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The ‘Big’ Story on Salon
Suburban Guerrilla —
... When I read stories like this, I just cringe. It’s an expose of how the McCain campaign manufactures letters to the editor, then finds people to sign them. ...
No One Ever Went Broke Underestimating the Stupidity of Newspaper Publishers
If I Ran the Zoo —
... send them to local newspapers to create a false groundswell of "popular" support by "average" people. I've been wondering about the flood of pro-Palin propaganda when I have yet to meet an actual New Englander who can stand the woman. Can the Boston Globe be certain that the many letters they have published from angry, authentic, local supporters of McCain/Palin weren't actually from an outsourced McCain astroturf program? Here's the first paragraph of the article: and a link (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/24/mccain_letters/) ...
A Dutch reporter/Obama donor slams the McCain campaign
Rathergate.com —
... as recently as last February. She’s in the tank for Obama, and she asks us to believe what she writes about McCain’s campaign. Judge her crap for yourselves (translated from ...
Dutch journo/Obama donor claims McCain made her write lies to newspapers
RedState: Conservative News and Community —
... phone banking,
writing letters to the editor is the most important method of the
McCain campaign to attract voters. At least that is what's written
in the guidelines that McCain campaign worker Phil Tuchman presents
to me."
McClatchy watch
offers the ultimate caveat: Oostveen
had donated to Barack Obama's campaign as recently as last
February. She's in the tank for Obama, and she asks us to believe
what she writes about McCain's campaign.
Judge her
crap for yourselves (translated from the original
Dutch), but I think we have ...
McCain Campaign's Ghost Letters To The Editor
Newshoggers.com —
... By Cernig
I don't know if it's illegal but it for damn sure is immoral: I spent a morning in John McCain's Virginia campaign headquarters ghost-writing letters to the editor for McCain supporters to sign. I even pretended to have a son in Iraq.
..."You can be whoever you want to be," says an inviting [McCain campaign worker] Phil Tuchman. "You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!"
...The assignment is simple: We are going to write letters to the editor and we are allowed to make up ...
Ghost Writers
Comments from Left Field —
... The assignment is simple: We are going to write letters to the editor and we are allowed to make up whatever we want — as long as it adds to the campaign. After today we are supposed to use our free moments at home to create a flow of fictional fan mail for McCain. “Your letters,” says Phil Tuchman, “will be sent to our campaign offices in battle states. Ohio. Pennsylvania. Virginia. New Hampshire. There we’ll place them in local newspapers.” ...
McCain's Shifting Debate Standard
David Corn —
... debate this afternoon."
Note the adjustment in standards. First, the McCain camp said deal or no debate. Two days later, the position was, negotiations are under way so let's debate. Was this change an act of decisive leadership or a necessary political flip-flop? Maybe Jim Lehrer, the moderator of Friday night's debate, can ask him that."
What's kinda amazing--okay, it's not really amazing--is that the McCain camp thinks it can get away with this. Or with
this. Or with its falsehood-ridden attack ads. Or with McCain's new ...
Joshuah Bearman: What Would Karl Do...
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... With this story? According to a Dutch freelancer who has volunteered for both campaigns in this election cycle, the McCain campaign asks its army of editorial letter-ghostwriters to -- surprise! -- lie. And lie big. About who they are, about the facts, about whatever it takes. When the writer, a Dutch visitor, composes a letter that says she's an American mother with a son in Iraq, the McCain operative congratulates her for a job well done! Leave it to NRC Handelsblad, by the way, to uncover such cynical fakery. Now that it's out, where's the MSM follow-up? Why haven't ...
