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Blogger Launches 'Google Bomb' At McCain

Posted by Soulskill on from the everyone-needs-a-hobby dept.

hhavensteincw writes "A liberal blogger has launched a 'Google bomb' project aimed at boosting Google search results for nine news articles showing Sen. John McCain in a negative light. The Computerworld article notes: 'Chris Bowers, managing editor of the progressive blog OpenLeft, is launching the Google bombs by encouraging bloggers to embed Web links to the nine news stories about McCain in their blogs, which helps raise their ranking in Google search results. Bowers is reprising a similar Google bombing effort he undertook in 2006 against 52 different congressional candidates. "Obviously, it is manipulating, but search engines are not public forums and unless you act to use them for your own benefit, your opponent's information is going to get out there," Bowers said.'"

11 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. Raises tough questions by clang_jangle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I find the practice of SEO to be a bit questionable in any event, but soliciting volunteers to essentially manipulate google search results in order to favor a given political agenda just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Sure, it can argued that the right fights dirty, but where is the honor in stooping to this sort of thing?

    Well, I am old enough to remember the sixties -- maybe I'm just becoming obsolete.

    --
    Caveat Utilitor
  2. Against the Principles of Democracy by DeionXxX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't one of the tenants of democracy that everyone have access to all information and then they decide who's best for themselves? This is poisoning the available information so citizens don't have all of the information about a candidate.

    Pretty surprising come from the left, you know, with their morals and such.

  3. What a dick. by saintlupus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, it's always a lot better to make sure that you taint the conversation.

    This is an excellent example of the juvenile "us vs. them" mentality that national US politics has devolved into. I'm a bicycle-riding urbanite liberal stereotype, I still find this sort of idiocy appalling. Let people make up their own minds and hunt for their own information.

    --saint

  4. what a douche by Alibaba10100 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This is a perfect example of how political types can't see anything outside of their petty us vs. them mentality.

    "We're just using McCain's own words -- everything we are targeting are things McCain has done or said himself. There's no bias at all. No bias? By what definition is emphasizing the things someone says that suit your purposes not bias? In fact, this is the most insidious kind of bias. If the pieces being ranked up were opinion pieces, at least viewers would be aware that what they are reading is someone's opinion. But this way, the ordering of the news stories itself contains some random guy's personal bias and the majority of searchers will not know to put their guard up.

    Obviously, it is manipulating
    bingo
    1. Re:what a douche by Alibaba10100 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I absolutely agree with that. But placing responsibility on readers to sort out fact from opinion does not exonerate people who try to deceive them.

  5. Informed Vote? by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Obviously, it is manipulating, but search engines are not public forums and unless you act to use them for your own benefit, your opponent's information is going to get out there," Bowers said.'" Because clearly, the last thing you want to do is let your opponent's perspective out there. This is brought to you by the 'informed populace makes for poor voters' theory.
  6. Re:Yeah, that'll help . . . by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The faults of some candidates do not, by themselves, make other candidates worthy. It's about time we learned that.

  7. Re:Open left of what? by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One vote for the democratic party of america is one less vote for the republican party of america, but is it really a vote to the left?

    True - we've got two major parties in the U.S., one representing the center of the right wing, one representing the right wing of the center.

    It's no wonder that, until this charismatic upstart Obama came along, the "sure winner" of the Democratic primaries was a woman who had been the president of her campus's chapter of the College Republicans, and whose husband was called "the best Republican president we've had in a while" by Alan Greenspan.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  8. It is not Gogglebombing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you have a political blog and you are linking to articles about a political candidate on other web sites, how is that Googlebombing? Isn't that actually the way the web is supposed to work?

  9. Re:Yeah, that'll help . . . by Entropius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't want a unified country.

    I want a just, upstanding, ethical, and prosperous country.

    If "unity" means "agreeing with people who advocate theocracy", then I'm against it. If it means "Americans working together to make their country and the world a better place", I'm for it.

    Unity isn't something that you *make* happen. Unity is something that happens as a result of good governance and an educated and civic-minded citizenry.

  10. Re:It doesnt work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You aren't describing conservatives, you are describing the Republican Party. The Republican Party are not conservative in any way, shape or form. Conservatives would be against the Iraq war. Conservatives would be against increasing the size of the government. Conservatives would be against wiping their asses with the Constitution. Conservatives would be against spending far more money than the country has.