Blog for Democracy

This Guy

This gentleman seemed a bit uncomfortable and out of place at the Barnes rally in Enigma today. At first I thought it was just the gnats and the heat, but then a little bird told me that he’s apparently a Republican (RGA?) tracker assigned to follow Governor Barnes around. He was at the airport in Macon for the fly around on primary day, too. Not that he’s doing anything wrong – hey, work is hard to get these days-but, just know, you may see him around, and if you do, you should not, I repeat, not, tell him any of our top secret plans. Shh!

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Amy Morton

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31 responses to “This Guy”

  1. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    All good & valuable thoughts here GH. And my recall of the Macacca moment was in among the earlier posts. But again RIF, always. But not too often. Thanks again for the useful tips. JMP

  2. GeorgiaHack Avatar
    GeorgiaHack

    As a former tracker let me say a few things.

    First, I guarantee that Barnes had a tracker on the GOP candidates and will continue to do so through the election.

    Second, this is by far one of the hardest, loneliness, nerve wracking, jobs on a campaign. You are almost always alone, and when you aren’t the people around you hate you and heckle you.

    Third, the guy is just doing his job. NEVER help him, but don’t be mean. Make his job harder, but don’t berate or show hostility. When you are at a rally stand in front of him and hold campaign signs. (This is where they get those horrible pictures of candidates they stick in ads where it looks like they are drooling, or angry. It is through video captures from these shots). The tracker knows their position and expects it.

    Fourth, you can kick them out of private events, fundraisers, etc. The owner, or whatever just has to ask them to leave.

    Lastly, one of the first rules of tracking is never be the story. Take their pictures and put them up on blogs like BFD, etc. It makes spotting them easier, and makes the press more aware of them as well.

    Tracking can be a very unfun job. It is usually a starting point on campaigns and takes the right person. You can’t be afraid of going into enemy territory. You are constantly driving. The other campaigns try to mislead you, and lots of campaign events are never publicized. Chances are you are never going to get anything game changing. The Macacca Moments are few and far between. You mostly just look for the candidate to change what they say based on a group. You try to find them saying to one group that they believe they have a right to benefits and later saying to another group that they hate them. It also helps keep the campaigns honest, though that is more of a side effect, than intention.

    With today’s technology we can all be trackers. Find yourself in the midst of a republican campaign event, break out that smart phone with video, or just record the audio. Snap a few shots of the candidate doing something stupid. You just never know.

  3. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    Was it ever clever?

  4. Stefan Avatar
    Stefan

    I hope his presence will convince whatever candidates we have there to stick to the stump speech.

    I am surprised nobody above brought up the “macaca” incident, probably the most famous tracker moment.

    Additionally, it appears that dude fell in some dirt on the way into the hall. That’s too bad.

  5. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Still more on the very strange & complex, but highly relevant to Ga. (historically) Shirley Sherrod case:

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/shirley_sherrod_and_the_discrimination_of_black_fa.php?ref=fpblg

    JMP

  6. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    I care not what sort of prehistoric remnant sea creature he & they might represent. (Pic here:http://mytriops.com/news/). I do care that we’re likely to be seeing the same retrograde politics about race that we’ve become familiar with during the past oh, 40 years, only now with a slightly different cast of characters, but the using the same ‘ethos’. That’s what the National Journal link/cite was all about above:

    “The Gray And The Brown: The Generational Mismatch
    A CONTRAST IN PRIORITIES IS ARISING BETWEEN NONWHITE YOUNG VOTERS AND WHITE, OLDER VOTERS.
    by Ronald Brownstein
    Saturday, July 24, 2010”

    Again: nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20100724_3946.php

    JMP

  7. The Ed Avatar
    The Ed

    OK serious comment. Dude has his perfect job because he just looks like such a creepy creeper.

  8. The Ed Avatar
    The Ed

    Thank you Amy.

  9. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    I thought you were digging poor, innocent shelled creatures from the sand.

  10. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    I saw him at the Macon fly around with a camera and kept trying to stand in front on him. Another member of the crowd moved so he could get a “better view.”

  11. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Slightly more important than this usual chickenscrap is this on demographics & political economy:
    http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20100724_3946.php
    JMP

  12. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    FWIW, This is what I’m talking about with the use of propaganda for subtle racial appeals: (Via Maddow):
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/rachel-maddow-fox-news-st_n_655744.html
    JMP

  13. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    Sure he can… although the camera is normally their best hope… but when you’ve been found out and exposed before, it’s pretty hard to get the candidate to “do something stupid.”

