Ratf***ing on Daily Kos

Barack Obama has won the Democratic Party nomination and the Republican establishment is scared.

I can say this confidence. Why, you ask? Well, don't worry, this is not gonna be a rehash of electability arguments, or who or what played the race card, or what kind of shoes Barack's campaign bus driver wears. No, my metric is a simple one. Ratf***ing.

The urban dictionary defines ratf***ing as thus:

Politics: Formerly known as "the double-cross," it refers to infiltration and sabotage of the opposition party, particuarly during (but not limited to) an election campaign. The second half of "All the President's Men" describes ratfucking done to 1972 Democratic presidential candidates by employees of the Committee to Re-Elect Nixon.

Ken Clawson, Nixon's communications director, confessed to a ratfuck when he told how he forged a letter making it look like a Democratic candidate was a racist.

Have you noticed a sudden increase in the number of negative diaries, lately? Conspiracy theories, (fill in candidate's name here) is a racist-homophobic-anti-american *!"#", or Chicken Little rants? Can you recall the last time a major American media figure called for rioting at another party's convention? Doesn't it seem suspicious to you that all of this is happening in the wake of the Pennsylvania Primary?

I admittedly haven't been here that long, I've been a lurker for a year and decided to actually register a user name sometime in January, and maybe it's just that all the enthusiasm to post and act among Obama supporters has been drained by Hillary's win, but I can't remember another time when troll diaries were appearing on this site with the frequency that they are now. In the past few days I've seen hit diaries on both candidates, rants against their support of GLBT issues (??), testimonials of people encountering racism while phone banking, the election is rigged and you're all a bunch of tools conspiracy rants, and just plain nastiness. A good portion of the diaries (and diarists) were called out for distortion, inflammatory remarks, or just plain bs.

Remember that line in the yes we can speech about "the chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant"?

Believe it. It's happening. And you can't blame this one on the Hillary supporters, who as far as I can tell, are for the most part staying "behind the picket line." Nor is it a coincidence that this is happening now. This is a troll infestation. We are being ratf***ed and I get the feeling that the closer we get to tying up this nomination, the more these diaries and weird comments will start to appear.

The trolling follows a few recognizable patterns:

1. Say you are a supporter of candidate a and then say something nasty or indefensible about candidate b. This is designed to create the image that supporters of candidate a are scary or irrational people.

2. Say you are a diehard supporter of candidate a and then talk about how the campaign is doomed and America is not ready, etc.

3. Say that you are a lifelong democrat and then tell why you can't vote for candidate a.

4. Say that you are a lifelong democrat but then talk about how the party is moving away from its core values and leaving supporters like you behind.

Hot button issues or characters like Jeremiah Wright, Geraldine Ferraro, William Ayers, etc are especially prone to attacks.

Now the question, for me at least, is: How do we respond to this? This stuff is being done to sew dissent. I am actually of the (call me paranoid) opinion that a lot of the bad blood from primary wars was the result of trolls posing as supporters on both sides. The more you get angry, the more you fight back and encourage a circular argument, the more they win.

Instead, and this is just my two cents, if you see a diary or comment that falls into one of these patterns, check the person's diary and comment history. If you see some suspicious activity, chances are it's a troll. You are then left with one of two choices: ignore them (don't feed the trolls) or call them out. But whatever you do, try not to let them get under you skin. Think of it as a sign that the other side is nervous. We are winning. And they are going to do whatever it takes to stop us.

Now is the time to stand strong.