That's an interesting turn of phrase.
--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter <truthseeker...@...> wrote:
>
>
> Keith, this is one more reason why I don't use my Facebook page, save for
> keeping in touch with some old friends from my early online years. You can
> hose around all the lies you like, and no one can pull them down.
>
> No, she hasn't recanted. Too busy selling herself on the lecture circuit.
>
> "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody
> hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
>
>
>
>
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> From: keithbjohn...@...
> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:50:40 +0000
> Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Sarah Palin Phenom on Facebook
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> I actually have no comment on this--maybe because I'm too busy shuddering at
> this abuse of technology. And pondering anew how my fellow Americans can
> sometimes be so unrelentingly stupid in who and what they support.
> And while I respect the emergence of the importance of social networking, I
> don't think we've come so far yet that we should let a person's Tweets or
> Facebook postings shape our opinions on national and international events and
> policy.
>
> I mean, Palin lied on Facebook about death panels--or worse, she might have
> been stupid enough to *believe* that foolishness--and waited five days to say
> something about that stance (and this article unfortunately doesn't say what
> she said. Did she recant?)
>
> And the conservatives were worried about Obama's nefarious programming of the
> kiddies. I'm more afraid of the tens of thousands of Followers reproducing
> ,and then educating their progeny. Still, perhaps there's hope. If the likes
> of Ari Fleischer (who I can't abide) sees through her questionable veneer of
> charm, maybe there are a few brain cells yet working in America.
>
> Okay, so maybe I did have a comment or two! :)
>
> **************************************************************************
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090919/pl_politico/27344
> Palin emerges as Facebook phenom
> Since resigning her post as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin
> has essentially gone dark, making almost no public appearances and
> successfully avoiding the media outlets that are clamoring to talk to
> her.
>
> But that doesn't mean Palin has been quiet.
>
>
>
>
> Relying
> almost exclusively on social media to get her message out, Palin has
> managed to carve out her own high-profile place in the national health care
> debate, on energy policy and on tort reform.
>
> While
> Palin isn't the only major political figure to try alternative means of
> communication to bypass the media, her unique ability to remain in the
> headlines while avoiding the spotlight suggests she may be the first to
> pull it off successfully.
>
>
>
>
> For several days in August, the national health care debate
> turned to focus on so-called "death panels," in large part because of two
> widely-publicized Palin Facebook posts accusing Democratic authors of the
> House proposal of creating bureaucratic entities to decide end of life care.
>
> The post was immediately rebuked by Democrats, and even by
> some Republicans,
> as untrue and irresponsible. But rather than immediately firing back at
> her critics when reporters came calling for a response, or issuing a
> press release defending her claim, Palin waited five days to post her
> response on Facebook.
>
>
>
>
> The post, simply titled
> "concerning the `death panels,'" went up shortly before midnight on a
> Wednesday night. By late Thursday morning, a write up of her statement
> was on the homepage of dozens of national and local newspapers. The
> post also quickly became one of the most mentioned topics within the
> political blogosphere.
>
> "I can't answer what her strategy is, but I can say that it's
> working," said GOP strategist Mary Matalin. "A large issue of why this works
> is that she has been so demonized and made fun of by the mainstream press."
>
> With more than 850,000 "friends" following her every
> statement closely on Facebook, Palin trails only President Barack Obama as
> the most popular politician on the site. And when Palin ended her Twitter
> feed after resigning as governor, close to 140,000 people were following
> heragain, second only to Obama.
>
>
>
>
> "It's
> the most passive form of communication there is, it's only effective if
> people are dying to go to your Facebook page," noted Marjorie
> Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an
> organization designed to advance pro-life women in politics, and
> co-founder of Team Sarah, a network of Palin supporters. "She's got
> this quality that Howard Dean had in terms of the completely organic liberal
> movement he tapped into."
>
>
>
>
> Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer,
> a media strategist who does not count himself as a Palin supporter,
> said the former Alaska governor's style and appeal lends itself to the
> online medium.
>
> "Facebook is perfectly suited for someone as polarizing as
> Sarah Palin," he said. "It's the ideal way for her to keep in touch, to rev
> up her base and go around the mainstream media."
