Huffington Post: The 2008 Chaos Election Theory, or: the Year of User-Generated Swiftboating

Excerpt:
"That requires some explaining. The Web has played an increasing role in the US presidential campaigns ever since 1996. In 2004, blogs and MeetUp and online fund-raising were central in creating the illusion that Howard Dean was unstoppable, just to see him melt away as soon as he stepped out of the overheated online bubble. But at the end, television decided: think of the inordinate impact of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign to distort John Kerry's military record (he was decorated for his service in Vietnam) that used four deceitful TV advertisements which instilled doubts in many people about his honesty and inserted a lot of static into his message. A tactic that became known as "swiftboating"."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruno-giussani/the-2008-chaos-election-t_b_45205.html

Alex

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