WP: Bloggers on the Payroll (Thune's payroll to defeat Daschle)

[Pirate Smile]

Bloggers on the Payroll

What happens when bloggers are on a candidate's payroll?

That's what some campaign finance experts are wondering after this year's Senate race in South Dakota. John Thune (R), who won, paid thousands of dollars to two bloggers who ran ostensibly independent Web sites attacking his opponent, Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D), and what they termed biased coverage of the campaign by the state's largest newspaper, the Argus Leader. One blogger, history professor John Lauck, received $27,000. The other, lawyer Jason Van Beek, received $8,000.

Neither blogger nor the campaign publicly disclosed the relationship before it was revealed in Thune's campaign finance reports. The episode, previously reported by National Journal, poses a question for campaign finance experts.

Candidates must state on everything from television ads to yard signs when they paid for them. The intent is to prevent campaigns from making anonymous accusations. But the rule predates blogs, and experts said it is unclear if the sites are subject to the disclosure requirement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8850-2004Dec17.html

Disinformation is in today whether it is for the Pentagon or in your political campaign.

[w4rma]

1. Don't care. There are paid propagandists all over the internet. If they

are paid directly by the campaign, or indirectly through Fox News, GE or Richard Melon Scaife, then so be it. Plus so much on the internet is done relatively anonymously.

It would be, imho, a good investment for Dems to do something like that year round for a few people. There is ALOT of false stuff on the internet put out by Repugs on *many* boards and they are relentless and they seemingly have all the time in the world.

[Deja Q]

2. Who'll the DLC find to their liking? Michael Moore, perhaps?

[Just Me]

3. I thought "any advertisement" meant precisely "any advertisement".

My take,...the rule encompasses candidate/campaign-paid blogs, too.

[Cats Against Frist]

4. Two Words: Swift Vets

I mean -- who is stupid enough to believe they were "independent?" The right can sure pull off some dirty tricks, I tell you what.

[Just Me]

7. Anyone following those members' "economic destinies"?

Anyone following contributors?

Has anyone actually revealed their personal investment (in terms of humility, anger, revenge)?

These people have an emotional investment, too,...why?

Frankly, they are the most emotionally imbalanced group I have ever encountered. Are they suffering from PTSD for which they never sought treatment because to do so made them "wimps",...according to their circle of life?

How healthy are the family circles of these people?

Do these people have a history of "retaliation"?

Let us reveal "these people".

Maybe,...they never got the healthy acknowledgement they needed,...and are retaliating against the wrong target.

[Pirate Smile]

10. We really do need to set up a research area here on DU.

I'm not very good at it but there appear to be many here that are and I'm not sure the Democratic Party people are actually doing any. You would assume they are but it sure doesn't seem like it.

We need someone with access to Lexus/Nexus. I remember hearing that their is a search engine that works for Government documents.

Just an idea....

[Cats Against Frist]

13. I've often thought that was some of it, particularly O'Neill's motivation

He's definitely emotionally caught up in it. I think some of the other guys are just GOP operatives, but some of them, and some of the Veterans who ended up supporting them are just bitter and angry because of the war, and probably suffer from PTSD, and are angry that the government sent them, as kids, to be poisoned and slaughtered and angry that they came home and were forgotten, etc. -- though I think the "Lieutenant Dan" meme is slightly overblown. As anyone, they were looking for a scapegoat. Thirty years of distance can provide as much convolution as it can clarity -- and John Kerry is a convenient enough target to take out their "feelings" on. Nixon and Johnson are dead, most of the Vietnam orchestraters are out of the government, and so, who's left? John Kerry, the nemesis of John O'Neill. Funded by Republican money and millions of delusional freepers looking for anything to take down the man who could have unseated their "god-appointed" leader, it just took off.

And now, unfortunately, we have another revisionist history to deal with, in regard to Vietnam. The prescription for O'Neill and his cohorts wasn't to "vent" on Kerry -- it probably should have been some Risperdal and group therapy.

[Osamasux]

5. They were as vicious to Daschle as they've been to anyone

I sent a few bucks, but had too many other fires burning to give him much help.

[AP]

6. I wonder what their DU screen names were?

...

[Pirate Smile]

8. I wonder what the " ostensibly independent Web sites attacking"

Daschle were called and what they actually said about him?

If it was really disgusting (I assume it probably was), we should hang it around Thune's neck.

He wanted the blogs to appear independent so I guess it wasn't something his campaign would proudly embrace. What exactly was it I wonder?

[foo_bar]

9. who wouldn't take a 70k blogging job?

"Thune! He's the meatiest!"

[w4rma]

11. Probably someone trying to convince DUers that Daschle was

too wimpy and DUers should vote 3rd Party.

[NVMojo]

12. they are everywhere ...no different then the swift boat vets doing a book

or a movie.