This makes no sense to me. I mean, when you have Fox News and
its minions of ALLEGED “reporters”
and talking heads at your beck-and-call, why create a fake news site?
But, apparently, the National Republican Congressional
Committee [NRCC] which just last year created a series of fake Democratic
candidate websites — sites that were taken down when it was revealed they were
nothing but lies and fakes created by the NRCC — has now launched another set
of phony websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.
The NRCC has created over twenty fake news sites that they
use to challenge Democratic candidates for office and is using Google to
promote the sites. These one-page websites look like a local news site, with logos
like "North County Update" or "Central Valley Update" and the “articles” look like an impartial news
story about a Democratic candidate.
And, if you think you’re reading an impartial news source
about a candidate for office in your area, you suddenly find the “news” site
bashing the Democratic candidate. And it you read all the way through to the bottom
you find the itty-bitty disclaimer that the NRCC paid for the site.
Just as the NRCC did last year with the fake Democratic
candidate sites, they promote these “news” websites through Google search ads.
For example, if a voter in Democratic Representative John Barrow's Georgia
district searches his name on Google, the first ad that appears leads to a faux
news site called ElectionUpdate2014, that bears the tag-line: "Find Out
More About John Barrow. We'll Provide The Facts: You Decide."
When you click that link you find yourself at a page called
"Augusta Update" — Augusta is a city in Barrow's district — and the
article begins, "Today, we're reviewing Barrow's record to see if his
campaign rhetoric matches his record."
All well and good if it was an impartial news site, but it’s
created and funded and run by the NRCC and ends with the line: "That kind of record doesn't sound like someone who
puts Georgia first. It sounds like someone who has put President Obama ahead of
his constituents."
Andrea Bozek, communications director for the NRCC, and
apparent asshat extraordinaire, says: "This is a new and effective way to disseminate
information to voters who are interested in learning the truth about these
Democratic candidates."
Except the site is a lie; it’s not news, it’s a political ad, and a lie, disguised as news and created by the GOP's campaign arm. It says a lot about the GOP that they feel the need to
resort to these kinds of tactics in order to “get the word out.” I mean, I
guess the truth takes too much time? Or maybe the truth doesn’t fit within the
GOP.
Sadly, the sites appear to be within legal limits, even
though the NRCC's disclaimer box at the very bottom of the faux-news sites does
not include the URL of the committee, which is a requirement.
Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee [DCCC] says this about the fake sites: "[The] House
Republicans' campaign strategy to overcome their own historic unpopularity is
to resort to deception — again."
Andrea Bozek’s response: "They're just jealous, that
they didn't think of this strategy first."
Only the GOP and the NRCC and people like Andréa Bozek can
call a lie, a deception, a fake news site, “strategy.
The NRCC. ISBL’s Asshats of the Week.
Applause! Well deserved.
ReplyDeleteThe sleaze barrier for politicians gets lower every day. When you can pay to disseminate lies as news you know we have reached a new low that will soon become the norm.
ReplyDeletedon't know who's lower - the kartrashians or politicians or used car salespersons or preachers? hmmmm?
ReplyDeleteHow on earth could this be legal? It seems that a political ad should need to be more upfront with the info that its an ad! GRRRRRR!
ReplyDelete