One of my friends posted a link to this Jezebel entry on Facebook, with the rather unsettling annotation that it was the best analysis he'd seen of Sarah Palin's speech.
The passage that particularly caught my eye:
"I want to point out to the Jezebel readership that on September 11, McCain and Obama are scheduled to appear at a forum on community service and volunteerism. Call their organizers. Let em know what McCain thinks about them" ("contact us" hyperlink removed from original)
There seems to be a lot of this tactic going around, in part by the Obama campaign itself.
Back in the 1990s, conservatives would light up Capitol Hill switchboards calling their Congresspeople about whatever issue outraged them, as encouraged by their favorite radio talk show hosts. (N.B. as I recall, Rush Limbaugh fervently denies ever giving out specific phone numbers to call; but Limbaugh's competitors apparently did/do this a lot.)
The tactic has spread, and certainly neither side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on it (Fark took one of the most egregious examples of this and turned it on its head (scroll to "Hallmark")), but I think there's a sharp partisan slant to one particular shade of it, namely lefties trying to intimidate forum sponsors away from righty guests/panelists.
The reduction to absurdity of all this is if you ever see private citizens harassed for their public endorsements: John Smith, an employee of Amalgamated Widgets, recently endorsed the Jones/Johnson ticket. Call Amalgamated Widgets and tell them what you think!
Given that we've already seen British newspapers direct letter-writing campaigns at specific voters, my worst-case scenario isn't completely implausible.
Posted by Matt Bruce at September 4, 2008 05:04 PMThere may be a slant but I don't think it's as sharp as you imply. Witness O'Reilly's various attempts at boycotts and the furor over same-sex benefits at sundry large companies.