Win Points for McCain! - White House '08

McCain Offers Prizes for Spam Comments
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — Sen. John McCain's campaign is urging supporters to spam blogs and forums with official talking points, according to the Washington Post. If you do a good job, you can even win prizes. ...

Blogging is its own reward
Michael Calderone's Blog — The Washington Post reports on the McCain camp's plan to have supporters spread the day's talking points on blogs that are liberal, conservative and moderate (which is where they've placed Politico). People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain's webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk ...

Spread McCain's Talking Points On The Web -- And Earn Prizes!
TPM Election Central — This, no doubt, will send you all stampeding over to John McCain's campaign Web site: Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web -- and you could win valuable prizes! That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort... People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain's webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred ...

McCain Rewards Spammers and Trolls
Hoffmania! — ... Now they're outwardly admitting they're paying off blog commenters. If you want to see the differences in the two campaigns' marketing savvy, see the post below this one. ...

McCain Offers Prizes To Bloggers Who Spread Talking Points
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "Anytime you're getting supporters activated into online communities or taking other actions to spread the word, that's a win," Rogers says. "Reward points" or other incentives for political work aren't a new concept. The Republican National Committee started a rewards program for volunteer fundraisers several years ago. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... This is just unreal.

McCain Puts Spamming First!
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... Team McCain has launched an exciting new program that, as WaPo’s Paul Fahri puts it, “combines the features of ‘AstroTurf’ campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper.” Here’s how ...

Open Thread
Booman Tribune — if they keep this up, their candidate won't even place in this race. Paris Hilton will. McCain offers prizes to those who spread his talking points! Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web -- and you could win valuable prizes! That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of "AstroTurf" campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper. Seriously. Keep an eye on reporters. Well, "You can't ...

Trolling For Swag.
Blah3 Feed — Wow, that campaign has a real grasp of this new-fangled technology stuff. Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web -- and you could win valuable prizes! That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort... People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain's webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred ...

Feeding the Trolls
HorsesAss.Org — ... As if McCain’s recent series of petty attacks on Obama aren’t enough to paint the old fart as pathetic. Now the McCain campaign is paying people to troll for him: ...

If Obama Goes Windsurfing in Hawaii, the GOP Will Be There
Tennessee Guerilla Women — ... Post story correctly notes that the Obama campaign has eviscerated the Democratic Party's capability and infrastructure to run a Tier Two campaign against McCain by its insistence that all contributions go to Obama and not groups like MoveOn and other outlets that could do media and Truth Squad efforts against McCain. Now defunded at Obama’s order, these groups have left the field of battle, allowing McCain to have a free run of the media to spread a negative campaign from many outlets without fear of an ongoing onslaught from many corners against him and his record. And the ...

McCain Campaign: Rewarding Internet Trolls
BlondeSense — I know how I get and you get when right wing spammers attack our comments with illogical and ridiculous notions spewed forth by the right wing noise machine. Well it's getting even worse. In desperation John McCain's campaign has a plan to reward trolls and spammers when they attack progressive and truth telling blogs: On McCain's Web site, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a ...

Daily Digest: Bring Your Spam to the "Astroturf" Picnic
techPresident — ... Astroturf Story #1: The Washington Post's Paul Farhi covers the McCain campaign asking its supporters to spam blogs with McCain talking points in exchange for prizes, a story that's been bouncing around for weeks. The website asks visitors to “Spread the Word” and gives clear instructions on what to write and where to write it. Zack Exley notes this strategy won't matter: "People in politics aren't motivated by points. That's not what gets people to act. They're motivated by genuinely caring about the issues." A phony grassroots movement like this, known as ...

Daily Digest: 'Tube Pong
techPresident — ... as possibly inaccurate, this comes on the heels of McCain's Points-for-Comments story published in the Washington Post last week. According to the LA Times, Digg CEO Jay Adelson said his team had checked the stories in question and was not concerned by any organized burying trends. We will make sure to keep you updated on this story. ...

Obama Campaign Abuses E-Mail List
The American Mind — ... can’t forget that. Oodles of Facebook friends don’t mean anything if the campaign can’t transform that support into votes or volunteer efforts. Now, one aspect of offline action is countering negative messages. A common feature on campaign websites is a tool to help supporters write letters to the editor or find local talk radio shows. Sen. John McCain’s campaign has taken it to an unwise level by encouraging supporters to bomb weblogs with favorable comments. Such comment spam is annoying, but Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign ...

Obama Extends Online Lead with New iPhone App
Crooks and Liars — ... The new iPhone application provides another stark contrast between the online approaches of the Obama and McCain campaigns. While Team Obama has offered another innovative new tool to empower bottoms-up organizing, the McCain campaign instead pioneered with gimmickry - and bribery. As the Washington Post mockingly reported in August, the McCain campaign offers its devotees points and prizes for "Astro Turfing," that is, cutting and pasting McCain propaganda into blogs and web sites: ...

Obama Expands GOTV Effort with iPhone App
BlueOregon — ... The new iPhone application provides another stark contrast between the online approaches of the Obama and McCain campaigns. While Team Obama has offered another innovative new tool to empower bottoms-up organizing, the McCain campaign instead pioneered with gimmickry - and bribery. As the Washington Post mockingly reported in August, the McCain campaign offers its devotees points and prizes for "Astro Turfing," that is, cutting and pasting McCain propaganda into blogs and web sites: ...

First They Came for the Comments Sections
Whiskey Fire — ... I mean, let's be charitable. Perhaps Breitbart was just confusing Obama with John McCain -- an understandable mental lapse -- for whom this was quite literally an explicit strategy, and whose website said as much. ...

Monday's Mini-Report
Political Animal — ... that Obama supporters have been unleashed on right-wing comment sections, forcing sites like Instapundit to close them retroactively years before Obama became President. This is something that John McCain would never pay supporters to do . * And for those uninitiated to Twitter, and inclined to, well, hate it, ...