Wingnut Micro-Welfare: astroturfing for McCain

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The McCain campaign has been reduced to bribing people to talk favorably about him on the Internet:

Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web -- and you could win valuable prizes!

That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of "AstroTurf" campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper.

On McCain's Web site, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .") and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" and "other" categories. Just cut and paste
John McCain, official sponsor of AstroTurf! Does he realize that with this program, he's immediately cast doubt on the legitimacy of ANY pro-McCain comments on any of the sites in question? As dday says:
I think the accurate response to any McCain supporter on the Web at this point is "how many buttons did you just win for that comment?"

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