Jawa Report Uncovers Anti-Palin Smear Campaign by Obama PR Team

Yesterday Rusty Shackleford of the Jawa Report blog revealed that he and other bloggers had uncovered an"astroturf" plot by members of Obama's PR firm to stage a false "grass-roots" outcry against Sarah Palin. (The term "astroturf" refers to faked "grass-roots" political movements that are actually orchestrated by partisan professionals.)

Rusty zeroed in on a You-Tube video that introduced the false claim that Palin was a member of an Alaskan secessionist group. He was able to identify the voice-over artist who narrated the video, tying him to a pro-Obama PR firm. Specifically, the artist was one Ethan S. Winner of the Democrat PR firm of Winner and Associates. Winner foolishly uploaded the video to YouTube under his own name.

Within an hour after Rusty posted his expose, Winner removed the video from YouTube and erased his account, apparently in an attempt to cover his tracks. GOTCHA ETHAN!

Rusty's conclusions about the matter appear sound:

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and
John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political
partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing
fringe.

Read all about it at Michelle Malkin's site.

UPDATE: Ethan Winner has admitted making the video.