Kerry spokesman blasts 'cowards' who 'hide behind anonymous Web sites'

Ron Brynaert
Published: Tuesday October 24, 2006

A spokesman for Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) blasted "cowards" who "hide behind anonymous Web sites" in a New York Times article reporting on a campaign by "netroots" bloggers which urges Democrats in safe districts to redistribute funds to "less fortunate" candidates, RAW STORY has learned.

"Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, came under fire last week when it was pointed out that he had contributed only $25,000 this year to the party’s senatorial committee," Jeff Zeleny reported for the Times. "Heyjohn.org, whose creator has remained anonymous, highlights the fact that Mr. Kerry has $24 million in his campaign accounts."

Kerry spokesman David Wade dismissed the criticism, pointing out that the Senator "had contributed $2.8 million to campaign committees, state parties and individual candidates in this election cycle," and has helped raise around $7 million for candidates in Internet appeals and personal appearances.

"Cowards can hide behind anonymous Web sites," Wade told the Times, "but Democrats out in the country, party leaders and real net-roots activists know how hard John Kerry has fought to win these elections."

Blogger Ezra Klein called attention to Wade's comments at American Prospect Online.

"Raise your hand if you think it's good 2008 strategy for Kerry's spokesperson to call members of the netroots 'cowards' for demanding that Kerry donate some of the $25 million they gave him to win in 2004 towards winning in 2006," Klein wrote.

"Fail them once, shame on you," Klein added. "Fail them twice..."

At Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga took Wade's words personally, and fired back with the "f-word" in a post entitled "Kerry's spokesman insults Chris Bowers and the rest of you." Bowers of MyDD.com is the blogger spearheading the "Use It Or Lose It" campaign.

After many Daily Kos readers argued that Wade was only referring specifically to the anonymously published Web site as "cowardly," Zúniga still insisted that Bowers and other netroots activists had a right to be insulted.

"Problem is, the HeyJohn website is based on Bowers' efforts to get safe Democrats to ante up this year," Zúniga wrote. "This campaign isn't being waged by HeyJohn, it's a blogosphere-wide effort led by Bowers."

"Wade's insinuation is that only anonymous cowards who aren't 'real netroots activists' are pushing this," Zúniga continued. "Yet there is Chris Bowers, very public, leading on this issue. Hence, the insult."

Netroots anger at Kerry for his spokesman's comments may be dissipated with the news that the Senator plans to campaign for Democratic challenger Ned Lamont in Connecticut on Wednesday. Lamont defeated incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary this summer, aided by the support of most prominent netroots bloggers.

HeyJohn owner anonymous

The HeyJohn Web site was set up on October 18, but was registered using a proxy service so its owner could remain anonymous.

The National Journal's Hotline blog reported that a Democratic official passed around the site's URL on the same day that it was launched.

"Within the past two weeks, Senate colleagues, staffers and Democratic strategists began to lean on Bayh and Kerry to write larger checks, even resorting, in some instances, to direct shame: yesterday, a Democratic official not affiliated with the DSCC sent around a website, http://www.heyjohn.org/, which takes Kerry to task," Hotline reported.

Wonkette linked to the Web site on its first day of operation.

"This might be our new favorite campaign website of the season," Wonkette wrote.

The Boston Globe reported that a "Democratic activist" was behind the Web site.

"The site was purportedly set up by a Democratic activist, but its origin is impossible to verify because it was registered through a service that protects the identity of those who establish sites," Rick Klein and Michael Kranish wrote for the Globe.

CNN appears to be the only media outlet which was able to reach someone from the Web site.

"CNN talked to the technical administrator of HeyJohn.org, who wished to remain anonymous," Abbi Tatton reported for CNN. "He described the site's organizers as a 'very informal group of friends' some of whom work in Democratic politics."

Dem blogger criticism of HeyJohn

Some Democratic bloggers have slammed the anonymous Web site as a "swiftboatish" operation.

"Putting up a web site these days and making stupid, uninformed, childish, gutless, whining, petulant and taunting claims is easier than writing a grocery list on a post-it note," Mark Barrett wrote at The Premise. "Web sites, and particularly blogs, are treated like toilet paper: used for one purpose, then flushed."

"And that clearly seems to be the intent with heyjohn.org," Barrett wrote. "But the mainstream press still treats the appearance of a web site — including even the most bare-bones implementation — as somehow more legitimate than a similarly-reasoned, one-sided, deceitful, angry letter to the editor."

At The Democratic Daily, Pamela Leavey claims that she was able to track down the site administrator's IP number after he or she paid a visit to her blog.

"Whoever is responsible for HeyJohn.org has no business calling out John Kerry out if they don’t even have the conviction of their claims by admitting who they are," Leavey blogged. "I won’t post the IP, but I will share this, whoever is responsible for HeyJohn.org, whether’s it D.C. insider or a beltway area blogger — I’ve got your number...."

According to a "whois" search, the site was last updated sometime on Tuesday but was unreachable all day long. Some Daily Kos readers speculated that the site was pulled after the Times story was published.

"Was it taken down after the NYT article?" wondered a user sporting the handle "looking italian."

"Because that would be... um... cowardly," the Daily Kos reader added.