Instant AstroTurf
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James Joyner | Tuesday, August 17, 2004 |
The Bush campaign, realizing that their backers would love to write letters to the editor to show their grassroots support if only they had the time to research talking points, have thoughtfully devised a system to alleviate this problem. Visitors to the their website can choose from handy-dandy templates, where they merely have to check off the pre-written lines they’d like to include and –viola!– instant letter.
Markos Zuniga did a Google search and found that more than a handful of papers published letters so generated. He finds it less than amusing.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Markos Zuniga did a Google search and found that more than a handful of papers published letters so generated. He finds it less than amusing.
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I feel nothing...screw 'em!
Handy form. I used it to email the editors, but I wrote my own letter.
As can anyone else who uses that thing.
So screw 'em. :)
The Kostic one surely knows that advocacy groups of all kinds have been doing this for years. In fact, I seem to recall an anti-(Iraq-)war group getting caught doing this back before we went in -- caught by bloggers.
McGehee:
When I worked in the Colo. State Legislature, we would get thousands of identical form letters from various groups (teacher's union, planned parenthood, etc.).
How is this much different from the reports of journalists cutting and pasting from the AP newsfeed? (except they get paid for their non-creativity/plagarism)
jd, if you're looking for someone to defend Big Media, you're barking up the wrong tree. ;-)
It's clear there is no difference between a letter to your elected official and a letter to the editor. Anyone who says different is a fool and a communist.
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