January 18, 2008
Rumor Has It… or Does It?
Supporters don T-shirts bearing their favored candidate's slogans. In this superheated primary season, the candidates themselves might want to re-craft this fashion tradition and wear T-shirts responding to ongoing rumors, suggestive insinuations, and outright lies.
Name-calling (and worse) is inevitable in politics, as a recent book on dirty politics pointed out: Being called a "hideous hermaphroditical character" was an insult indirectly funded by the gent who authored the Declaration of Independence.
In the Web age, the Internet's 'virality' is both an asset and a danger. The good news is, most political searches focus upon platforms and positions. Moreover, as quickly as rumors spread, searchers busy themselves ferreting out the truth: Besides the Search box, citizens consult urban legend investigators Snopes and online encyclopedia Wikipedia for their own truth squad.
The chart below looks at which candidate buzz won't die, and which should. Why bring more attention to rumors, you may ask? Turns out, a close look at political falsehoods can expose rumormongerers' own issues, rather than those of the candidates.
| Buzz rank | In the running | Buzz % change past 30 days | Rumors | The Real Story |
| 1 | Barack Obama (D) | +318% | religion, pledge of allegiance, church | His mixed heritage and international upbringing have brought challenges to his patriotism. Email falsehoods about his religion have mutated into Obama as a radical Muslim who won't recite the pledge. Expect puppy kicking in the next iteration. |
| 2 | Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) | +183% | mystery marriage, gay, man | Shades of "hermaphroditic" slurs: The bizarre aspersion about manhood comes from a country song by one Rusty Shackleford (a name suspiciously reminiscent of the "Family Guy" character). |
| 3 | Mike Huckabee (R) | +53% | Chuck Norris, Christmas ad, fat | The former Arkansas governor has largely escaped mudslinging, with curiosity raised only about his religious holiday ads, the famous 110-plus pound weight loss that inspired his book, and a endorsement by a middling celeb who can put the hurt on you. |
| 4 | Mitt Romney (R) | +94% | real name, astrology | The former Massachusetts guv revealed last year on Jay Leno that his first name is Willard, which continues to titillate the blogosphere. Astrology hasn't been associated with the presidential process since Ronald Reagan, so the truth behind this search lies in the stars. |
| 5 | John McCain (R) | +404% | Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, age, daughter | According to the NYT, the "veterans" comprise one man who doubts the senator's war record. While McCain easily addresses concerns about his age (he's 71), searches about his adopted daughter usually are prompted by the lie that he fathered a child out of wedlock. |
| 6 | Ron Paul (R) | +208% | racist newsletter, civil war, ufo sightings | The renewed claims of racism stem from his 1990s ghostwritten newsletter, which used inflammatory language. Paul says he didn't read the articles. At his much-searched "Meet the Press" appearance, he opined that the American Civil War was senseless. Regarding the UFO, searchers may either be confusing him with Dennis Kucinich (D), or find his blimp otherworldly. |
Filed under Buzz by Yahoo! Buzz Index: Buzz Log