Hutchison Campaign Site Contains Hidden Phrase, 'Rick Perry Gay'

[stevedeshazer]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/07/hutchison-campaign-site-contains-hidden-phrase-rick-perry-gay.php?ref=fpblg

<snip>

A web site for the gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) included hidden phrases including "rick perry gay," a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman discovered today.

Hutchison officials said they used a tool that automatically generated keywords based on popular search terms. Such a tool could drive more web traffic to the site, StandByKay.com.

"We did not know these offensive word associations were being searched for by hundreds of thousands of Texans everyday nor do we condone the computer-generated existence on our Web site," Hutchison spokesman Jeff Sadosky told the Austin American-Statesman. He said the offending phrase will be removed.

Hutchison announced this week she will leave the Senate this fall in order to campaign against Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX). Rumors about Perry's sexuality have been circulated for years.

----

And, here is the link to the Austin American-Statesman regarding this story:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/07/30/hutchisonoriented_site_luring.html

<snip>

UPDATED: Hutchison site is loaded with hidden phrases—including two “Perry gay” references, which the campaign says it’s removing

By W. Gardner Selby | Thursday, July 30, 2009, 11:59 AM

This morning, I came across a Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s gubernatorial campaign.

A provocative twist: The site may have been juiced with the intent of drawing visitors with the help of more than 2,200 hidden phrases—including “rick perry gay.” (See the phrases here.)

On my inquiry, Hutchison’s campaign spokesman, Jeff Sadosky, initially said he’d look into the matter. He later issued a statement that didn’t indicate how the phrases landed on the site, but said they weren’t condoned and would be removed.

Sadosky said: “We did not know these offensive word associations were being searched for by hundreds of thousands of Texans everyday nor do we condone the computer-generated existence on our Web site. They will be removed promptly.”

UPDATE 2:33 p.m.: Sadosky and other campaign aides said this afternoon that only the two phrases using “rick perry gay” will be removed because they won’t play into the campaign’s future messages.

----

Riiigght.

Here we go -- Texas GOP fratricide.

:popcorn:

[Renew Deal]

1. "We didn't know hundreds of thousands of people were searching for 'Rick Perry gay'"

Now that's dirty politics.

[stevedeshazer]

3. Right. We had no idea!

My bad.

Sincerely, Kay.

[DJ13]

2. Whats good for the goose...

....requires lubricant.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Hey Kay - which part is the "offensive" part, hmm?

[saltpoint]

5. With any luck at all, this GOP gubernatorial primary race in Texas will destroy

both the leading contenders.

I wouldn't miss either one of them one iota.

[Kurovski]

6. And to think...

that I once had respect for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. about nine years ago it was, I believe.

K&R.

[ruggerson]

8. You just got hot over those simple yet erotic working-woman ensembles

[Kurovski]

14. You know me all too well.

But really...the only thing Republicker politicians are good for these days are to serve as objects of our twisted, self-loathing lust. What else is there?

[ruggerson]

15. well I'm sure if we took her to the Seychellles with us next year

she could make us sandwiches or hold our scuba gear or something.

[Kurovski]

16. We may as well.

God knows we're already in trouble with all the women and half the men here at DU for what they will somehow conclude to be "sexism."

Go figure.

[ruggerson]

18. Fuck em

this is between me, you and Kay-Kay.

[Kurovski]

19. And Boehner?

Oh please say yes! It's just not a party without Boehner.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5053915

[ruggerson]

20. well he does personify "orange chic"

http://www.polyvore.com/orange_chic/set?id=7899236

[Kurovski]

23. Then that means "yes"?

I'll drag him around like a manbag full of useful credit cards...his.

We can hammer-out health care propositions.

:bounce:

[drm604]

7. I looked at the source for that page and they have over 2000 hidden search terms on it.

They're using <div id="Layer1" style="display:none;"> to basically trick Google into indexing search terms that aren't actually displayed and, in many cases, have little to do with the subject matter of the website.

Google does not look kindly on this kind of trickery. It's the kind of thing that can get a website totally banned from Google's index.

It does appear that the term "gay" is no longer on the page. Here are some examples of oddball hidden search terms that are still there.

• abortion power
  
• bill mahar real time
  
• bill maher hbo real time
  
• bill maher real time hbo
  
• bill mahr hbo
  
• bill mahr real time
  
• chicken fried steak recipes
  
• corporate greed
  
• d.l. hugley
  
• debachary definition
  
• fortune 500 people list
  
• friends invited invitations
  
• gambling casino in texas
  
• gambling party games
  
• glenn beck program
  
• greed corporate
  
• how to gain influence
  
• james baker for president
  
• launched the website
  
• let the revolution begin
  
• lost confidence
  
• marine graduation in san diego
  
• mike gallagher show
  
• neocon agenda
  
• orthodox synogogue
  
• party of
  
• party places in austin tx
  
• reinstate draft
  
• ron paul for president 2008
  
• ron paul revolution bumper stickers
  
• runner entertainment
  
• sams cell phones
  
• santa safari
  
• scouts honor book
  
• sherman williams paint chart
  
• silly debates
  
• sylvia divinorum
  
• texas grape growers
  
• texas restaurants
  
• texas supreme court website
  
• texas unemployment insurance rate
  
• time has an end
  
• us asylums
  
• video game companies in texas
  
• we find ourselves
  
• weaken the dollar
  
• why do we have knees
  
• world currency account

[optimal-tomato]

9. "Why do we have knees?"

To... vote for... wut?

[blogslut]

12. I know!

When I looked at the source code before, I thought they meant the keywords in the META tags but this, this is extremely cheesy and you're right, Google hates it. This is no better than slapping up words with a white font on a white background.

They may have removed the "gay" reference but they're still exploiting Perry. Here's some more choice phrases in their source code:

rick perry campaign contributions
rick perry governor of texas
rick perry governor texas
rick perry inauguration
texans for rick perry
rick perry campaign contributors
rick perrys political party
rick perry biography
rick perry immigration
rick perry texas governor
governor perry texas
rick perry sued
rick perry public schools
texas governor rick perry
rick perry
governor perry
governor rick perry texas
rick perry state of the state address
texas gov rick perry
rick perry email address
rick perry governor
gov. rick perry texas
rick perry video
rick perry school
rick perrys life
email rick perry
rick perry schools
govenor rick perry
rick perry address
governor rick perry
rick perry education
rick perry's address
rick perry photo
rick perry's
perry governor
rick perry texas
rick perry info
rick perry state of the state
anita perry
perry ricky
ricky perry

Cheap and cheesy. Apparently, I am in the wrong business.

[bleever]

22. No "Governor Hair"?

And I thought meta-tags at first too. Kay's running a real 20th century campaign here, which is going to be too far ahead for a lot of her voting base.

[and-justice-for-all]

10. Is there something wrong with being Gay?? nt

[Quantess]

11. Apparently yes, in many Republicans' minds.

[blogslut]

13. There is nothing wrong with being gay

However, passing judgment is not what these keywords are used for. Lazy webmasters that don't know how to garner website traffic properly pull stunts like this, using popular, relative search terms. It's called keyword stuffing.

Apparently there's a marked number of surfers that type: "rick perry gay" into their favorite search engines. When they do, Senator Hutchinson's campaign website would (ideally) show up in the front page search results.

In other words, a lot of web searchers were already interested in Governor Perry's sexual orientation.

[UTUSN]

17. K&R #4 for, even if I'm criticized!1 n/t

[texanwitch]

21. That rumor has been around for a long time.

KKK Bailey will make this election interesting.