The term 'Ratfucking' and how it applies to Obama and Democrats

[freshwest]

Last edited Wed Apr 1, 2015, 12:56 AM - Edit history (2)

Don Segretti 4.0, A Teabagger Nation

By Driftglass - **June 21, 2010**

'Ratfucking' is a method the GOP began during the Nixon era and consistently after that time. Since they have the money to fund pundits to do this for them, it will continue. Beware.

The practice has won the right many victories for them and very effective in causing Democrats to abandon their candidates and their party. The man who originated the term and method was:

Donald Henry Segretti (born September 17, 1941, in San Marino, California) is a former political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President (Nixon) during the early 1970s. Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L. Chapin to run a campaign of dirty tricks (which he dubbed "ratfucking"[1]) against the Democrats, with his work being paid for by Herb Kalmbach, Nixon's lawyer, from presidential campaign re-election funds gathered before an April 7, 1972, law required that contributors be identified. His actions were part of the larger Watergate scandal, and were important indicators for the few members of the press actively investigating the Watergate break in in the earliest stages that what became known as the Watergate scandal involved far more than just a simple break in. Segretti's involvement in the "Canuck letter"[2] typifies the tactics Segretti and others working with him used, forging a letter ascribed to Senator Edmund Muskie which maligned the people, language and culture of French Canada and French Canadians, causing the soon to be Democratic presidential candidate Muskie considerable headaches in denying the letter and having to continue dealing with the issue. Many historians have indicated over the years that Muskie's withdrawal from the Presidential primaries, and the disastrous Iowa primary loss to George McGovern that precipitated it, were at least partly the result of Segretti and some of the other "Ratfuckers" creating so much confusion and false accusations that Muskie simply could not respond in any meaningful way.

In 1974, Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal (in fact, forged) campaign literature and was sentenced to six months in prison, actually serving four months. One notable example of his wrongdoing was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's letterhead falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old; the Muskie letters accused Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of sexual misconduct as well.[3] After testimony regarding the Muskie letters emerged, Democrats in Florida noted the similarity between these sabotage incidents and others that involved stationery stolen from Humphrey's offices after Muskie dropped out of the race. A false news release on Humphrey's letterhead "accused Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) of being mentally unbalanced" and a mailing with an unidentified source mischaracterized Humphrey as supporting a controversial environmental measure that he actually opposed.[3]

In the 1976 film about Watergate, All the President's Men, Segretti was played by Robert Walden.

Segretti was a lawyer who served as a prosecutor for the military and later as a civilian. However, his license was suspended for two years following his conviction. In 1995, he ran for a local judgeship in Orange County, California. However, he quickly withdrew from the race when his campaign awakened lingering anger over his involvement in the Watergate scandal. In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Orange County.[4]

He holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Southern California (1963) and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law (1966). While at USC he became associated with Dwight L. Chapin, Tim Elbourne, Ron Ziegler, Herbert Porter and Gordon C. Strachan, they all joined the "Trojans for Representative Government" group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti



Back in the Nixon era

It would be tempting to label this "The Return of the Ratfuckers", but of course the GOP Ratfuck squad (from Corrente) --

Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks. It was first brought to public attention during the Watergate scandal investigation that during the 1972 presidential campaign the Nixon campaign committee maintained a "dirty tricks" unit focused on discrediting Nixon's strongest challengers.

According to Woodward and Bernstein, Nixon aide Dwight Chapin hired fellow USC alumnus Donald Segretti to run a campaign of dirty tricks (which Segretti dubbed "ratfucking&quot against the Democrats in 1972. The purpose of the operation was to create as much bitterness and disunity within the Democrat primary as possible. One notable example of Segretti's wrong-doing was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's letterhead falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old...

-- has never left us.

Much more worth reading at:

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2010/06/don-segretti-40-teabagger-nation.html

This is why we see one thing after another against Obama, Kerry, Pelosi and other Democrats to gin up outrage. While some things we hear about are based on difference of opinion, tearing up Democrats and our leaders is not productive. Many of the issues have been manufactured about the things guaranteed break the hearts of liberal, progressive Democrats, but usually by Libertarians who do not want the same things. But they want to destroy Democrats because they are the force that robs their coporatist masters.

So what happens is Democrats feel betrayed and then they react accordingly, but are not given opposing information.

