Pol using blog comments in ads likened to "Quoting graffiti off the underside of an underpass"

As I've been suggesting since attending YearlyKos, bloggers in politics have moved into the mainstream in many states and political arenas. The Washington post notes that

elected officials even consider bloggers part of the press corps.

Source: washingtonpost.com

In the latest example of "disruptive technology," blogs and how politicians use quotes from blogs, has become an issue in its own right. As the WaPo notes, quoting "Dan the Man" who blogged on a site that doesn't require registration and allows anonymous posts,

Ads that quote from blogs, on which it is often difficult to identify the author, represent a benchmark in increasingly negative political campaigns, several political analysts said.

Source: washingtonpost.com

That benchmark is a new low however. The American Association of Political Consultants code of ethics prohibits running misleading ads, and that includes ads where you can't easily identify who made statements, claims, or is quoted.
The particular problem in this case is that the blog quotes:

Even

though it appears that de la Piedra, 24, wrote the comments about

Simmons in Hugo's ad, several people who study political advertising

said Hugo's ad appears to violate a well-known standard in political

campaigns that a charge against an opponent should be easy to

verify.

Source: washingtonpost.com

For digital natives, this may not be a problem, but many voters are seniors and other digital immigrants who don't quite "get" the lay of the blogging landscape, and thus are not able to determine the truth or validity of this kind of statement.
Stay tuned for more, as though it may be deplorable and unethical, that doesn't mean it won't become the political rage.

NowPublic

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