Blog Comments Become Fodder For Attack Ads

[babylonsister]

Blog Comments Become Fodder For Attack Ads
New Way to Go Negative Seen in Va. House Race

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A01

RICHMOND, Sept. 21 -- A Republican state legislator from Fairfax County has launched an attack ad on cable TV against his Democratic opponent that features unidentified, unverified quotes from a blog.

The ad by Del. Timothy D. Hugo points to a new form of negative campaigning in which information for an attack ad is sourced to comments posted on the Internet instead of more authoritative sources such as news reports or public records.

Hugo's ad highlights critical comments about his Democratic opponent, Rex Simmons, that someone with the screen name "Pitin" posted on the Democratic blog Raising Kaine.

Ads that quote from blogs, on which it is often difficult to identify the author, represent a benchmark in increasingly negative political campaigns, several political analysts said.

"This is one of the places where the old way of doing politics and the new way is coming into conflict," said David Weinberger, a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "We have developed a blogosphere that is full of lively debate . . . but at the same time we have political marketers who will use anything they can to advance their own cause."

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102334.html

[gratuitous]

1. Is turnabout still fair play?

So we can attribute wholesale every nasty little comment at Free Republic and Little Green Footballs to every Republican candidate, and treat them as an utterance directly from them, right?

[SaveElmer]

2. Hugo is my rep...

A nice guy in person, but a right wing jerk extraordinaire...

He once said this about Dick Cheney

"He is a man who tells the truth and does what is right"

Rex Simmons is a very good candidate. My understanding is that Polls are showing a dead heat, with Simmons coming out on top if issue differences are explained.

Hopefully these Hugo ads, which are pathetic btw, will spur donationss to Rex's campaign..which is what he really needs, he is being outspent pretty significantly...

[Bitwit1234]

3. Boy with the blogs the republicans put out

wouldn't the democrats have a field day...just coulter alone would fuel the ads for years to come. And that's not adding drudge, malkien, and the rest of the right wing spewers.