Update: This is now a page instead of blog post and is a work in progress with comments on the page enabled. I have made some changes suggested over at Kos already. Thanks for all the input and support of this little wiki-like project! Hopefully it will benefit those looking for ways to run online campaigns better.
This will probably be a work in progress and will evolve to a page instead of a blog post. Your comments are welcome.
1. No BS. Save your slick PR and spin for the masses. Those of us engaged and online typically know a bit more about current events than the average Jane. Not all of us, but most. I suggest you stick to the straight talk and cut the shit early and often.
2. Money – Don’t ask for money. Have a place to do it. Make it prominent. But don’t make it your primary mission in online strategy. It won’t work. The blogosphere especially hates being seen as one big virtual ATM. Give us ideas, give us leadership and vision, inspire us. The money follows this…never before!
3. Ads – we don’t buy ‘em. Neither should you. One of the beautiful things about being online is I can get software to block the things, even cool flash ones. The Internet and blogs are not an online version of the nightly news. Unless it is an issue that we care deeply about, we ain’t lookin. Most likely you are wasting money on the ad buy, and quite possibly if you do it wrong it will cause more harm than good. Just enter the space and talk with us. Ads are a form of talking AT us.
4. Ads Part 2 – If you do decide this kind of “visibility” is what you want, make it that. Don’t run ads that try to trick us. One thing you need to learn now is that bloggers are a very critically thinking sort. We’ll figure it out (one of us), then the rest will spread the news faster than Billy Carter can open a six pack.
5. Spam – If you are ever in a meeting and someone says, “Hey, let’s copy and paste the latest press release on as many blogs as we can…in their comment sections”, fire the fucker. On the spot. He’s killin’ you. People who live and breath in the online world like spam about as much as having fingernails removed with chainsaws. Never, EVER, do this.
With the majority of the American people now NOT in favor of the war in Iraq, Bushco decided it was time to unveil a “plan for victory in Iraq”. High time I’d say, Mr. President. Yes, in fact, so many people are now against this war Bush himself might call it a “mandate”. I listened to the speech, listened to Reed and Kerry respond, then held my own impromptu press conference at City Hall here in Delaware with over 300 anti-war protestors present. (OK, it was just me and my dog…but he is really big, so there!)
The Bush Speech:
The Reed/Kerry Response:
Eric with top aid Dogen close by (sorry, I got rambling…this is like 12 minutes long – download it and use it as a sleep aid! I promise to practice and get better!):
I think Froomkin is right when he says this might not work. The best of which is:
It is at heart a restatement, rather than a reappraisal, of a strategy that according to the polls the American public has overwhelmingly rejected.
Complete victory is a sham…nobody, even Bush himself, knows what the hell that means.
Update: After reading the Executive Summary, I didn’t have the stomach to do this but Think Progress has a complete deconstruction of the “Victory Plan”.
Are these guys for real? This little clip of audio is a real head shaker. Charles Grassley, Republican from Iowa outlines his case for Manifest Diesel:
You know, what–what makes our economy grow is energy. And, and Americans are used to going to the gas tank (sic), and when they put that hose in their, uh, tank, and when I do it, I wanna get gas out of it. And when I turn the light switch on, I want the lights to go on, and I don’t want somebody to tell me I gotta change my way of living to satisfy them. Because this is America, and this is something we’ve worked our way into, and the American people are entitled to it, and if we’re going improve (sic) our standard of living, you have to consume more energy.”
Jim Petro is running an ad which appeals strongly to the Rod Parsley crowd…and he’s running it very early. This is a sign to me that he might think himself and other state Republicans are in real trouble over the ongoing corruption within their party and Jim’s inability to effectively step up and deal with it. What better way to deflect such things than to ask for help from G-O-D.
The ad was featured and commented on during a recent NPR piece:
Funny. I wonder if progressive activists will buy up all the flip flops and clap them together in front of Petro while stumping in Ohio? Of course not, because one is allowed to “grow and develop and change their viewpoints” afterall now aren’t they? Didn’t stop the college Redumblicans though did it?