As soon as one issue has been debunked, they move immediately to another. It is exhausting to rebutt all of these, and after a while by repetition they are established as a truth by the inability to not rebut them at the speed they are being sent out.

Ratfucking relies upon the learned perception that the well of political discourse has been turned into a cesspool, and counts on the discouraged to lose the will to get into the government to clean the mess up which fulfills its purpose.

Instead, in their place are the Tea Party grifters who become the voices of power, instead of the compassionate who stay out of political life. Thus the RW mission is accomplished.

Another major reason some smears are not rebutted is we don't have Koch billions to fund these smears, so they outvote us with their media dollars and paid pundits. We musr be smart and patient with our movement to not allow them to divide us.

I FYI'd this for the members of the BOG as I read a post was hidden for using the term 'ratfucking' to describe the method. The claim was made it was a homophobic slur, but it clearly is not. Either the alerter and/or the jury was unware of the origin of the term and its political meaning which applies to what is being done to attack Obama and Democrats now.

Anyone who followed the political scene for many years would recognize the approach being used with or without using the word 'ratfucking.'

But the term is shorthand for a complicatd process. Its purpose is to destroy the reputation or credibility of the Democratic Party and Obama among those who should be rightly proud of our accomplishments. The media is owned by rich right wingers and they do not show our side in a credible fashion.

Make no mistake, it is not just the personality or the actions of our party or our president being attacked, it is the progressive ideas we represent. Those ideas are the enemy the RWers and Koch organizations are fighting by going after our leaders. They will use Citizens United and every other weapon in their hands to defeat us and our hopes for a better America and a better world.

In more recent events, think of the method employed to ruin the Kennedys, ACORN and so many others. We must not be taken in.

**Yes, some of us realized what was happening as the media and pundits formerly trusted did this in the summer of 2010, and it worked very well. We tried to warn others, but they stayed away from the polls and many states now live under the boot of the Tea Party.

Will they succeed in 2014?

NOTICE: This is the BOG, or Barack Obama Group for the supporters of the President. You know the drill. TIA.

[blm]

1. People need to learn this stuff before they accept RW garbage as legitimate.

GHWBush didn't tap Rev Moon and Rupert Murdoch to expand their media empires into the US in the 80s so the public could be well-informed, did he?

[sheshe2]

2. Thanks, freshwest.

I never knew the term or it's history. Though, it's not surprising that the GOP were the party that gave birth to it. Not surprising at all that citizens united and people like the Kochs would support it and apply it.

The Kochs are using it now in a campaign to overturn Obamacare. Yup, take away such an important law that is helping so many people.

I just have to believe that people are aware, that they are listening to the facts. For one, there is a large voting block of women that are standing up and listening. I believe, they have been a victim of "ratfucking" by the Repukes.

The only thing to do is GOTV 2014!

Excellent OP, freshwest. I thank you.

[Cha]

3. I recently learned what the term means in history..

thanks for spelling it out, freshwest.

All I know about its current implementation is that Glenn Greenwald's picture is in the urban dictionary next to it.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

4. Great points! One way for GOP to win in 2016 is to destroy Dem enthusiasm

By continuing to throw crap out there for progressives to pounce on. If liberal, good hearted people can be steered away from thinking of the new EPA rules on coal fired electric plants and instead focused on how Obama is "just like Bush" and a "pawn of the MIC" then they can keep voters home. Which always benefits GOP.

[riqster]

26. This is why I always preach GOTV. Thanks for the post.

[Bolo Boffin]

5. As a gay man, I don't understand the "homophobia" thing at all.

I've always associated it with dirty tricks. Thanks for this history of the term.

[MADem]

8. There is no homophobia associated with the term.

Anyone making that connection and using it to, say, get a post by someone they dislike hidden, is prosecuting what is called a BIG LIE.

You know how those work, when someone makes an outrageous -- and patently false -- assertion with a straight face, in the hopes that uninformed people (like jurors) will believe it.

Of course, pull too much of that kind of crap, and folks end up on the admins' radar. They know who we are, even when we alert or serve on juries. We're not anonymous to them....!

[Bolo Boffin]

11. Exactly.

I think it's insulting to call something like this homophobia when it isn't. Crying wolf when there is no wolf inures people to the call. Save that charge for actual examples, I'd say.

[Kolesar]

13. An earnest DUer had a post removed when she used the term "rat fucking"

Were the visiting Republicans alerting on her and claiming it was "homophobia"?

