McCain Paying Shills To Spam Websites

From an outraged Washington Post:

Win Points for McCain!

Rewards Program for Online Commenters

By Paul Farhi
Thursday, August 7, 2008; C01

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.

Activists and political operatives have used volunteers or paid staff to seed radio call-in shows or letters-to-the-editor pages for years, typically without disclosing the caller or letter writer’s connection to a candidate or cause. Like the fake grass for which the practice is named, such AstroTurf messages look as though they come from the grass roots but are ersatz.

McCain’s campaign has taken the same idea and given it an Internet-era twist. It also has taken the concept one step further.

People who sign up for McCain’s program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain’s webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

“Anytime you’re getting supporters activated into online communities or taking other actions to spread the word, that’s a win,” Rogers says.

“Reward points” or other incentives for political work aren’t a new concept. The Republican National Committee started a rewards program for volunteer fundraisers several years ago. More recently, Barack Obama’s campaign has given small donors and volunteers the chance to win a lunch or dinner with the candidate. (Obama’s campaign doesn’t have a comment program similar to McCain’s.) …

What a revolting idea. And it certainly seems to fly in the face of the “Straight Talk Express.”

We are proud to note, however, that “Get Drunk” is not one of the sites being targeted:

(Click to enlarge)

Of course if the Obama camp were doing it — and they may well have in the past, we would never hear of it. (And you just know Hillary would do this.)

And, lest we forget, Mr. Moulitsas of the reprehensible Daily Kos, was a longtime paid stooge of (then Democrat candidate) Howard Dean:

On Dean’s campaign, we paid Markos and Jerome Armstrong as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean. We paid them over twice as much as we paid two staffers of similar backgrounds, and they had several other clients.

A minor detail the weasel was finally forced to admit to his duped readers.

But offering such incentives is still an insidious practice, in our unpaid opinion.

Not in the least for putting everyone who has anything positive to say about Mr. McCain under suspicion as a paid hack.

Besides, we prefer to keep the term “Astroturf” associated with the great Bill Clinton’s (ahem) love life.