Sure you changed your position Jim, for political convenience. Same thing Blackwell did because he’d rather win elections than stand for something. Evoking God, brilliant move Paduchik! But God can’t save your candidate from the horrible stench of Ohio corruption and a party leader with an approval rating damn near within the margin of error! I’m thinking near 70% is just about a mandate, don’t you?
Wikiwars are fun to watch. Wikipedia is an amazing resource that basically takes the knowledge of users in various subject matters and leverages that in an open way to provide a free online encyclopedia. Most of you know all that.
What you might not realize is the amount of time that goes into competing definitions and explanations of things on the site. People literally “camp out” on certain subjects that are like pet projects to them. One recent one is the definition of “swiftboating”. Here is the definition as it had appeared recently:
“Swiftboating is American political jargon for truthful and accurate debunking of John Kerry’s exaggerated military experience in Vietnam. The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth organization’s ads against Democratic presidential candidate Senator John F. Kerry in the 2004 election campaign revealed the candidate to be untruthful in his representation of his military record. Swiftboating is a new political term for exposing the truth while being under constant attack from those that desperately want to believe the lie. “
Cue wild laughter… As you can imagine, this sparked quit the little battle in trying to edit this entry. It eventually was locked. It now says:
Swiftboating is American political jargon for the sensationalized portrayal of John Kerry’s decorated military experience in Vietnam. The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth organization’s ads against Democratic presidential candidate Senator John F. Kerry in the 2004 presidential election campaign alleged that Senator Kerry was being untruthful in his representation of his military record. All available military records support Senator Kerry’s accounts of his own service.
and it carries the following note: “This page has been temporarily protected from editing to deal with vandalism. Please discuss changes on the talk page or request unprotection.” The moral majority wingnuts vandalizing? That is hard to believe!
“I have made a very difficult decision,” Coleman said during a lunchtime press conference in the mayor’s office. “I am announcing today that I will no longer be a candidate for governor of Ohio.”
The campaign never really got off the ground. The DUI along with some serious online mis-steps doomed this from the beginning.
I need to make up a list of suggestions for online campaign coordinators. It would start with: 1. Be honest, don’t blog or comment as someone you are not 2. Don’t ever, ever spam comments to get out your PR…and the list would go on. Listening Philip? Personal emails are great. PR via email is great. Lying sucks. Spam has and always will suck. Got it? Good.
Sorry, Mike. But hey, sweet poster! Maybe I can pick one up for a premium now!
Update: Ted Strickland comments on the Coleman decision. Yes, this is political blah, blah, blah, but I so like this audioblogging thing!
Ah, catching up. My family got slammed with a turkey of a vacation: 3 days in the hospital with my youngest. Kidney infections in 5 year olds suck! As does 5 tries getting an IV in her arm. I almost punched a nurse over that one. There is no more demanding a self control situation than watching someone hurt your child (albeit to help her).
This one caught my eye and turned my stomach at the same time. It was actually very topical as I’m right now reading P.W. Singer’s comprehensive “Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry“. There is a video out that apparently shows employees of a PMF (privatized military firm) taking pot shots at civilians while driving down “Route Irish”, the road that leads from Baghdad to the airport.
What you are about to see: First you will hear “Myster Train” by Elvis Presley, which sounds like a post-production addition. Next you will see vehicles being randomly shot at behind the vehicle in which the camera operator and gunman are in. Look to the right and you’ll see the muzzle flash from the machine gun. Those pops you hear are rounds going off. Look closely and you’ll see vehicles stopping and/or running off the road.
The following are things that I am thankful for, as it relates to politics and Plunderbund (of course I’m thankful for my family, friends, etc):
The Internet – the great equalizer. Now news travels at the speed of RSS and my weather is on my desktop. The greatest innovation in modern times, thanks to the folks over at DARPA. Don’t say the DOD is useless, DARPA proves otherwise.
