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McCain, Conservatives, and Google Bombing

Submitted by Patrick Casey on Sat, 06/21/2008 - 11:12
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Some of the stuff that I comment on, or propose, is at odds with things that John McCain has said in the recent past. That's because while I am interested in the present, I'm primarily about the future - be it next week, next month, or next year. Conservative principles are a proven commodity. They've won Presidencies for the Republicans, and also majorities in the House and Senate. If McCain decides to jettison some of those principles in the hope of getting good news coverage, that's his problem. The media never has been, is not, and never will be your friend, Senator McCain. They just used you as an effective foil against President Bush.

If some of what I (and many other like myself) write about and propose is counter to what John McCain is out there talking about, so be it. If he's smart and wants to win, he and his campaign will listen. If not, he has only himself to blame. In other words, I'm kind of talking past McCain. Don't get me wrong, I hope he wins. But the reason why I hope he wins is not because I believe in everything he says, it's because I believe that the alternative would be disastrous for American and the world. We conservatives played our "spite" games with Ross Perot in 1992, and it gave us Bill Clinton and his minions - and the eternal coarsening of American politics. We don't need to go there again. And we don't have to - I think that we can build a solid case for people to vote against Barack Obama's based on his proposed policies and 'solutions'. For when you scratch the surface of Obama even a little bit, it's readily apparent that there's no "there" there.

Having said that, I'd like to call everyone's attention to this article in Computer World: Blogger launches 'Google bomb' at McCain. Subtitled "Effort aims to boost Google rankings of negative news stories about Sen. John McCain", it's the story of Chris Bowers of OpenLeft and his attempt (which will succeed, by the way - he's done it before) to game Google. He's highlighting negative McCain stories that include some rather interesting quotes from the candidate himself on issues from tax cuts to the just passed GI Bill.

I don't have the technical know-how to either understand this, or do anything about it. But I trust that people on our side are counter-Google Bombing now that this is in the open (with positive McCain articles and negative stories about Obama)? If not, someone had better get started. We have enough problems already...

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We conservatives played our

Submitted by David Hinz on Sat, 06/21/2008 - 12:53.

We conservatives played our "spite" games with Ross Perot in 1992, and it gave us Bill Clinton and his minions - and the eternal coarsening of American politics.

Here! Here! I still feel shame at what I helped to bring about.

But I trust that people on our side are counter-Google Bombing now that this is in the open (with positive McCain articles and negative stories about Obama)?

Sadly, Republicans have JOBS and responsibilities that don't allow them the total unfettered access to the internet to play their liberal games.

But I agree with you, our side needs to get more tech-savy and win the war of the internet -- or at least learn how to compete.

Pat, I think you are incorrect ...

Submitted by davidfarrar on Sun, 06/22/2008 - 08:42.

...in your political analysis when you say, "We conservatives played our "spite" games with Ross Perot in 1992, and it gave us Bill Clinton and his minions - and the eternal coarsening of American politics. We don't need to go there again."

First off, the Republican presidential nominee was George Sr. And notwithstanding Perot's own shortcomings, if we had been willing to stick to our fiscal conservative ideals, true, we would still have gotten Bill, but would we have gotten George Jr.?

The truth is, Pat; our country and its political structure is stronger than we conservatives give it credit. And the reason why this point is so very important is because without the voting public actually going through the liberal-learning curve, it will not acquire the necessary political experience upon which to make the right decision when the time comes. We need to stop jumping over the cliff of the next election, like lemmings, and focus on rebuilding a political consensus around conservative values and ideals

Let's fast-forward to today's election. Sure, it's election time, both sides are absolutely dedicated to persuading us their candidate is the knight in shinning armor and the other one is evil incarnate, bent on destroying the country. But we both know this isn't really the case. We both know our system of government divides its power...the nation can, and will, survive this next election. The important point in all of this is to remember, while many conservatives believe this election is important....it's not as important as the next six elections, and to win the next six elections, we will need the people educated and dedicated to our conservative values, which is our main responsibility as Republicans.

Your point about Google-bombs is well taken, though.

ex animo

davidfarrar