Friday, May 30, 2008

Dems and GOP Reach Out With Social Media

Politics means always needing to say you're sorry.

That's the culture in which we live. We send out politicians out on a never-ending campaign trail, raising money by talking to groups that are diametrically opposed in their stances in the same day.

Later, the media dissects what has been said and accuses said politician of flip-flopping on issues.

It's a good system we've put together. For years, politicians have been hamstrung because only outlet for reaching the people was the media.

Not so much anymore.

These days the candidates have taken the fight directly to the people whether it's through websites that allow anyone to contribute, like Clinton Attacks Obama, candidates buying online advertising that attaches their name to certain keywords (such as change), or political parties launching attack ads on their opponents by releasing video on YouTube.

It wasn't supposed to play out exactly like this. Technology was supposed to democratize the political process, getting everyone involved in the system so that the "dirty tricks" and media skewing didn't happen.

Instead, it's turned the system into a free-for-all where politicians openly talk to the voters (good) without worrying that anyone will challenge them (bad). Sure, citizens and reporters can follow stories, but once something goes viral online it's accepted as truth for some time.

Maybe just long enough to change an election like it did with Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean and Republican Senatorial candidate George Allen.

We live in an age where one slip or one off the cuff remark becomes, as we so often hear, a window into the soul of the candidate. More than ever we are defined by the momentary mistakes and not the aggregate of our work.

By Brad at 01:01 PM | Comments (3)

(3) Thoughts on Dems and GOP Reach Out With Social Media

What really upsets me is that Virginia Dems had a field day ripping Allen apart in the '06 Virginia Senate race; that Webb is still bristling over allegations raised by Allen's camp; and that Webb's campaign, itself, leveled a last-minute charge against Allen, for which only after his election did Webb issue an apology.
The Democrats take great pleasure in destroying Allen's good rapport and dragging him through the dirt.

Comments by N/A : Sunday, June 01, 2008 at 02:13 AM

Virginians have just become much nastier and spiteful than when I was a kid -- Fairfax County (where I grew up) is nearly foreign territory to me.

Comments by N/A : Sunday, June 01, 2008 at 02:15 AM

As our party leaders dissect the results of the last election, they have started to identify potential causes for and very real differences between the parties that may have been factors in the Democrat’s victory.

Republican leaders have become aware of the vast difference in the level of communications technology utilized by campaigns on both sides. While Obama employed technological geniuses—some of whom built portions of the social web—to run his online campaign, Republicans across the country stayed busy campaigning with increasingly less relevant forms of communication.

As we begin the process of rebuilding our party, we ought to take a look at some of these new technologies—perhaps most importantly the social web.

http://www.estampede.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4:republican-party-web&catid=1:articles&Itemid=14

Comments by Tom : Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 03:27 AM

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