Blogs – the new media. Say what you want, debunk what you can, hold the powers that be and the corporate media in check. rock on. we will not be neutralized!
The First Amendment – protecting my right to blog, talk, shout, hold up a sign, or support a cause since 1791.
Ohio lefty blogs – standing up to the insane right wing idealogues and attempted to slowly turn our state back to a more rational blue.
Delaware County Progressives – a small, but energetic bunch who will some day help to change the face of our very red county.
All of you – and last, but not least all of you. All of you who read, blog, volunteer, canvass, phonebank, rally, bitch, moan, complain, or protest. Thanks for doing whatever it is you do. It lets me know I’m not crazy and not alone.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your families. Let’s hook back up here on Monday and continue to give ‘em hell shall we?
Boy, us netheads sure are conspiratorial in nature aren’t we? There has been some big hubub mostly among wingnut sites about CNN airing a big black X over Cheney during a speech. It happens for somewhere around 1/25th of a second. Drudge got everyone in an uproar, including of course Malkin.
The whole deal appears to be a technical thing…the X being a marker of some kind between feeds or whatnot. The Dan Report gets it sorted all out thanks to a graphics guy who analyzed and figured out there was also text that read: “Transition Begins After 5 Frames of Black”. If it were a prank, why would one put that technical sounding mumbo jumbo in there?
I say everyone is missing the real point here: This is a sign from GOD!
This just keeps getting better and better by the day. First Murtha steps forward and shows commanding leadership, that despite appearing to be teflon, gets sniped at by the right anyways (cue wicked witch of the west bicycle theme). That shit backfires and lingers as the messenger is not only killed, but comes out smelling like a liar.
The cut and run frame is officially dead (ding dong the witch is dead, the mean old witch, the wicked witch!). Salah Nasrawi, an AP writer, reports that Iraqis even want a timetable for our withdrawal from their country. Not only THAT, but they feel the resistance there is a “legitimate right”. Wowzers.
Leaders of Iraq’s sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right” of resistance.
So I say unto you Monsieur Cheney: “What plan will you follow now?”
Let’s add insult to injury shall we? Not only did the freshman Congresswoman from Ohio put her foot in her mouth, she also lied in the process! What a goof. The Cincy Enquirer has an article that outlines how Colonel Bubp did indeed call Rep. Schmidt, but did NOT ask her to call Murtha or anyone else a coward:
Danny Bubp, a freshman state representative who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, told The Enquirer that he never mentioned Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., by name when talking with Schmidt, and he would never call a fellow Marine a coward.
So Jean’s little wingnut backs away from her little tirade (as did she). He’s just a “stay the courser”, not a “Dems are cowards” wingnut then. Good:
“There was no discussion of him personally being a coward or about any person being a coward,” Bubp said. “My message to the folks in Washington, D.C., and to all the Congress people up there, is to stay the course. We cannot leave Iraq or cut and run – any terminology that you want to use.”
Still, Bubp said the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.
Just how, Colonel Bubp, do you think this has been blown out of proportion? I’d say calling out a distinguished war veteran and very respected Congressman and deeming him a coward is something to get worked up about – ESPECIALLY if it is done in your name! You should be jumping up and down and demanding a formal apology for mentioning your name in her little congressional episode, not downplaying the damned thing…that would be the…uh…brave thing to do! [click to continue…]
A couple of things strike me and rub me the wrong way, really.
First off the allusion that bloggers are “cold sores” that you just can’t stop itching:
Brown, who’s been intimately connected to the progressive grassroots for the entirety of his career, evinces more than a little bafflement at the portion of the new blog constituency that has been lobbing rhetorical hand grenades in his direction. “My wife says it’s like when you have a cold sore, you keep running your tongue over it,” Brown says. “I keep telling her, ‘Connie, stop reading the blogs!’ But she can’t help herself.”
