Washblog

Google Bomb for Thugs Project, MyDD

for those of you washblog-ians into real research and real writing, AND

who don't mind helping the public find the UNPLEASANT TRUTH about thug representatives,

Chris Bowers has a kick ass idea -

I've excerpted a bit below if you don't want to read it on kos / mydd.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/22/133437/99

rmm.

How
The campaign will proceed as follows:

Step One: With help form readers at Dailykos and MyDD, I will compile a list of seventy article, one for each targeted race. Every article will focus on a different Republican candidate, and will be written by as generally trusted a news source as possible. It will also present as unflattering a view on the Republican candidate as possible. All of these articles will be placed into a database that I will maintain with the help of willing volunteers.

--Step Two: Once the database is complete, BlogPac will purchase Google Adwords that will place each negative article on the most common searches for each Republican candidate. Simultaneously, I will produce an article on MyDD that embeds that negative article into a hyperlink that names the Republican candidate. I will then send a copy of that post out to as many bloggers as possible, who can also place the post on their blogs. One posting of this article will be enough.

--Step Three: All further discussion of the Republican candidates in question on all participating blogs should include an embedded hyperlink that will increase the Google search rank of the article on the given candidate.

The result of this should be that the most damning, non-partisan article written on every key Republican candidate for house and Senate will appear both high on every Google search for that candidate, and automatically as an advertisement on every search for that candidate. BlogPac will cover the costs. The netroots will supply the research.

< LD 12 Abbreviated | Commissioner orders woman to work ILLEGALLY! >

Poll

I love the Internet.
yes.
openness is power.
shut up and do what you are told .

Votes: 12
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Dave Gibney Pullman

by gibney on Sun Oct 22, 2006 at 11:46:43 AM PST

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I don't see how it is too late - the election is over two weeks away with absentee ballots just now showing up. This is the time where the electorate starts looking online like Bowers says. This is a scalable tactic that can be applied to other WA Repugs besides the three BlogPAC chose.

I'm curious if there is a metric to see how many times the adwords are clicked on, where the viewer is located, etc.

by Brian on Sun Oct 22, 2006 at 07:11:51 PM PST

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It really is tempting to take up the kind of tactics that the Republicans have used.  False trails of misinformation, taking items out of context and trumpeting them for all to see, with the hope that people will simply read the headlines without doing any real checking.

Heck, the Speakers Roundtable is famous for that kind of stunt, and to make matters worse, the tactic even works, unless people work to get out the real information.

But it only works over the short term.  Probably the biggest problem facing the Republican Party today is an internal culture of "anything for the win".

Lies, rigged votes, letters to immigrant citizens threatening jail time.  All tactics that the Republicans have used and are using, and they are starting to catch up to them.

Would we think this was dishonest if the Republicans did it to us?  Of course we would.  

Especially now, as we're finally getting the word out to voters about some of the lies and dirty tricks that have been done over the past several years, we do not want to start playing that same game ourselves.  To do that invites the Republicans to point at us, using this kind of tactic as proof that we are no better than they are.

And we are better than they are.

by jbarelli on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 12:28:47 PM PST

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Negative campaigning is bad for participation in our democracy.  

How about a compelling policy proposal?

I don't know alot about Obama Barack but I get a hopeful feeling from him.  How refreshing after six years, so far, of fear and anxiety exploited for political power.

by knovoselic on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 01:10:40 PM PST

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Negative campaigning, if it is lies is the same as positive campaigning if it is based on lies.

That part is not new. Although, that is the most common reaction to a negative statement: "they're lying!". Of course, there are some statements which some people think are true and other people think are lies: in this case if there are partisans in the house the believers try to drown out the non-believers with clapping and coughing.

But I am starting to wonder about negative campaigning based on truth. I am particularly starting to wonder about the negative campaign against negative campaigning which is based on the meme that negative campaigning decreases turnout.

How convenient: a nice, easy thing to blame embarrassingly low turnouts on!

Nothing said about engagement, verisimilitude, relevance and so forth.

by m3047 on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 06:47:09 PM PST

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