    However; any Republicans there he might be looking for… I’m sure he’s been taught what the local state reps, etc, look like… if they’re there, report back for treason… any Democratic officials not in the room… maybe they’re not warm to Barnes, should be reached out to, etc… maybe listening for someone to make a snide remark about something…

    Candidates also try out new lines on the road, especially if they’re somewhere that (with all due respect to Enigma, GA) will not receive much news coverage by the “big media”… he can alert back that Barnes has a new line about X, Y or Z so the Republicans can come up with some counter statements, etc…

  14. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    That I understand, but like the mob always says, ‘Don’t worry, nothing personal, it’s just business.’ Yeah. JMP

  15. Madelyn Clare Avatar
    Madelyn Clare

    These guys always think they are so slick… my favorite tactic has always been to be extremely friendly to them and offer them all manner of swag. If they turn it down, and won’t sign anything admitting they were there, or in support of what we’re doing, they’re outed. Quickly, quietly, and thoroughly. (Though I’ve never seen one outed from the podium, that must’ve been great!)

    I hope we do have some folks on the road w/the top-runners, watching for ridiculousness. Any crew that would resort to hawks deserves our thorough vigilance. I’m w/JMP, rethugs, most of them. I’m glad to hear from Amy that many former rethugs are embarrassed by their own party, and coming to meet us in the middle.

  16. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    He did have a camera. He did seem bored. He did seem uncomfortable, especially with conversation or photo-taking. The food was free for everyone, so I don’t know how you charge for that. I’m okay with this provided Karen doesn’t plan to make him her Chief of Staff, if elected. I don’t hate him or think he’s evil – just wrong about who needs to lead Georgia. Hell, he may not care who leads Georgia anymore than the pizza delivery guy cares what the crust is made of. It’s just a job, most likely.

  17. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    If he’s eating the food that has a price for admission, he’s expected to pay for it like everyone else. Why few get that is beyond me. And no, if we don’t know about it, and have not seen it reported on elsewhere? Any such similar efforts on our side are likely to be even more haphazard, individualistic, and scarcer generally. It’s yet another full time staff position, anyone seen that on a disclosure someplace?

    And yeah, we do it all a bit differently too. As Jules noted we try to be more fair & even more gracious. So there’s a definite dichotomy here. One one side we’ve got the fine & recent examples of Shirley Sherrod & even ACORN, both hounded out of existence on the basis of one of these ‘cut & paste’ manufactured ‘outrages’, carefully crafted by Brietbart et al., & then used by the Fox propagandists & others to work their modern day racist magic. On our side, well the best we’ve got was the ‘Macaca moment’ which though done in the same video verity style was a pretty fair representation about what went on, right down to that unusual nickname the ex Sen. gave for ‘coloreds’ in his family. So again, no, I don’t have to feel all warm & fuzzy about him, (or the people who employ him), especially if he’s a common petty thief while doing it. I’m betting that he did not pay for his Cobb breakfast either and/or someone kindly paid for his tab there too! JMP

  18. Mel Avatar
    Mel

    What do you suppose he reports? If he’s not holding a camera the whole time, he can’t be of much use.

  19. AmyMorton Avatar
    AmyMorton

    God, I hope we have trackers. This guy was just doing his job,
    eating the hot dogs, boiled peanuts etc. The best news for dems
    is that he was not the only republican in the room, and the others were thee to support Barnes.

  20. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    We always have in the past, I would only assume we still do.

  21. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    As if we have trackers.

  22. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    His name is Thomas, when he attended the Cobb Dem breakfast two weeks ago-Gov. Barnes pointed him out.. We of course gave him a round of applause. Seemed like the right thing to do.

    I wonder if our trackers are being treated well? Hummm

  23. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    To insanity and beyond!

  24. Rubyduby Avatar
    Rubyduby

    So basically, we need to bring Carter to any function that Gov. Barnes will be at and let him play right next to this guy. He won’t hear a thing! He will, however, have his pick of Buzz Lightyear, Woody or Lightning McQueen to hear and play with. I almost fear sorry for this little operative, but not really…

  25. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    That should have been Tom Delay et al keeping the Vote open for hours to get Medicare Part D passed by Bushnicks. And for officially lying about it’s cost to Congress, before, during & after too. JMP

  26. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    When it stops accurately describing most everything about their methods, goals & aims. And as cynical as I am? I can never beat reality. Filibustering Unemployment benefits for 3+ months? Rethugs. Mobs that shut down the counting of ballots in Fla, as directed by an onsite RNC team? Rethugs. Scheduling critical votes on top of a long time members funeral when in power? Rethugs. (That was Tom Lantos, FWIW). Keeping open debate for a crappy Medicare Part D vote for hours? Ditto. We could go on ad infinitum here too, Grift. It just fits them better. JMP

  27. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    I’m just wondering.

    When does “rethug” stop being perceived to be clever?

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Good now Tim knows where to send the big for the meal this guy STOLE!

  29. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    And when last seen on the hustings, he had beat out paying for a good buffet JJ Dinner up in Chattooga Co. as recalled by Tim Schiflett. So not all that innocent, and of course as a Rethug, this goes w/o saying. Just because he’s quiet due to being outnumbered, does not render him ‘harmless’. He’s there to record events looking for snippets of ‘stuff that might and will be taken wildly out of context, given the chance. Just saying… JMP

  30. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    You know, he didn’t seem to want to chat…

  31. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    It is the RGA. He has been around for a couple of months now.

    Always good to make him feel uncomfortable. 🙂

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