Latest Clinton tactic: Fake news reports

[DogPoundPup]

The Clinton campaign's latest tactic in Ohio is, apparently, a radio ad that tries to make listeners think it's a news report until the very end.

Stuff like this, if it succeeds in fooling voters, fairly seriously pollutes the information environment by trying to steal the credibility of the news media and use it to present a biased, exagerrated set of facts. Why can't we rely on people who want to be president to not engage in the kind of creepy behavior that you teach your kids not to do?

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/03/latest_clinton_tactic_fake_new.html

[mattclearing]

1. I take issue with the wording. "The document shows that Obama's advisor..."

A document can do no such thing...a video or a audio recording, perhaps, but a written memo paraphrasing a meeting doesn't show anything except one person's interpretation of events.

That said, if it accurately represented the AP story, and I know that the AP wouldn't claim the document showed anything, I would say this is fair.

Since it presents a document that isn't necessarily indicative of what was said as gospel, I don't think so.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Did she hire Karl Rove as her campaign manager? :-P nt

[jgraz]

3. Worse: Mark Penn

Karl Rove without the winning.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. So a really really angry Karl Rove then nt

[Berry Cool]

4. Dirt. Dirt. Dirt.

Reminds me of that radio ad for the Marine Reserve in which the message is that they've been there for every war, every catastrophe, etc. It pretends to include excerpts of war reporting and disaster rescue reporting with the voices of "journalists" on the scene. The last excerpt features a "journalist" saying "And today, in the War on Terror..."

Has a self-respecting journalist anywhere outside Fox News ever referred to the current war as "The War on Terror" when reporting the latest news on it?

This is low, and it is Rovian...and it works. It appeals to voters' natural cynicism about campaign promises.

All you have to do is plant the seed of doubt. The voter's mind takes care of the rest.

[jgraz]

6. Clinton. Clinton. Clinton.

[MojoMojoMojo]

7. Why is paraphrasing an actual press story bad?

Maybe they used the actual msm soundtrack .What is the difference as long as the story was real.

[MojoMojoMojo]

8. Its no worse than pointing out that Hillary voted for IWR 1000 times

But that tactic is OK