(I think it was a female poster)

[Kolesar]

17. Yes, it seems like the Obama haters on DU abuse the alert system

They have had a number of alerts that did not work, but they make up for it in quantity. They know the shotgun effect is used against the Democrats.

[DevonRex]

6. Fabulous post. It is, and has always been, a dirty tricks campaign

by the RW against Democrats. Thank you for the history. I didn't know he coined the term himself. The nerve of him, calling Democrats rats, when he was committing crimes.

[sheshe2]

7. This is pure evil.

I have to sat that it scares the hell out of me.

The Rogues of "K" Street -- Confessions of a Tea Party Consultant

...
"You’re going to see something spectacular," an old friend who has a knack for black-bag operations said as he proudly downed his vodka. "About a month from now you’ll see ACORN explode from within." Right on schedule a video was released that showed undercover conservative activists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles getting advice from employees at the Baltimore office of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now on how to smuggle underage El Salvadoran girls into a fictitious brothel.

That’s when I realized this isn’t an average fringe movement. This one is credible, legit and—for the first time in a decade—scaring the crap out of the left. In my years as a campaign hack and then as a consultant, I’ve created more than my share of fake grassroots organizations. Some were downright evil but effective beyond expectations. Did you get an automated call from the sister of a 9/11 victim asking you to reelect President Bush in 2004? That was me. Did you get a piece of mail with the phrase supports abortion on demand as a means of birth control? That may have been me too.

Conservatives had been trying to take down ACORN for three decades. Where they failed, BigGovernment.com and my friends succeeded. In one magnificent explosion, a loose group of troublemakers, libertarians and Republicans took its first scalp. Sonja Merchant-Jones, former co-chair of ACORN’s Maryland chapter, told The New York Times in March, "That 20-minute video ruined 40 years of good work."

The ACORN blood tasted good.

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2010/06/don-segretti-40-teabagger-nation.html

Thanks, freshwest.

[hopemountain]

9. yes, pure evil

the kind of evil that doesn't care who, what, when, where, or how.
the kind of evil that has NO HEART and laughs in the face of those who do.
an abomination of humanity. that kind of evil.

thank you, freshwest. i have been avoiding the news and staying off du - except for bog - because the hate of hour president is sickening. and this is precisely what it is mean to do. keep those of us heart and mind feelers and thinkers away and silent.

[IrishAyes]

10. Great OP - another home run!

[Kolesar]

12. Those pathetic chain emails against Senator Obama six years ago were "rat fucking"

They were traced to internet addresses used by Fox News.

[freshwest]

14. Along with the DVDs sent out by a RW firm; and the ones that funded the film just before Benghazi...

And then there's this newest tidbit:

"Meet The PR Firm That Helped Vladimir Putin Troll The Entire Country"

...Using filings from the Justice Department, the non-profit ProPublica detailed last November how Ketchum helped place op-eds by "seemingly independent professionals" that praised Russia in outlets like CNBC and the Huffington Post, among others, without proper disclosure.

It is not unusual for a PR firm to work with a government. But Ketchum has been the subject of controversy not only in its work with Russia, but also with the U.S. government.

Ketchum was involved in high-profile controversies in 2004 and 2005. In both cases, the Government Accountability Office determined that Ketchum engaged in "covert propaganda" for the U.S. government.

In 2004, Ketchum produced prepackaged news stories featuring actors posing as journalists that touted Medicare changes under Bush’s prescription drug benefit program, without disclosing government as the source. And in 2005, Ketchum again produced prepackaged news stories around the No Child Left Behind Act.

There's more:

http://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-nyt-op-ed-ketchum-pr-2013-9#ixzz2ejAKeAlK

Courtesy of Cha:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110215880#post5

That was her reply to Tarheel Dem here:

I heard a fascinating report on NPR about the Russian PR firm that placed the op-ed. Quite interesting. I think they're based in DC. Essentially, they're Freedom Works, except they work for the Russians. Astroturfing anyone?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110215880#post2

All out of Cha's thread here in the BOG, which should be K&R'd. It has a lot of links:

Republicans Unite Behind Putin the Dictator In Order to Diss Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1102&pid=15880

[JustAnotherGen]

23. This is goooooooooooo stuff!

Thanks! I'm sick and tired of people not just at DU - but IRL worshipping Putin as some kind of Freedom God. He's not.

