OK, we keep hearing Bill'O and Rush yammer about how mean and nasty the blogs are. And they have used sites like DailyKos as a boogey man because of their influence on Democrats. But now they are quoting negative blog comments about Democrats in a Democratic blog in an attack ad. You may have to think about that for a second to grasp a concept that stupefyingly dumb.
This is from the Washington Post.
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.
At first I thought this was about some wingnut complaining people were saying bad things about him anonymously on line. Then I realized it was about a wingnut repeating anonymous attacks in a paid advertisement.
The comments are interesting because readers point out that false flag attacks are an obvious ploy. And there would be no limit to craziness - "People say my opponent planned 911."
And others question why WaPo considers this newsworthy because this is what the WaPo has done for years, but somehow it's slimy when anyone but a newspaper does it.