I have done a couple of posts on McCain’s program to reward his supporters for spamming political blogs (McCain’s Frequent Liar Program, and The Whizzdom of Crowds). But a new article shows that the McCain campaign is doing the same thing with letters to the editors sent to newspapers in battleground states.
The article was originally published in a Dutch newspaper, but was written by one of their correspondents who lives in Washington DC. The article’s author spent some time volunteering for the McCain campaign, where she was used to “ghost-write” fictional letters to the editor. These letters are then sent to McCain supporters in battleground states, where the supporter is asked to sign the letter and send them in to their local newspaper. By sending dozens of letters at once, they say “we will always get into some letters column.”
In case you worry that it is a bit strange — a Dutch writer working for the McCain campaign — the author notes that she was also working with someone from Poland and another man from Russia (she writes “What on earth is the appeal of McCain for the former Soviet bloc?”).
The originally published story is in Dutch, but Salon has translated it into English. You can also see the “guidelines, talking points and sample letters” that the McCain campaign gave to her to use for her letters.
Included in the article is a sample letter she wrote, praising Sarah Palin and claiming to have a son in Iraq (she doesn’t). The response of the campaign to her fake letter?
I like that. It appeals to the hearts of people. Can you write more letters?
