1/19/2003
Astroturf on the Letters page
Haw Haw. The Naples Daily News fell for a phony letter to the editor in praise of the Bush tax plan. Again. (Scroll down.)
"When it comes to the economy, President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership. The economic growth package he recently proposed takes us in the right direction . . ." writes Del Parrish of Naples.
The identical words occured to more than 20 other letter-writers according to a popular Google search. Eschaton lists some of the offenders. (Later on, he ran an updated list.)
The Daily News also was one of 34 papers running identical letters crowing about Republican victories in November. And the Wyeth Wire finds a similar New Year's-themed spam. (One the Naples News ran, too.)
There is, of course, no way to spot these. Letters to the editor editors mostly have to rely on their own personal bullshit detectors (Nobody really talks like that. This reads like a press release. Hey-y-y.)
But it's right after the holidays. There aren't many letters coming in that aren't libelous or illiterate or written in longhand and filled with tiny Bible citations up and down the margins. Do you really want ask too many questions about a letter that is short and has been run through a spell check? No you don't.
"When it comes to the economy, President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership. The economic growth package he recently proposed takes us in the right direction . . ." writes Del Parrish of Naples.
The identical words occured to more than 20 other letter-writers according to a popular Google search. Eschaton lists some of the offenders. (Later on, he ran an updated list.)
The Daily News also was one of 34 papers running identical letters crowing about Republican victories in November. And the Wyeth Wire finds a similar New Year's-themed spam. (One the Naples News ran, too.)
There is, of course, no way to spot these. Letters to the editor editors mostly have to rely on their own personal bullshit detectors (Nobody really talks like that. This reads like a press release. Hey-y-y.)
But it's right after the holidays. There aren't many letters coming in that aren't libelous or illiterate or written in longhand and filled with tiny Bible citations up and down the margins. Do you really want ask too many questions about a letter that is short and has been run through a spell check? No you don't.
