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Mudraking for the Masses

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Marlin, Mar 20, 2007.

  1. Marlin

    Marlin New Member

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    The 2008 elections sure are going to be interesting. For the first time, everyone can participate in the mudraking. YouTube, MySpace, and others have dropped the barriers to entry and everyone can join in on the campaigning fun. Candidates will no longer be in control of their own campaigns.

    My guess is that the end result of this is that the these independent ad creaters are just going to hurt their own causes by cannibalizing their own party. (Both parties. This article was about Democrats/liberals, but the Republicans will join in on the fun too.)

    http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?i...3398&page=1

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("ABC")</div>
     
    #1 Marlin, Mar 20, 2007
  2. daronspicher

    daronspicher Active Member

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    What will make this even more fun is when the 'official campaign' puts out some crap, tries to distance itself from it as a 'rogue ad' while benefitting from the spin they are gitting, then to only have it later turn up to have been manufactured by the 'official campaign'.

    Also, I wonder how this will sift through the election laws. Can Big Oil or Big Tabacco or any of the lobby groups spend like crazy, put the ads on YouTube and everything is fine with the election commission?

    It seems that if the lobby groups spent big bucks to produce and run ads on TV, it used to fall under some election commission guidelines, limits, etc... Are those all out the window now that they don't have to buy airtime on TV, all they have to do is be creative enough to stand a head above the fray on YouTube. Spend the big bucks on the production of the ad now rather than on buying airtime.
     
    #2 daronspicher, Mar 20, 2007
  3. Marlin

    Marlin New Member

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    I don't know how they could possibly regulate it. You don't have to spend big bucks on anything now. You just need to be creative enough to spur interest and own a video camera.

    Previous efforts to level the playing field have been to control the amount of money donated or spent. But this is just plain old free speech. How could they tell a group of college students or a group of people who happen to belong to the same church, that they can't speak publicly?

    You don't need lobbying groups with lots of money now to reach a large segment of the nation. You just need a couple of people motivated enough and creative enough to produce a video clip that stands out above the noise.
     
    #3 Marlin, Mar 20, 2007
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