Democrats used same tactics they accused Russia of to swing Alabama Senate race

As Russia’s online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results.

...

The project’s operators created a Facebook page on which they posed as conservative Alabamians, using it to try to divide Republicans and even to endorse a write-in candidate to draw votes from Mr. Moore. It involved a scheme to link the Moore campaign to thousands of Russian accounts that suddenly began following the Republican candidate on Twitter, a development that drew national media attention.

“We orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet,” the report says.

...

Mr. Morgan said he could not account for the claims in the report that the project sought to “enrage and energize Democrats” and “depress turnout” among Republicans, partly by emphasizing accusations that Mr. Moore had pursued teenage girls when he was a prosecutor in his 30s.

www.nytimes.com...

Uh oh!!!!

Now my stance all along was that it was abusrd to say that the russian trolls buying ads on Facebook was enough to impact an election.

But so many Democrats have told me I am wrong, and how shady it was. There have been congressional investigations, and some of these trolls have even been charged with crimes. As a result, Democrats have called for Facebook to censor fake news, which is code for conservative view points.

So given that stance, I am sure they will condemn THE DEMOCRATS who used nearly identical tactics as the Russians to help affect the Alabama senate race between Roy moore and Doug Jones.

I am sure the Democrats will be calling for investigations into these democrats, charges to be brought, and asking facebook to censor fake news from democrats.

Oh thats wait, we wont hear any of that.

But hey, trust the New York times, this didnt spend enough money to have an impact on the race.

The secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race, in which the Democratic candidate it was designed to help, Doug Jones, edged out the Republican, Roy S. Moore. But it was a sign that American political operatives of both parties have paid close attention to the Russian methods, which some fear may come to taint elections in the United States.

...

The project had a budget of just $100,000, in a race that cost approximately $51 million, including the primaries, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Oh whew. So it was a small amount compared to the total spent on the election.

100 thousand out of 51 million.

Not like how the Russians trolls spent huge sums of money to influence the Presidential election, as the New York times and democrats have told us.

How much was spent by Trump and Hillary?

The final price tag for the 2016 election is in: $6.5 billion for the presidential and congressional elections combined, according to campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.org.

www.washingtonpost.com...

And how much did Russian trolls spend?

Providing new evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Facebook disclosed on Wednesday that it had identified more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on hot-button issues purchased by a shadowy Russian company linked to the Kremlin.

www.nytimes.com...

So to summarize the Democrat and msm stance on this.

Russia using tactics involving 100 thousand dollars on Facebook out of a 6.5 billion dollar election was a huge deal that could have swung the election; needs to be investigated as incredibly shady and crimes charged.

Democrats using very similar tactics on the Alabama senate race spending 100 thousand dollars using Facebook ads out of a 51 million dollars race was to small to have an affect and perfectly reasonable.

Once more proving the disgusting hypocrisy.

(My youtube video on it)

Oh they were just experimenting so they could later prove it was Russians !!

😦😈😦

a reply to: Grambler

This Democrat group created a fake facebook page posing
as conservative republicans, and then they created fake
"Russian" twitter bots and they take credit for it.

All of this was reported in The New Your Post as real news.

I suspect this is not not an isolated incident.

In fact, this implicates the DNC "hack" as a false flag.

a reply to: xuenchen

Most of the Dems who Won Office in the House and Senate Will NEVER See them if the Blatant Voter Fraud is Proven to be a Fact .....

I fail to see the similarity?
This was done as an experimement, which they addmit by themselves.
Trump denied that Russian trolls had any impact. That's the difference here.
I find it sad though that so many of you Americans are so naive and stupid that a simple troll method can sway the elections.
You see it on ATS every day.
People creating threads quoting all kind of troll bs sites.
Your country might be a military power but your downfall is going to be your dumb ass population

originally posted by: ErrorErrorError
I fail to see the similarity?
This was done as an experimement, which they addmit by themselves.
Trump denied that Russian trolls had any impact. That's the difference here.
I find it sad though that so many of you Americans are so naive and stupid that a simple troll method can sway the elections.
You see it on ATS every day.
People creating threads quoting all kind of troll bs sites.
Your country might be a military power but your downfall is going to be your dumb ass population

Yes americans are dumb, not intelligent like you.