[freshwest]

24. Thank you. I'll be here all week...

[Cha]

15. Kick!

[hopemountain]

16. this is as good as a diagnosis

for a devastating chronic condition.
now, a plan for the remedy. there are endless alternatives to reverse the condition.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. So this is not the first time the GOP uses operatives pretending to be Democrats. Interesting.

It's making perfect sense now. It even has a name - ratfucking.

Under the guise of "open discussion" Repugnicans are making a really good effort at destroying (and dividing) the Democrats. Very very interesting.

You know, I already despised EVERYTHING about the Republicans. Can I possibly find them more repulsive and evil than I already did? I honestly don't know.

[freshwest]

21. They come in as Concern Trolls, as if they care about our deepest issues, as cited plus my views:

Last edited Sun Mar 22, 2015, 02:30 AM - Edit history (1)

A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user claims to hold. The concern troll posts in Web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.[37]

That is F.U.D., meaning 'fear, uncertainty and doubt.' It is the majority of posts at DU on any given day, on any subject that one might name. From hysteria to condemnation, it is always designed to depress the voting pool that comes to DU for information but end up feeling hopeless or betrayed. Often with fact free posting styles.

A lot of bombastic and profane posts cannot help but get a reader's attention and build up an emotional response. I look for a the lack of solutions in such posts, because those would require being educated in civics and practical matters of winning elections. The all or nothing, name calling and other methods are used to stifle people talking about issues that will change their lives.

It wastes the time and energy of those with real life problems looking for solutions. Some trolls also use JAQing, or the 'Just Asking Questions' method (despite the other meaning for the term, and it's sometimes referred to as JAQing off), that everyone either knows or can quickly google to find the answers or solutions.

If called on their alleged naivete, they call the target audience the questioner is being intolerant and making the group look bad. I used to respond to such JAQ with facts but they don't answer, just move to the next thread to disrupt. So I no longer answer them. Because they aren't looking for answers or solutions and if they do respond they're even more disruptive, roundly abuse the person giving them facts.

They want reaction and exhaustion. This process benefits only the 1%ers who want our time wasted so they can continue the status quo. Just like media that fails to cover stories that give people information to change things in their life.

That's how I've come to see such kind of discourse used here, idisruption to maintain the status quo and not allow people to freely discuss how to change things. Any thread that seeks solutions within the Democratic candidate or elected official realm from the membership is either not responded to, or gets a hail of comments dismissive of the Democrats in general, snark posts or nihilism.

A direct GOP use of Concern Trolling:

An example of this occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a staffer for then-Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass' opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable.[38][39] Hodes eventually won the election.

How many posts like that have we been treated to on DU? Who is constantly saying that all our candidates suck, can never say that they have ever done one single thing right, and are most vehement in their hatred of them? And more importantly, degrade the height of our electoral success, our leaders in Washington?

These are not off the cuff. And I know no real life Democrats who value outrage over facts and getting the job done.

Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar behaviors that take place offline. For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal. Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to what Saul Alinsky calls "Do-Nothings", giving a long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothings' method and effects:

These Do-Nothings profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change. They are known by their brand, 'I agree with your ends but not your means'.[40]

They never present any real life means for change, do they?

The Hill published an op-ed piece by Markos Moulitsas of the liberal blog Daily Kos titled "Dems: Ignore 'Concern Trolls'".

The concern trolls in question were not Internet participants; they were Republicans offering public advice and warnings to the Democrats.

The author defines "concern trolling" as "offering a poisoned apple in the form of advice to political opponents that, if taken, would harm the recipient".[41]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29#Concern_troll

Impeach Obama, anyone? Fire Eric Holder? All based on biased news media reports we know are funded by right wing billionaires with a great interest in stopping our agenda? Use conspiracy and libertarian hate memes, which always defame Democrats? Refuse to support anyone but a 'pure' candidate they know there are no means to get elected, but who support other Democrats? Those details are brushed aside.

If no one hears a bell ringing, was any impact made, were any molecules shifted, was there any movement?

That's what it's intended to do. Not likely that anyone will hear any bells ringing above a calliope of dog whistles...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

22. Ah, so for example, a GOP Concern Troll might say: "I voted for Obama, and I'm disappointed

because he didn't try to push for single payer." Like that?

[Major Hogwash]

38. There is a lot of information in that post.

I think it is common knowledge now at DU, but it still goes on.