>
>
>
> While Palin has used her Facebook page to weigh in with lengthy posts on
> health care, energy policy and tort reform, it has also enabled her to
> highlight causes with a more personal dimension, such as a favorite charity,
> the celebration of Constitution Day and the commemoration of the eighth
> anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
>
>
>
>
> "She's
> trying to cut across the grain because everyone has been saying what a
> dope she is and she's going into depth on these issues," said Matalin.
> "This is a good strategy because it works and because it's long form.
> In an ad or any visual form, you could never take the kind of deep dive
> on a lot of these issues."
>
> Her establishment
> of one of the most powerful social media brands in politics has
> coincided with her effort to all but drop off the mainstream media grid.
>
>
>
> Since
> her television news blitz shortly before resigning as governor, a
> chaotic period in which she was even interviewed wearing waders while
> fishing, Palin has not appeared on cable or network television. She has
> issued very few statements to the media and her press contacts have
> become markedly less responsive to press requests. While Palin will be
> delivering a September 23 speech to investors in China, the event is closed
> to the press.
>
>
>
>
> Palin's camp did not respond to numerous requests from
> POLITICO seeking comment on this story.
>
> To
> some degree, Palin's strategy may be driven by necessity. The former
> governor has operated with a skeleton crew since leaving the governor's
> office, with a team consisting of only a handful of staffers employed
> by her political action committee located in Virginia.
>
>
>
>
> Even so, the practice of shutting out major print, television and news
> outlets is a sure route to obscurityand Palin in the past has given
> every indication that she has an interest in continuing her career as a
> public figure.
>
> But even as she's all but vanished from the public view, Palin has
> managed to amplify her voice and expand her reach online. The ranks of
> her Facebook friends
> have swelled by several hundred thousand since the announcement of her
> resignation, after remaining somewhat static at around 500,000 through
> the spring and summer.
>
>
>
>
> Fleischer said Palin has been able to pick up so much online momentum because
> "she is so exciting."
>
>
> "She represents a gigantic movement in this country that is distrustful
> of Washington and finds her appealing for all the same reasons that the
> mainstream media finds her unappealing," Fleischer said. "This is where
> social networks are most effective. It lets you focus on your core
> constituents and fan bases, and few politicians can actually claim they
> have a fan base."
>
>
>
>
> Still, Fleischer warned that Palin's ability to drive hundreds of thousands
> of individuals to her Facebook page will not get her past the media filter.
>
>
> "Facebook is one way to go around the mainstream media, but when you
> add it all together the mainstream media still exists," he said.
>
>
>
>
> The former governor's online megaphone is taken seriously enough by her
> opponents that the labor-affiliated group Americans United for Change
> started running ads on Facebook to counter Palin's messages.
>
> "Send Palin a message," reads the black and white ad, which features
> only text and a small picture of the former governor. "Health insurance
> reform is too important for outright lies. Send Sarah Palin a message; tell
> her to stop lying about `death panels.'"
>
>
>
>
> For those who have worked with Palin, the end-run around traditional media
> channels is not surprising.
>
>
> "She loves the unfiltered medium because she can make her statement and
> not be questioned directly about any nuances," one former Palin staffer
> told POLITICO.
> "It speaks to the power of Facebook and social networking in general.
> Here's a case where Facebook postings are being picked up by [the
> Associated Press] and the national media. As politicianswe're taking
> note of these media based on how well they're working for her."
>
> Another longtime Alaska insider and close observer of Palin called the
> strategy "brilliant," but said it was sad to watch her relationship
> with the press deteriorate to such a point.
>
>
>
>
> The Alaska source noted that prior to getting picked as Sen. John McCain's
> (R-Ariz.) running mate,
> Palin once brought cookies to reporters stuck hanging around the state
> capitol on a Saturday for a special legislative session.
>
> "There was so much difficulty in her getting her message out without it
> being deliberately, in my opinion, twisted by members of the media,"
> the insider said. "Now, even if a story gets twisted, they all know
> they can go right to Facebook and see what she said."
>
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