Patterico's Pontifications

7/31/2009

Politicians: Watch Out For Those Outside Internet Experts

Filed under: Blogging Matters,Politics — DRJ @ 10:40 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

These internet tubes can be confusing for politicians. Take, for example, the case of the Minnesota Democrats who linked to a video of a cursing Chinese woman instead of Tim Pawlenty:

“The party on Thursday recalled a statement criticizing Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty because it mistakenly linked to a profane YouTube video of an elderly Chinese woman repeating obscenities.

Andrew O’Leary, executive director of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as the Democratic Party is known in Minnesota, says the link was provided by an outside researcher.”

There’s also Kay Bailey Hutchison, a candidate against Rick Perry in the Texas Governor GOP primary, who has cut ties with an outside firm that placed over 2,200 “hidden phrases” on her campaign website:

“On Thursday, after the American-Statesman asked about the phrases, viewable only by unearthing the site’s source code, Hutchison’s campaign removed one phrase—”rick perry gay”— which had appeared twice.

Aides said all the phrases were computer-generated based on terms that computer users searched for who also searched under Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison or Texas or a combination of the phrases. They said the many phrases were appropriately intended to help target online banner advertising for Hutchison.

Several Internet experts said the placement of hidden text amounted to black-hat tactics generally looked down upon and in violation of Google’s quality guidelines for sites.”

The article reports that Google and Yahoo blocked Hutchison’s website, www.standbykay.com, because the hidden phrases are considered webspam.

— DRJ

2 Responses to “Politicians: Watch Out For Those Outside Internet Experts”

  1. Kay Bailey Hutchison was exposed for black hat tricks on this one. Her team is playing slash and burn against America’s best governor Rick Perry. Her candidacy makes no sense. Let’s spend our Republican dollars against Obama’s agenda, not on senseless intraparty squabbles. KBH is a pro-choice RINO running against a pro-life conservative. Her timing is just bad.

    Ethical Mouse (3cda13)

  2. After Gov. Perry sends the good Senator back to DC with her scorched tail-feathers, the big question is which Republican will be the winner in the ’12 Senatorial Primary forcing her into retirement?

    AD - RtR/OS! (486a83)


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