Pale Twitter: Hey–we still don’t know who Dan Wolfe (@PatriotUSA76), the Charles Kinbote of the Weinergate saga, is. The New York Times and Daily Beast both have useful stories on Wolfe and his Web confederates–the “#bornfreecrew”–but the pieces don’t come close to figuring out if Wolfe’s really who he seems. … And for reasons I can’t fathom, neither story discusses Wolfe’s long, riveting web interview with Ladd Ehlinger Jr. It’s deeply revealing–though of what I’m not sure. But it’s especially revealing if it’s truthful. …
My own doubts focus on Wolfe’s ideology. He repeatedly disdains Weiner’s support for “Obamacare,” but it’s thin. (“I hate obamacare … Him and his obamacare.”) I would expect a conservative who uses Ronald Reagan’s picture as his avatar to put a little more flesh on that resentment–talking, say, about the takeover of health care, or government overexpansion generally, etc.
Wolfe’s self-description–“Conservative Reagan Republican. No Obamacare, socialism, sharia”–also sets off a small alarm that warns: Too pat! Like the Progressive Labor Party members in the 60s who came into the meeting whistling The Internationale. (They were the FBI agents.) …
P.S.: Wolfe’s identity doesn’t affect Weiner’s guilt–the idea that Weiner was somehow framed by a vengeful twitterer has been laid to rest by Weiner’s own confession. But it’s still an intriguing question. Maybe I’m overthinking. Occam’s Razor suggests that when Wolfe is finally discovered he’ll be someone pretty much just like Wolfe describes himself. But we can’t be sure, since nobody seems to have met him. He could be anyone with a good imagination and some online acting ability. He could be Dick Morris or Roger Stone. He could be Andrew Cuomo . He could be Brad Pitt. Heck, he could be Angelina Jolie. We don’t know. (Though liberals knowledgeable about their conservative opponents would probably do a better job giving reasons for hating “obamacare”–which suggests that if someone is pretending to be Wolfe he or she’s not a policy wonk.) …
Update: Ace of Spades notes that Wolfe did refer to Weiner suggesting an Obamacare waiver for New York City. (“I am one with the bill … I wrote the bill … Now hand me a waiver for NY! …Weasel.”) … Meanwhile, Wolfe has resurfaced for another non-face-t0-face interview, at VerumSerum. He adds some information, including that for someone who hates media scrutiny he is not very careful about protecting his identity. (He uses his real name but won’t talk on the phone?) P.S.: Is that the whole interview? Seems short for an hour of IMing. … I’d say it’s now even more likely that Wolfe is who he says he is, but I’m still not 100% convinced. …