It’s Called Google
You just type things in and it goes out and searches for them and tells you that Martin Eisenstadt and the Hoover Harding Institute are bogus, so you don’t embarrass yourself.
WKW has covered this hoax in depth over at Shakesville, so the information is readily available with a minimum of checking. Apparently anyone can claim to be associated with a political campaign and there is no checking. This is a problem with anonymous sources used by the media, there is no way to check if they even have access to the information they claim to be revealing.
4 comments
harding institute, you meant? the hoover folks, alas, are alive and kicking.
Sorry about that! Yes, the Harding Institute for passing out oil leases to your friends and messing around in the White House. Yes, before Bill Clinton, there was a staunch conservative Republican President who couldn’t keep his pants buttoned.
The Shrubbery has really improved ol’ Warren G’s standing amongst former Presidents.
This is a problem with anonymous sources used by the media, there is no way to check if they even have access to the information they claim to be revealing.
…I’m occasionally accused of being naive, but I would surmise that it would be the job of responsible journalists to backcheck the sources of the information they claim to be revealing…
Maybe my failing is those years in the University of Idaho journalism program before I changed my major….
There was a time, Jack, when that was done as part of the normal process, but given the wealth of bogus reports that appear, only to disappear within a day or so, and the number of stories that just turn out to be totally false, it is obvious that this is no longer a requirement.
Given a staff as large as is required by a Presidential campaign, it probably is a lot like a terrorist organization, with many people only actually knowing those directly above or below them in the chain of command. With all of the volunteers, and the organizations in the various states and cities, I doubt a complete list appears anywhere.
A few people at the top are known, but below that are the nameless multitudes. The traveling media with the campaign would only know the traveling staff.
From time to time I’m sure there are people who are reading a web site and discovering that they are suddenly part of the campaign staff, even though they may not even support the candidate. I remember a couple of those this year.
Some of it is “dirty tricks”, but I’d be willing to bet that a lot of it is a desire for a “scoop” and the push to fill the constant news cycle.