[steve2470]

19. great OP, thank you nt

[giftedgirl77]

20. Someone just linked to this OP I'm glad they did.

It appears there is a lot of this going on right now & it's disgusting.

[Cha]

25. So many Ratfuckers.. so little time. Greenwald's The big ol ratfucker but

there's others auditioning their heads off for the #2 spot.

Thanks fresh!

[riqster]

27. Thanks for the post! People need to see how they are being played.

[sheshe2]

28. Perfect timing for this Op to be resurrected!

[Historic NY]

29. Time to get out the rat poison/

[KittyWampus]

30. Yes, I had my post hidden for using the term ratfucking & alerter claimed it was homophobic>>>

I don't believe for a minute it was hidden because people actually thought it was homophobic.

[freshwest]

37. Just going through a DU search and it broght this thread as a result. Sorry about your post.

[Hekate]

31. Kick.Rec.Kick.Rec.Kick.Rec. The stinking, pustulant, legacy of Dick Nixon must NEVER be forgotten.

Someone here actually wants the term hidden because they think it's homophobic!? I hope to gods that Skinner et al have been alerted to this travesty of misunderstanding of a history that must never, ever be forgotten or forgiven.

[Kath1]

32. Excellent and timely post, freshwest!

We reeeaaallly need to GOTV in 2014!

[mountain grammy]

33. Good post and thread. This is a dangerous bunch.

They will lie, cheat and steal for the cause, and they suck in gullible people. They used to be far out on the fringe, babbling bullshit that few listened to until the right wing radio stations started inundating the airwaves. That got them a foot in the door, then along comes fox and the rest is history. Now, those fringe lunatics are dead smack in the middle of every teevee show. America is getting kind of scary.

[Hekate]

34. I see we just had a timely kick. I'll second that.

[hopemountain]

35. worth rereading and timely as hell. nt

[Major Hogwash]

36. Last month Senator Howard Baker died. This article is a different take on his famous question . . .

Washington — The most famous sentence Howard Baker ever uttered was his immortal line about Watergate: “What did the president know, and when did he know it?”

It was late June 1973. Senator Baker, who passed away on Thursday at his home in Tennessee, was the ranking Republican on the special Senate committee convened to investigate the 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building.

President Richard Nixon had conspired to cover up White House involvement in that break-in early after its discovery. But the country did not know that at the time. Baker didn’t either.

Nixon thought Baker would be his ally on a panel that might be dangerous. At the start, the Tennessee lawmaker had acted as if that might be the case. On Feb. 22, 1973, he met secretly with Nixon in the Oval Office. He told the president the committee planned to build political pressure slowly, taking testimony from smaller figures first and then moving to try to get appearances from higher-ranking officials such as Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. Nixon suggested a deal whereby the highest-ranking witnesses would give private testimony. Baker demurred. He could not have approved such an arrangement on his own in any case.

“At least Baker is smart enough to get through the meeting without being drawn into obstruction of justice himself,” wrote political scientist Jonathan Bernstein in a 2013 summary of the incident.

Then John Dean decided to come clean. Mr. Dean was White House counsel and a cover-up coordinator. (For instance, he had supervised payments of hush money to the Watergate burglars.) In early April, he began talking to the Senate committee and revealing what he knew. Nixon fired him on April 30.


------



What’s forgotten today is that Baker thought he was protecting Nixon with that line. (emphasis mine) He was attempting to wall off the president from the actions of aides who might have done something wrong.

“He evidently meant to exculpate Nixon from prior knowledge of the break-in,” wrote historian Fred Emery in his book “Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon.”

But Dean turned this question around. Among other things, he charged that Nixon had been involved in discussions about clemency for those who had carried out and organized the break-ins, as well as talks about payoffs. Dean said the president had continued these activities even after he, as White House counsel, had warned his boss of a “cancer” on the presidency.

--------

Then in early July, another Nixon aide revealed to the panel the existence of the White House tapes. A record existed that could prove whether Nixon or Dean was right.

At that point Baker continued to press, not for Nixon’s advantage, but for the truth. His careful and detailed questioning won him widespread national attention and praise.


Link--
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Buzz/2014/0626/Howard-Baker-the-real-story-of-his-famous-Watergate-question

[freshwest]

39. Addition to my Ratfucking (Donald Segretti) thread and why it works so well:

[FSogol]

40. Very true. n/t