You, who cant see the similarities between what the Russians did, and democrats admitting they mimicked what the russians did.

Truly yours is an intellect which we should all strive for!

originally posted by: burntheships
a reply to: Grambler

This Democrat group created a fake facebook page posing
as conservative republicans, and then they created fake
"Russian" twitter bots and they take credit for it.

All of this was reported in The New Your Post as real news.

I suspect this is not not an isolated incident.

In fact, this implicates the DNC "hack" as a false flag.

Yep. remember how many on ATS screamed "Russian bots!" everytime a hashtag was trending they democrats didnt like?

Turns out that we know the democrats are admitting they have made up these allegations, and the media bought it hook line and sinker.

Remember that next time you hear people screaming about Russian bots.

originally posted by: Grambler

originally posted by: ErrorErrorError
I fail to see the similarity?
This was done as an experimement, which they addmit by themselves.
Trump denied that Russian trolls had any impact. That's the difference here.
I find it sad though that so many of you Americans are so naive and stupid that a simple troll method can sway the elections.
You see it on ATS every day.
People creating threads quoting all kind of troll bs sites.
Your country might be a military power but your downfall is going to be your dumb ass population

Yes americans are dumb, not intelligent like you.

You, who cant see the similarities between what the Russians did, and democrats admitting they mimicked what the russians did.

Truly yours is an intellect which we should all strive for!

Are we are in the presence of


or a

Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations.

Works every time.

-Dale Gribble

Well, our government should just find and charge these Democrats that did this, they are citizens that are lying to try to effect the election, spreading slander. On top of that there should be a major civil slander lawsuit put against the people in this group....immediately.
They had a hundred grand to invest in this, find who funded this too and include them in the slander lawsuit too. We need to get the people who orchestrated this and hurt them financially and also put them in prison. Slander is not legal, freedom of speech does not include slander.

A suspicious mind might think the "Russian Influence" in 2016 was a Democrat op in it's entirety.

a reply to: Grambler

Have you forgotten that FOREIGNERS interfering in American elections is ILLEGAL?

Americans, BY DEFINITION, cannot 'interfere' in an American election - they can campaign one way or another but it isn't illegal. Of course they can violate election laws, but that is election fraud, not 'interference'.

Your weaselly attempt to find equivalence between FOREIGN INTERFERENCE and LEGITIMATE RHETORIC, is pathetic.

Truly pathetic.

a reply to: rnaa

I find your attempts to justify democrat wrong doing to be pathetic

Truly pathetic

a reply to: Grambler

Oh thats wait, we wont hear any of that.

Why would you? Americans doing this and a hostile foreign nation doing this isn’t the same thing at all. If you are choosing to go this route, I expect to see you calling out Fox News and Breitbart next for following the Nazi propaganda playbook.

Or is this somehow different because herp derp Democrats?

a reply to: Grambler

I thought, Russia, did not affect the election, according to many of your posts. If Russia, and the thousands of people they had working, against Hillary and pro Trump, did not affect the election, how did it work in Alabama?

What was it, like 27,000 combined votes, in three swing states, that put Trump in office? That is a packed stadium of people.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: Grambler

Oh thats wait, we wont hear any of that.

Why would you? Americans doing this and a hostile foreign nation doing this isn’t the same thing at all. If you are choosing to go this route, I expect to see you calling out Fox News and Breitbart next for following the Nazi propaganda playbook.

Or is this somehow different because herp derp Democrats?

The issue the dems were compalining about with the russian trolls werent just that they were russian. If that was the case, why wasnt the BBC charged for election interfernce?

