She refers to herself as a liar because she doesn’t have a son in Irawq. In Rhythmdvl’s quotes (and my first snippet) you can see that the volunteers are being encouraged to invent characters for their letters.
Here are two hypothetical scenarios. I use Obama in these examples, though as far as my Google can tell, only McCain is currently doing this.
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A recent college grad walks into an local Obama campaign center, and asks what he can do. “Write a letter to the local paper,” he is told. “Talk about what’s important to you, and why you prefer Obama. Express your disgust with the status quo, demand that we shouldn’t have four more years of failed Bush policies, talk about Palin’s history of cronyism in Alaksa – whatever stirs your blood. But remember, details are good, and make it emotional. Here, have a pen and paper.” The grad takes a few minutes and writes such a letter.
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A recent college grad walks into an local Obama campaign center, and asks what he can do. “Sign this,” he is told. He is handed a letter, recently written by another recent college grad, that reads: “As a Vietnam vet and double-amputee, I never want another president who will endanger our troops in a war of aggression. McCain will follow in Bush’s footsteps in unwise nation building and sledgehammer ‘diplomacy.’ No soldier who understands the proper and defensive role of the military should vote for him. For the sake of my son, who’s serving in the Army, I urge folks to vote Obama.” Since that sounds like a sound opinion for this theoretical vet to hold, the grad signs it.
I see a vast ethical gulf between the two.
Actually, David Axelrod, Obama’s chief media specialist, is well known as a master of astroturfing. In and of itself, that means nothing, of course.
However, interestingly enough, there has been an explosion in the blogosphere about an astroturfing issue with Obama. Seems a Democrat PR firm produced an anti-Palin video, then released it on YouTube anonymously trying to give the impression it was a typical homemade video, presumably with the hope it would go viral. Unfortunately, they posted it using the email account traceable back to the PR firm. Everything was removed and erased within an hour of the discovery of the originators. Later, the company’s president says that, yes, he did it, but that it was all on his own time and not connected to the Obama campaign, so that’s where it is right now. I don’t know the whole story at this point, but it’s interesting.
From the cite (yes, you can get there without subscribing but it’s hard to see that);
*Salon has no evidence that any of the letters Oostveen wrote were ever published, in their original or adapted form, as letters to the editor in newspapers. *
Sample letter:*The text of the attached sample letter:
Dear Editor:
Sarah Palin’s selection by John McCain completes the dream ticket the American people have prayed for to clean up national politics. She brings to the Republican ticket the character, integrity, and depth of experience to produce real change in Washington. Her executive experience challenging corruption and special interests in resource-rich Alaska – even within her own party – produced landmark ethics reform legislation while promoting development of energy resources. Her veto cut budgetary spending, and she refused $400 million federal taxpayer dollars to fund the infamous “bridge to nowhere.” Palin’s courageous presence with Alaska National Guard serving in harm’s way serves her well as a potential Commander-in-Chief of the United States military forces, and saying goodbye to her own son deploying to Iraq lets every mother know she understands their concerns. While Barack Obama spent his time crafting his personal story with votes of “present” in the Illinois House and campaigning for President during his first U.S. Senate term, Palin had boots-on-the-ground proving her executive ability to lead. McCain-Palin get my vote for their willingness to force the REAL CHANGE to return Washington to representing the Americans who elected them. *
There are more. In none of them (except the ones Ostween wrote, which apparently were never used) are there anything like “As a Vietnam vet and double-amputee,…”. The guidelines mention nothing like that.
This is pretty normal astroturfing.
Volunteers can, staff can’t.
Well, duh.
What if the recent college grad were presented with a pre-written letter which read, “As a recent college grad, I’m worried about the job market that Bush has left us, and I fear McCain will be more of the same,” etc. He’s then told, why don’t you personalize this and send it in to your local newspaper.
How does that scenario fit into the vast ethical gulf?
It’s not the campaign itself, but if you go to the blog at Obama’s website, at http://www.barackobama.com, you’ll find supporters offering their ghost writing services.
