In a recent washingtonpost.com article, a new republican attack-ad tactic has been reveled. A republican state representative in Virginia, Del. Timothy D. Hugo, is citing anonymous blog postings from the blog Raising Kaine in attack ads. Hugo is running against democratic challenger Rex Simmons. The ads come from someone with the screen name "Pitin," who supported the primary opponent of Simmons, Morris Meyer. By turning anonymous blog comments into objective, verifiable fact, republicans demonstrate again that they are amoral, and at war with reality.
After extensive research, the Washington Post believed that "Pitin" was a 24 year old political junkie. However, they were unable to confirm this.
One benefit Hugo has in using the blog Raising Kaine, is that uninformed voters might view the blog comments as coming from popular Virginia governor Tim Kaine. The blog has no connection with Kaine. Many voters, especially older voters, don't understand blogs very well. These voters are especially likely to view the anonymous comments as objective fact.
In Hugo's ad, a narrator recounts what "others are saying" about Simmons. As quotes flash across the screen, the narrator says Simmons is "running the most cowardly campaign I have ever seen" and "has been lying to voters the entire campaign."
"We just can't trust Rex Simmons," the ad concludes.
The ad, which also says Simmons supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, cites Raising Kaine as the source of the quotes about Simmons.
Hugo claimed that the ad was in response (and morally equivalent) with a direct mail campaign of Simmons. Simmons mailed flyers to voters, criticizing Hugo's vote in favor of a transportation bill, which included higher fees (upwards of $3,000) on bad drivers. Of course, Hugo's vote (besides being objectively verifiable) was a legitimate attack on the job that Hugo is doing for his constituents. The fact that Simmons does not hate illegal immigrants as much as Hugo, is not legitimate. But it does go to the republican habit of using hate against unpopular minority groups to unite their base and thus win elections.
The American Association of Political Consultants' code of ethics says that attacks always have to have a verifiable source. Of course, expecting republicans to abide by a code of ethics is always an unrealistic expectation. Like any fascist movement, if any amoral or depraved act allows the movement to meet its goals (in this case, to win elections), then the means to that end are justifiable on their face. I just don't think we are going to see any democrats citing anonymous blog comments as objective fact. Again, the democrats' sense of ethics and integrity does cause a political disadvantage.
"In political advertising, you always have to have a source, and that source has to be credible," said Sean T. O'Brien, executive director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.
I think we can deduce something from this behavior. Look at Bill Orally and his attacks on Daily Kos. Look at the way Kos was attacked for his comment about the dead contractors back in 2004. Look at the recent right-wing fad as of late to trash the blogosphere as being made up of left-wing extremists (such as saying that Jim Webb was "not a Daily Kos Democrat"). The reason is that the right is losing the war for control of the blogosphere. They were unchallenged before, with domination of talk radio and cable news. Now that we have a solid foothold in cable news (with Keith Olbermann) and control over the blogosphere, they are threatened.
They know that they can't win a fair fight, so they always have to rig the system to prevent a fair fight. Examples would be the purging of black votes in Florida in 2000, or Ohio in 2004 and 2006. Another example would be the California electoral college initiative. The right is trying to turn the blogosphere, and Daily Kos in particular, into something they can easily associate with left wing radicals (as they have done to moveon.org).
They have lost the war for the blogosphere, so they want to destroy what they can't control. Talk radio is a natural fit to the right wing mind, with its top-down structure and domination by a couple of people. The blogosphere is a natural fit to progressives, and not to conservatives. This is because the structure is bottom-up, and thus gives an equal voice to anyone, even unpopular and dissenting views. The right wont end its war on the blogosphere until they have destroyed it. We have to realize this.