More Gifts for the Good People of Political Communication Strategy

The Femocrat is here to serve!

I now have a thorough outline of The PR Crisis Bible as well as Out of Control for anyone who wants them to help study for the final. I still can't post documents on here so you'll have to email me at Femocrat (at) gmail.com or leave me a comment if you want them.

We're almost done - summer vacation beckons!

No More Blogging - Ever!

It's like GSPM, but at the end you might get a job!

The Hotline is producing a reality TV show just for the GSPM set:

The original series RED/BLUE pits liberals against conservatives in a winner-take-all contest. Contestants drawn from a national search will set up camp in a Georgetown townhouse and do battle for the ultimate political prize: $1 million to spend on a cause or campaign in the 2006 election.

The competitions and the resulting prize will test Americans' commitment to politics in a way we've never seen before. Over the course of 8 episodes, 12 citizens from every imaginable political point of view will battle it out in a series of events that challenge their fundamental beliefs and test their ability to drive a political steamroller."

Gee, this seems like a way to truly bring people together for rational discussion and reflection on issues of national importance. OR it's going to be Fear Factor:Politics! Some liberal is going to have to eat Newt Gingrich's intestines and run naked through a Hill prayer breakfast! Cool!

No Blogging Today Either!

No Blogging Today

A Gift for My Friends in Political Communication Strategy

Hello fellow scholars!

In an effort to prepare for our Political Communication Strategy final, I have prepared a thorough outline of Out of Order as a study aid. Because I'm a giver, I was going to post it here for all to enjoy, but I can't seem to do it on this browser. If you would like a copy of this outline, please email me at femocrat@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

I'm going to work on outlines of the other books and will try to actually post the document on here from another computer tomorrow. Enjoy!

Whoa There, Larry

After listening to Larry Lessig's fiery speech on free culture, I have to say, I was a little confused. Not knowing much about the issue, it seemed like he was saying we should have no copyrights, everything should be free and we should all live together in some sort of communist fairy land where we plant flowers and sing that Coke song.

So I checked out EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), which he references in the speech and they don't seem like communists, but they do seem pretty smart. Their website says:

The dedicated people of EFF challenge legislation that threatens to put a price on what is invaluable; to control what must remain boundless. Because being able to share ideas and information is the reason the Web was created in the first place.

Now I totally get it. Many of the legal decisions about our online privacy and freedom are being made right now and, for the most part, I didn't even know it. As our lives become more and more entwined with emerging technologies, these decisions are going to have a huge impact on our lives.

I don't believe we should do away with all copyrights, as Larry seems to advocate, but I do believe that we should be able to build on our common knowledge and not value profit more than we value freedom.

Alan Greenspan: Psychic?

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but The Cunning Realist has some really interesting (creepy, scary, possibly X Files-ish) information about something the Federal Reserve did prior to the London attack. It's a little bit wonky and I don't completely understand it, but hey, this ain't jounalism - this is blogging! Here's the most interesting part:

The terrorist attacks in London took place on Thursday. The Fed dramatically increased the pool of liquidity available for stocks to a multi-year high 48 hours before that---an ideal amount of time for that liquidity to filter into the market---and kept it elevated for the next few days. And indeed, it worked. The stock market saw heavy buying right at the opening bell on Thursday and has shot straight up since then.

Why did the Fed do this? Was it just another coincidence in our financial markets that somehow managed to immediately precede a major geopolitical event?

Is it possible that Alan Greenspan is the only one in the world with reliable intelligence information?

If any economists accidentally wander onto this post, please leave a comment. I need to know whether this is man-never-walked-on-the-moon kind of stuff or if I should start watching Alan Greenspan for clues on when to leave town.

Now I've Seen Everything

From PageOneQ today:

In a phone call recorded by PageOneQ and blogACTIVE.com, Robert Traynham, Director of Communications for United States Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) has said he is an out gay man who completely supports the Senator.

I could list some of my favorite Santorum quotes (bestiality anyone?) or just launch into a tirade about how any self respecting gay person could actually help a right-wing nut like that, but I think I'm just going to have a drink. Vodka is the only thing that still makes sense in this crazy world.

Robert Traynham, I'm not sure how you sleep at night, but I feel immensely sad for you.

Keep on Blogging!

They Aren't All Jib Jab

I love Jib Jab! Seriously, I love it so much that when the IPDI study, Under the Radar and Over the Top mentioned they had done a video on the 2000 campaign, I immediately rushed to their website to check it out.

For the most part, their videos offer slightly off-color, bipartisan mocking to catchy tunes and they are the first thing that comes to mind when anyone says, "viral marketing." I wouldn't really consider them "political communication" since they appear to only use the presidential campaigns as a hook to interest people. I think the main motive in their productions has been to make the Spiradellis brothers both rich and famous.

However, the other videos in the IPDI video library are clearly designed to influence the election. The ones I viewed range from funny to gruesome to cruel, but the one common factor I saw was that they all undermine true political discourse by making the attacks personal.

Each video I viewed implies or makes outright the point that the opposing candidate is an evil person and wants to do the country harm. Swift Boat Veterans (not linking for a reason) didn't attack Kerry's policies or ideas, they attacked his character. Bush Straight Talk (by America Coming Together) portrayed Bush, not his actions or plans as stupid.

While I enjoyed sending, forwarding and watching these videos during the campaign, it saddens me to see yet another indicator of the sad state of democracy in this country.

I believe Bush and Kerry both care deeply about this country and have differing viewpoints about what is in its best interests. However, that viewpoint isn't funny or mean, so it won't circulate around the Internet, even though that is what most Americans truly believe.