I do not believe the Obama campaign itself does this, and I was mistaken when I said that.
Ed
Somewhere in the middle, and closer to the “acceptable” side, though it still makes me a bit uncomfortable. If a person signs a pre-written letter, and every fact and opinion in the letter is true for the person signing, I think that’s more acceptable, though I’d still prefer for a letter-writer to use their own words. The more the facts and opinions diverge from those of the writer, the more I object on ethical grounds.
It’s the fact that the letter writers in this case are asked to make up fictitious personae, and fictitious personal details, that rankles with me. If I thought effort was being spent to find signers for whom every word in the letter was accurate, I’d mind less, but I suspect that’s not happening.
Cite?
The very first line of the article I quoted.
"“You can be whoever you want to be,” says an inviting Phil Tuchman. “You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!”
Later in the article, the author invents a non-existing son fighting in Iraq and includes it in a letter that gets obvious approval from the campaign representative.
This man working for the campaign is asking writers to make up fake persons. And if you look at the “sample letters” that are linked to in the article (from a sheet handed to the author of the piece), they start with lines like: “As a hunter, outdoorsman, and proud independent, I’m thrilled…” Do you really think they found an “independent” to sign that letter, let alone one who was a hunter and outdoorsman?
I was wondering how many posts it would take for someone to claim, without a shred of evidence, that both campaigns do this. Didn’t take long at all.
FWIW, as I’ve said, I’ve worked on Democratic campaigns before, and it was not controversial at all. I’d be very surprised if Obama didn’t do it.
The author is ghostwriting letters. Completely understood. The author feels like a liar for doing it. Check.
From what I gather, these ghostwritten letters are then given to campaign operatives who search for people who’d like to sign them. Just because the author isn’t the type of person signing the letter, in my view, doesn’t make the author ethically bankrupt.
If the letters are being written to solicit people to be untruthful by signing them (e.g., if a recent college grad signs a letter designed for a li’l old lady), that’s dishonest, wrong, and I condemn it. But if the ghostwriter is writing a letter for a generic li’l ol lady who wants to support McCain’s Social Security plan, and the campaign finds a li’l old lady who supports McCain’s Social Security plan to sign the letter, I contend the ghostwriter need not go through any moral or ethical crisis.
Yes, but that’s not in any of the sample letters provided or in the guidelines.
And, where do you get "obvious approval " since the her letters were never used?
FWIW, Obama’s website provides boilerplate letters on various issues, and encourages you to send them to local newspapers/politicians/what have you with personal stuff added.
I pretty much agree – if you’ll allow me to quote myself from a few posts back:
But the fact that one of the “sample letters” provided to the ghost writers starts out “As an…independent…”, I’m skeptical that they actually look for matches. Who’s going to volunteer for this who isn’t a strong Republican?
It’s Ok when he does it.:rolleyes:
So, the campaign guy gives the writer explicit verbal instructions, but because he didn’t write it down as well, it somehow doesn’t count? Sorry, but I don’t accept that. He told her, specifically, that she could make up any persona she wanted.
In the article, Mr. Tuchman read the letter which included the fictitious son, and then commented: "“I like that. It appeals to the hearts of people. Can you write more letters?”
Clear approval.
If those boilerplates and instructions encourage people to misrepresent themselves, make up facts, or in any other way put their signatures on letters that are not accurate in their facts and opinions as relate to the signer, then no, it’s not okay. Are they doing that? McCain’s camp certainly is.
I would support this practice if they did them like Mad Libs.
"Dear Editor,
I write to you as a mother of four boogers and a registered poopyhead. My son is presently serving in the military in the country of Butthole, and it is out of concern for him and his pancakes that I write this diaper…"
I wrote that poorly. They provides the meat of the letter, the actual discussion of the issue, and encourage you to put your own stuff in as well, including, but not limited to, your personal circumstances, experiences in this area, etc. Nowhere do they ask you to sign something that doesn’t apply to you.