Archive for July 17th, 2008
Ever wonder why Republicans are so good at staying on message? At Netroots Nation, the DNC’s training director Parag V. Mehta explained one reason — when he was staying with a Republican friend once, he happened to see an email sent to his host containing the Republican talking points of the day. Apparently, these messages go out pretty much daily to activists at all levels of the party, from local organizers to pundits and elected officials, and they’re remarkably simple: three or four bullet points, which represent the message that the party wants to get out that day.
Wonder how the phrase “cut and run” popped up everywhere all at once during the Iraq War debate a few months back? Email talking point. Ever seen the Daily Show edit clips of a bunch of Republicans saying the exact same words in separate interviews all over cable news? Email talking points. Repeat ad nauseum and you get consistent wording across many media outlets, helping to ram home the party’s message even to casual viewers who barely pay attention to politics. Yet another reminder of how the ‘net infiltrates its way into every angle of the political process, often in ways that are invisible to outsiders.
– cpd
July 17th, 2008
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If you haven’t checked out the comments on Monday’s New Yorker Obama cover article, you’re missing out — we’ve been having a hell of a back-and-forth, with several folks disagreeing vehemently with my defense of that little piece of satire and others weighing in in support. Thanks all around! This is what public discourse is all about — the open and honest exchange of ideas. And the great thing about a blog platform is how easy it makes it for readers take part in the fun — collaborative media strikes again.
– cpd
July 17th, 2008
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Cross-posted on techPresident
First fruits of Netroots Nation — this morning, Chris Hughes and friend-of-e.politics (and new Obama campaign employee) Judith Freeman led an overview of how the nominee-to-be’s campaign has used social networking tools of all kinds to bring in new supporters, organize locally and (most importantly) put volunteers to work on their own. Let’s break down the tools and how the campaign uses each.
MyBarackObama
MyBarackObama is a “walled garden” social network, meaning that it’s a campaign-specific site and not a public social network like MySpace or Facebook. Whether it’s an actual social network with cross-connections among users has been questioned, but it and its million+ members are clearly extremely useful to the campaign. The critical point is that the MyBO features give participating activists tools to organize in their own communities, for instance by throwing house parties and fundraising drives, BEFORE the campaign has begun to direct volunteer activities from above.
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July 17th, 2008
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