Ellie Light

In late January, 2010 several emailed “letters to the editor” began to appear in major cities newspapers. These emails, always signed with the enigmatic name “Ellie Light,” supported President Barack Obama’s administration, admonished moderate Democrats who were skeptical of Obama, and blamed Republicans for all of the world’s woes. Curiously, all of these emails seemed to have originated near to the newspaper they appeared in.

Bleeding heart liberals rejoiced at the content of these emails. Was this some new grass-roots movement that would save Obama’s flagging public image? Nobody could say, but a young reporter, Sabrina Eaton of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, felt compelled to find out just who Ellie Light was. What she discovered surprised us all.

Astroturf Campaign

	“	Democrats have abandoned the black person that they practically worshiped such a short time ago because he couldn't tend to their needs in the first twelve months of office. And they're behaving like a bunch of babies.	„
	—The invisible Ellie Light

An “Astroturf campaign” is a term referring to a political subterfuge or propaganda planned out and put into use by an organization. This subterfuge is meant to create the impression of being hip and popular but really masks the hidden intent of those who created it. Folks see the Astroturf and think it is grass, something green and wholesome, just like a grass-roots movement founded by common citizens and rooted deep within the community conscience. However the grass is really synthetic plastic and the campaign only a tool used to sway public perception.

Scrambling for Answers

	“	Oh, it's just another one of those Obama things	„
	—Rawstory

When it was discovered that over 65 major metropolitan newspapers had received emails from Ellie Light, pundits and lawmakers began to take notice. These letters all used the same language and contained nearly identical ideas, but they all were signed by an Ellie Light from some different part of the country. For example, an Ellie Light email sent to the editor of the San Francisco Chronical would be signed “Ellie Light of Northern California,” whereas a letter to the editor of the Denver Post would be signed “Ellie Light of Boulder.”

Republicans smelled something rotten in Washington other than themselves. Journalists scrambled to find out just who this Ellie Light person was, but the person or group had hidden their tracks well and investigators were stumped. Some speculated that the emails originated from the White House staff, noting that David Axelrod, Obama’s chief of staff was fully capable of engineering a stunt like this.

Democrats viciously attacked back, stating that the emails were so obviously a Republican plant, nobody could be stupid enough to believe that they could come from the White House or some politically motivated group.

What was certain was that a blame game was going on and nobody had any real answers. At one point, right wing pundits such as Sean Hannity speculated that Michelle Obama herself wrote the infernal letters.

Sabrina Eaton, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer who covers events in Washington DC, remembered that she had an old acquaintance named Ellie Light. She sent this Ellie person an email but received no response. Finally, being inquisitive by nature, she plugged the full name of the emails author into Google and was shocked to discover that there were several “letters to the editor” from all over the country and all signed by “Ellie Light.” What she did next is what any self respecting journalist would do: she wrote an article about the phenomena.

Sneaky

<video type="youtube" id="eTjTvF_cEqo" width="300" height="250" desc="Sabrina Eaton tells the full story." frame="true" position="right"/> Sabrina’s article noted that all of the letters had similar diction and writing style and also carried the same message. She was intrigued by this, but at the same time she questioned how newspapers verify the information they print. Because of this, many people noted that just about anybody, using the right tools, could say just about anything on the internet…and get away with it. it was at that point that the political name/blame finger-pointing game began.

At this writing, nobody really knows how the letters were sent. But readers of Encyclopedia Dramatica are well versed in the use of proxies to hide their computers and ultimately their identities. Such common knowledge could have easily been gleaned from the internet and put to use by the perpetrator of the letters to the editor.

With that in mind, the writer of the emails should still be commended for eluding discovery. Some of the nation’s brightest security experts were befuddled by the source of the emails, and it finally took the real person behind the Ellie Light letters to come forward himself for the true beginnings of this massive political troll to be discovered.

Just Who Really Is Ellie Light?

After a series of phone calls and emails, a 51-year-old health care worker named Winston Steward came forward and took the responsibility for the Ellie Light emails. In a case of epic troll's remorse, he stated "I am Winston Steward and have been sending the letters from Ellie Light. I hope this ends any confusion and sets the record straight." Steward claims that he invented the persona of Light to “protect himself from criticism and possible physical attacks” and that he used fake addresses across the country to get newspapers to publish his emails. A quick check against the email address that sent the original email to the Cleveland Plain Dealer against the email address of this admission found that the person behind the confession was the true originator of the emails.

