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Jerome Armstrong Defends Himself

Last month, MyDD founder Jerome Armstrong was the target of a major blog swarm over his past as a stock analyst and astrologist, as well as his present as a consultant in political technology. Armstrong briefly responded to critics in a comment at MyDD but was largely silent about the controversies.

This week's numerous criticisms of another blogger -- Patrick Hynes on the Republican side -- prompted Armstrong to say quite a bit more at MyDD in his own defense. Surprisingly, the entry has gone largely without comment in the blogosphere considering how much people had to say about Armstrong a few weeks ago.

Here are the highlights from Armstrong's post:

-- "In regards to the [stock] issues, given the agreement I made [with the Securities and Exchange Commission]], I can't, unfortunately, talk about the details of the case. What I can say is that it happened over six years ago, and it was a civil matter, which in the grand scheme of things places it quite low in regards to such matters. I was a newbie to the world of stock trading, and made some naive mistakes that I would not do again, but I sleep fine knowing what my state of mind was during the time."

-- "The whole astrology matter is really just a lark that I have to laugh at myself with along with the crowd. ... Writing the articles under a pen name associated to me the lack of seriousness with which I approached the matter of looking at politics through the astrological spectrum with, but to others I guess they thought I was hiding the matter."

-- "[F]or known bloggers that work on campaigns, I've not seen anything shady at all. This intersection isn't going away, and I hope more and more bloggers are able to work to influence how campaigns are run."

-- "I think we've reached the point where some sort of disclosure is the norm, which is fine with me. My only gripe is the seemingly dual standard that people make on bloggers in comparison to the talking heads, for example."

-- "[T]he blogger-criticism part of the blog world strikes me as totally against the spirit of what we are trying to do with the blogs. I hardly think that setting standards above what is done in other media outlets is something that's of vital importance."

-- "And just a note about '06. I might have the urge to start blogging here again after Labor Day to the election."

UPDATE: Bill Beutler, a former colleague of mine and the man who introduced the world to The Hotline's Blogometer, shared his expert observations about Armstrong at Blog P.I., a new blog that Bill started earlier this month in his work for New Media Strategies.

My favorite line of Bill's: "If I was a Democratic candidate for federal office, I’m not so sure I’d be eager to hire Jerome Armstrong."

Posted by Danny | 01:32 PM

Comments

and it was a civil matter, which in the grand scheme of things places it quite low in regards to such matters.

He was a pump-n-dumper. It was extremely unethical behavior, regardless of whether he was prosecuted criminally (which one can very easily argue he should have been). He sleeps well at night? Good for him. I wonder how the small investors he ripped off sleep?

was a newbie to the world of stock trading, and made some naive mistakes

No, Jerome, you were a predator: the people who made "naive mistakes" were your prey, the ones who read your posts and thought you were giving an honest appraisal of companies you knew weren't what you were claiming they were.

The whole astrology matter is really just a lark...lack of seriousness with which I approached the matter of looking at politics through the astrological spectrum

What a convenient crock. Go back and read his astrological advice posts; he's not joking, he's quite serious -- though I'm guessing he was once again laughing inside at those gullible to buy into it.

As I'm sure he continues to do over at MyDD...

TallDave | 07.31.06 11:31 AM

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