I understand one of you is a seasoned legislator and the other a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, but please don’t denigrate what we do in the blogosphere. My guess is the reason you rub your cold sore so much is that it is akin to a crystal ball that makes journalists look like they are plugged in. How many blogs are in your RSS feeder Ms. Shultz? Stop reading the blogs indeed…and keep downplaying them too – at your own peril. If blogs were not important, people wouldn’t try to buy them. [click to continue…]
Apparently he was done answering questions and wanted to leave. Exit…stage right! Doors locked…oh shit! WTF. Help. This does not happen in Umericah..hehe. I tried to escape, but it didn’t work. LMAO:
Catching up from a hectic travel weekend. To save all who read this post the trouble, here is a tip: When they say be there an hour before an international flight, they mean ONE HOUR…not fifty minutes…not fifty five minutes. One freaking hour. Cost me 4 hours of my life that lesson right there…not to mention the rule that says no driving through Montreal at 4pm to the airport.
So, TVs were blaring on Friday in the airports I walked through on my travels home. Most were focused entirely on Mean Jean and her Murtha smear campaign. Most have seen this, but to have a place to easily point those who haven’t, here it goes (Murtha as we know is the highly respected Dem from PA who served some 37 years of military service and is, essentially, untouchable in terms of the chickenhawk’s ability to call him a coward for – as he did recently – not supporting the war in Iraq any longer).
So what do you do when you have an untouchable veteran oppose your illegal little PNAC war? Why, throw a sacrificial little freshman chickenhawk at ‘em of course!:
(the difference in the tone in her first remarks vs. the retraction are striking)
Update: People Have The Power has more about who Colonel Danny Bubp is that Jean refers to in her speech (guy who wrote the letter sending a message to Murtha), as does Scott at Word of Mouth.
Boy, us netheads sure are conspiratorial in nature aren’t we? There has been some big hubub mostly among wingnut sites about CNN airing a big black X over Cheney during a speech. It happens for somewhere around 1/25th of a second. 
Apparently he was done answering questions and wanted to leave. Exit…stage right! Doors locked…oh shit! WTF. Help. This does not happen in Umericah..hehe. I tried to escape, but it didn’t work. LMAO:
Eric’s Rules for Online Campaign Organizers
by Eric on November 30, 2005 · Comments
Update: This is now a page instead of blog post and is a work in progress with comments on the page enabled. I have made some changes suggested over at Kos already. Thanks for all the input and support of this little wiki-like project! Hopefully it will benefit those looking for ways to run online campaigns better.
This will probably be a work in progress and will evolve to a page instead of a blog post.Your comments are welcome.1. No BS. Save your slick PR and spin for the masses. Those of us engaged and online typically know a bit more about current events than the average Jane. Not all of us, but most. I suggest you stick to the straight talk and cut the shit early and often.
2. Money – Don’t ask for money. Have a place to do it. Make it prominent. But don’t make it your primary mission in online strategy. It won’t work. The blogosphere especially hates being seen as one big virtual ATM. Give us ideas, give us leadership and vision, inspire us. The money follows this…never before!
3. Ads – we don’t buy ‘em. Neither should you. One of the beautiful things about being online is I can get software to block the things, even cool flash ones. The Internet and blogs are not an online version of the nightly news. Unless it is an issue that we care deeply about, we ain’t lookin. Most likely you are wasting money on the ad buy, and quite possibly if you do it wrong it will cause more harm than good. Just enter the space and talk with us. Ads are a form of talking AT us.
4. Ads Part 2 – If you do decide this kind of “visibility” is what you want, make it that. Don’t run ads that try to trick us. One thing you need to learn now is that bloggers are a very critically thinking sort. We’ll figure it out (one of us), then the rest will spread the news faster than Billy Carter can open a six pack.
5. Spam – If you are ever in a meeting and someone says, “Hey, let’s copy and paste the latest press release on as many blogs as we can…in their comment sections”, fire the fucker. On the spot. He’s killin’ you. People who live and breath in the online world like spam about as much as having fingernails removed with chainsaws. Never, EVER, do this.
only five more… [click to continue…]
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