Campaign '08: Attack of the Cyber Cockroaches

I remember four years ago when this blog was a pup, its already busy comments section began to heat up just around this time with mysterious names I never saw before.  Most of them expressed various degrees of disdain for me, an apostate who was about to vote for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time. After the election, most of these names disappeared, equally mysteriously, into the cyber woodwork.

Now they’re back, with fresh handles I have never seen before, descending on the comments section like troops summoned by some underworld general. (One of them even has the name Dark Helmet.)

Who are these people?  Are they oppo artists sent by the enemy campaign in an expanding blogosphere war or simply irregulars in a volunteer army with a lot of free time on their hands, bent on putting their candidate in office and/or making me look ridiculous? Beats me, although the latter isn’t hard. In any case, I guess I should consider the attention flattering though I know this blog is far from the only place they visit.  Cyber cockroaches of the right and left are infesting many comments sections now.

Still, it interests me whether these are operations planned in some campaign boiler room or if they are indeed volunteers. As an example, one man (I assume it’s a man) calling himself Jay has popped up here in recent weeks, attacking me in a rather non-stop, scurrilous manner but without very much attention to what I have written.  After one of my posts yesterday, Jay begins a rather lengthy screed “Well, Roger, now that you’ve finally, openly identified yourself as a Republican…” even though I wrote in the last paragraph of that very post: “When I voted for Schwarzenegger and Bush (only in ‘04), I did so with hesitation, because I do not identify as a Republican – or with any political party, for that matter.  That’s over for me.” (note present tense)

Cognitive dissonance or poor reading comprehension?  Or – did someone send him to attack, attack, attack like a Rottweiler on steroids, no matter what I said?  Probably not, but you get my point.  (In ‘04 I was told that many of these characters were oppo artists, but I never got evidence.) We are in a very silly season when people’s rage overcomes good sense and cyber cockroaches emerge from underneath every refrigerator.  I’m probably only encouraging them by writing this.

(It should be obvious, but I will add – I am delighted by serious discussion and debate.  In fact, that’s what makes a comments section interesting. Personal attacks on me are even…mostly… fine, but please be witty and read what I said.)