Week 1 - The Internet and Politics

Twitter is the newest and fastest form of social networking of which will not only change the dynamics of local, state and federal political campaigns; but will have a major affect on the upcoming 2010 elections. I remember, John McCain tweeted his choice for running mate Sara Palin before the media took over. Twitter allows its members to search the hottest topics simply by entering the name of their inquiry. Today there was a tweet which connected to a website on a look back of September 15, 2008 (a year ago today) of the week that doomed John McCain. The report stated that on that particular day he declared that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Not soon after, the Dow Jones plummeted by 504 points. The Lehman Brothers also filed for the biggest bankruptcy in history triggering an implosion of Wall Street. It also quoted that McCain possessed five stages of grief over the economy of which were denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Imagine that! A twitter member recapped a political day that took place one year ago regarding a presidential candidate of which does not sit in the oval office TODAY! Twitter has massive capabilities as does YouTube. It allows immediately received postings of pictures, websites, and now what are called “bubble tweets” (live video) which enhances its widespread use by many.

On another note, I did a little Google bombing research and found something that might interest you. I googled “political liars” and my search came across what is called politicalliars.com which contained a photo gallery of many popular political leaders or should I say liars. #1 on the list was Bill Clinton. Should that surprise you? I believe he was the second president tried to be impeached but my curiosity was more about others that are presently in the media but don’t get this kind of negative limelight. Hilary Clinton made the list too. She actually recently snapped at someone for inquiring about her husband with a response of “Bill Clinton isn’t the Secretary of State, I AM!” Still no surprise! Joe Biden and Michael Moore were also members of the gallery.

I feel the most surprising name was Ted Kennedy. Although I have not always closely followed his leadership, I don’t see him as a liar. His recent death has taken the government in the state of Massachusetts by storm. He just passed away and already there is enormous media and social networking frenzy on his replacement. Also posted on twitter today, was a tweet of a link of a website called the “Red Mass Group” and it reported that Steven Lynch has officially dropped out of the race for the open senate seat, due to non support of unions. Again, imagine the impact such vital information will have on who will actually fill that seat. A Democrat or Republican that contemplated entering the race will now be more opt to make that decision, whether the result is positive or negative in nature. And that important piece of vital information was announced within a moment’s time. I feel time is of the essence and it holds the key of replacement for most prior political procedures and that Internet use for campaigning and elections would be a major cost cutting measure.