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Liberal and conservative bloggers alike have taken umbrage at an ad campaign mounted by USA Next against the AARP over the issue of Social Security. The ad, which briefly appeared yesterday on the website of the American Spectator, was later removed, but not before it popped up on several sites.
The advertisement seems to imply that AARP opposes U.S. troops and supports gay marriage (neither is true). It also happens to be the handiwork of the same folks who mounted the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign attacking John Kerry, Steve Soto at The Left Coaster tells us.
“Before this outrage dissipates, however, I wanted to offer a few ideas on what the AARP, the DNC [Democratic National Committee], and the Hill Democrats should do to make sure that any future smears by USAN become toxic for the White House and the GOP,” writes Soto, who then lays out a game plan:
First, if he hasn’t done so already, AARP Chief Executive Officer Bill Novelli needs to call Karl Rove and demand that the White House condemn the ad and the tactics of the USAN. Of course Rove will not do this, and Novelli should tell Rove that failure to do this will be interpreted by the AARP as a sign that the White House supports and was a partner in this smear and in future smears.
Jon Henke at Questions and Observations Blog, and a “right-coaster,” doesn’t like the ad, either, calling it a “slimepaign.”
Henke did some homework, rummaging through the AARP’s website to see if the seniors’ lobbying group had ever opposed U.S. troops or advocated gay marriage. “USA Next has clearly and willfully misrepresented the AARP,” concludes Henke. “Defamation would not be too strong a word”
Lazy would not be too strong a word, according to Lapin, posting on Daily Kos about AP’s coverage of an appearance yesterday by Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. AP quotes one Stephanie Steward as saying, “If we don’t do anything, Social Security will expire in 40 years, which is when I and my fellow students will be collecting.” And who’s Steward, Lapin wonders? It took “lowly, old, non-credentialed, no journalistic training me” about .29 seconds to discover that Steward is chairwoman of the Penn College Republicans, something AP didn’t tell its readers.
AP also quoted another student, John Lloyd, who said, “Social Security needs to be tweaked. It doesn’t need to be destroyed.” Not surprising. Lloyd is vice president of the Drexel [University] College Democrats. Lapin has a point. It would be nice if AP added Google to its apparently slim repertoire of reporting tools. (AP has updated the story identifying Steward, but so far not Lloyd.)
Kevin Drum has invoked the wrath of female bloggers, thanks to a posting on Sunday in which he ponders the thin ranks of femmes pixelle on the web. (You know where this is going, don’t you?) Drum posts a sampling of responses, including this one from blogger Trish Wilson:
I get so tired of this same stupid question coming up every three months. The guys don’t read or link to political women who blog, and then have the audacity to feign innocence every two months (from three, previously). They wonder where we are. As we have said the last three or four times this discussion has come up, we’re out there. You just have to take the time and energy you take to link to and read the primarily middle- and upper-class, white, male bloggers and find us. Guys, you have no excuse.
Meantime, on Yahoo News, left-wing cartoonist Ted Rall surveys the blogosphere and decides that it has been hijacked by the right wing. Concludes Rall: “Bloggers are ordinary people, many of them uneducated and with nothing interesting to say. They’re sitting in their rec rooms, regurgitating and spinning what real journalists have dug up through hard work. They don’t have sources, they don’t report, and no one holds them accountable when they make mistakes or flat out lie.
“Yeah, there’s a new sheriff in town. Unfortunately he’s drunk, he’s mean, and he works for the bad guys.”
–Susan Q. Stranahan
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