Ohio Republican Has Twitter Account Hacked in Clever Breitbart Distraction

I guess this is the start of the payback for the nefarious right-wing conspiracy that threatens to topple Anthony Weiner. A bit of a difference between this hacking and Weiner's plight, however.

This actually happened.

For most of his 35 years in the legislature, impersonating House Speaker William G. Batchelder would have required the purchase of some thick-rimmed glasses and a nice seersucker suit.

In today's online world, faking the Medina Republican can be done from a laptop computer nearly anywhere on Earth, if the user has the ability to hack into the right Twitter account.

On the heels of a firestorm in Washington, where U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York said he was a victim of a hacker when his Twitter account was used to post a photo of a man's crotch, the Ohio speaker found his own account taken over by an unknown intruder.

Mike Dittoe, communication director for the House Republican caucus, said he got a call Monday night from a follower of Batchelder's Twitter account informing him of the unusual postings on the account.

Dittoe said he knew it had become a real problem when the liberal group ProgressOhio tweeted on Tuesday: "Wow!! Suddenly Bill Batchelder supports" and went on to list various liberal groups and causes, and a link to the fake tweets.

Among the fake tweets were those that promoted former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and criticized Republican Gov. John Kasich.

Dittoe said House GOP legal counsel Michael Lenzo worked with Twitter to get the account shut down and the posts erased.

We're going out on a limb and and saying it was leftists behind it.

But instead of posting crotch shots, as in Weiner's case, the hacker posted support for liberal causes - which caught the attention of a loyal follower who called Batchelder's office. It was too late, though, to prevent the liberal groups mentioned in his tweets from gloating - if only for a moment. Among the causes he supported was Progress Ohio, Ohio Democrats and Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.

"Woo! Bill Batchelder Supports @plunderbund @ohiodems @progressohio?!" Progress Ohio tweeted gleefully on Tuesday, referring to liberal causes that his hacker tweeted support for.

Of course now those folks who live in the fever swamps -- Kos, Charles Johnson, for a couple of examples -- they'll no doubt quickly debunk this story and swiftly move to prove it's really just some clever astro-turfing by Batchelder minions. All of whom are surely working at the behest of Andrew Breitbart.

That's how they think: Man obvious guilty such as Weiner? He was set up. This sap in Ohio? An unwitting dupe of dark forces out to silence those speaking truthiness to power!