about the L.A. light: Written by Lawrence Weschler . I see no clear indication from the wikipedia article of any inclination to be involved in the ruse, but naturally, who knows? PS it was a memorable essay, considering that it came to me immediately upon seeing ‘L.A. light’, after 12 years.

      brown2012 (f40da8)

    196. This reminds me of the movie Turk 182! (emphasis mine)

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090217/quotes

      Det. Ryan: [trying to find out who’s behind Turk 182] Just give us the names and addresses of everyone involved.

      Terry Lynch: Everyone?

      Det. Ryan: Everyone involved.

      Terry Lynch: There’s the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, Darth Vader, Jack the Ripper, Atila the Hun…

      Det. Ryan: [about Turk 182] There are two theories. The first is that this is an organized conspiracy. The other more bizarre theory is that this is the work of one man – Superman, apparently!

      *I emphasized this one due to Drudge’s cover of Obama wearing a Superman outfit with an “O” in the diamond*

      Jimmy Lynch: You read the newspapers, Jock?

      Jockamo: Of course I read the newspapers. What do I look like, an imbecile?

      Jimmy Lynch: Uh… no.

      Det. Kowalski: Now just what do we know about this Turk? Or, if there are more than one, we could call them Turkeys.

      Det. Ryan: [the cops are looking at slides of Turk’s graffiti] This little masterpiece was conducted while the surrogate court was in night session. If you can believe that one.

      Det. Kowalski: Justice is indeed blind.

      ProudPalinFan (0f2e2f)

    197. Do we know anything about this Brooks woman (or her husband…the story gets a bit confused) who has come forward in Texas (of all states) as the writer of these articles?

      I also agree that one does NOT put a letter into this many outlets without being politically minded if not politically affiliated.

      Vashra (779297)

    198. Two weeks ago, when I started tracking the speculation about me, I avoided the Pontificator, because he seemed the most goo-goo-eyed, the first to see spooks under every bed. I’ve since come to realize that he’s a genuine news source. He only sounds loopy when he talks about me. Still, the pontificator was the first pen the five words that offered closure: Ellie Light is Winston Steward. Over and done. But he couldn’t quite do it. The hole in his life, the end of the chase, and the results are so unsatisfying. After Ellie, what remained was to find ways to defend Louisiana’s biggest loser, having attempted a Watergate redux and now holed up in mom’s apartment awaiting trial. Not much fun there. So Pontificator starts playing with Winston’s Facebook page, pasting pictures of my friend Jerry, a 70+ gardener who loves nothing more than puttering with his native California plants, but dubbed by pontificator to be the next public enemy number one. So it turns out its not as easy as all that to lay off the conspiratorial sauce. It’s just so much…. fun.

      The first thing I did when I read Pontificator’s almost-conclusion to the Ellie thing, was to go back and a piece I wrote regarding Bush and 9/11, back in 2004. Did I sound as unhinged as these guys do? It’s the opposite of Acom’s Razor. In the mind of a conspiracy-buff, no question is allowed a simple answer. Happily, the 9/11 rabbit hole was before Facebook, so back then, I couldn’t sit behind my laptop and start following the tweets of everyone that gave a shout-out to President Bush on MySpace, and pretend I was doing a public service. What I’ve learned from all this, is that the next time someone brings up a comment critical of Obama, I won’t don my all-knowing tone and say, “You KNOW they’re just mouthing Republican talking points.” No, I won’t say that, because I’ve experienced how hard it is for others to accept that I did something simply because I wanted to. Nothing more complicated than that.

      [note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]

      Ellie Light (dcff18)

    199. I’d like to read what you wrote in 2004 about Bush and 9/11.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    200. What are the IP addresses for all these spam letters? It’s obviously one lonely fan who seem to still be star struck and still very much gulping the Kool- aid. It’s the modern Internet age propaganda, no more no less.

      Ladalang (dd0abd)

    201. #209,

      He made some great points about you, ellie. While you call him goo goo eyed and have various other insults, he nailed you for your dishonesty.

      You aren’t that interesting and no one actually cares about you as a commentator. You lied to push 60 or more other views off the table so you could pretend to be everyone’s next door neighbor. It was petty and shows how the media is manipulated. You have a lot of links to PR astroturf style people such as the weirdo on twitter you followed, but no one expects to ever get anywhere concrete on that.

      The lesson: take a grain of salt when you read some screed about how it’s the GOP’s fault Obama is failing. You’re just a bullet point.

      Revel in it. You’re got nothing better to do.

      Dustin (b54cdc)

    202. Well, he/she could work on their grammar and composition skills – that comment rates a “D-“!

      But, “self-esteem” gets a “B+”!

      AD - RtR/OS! (eadee4)

    203. Ladalang,

      I can’t speak about every IP address but the ones I’ve seen have used proxy servers so I don’t think they can be traced.

      DRJ (84a0c3)

    204. […] publications in 31 states & DC, 2 national publications and Yahoo, and 2 foreign publications (Patterico’s Ponitifications has a count here).  In fact, we find out, that Ellie is not a she at all but a he … or something like that […]

      Obama: Letters from the Dead, Corpse-men & Burial T-Shirts « Lady Libertas (1af166)

    205. In fairness to the Sheboygan Press, they prited a disclaimer and retraction when it was discovered that “Ms Light ” was a fiction.

      Robert Schmidt (9b8cbe)

    206. Sorry “they PRINTED a retraction in the Sheboygan Press. I should have POOF read my copy.

      Robert Schmidt (9b8cbe)

    207. So no one else points out about how this brainiac who will lecture us all about how we must follow Obama’s lead writes about “Acom’s Razor”.

      If liberals were half as smart as they thought they were they might be dangerous.

      Have Blue (854a6e)

    208. Did anyone try to track down IP’s from Letters to the Editor that were submitted by email? The IP’s would steamshovel this story. If there are any really computer saavy folks, please do.

      Clark K (ba578e)

    209. […] Patterico’s Pontifications blog posted links to 65 local publications, three national publications and two foreign publications […]

      NC Freedom » Busted! Obama praise planted in U.S. newspapers (8a2516)

    210. […] publications in 31 states & DC, 2 national publications and Yahoo, and 2 foreign publications (Patterico’s Ponitifications has a count here).  In fact, we find out, that Ellie is not a she at all but a he … or something like that […]

      Obama: Letters from the Dead, Corpse-men & Burial T-Shirts | Lady Libertas (cc1872)


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