Stupid liberal tricks

Liberal trolls pretending to be Sarah Palin supporters in an effort to discredit Team Sarah (H/T: Michelle Malkin).

Such vandalism is a species of "progressive online activism" for which there is no parallel on the Right. But it's not the only such species. Back in September, Ace called attention to the "concern trolls" who were apparently part of a Team Obama astroturfing campaign, the apparent object of that effort being to spread negative memes about the GOP ticket via comment fields at conservative Web sites:

The script--
1. The Pledge: I'm a conservative/I'm a Christian/I'm a conservative Christian
2. The Turn: My heart is with you guys, really... but I have these concerns...
3. The Prestige: I hear all these great things about Obama and/or did you hear this horrible stuff about Palin?

It's formulaic, and I've seen the same basic technique in the comment fields at AmSpecBlog -- the guy who claims to be a serious, committed conservative but who is invariably negative. Anything I write about Sarah Palin at the American Spectator is certain to elicit comments from at least one troll asserting that Palin is an unmitigated disaster for the GOP.

Yes, there are Republicans who aren't enthusiastic about Palin, but the trolls don't articulate any real argument against Palin, or express support for an alternative candidate by praising, inter alia, Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal or Mike Huckabee. No, it's just the "Sarah is a sure loser" meme, the transparent propaganda intent being to spread among conservatives the idea that the most popular elected official in the Republican Party can't possibly win.