http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-campaign-launches-attackwatch-com-201504759.htmlObama campaign launches AttackWatch.com
By Chris Moody | The Ticket – 1 hr 38 mins ago
President Obama's re-election campaign launched AttackWatch.com, a new website that gives users the ability to report false rumors and reports about the president. But if the early reception to the site is any indicator, the project may attract more jokes than actual tips.
"If you're someone who cares about seeing a campaign focused on substance between now and November 2012, I need you to become a part of one of our most important teams," Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina wrote to supporters before announcing AttackWatch.com, "a resource that allows us to nip these attacks in the bud before they show up on the airwaves and in emails--and then fight back with the truth."
The site, which launched Tuesday and is basically a new version of the 2008 campaign's FightTheSmears.com, quickly became the butt of thousands of jokes within conservative corners of the Internet. And despite efforts to get users to report untrue rumors on Twitter by typing in the common hashtag #AttackWatch, the feed is filled to the brim with jokes mocking the effort. Someone even made Attack Watch T-shirts and a fake commercial about the campaign.
"AttackWatch.com… Laughingstock in less than 24 hours," predicted a blogger at TheRightSphere.com who goes by the alias Diggrbiii.
"Hey, #attackwatch , there wasn't any sauce for my McNuggets," tweeted Michael Payton. "Do we contact you or 911?"
The site wasn't a perfect hit with the left, either.
"If I'm honest w/ myself, I probably would have gone apesh*t (fairly or unfairly) if George W Bush had launched something like #attackwatch," tweeted MSNBC host Chris Hayes, editor-at-large at the liberal magazine The Nation.
While the 2008 campaign website had several whoppers to contend with--untrue reports about Obama's birth certificate and misleading rumors about his faith, to name a few--the original 2008 website tackled a range of purported misrepresentations and distortions, including whether the soon-to-be First Lady once ordered room service.
- "A recent email smear falsely claims Michelle ordered room service."
- "Michelle Obama loves her country."
- "The American flag on the Obama campaign plane is easy to see."
- "Voters who arrive at the polls wearing campaign gear such as buttons or T-shirts can still vote."
The new site, so far, focuses on statements made by the president's Republican contenders Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and a comment from radio host Glenn Beck about Israel.