The issue was the tactics that the russian trolls used; ie spreading "fake news" as the democrats said over and over, was a threat to our elections.

So much so that social media ceo's were brought in front of congress and told they had to regulate fake news.

Now the democrats mimic those exact same tactics, pretending to be republicans, encouraging write ins, spreading rumors of sexual misconduct, and creating bots and claiming they were russian to follow the republicans in order to smear them, and claim that its all ok.

This is clearly different than just a news organization pushing a candidate. You know that but for some reason choose to obfuscate.

Where are the congressional hearings being demanded by democrats to make sure Facebook censors this fake news?

And if the russians were enough to use 100 thousand dollars to sway the Presidential election which costs 6.5 billion, then will the dems and msm be honest and say the 100 dollars the dems used mimicking the Russians had a bigger effect on the Alabama election?

Lastly, the fact you liken Fox news, which i criticize routinely by the way, to Nazis shows you are absurd. Of course you think its ok for Democrats to engage in the very behavior they screamed stole an election and was immoral.

originally posted by: iplay1up2
a reply to: Grambler

I thought, Russia, did not affect the election, according to many of your posts. If Russia, and the thousands of people they had working, against Hillary and pro Trump, did not affect the election, how did it work in Alabama?

What was it, like 27,000 combined votes, in three swing states, that put Trump in office? That is a packed stadium of people.

Yes I still stand by the the russians trolls stealing the election is a joke.

100 thousand dollars out of 6.5 billion.

But the democrats do think it had a significant effect.

100 thousand out of 6.5 billion is .0000015 percent of the money spent in the election, and we are supposed to that had an effect.

But the very same people saying that say the democrats using almost the same shady tactics and spending 100 thousand out of 51 million in an election, which is a much higher .0019 percent had no effect at all.

It defies belief that people can defend this.

a reply to: Grambler

Your point about the hypocritical and seedy nature of our politics is correct.


But I just don't view this on the same level of illegality. I'm just more ok with americans messing with each other than I am with people from other countries messing with us.

If they broke any laws jail them.

Did they brake any laws?

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: Grambler

Your point about the hypocritical and seedy nature of our politics is correct.


But I just don't view this on the same level of illegality. I'm just more ok with americans messing with each other than I am with people from other countries messing with us.

If they broke any laws jail them.

Did they brake any laws?

Of course there are questions of foriegn people breaking seperate laws.

Two points.

1. If any foriegn state actors influencing an elections is a crime, then why arent state media from the UK, France, Germany, etc., that all had articles easily accessed on facebook and other platforms in the US also being charged with election interference. I suppose its just a coincidence that they almost all favored Hillary and no one makes a big deal about them at all.

2. This shows that its more than just foriegn influence; it was the tactics used in the influence.

This is why the actual russian trolls being charged by mueller is a fra smaller deal than democrats on capaitol hill calling in Facebook, Google etc., and demanding they do something about "fake news". Of which these medias did do something, by censoring mostly conservative points of view.

This shows that the Democrats werent just concerned about where the people were from doing these things, but the tactics themselves.

So even if not a crime, the democrats by their own actions have shown these tactics are immoral and need censored, and could steal elections.

So the media and democrats should be demanding investigations and censorship of democrat created fake news.

But they wont, because this has never been about justice in the first place; its about attacking trump only. So they will justify there use iof the very tactics they scream stole an election.

a reply to: Grambler

I can't get behind all of what your saying but this.

This shows that the Democrats weren't just concerned about where the people were from doing these things, but the tactics themselves. So even if not a crime, the democrats by their own actions have shown these tactics are immoral and need censored, and could steal elections.

I agree on this.

The dems do not look good here.

I am of two minds.

My political side is disgusted that they would do this.
But my scientific mind knows the value of real time real world data. Which is their clam for doing this. They wanted that data.

I don't want these tactics to be used at all. I do think that we need to guard against them though.

Do I trust people to use this data only for good. NO.