But it gets weirder.

During the process of discovery, Steward, in an attempt to further hide his identity, told news agencies that he was in fact one Barbara Brooks, but most people weren’t fooled as the voice was far too masculine to be a woman. Still, a quick check was again performed, and the real Barbara Brooks was found to be married to Steward. In fact, when she was pressed with questions, she quickly caved in and outted Steward to the national media.

	“	Affiliated with an organized group? No, I've never been affiliated with anyone like that.	„
	—So you hoax the country and then tell everybody you are a woman...and you expect us to believe you now?

Steward’s reaction to being outted by his wife was just as senseless as the whole mess he was already in. He told reporters that he was no longer married to Brooks but she had another story:

	“	He's making up all kinds of garbage. We're not divorced. We're not separated. He just doesn't want anybody to trace him because he's afraid of the right-wing crazies up in Bakersfield.	„
	—Wait, just who is crazy here?

However this quote and all that entails has come under scrutiny as well. Is the couple divorced? Steward still claims that they are and cites a divorce attorney's name: "Tabone Enklery," a name that doesn't sound made up at all. Needless to say, there's no attorney by that name registered with the Texas Bar Association. Furthermore, Steward has spelled the name Tabone Enklery several different ways during correspondence.

Transcript

	“	Obama’s so hard up for advocates these days that this is the best he can do.	„
	—Creationist Jew Ben Stein gives us his expert opinion.

Many Emails similar to this one appeared in major market newspapers during January of 2010:

Quotes

“   Editors all over the country found Light's message strangely compelling   „     —Compelling because it makes Obama look good? Hotair.com     “   Actually, I take it back. It’s a whole lot freaky, too. The nutshell version: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer spoke to “Ellie Light” on the phone this morning and got her to admit — in a “husky voice” — that her name’s really Barbara Brooks, she’s a nurse, and that she wrote the letters on her own initiative.   „     —Hotair.com getting trolled again.     “   I'm not Ellie Light, my husband is. I never told anybody that I was Ellie Light. Winston wrote every single letter. He's been doing it since he saw that the Gulf War was being fought under false pretenses. I told him from the beginning that he shouldn't write letters under phony names, but he wanted to get them out there.   „     —Barbara Brooks on her insane husband.     “   So wait, she's married to a woman who pretends to be a man except on the phone? And then she writes letters but blames them on her/him, except sometimes but not other times?   „     —Quoted from Gawker article.     “   No way. We should discuss this for about 48hrs longer to highlight what kind of fruitcake whack jobs that support Obama and the lengths they are willing to go in their hero worship.   „     —Republican rage.     “   IMAGINE IF SARAH PALIN HAD DONE THIS...GOD I CAN SEE IT NOW!   „     —Moar Republican rage.     “   Given that this appears to be some sort of kooky nutroots freelance operation gone wrong and not an Axelrodian master plan, does anyone much care anymore?   „     —Better ask Michelle Malkin!     “   Just because they are kooky inept morons does not rule out the possibility that they work for the White House   „     —No! Only Bush was stupid...nobody else!     “   This guy sounds EXACTLY like one of Emanuel's DNC acolytes. The criticism of progressives as "whining babies"gives him away. The fact he uses the name of the guy from 1984, apparently to reference his job of creating astro-turf-style op eds and getting them published in newspapers, is another give away.   „     —From the Rawstory link.     “   Whoever is sitting down and doing this..it's a full time job. This is part of the Obama machine. And it's okay that they are doing this. The problem is that nobody is watching the shop. Blame the old media.   „     —Brett Bozell from MRC.org Previous Quote | Next Quote

Video

If you are a bleeding heart liberal, don't bother watching these videos. You won't hear anything they are saying and you won't believe them if you manage to actually hear the message.

Her name...Ellie Light. Her game...countering the right.

Archie Bunker is tired of Washington and Pelosi.

Previous Video | Next Video

See Also

• Fox News
• Politics
• Old Media
• President Barack Obama

External Links

• The full story. As if the full story will ever be revealed.
• She's a "He."
• DC Fish Bowl
• Is this hippy loser really Ellie Light?
• ‘Ellie Light’ regrets damage done to Obama

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Featured article February 3, 2010
Preceded by American Family Association	Ellie Light	Succeeded by Blu Aardvark