Duck! It’s bombs away in the blogosphere this morning, and the target is Google.
It’s dyspepsia payback time over at a blog called Democrats Give Conservatives Indigestion, where they’re serving up waffles at the urging of fellow right-leaning blogger Esoteric * Diatribe. The goal? When someone types “waffles” into Google, crafty conservatives hope that the first search result returned will be a link to the official John Kerry web site. For now, the top search result is a link to a collection of more than 30 waffle recipes (including Grandma’s Oh Boy! Waffles) “as served in America’s finest Bed & Breakfasts and small inns.”
Looking leftward, Daily Kos is promoting another Google bomb effort, this one to get “Air America Radio” to the top of Google search results on the phrase “air america.” At the moment, Air America Radio is third, behind a link to Air America Weapons Systems’ Paintball Division and a link to where one can purchase, for $5.99, a used DVD of the 1990 Mel Gibson-Robert Downey, Jr. action-comedy “Air America.”
On other matters, Kevin Drum learns that being the Political Animal has its perks — such as receiving personal email ruminations on the Veepstakes from Washington Monthly editor Paul Glastris. Glastris to Drum: “With McCain as veep, we win, period.” Drum on Glastris: “I guess I’d still lay long odds against it happening, since even bipartisan cabinets have mostly gone the way of the dodo bird these days.”
What do the young people think? Baby-faced blogger Matthew Yglesias stretches to “say something semi-original” about the “continued enthusiasm” for McCain-as-veep, and comes up with: It “demonstrates that a lot of the people who you might think of as being ‘on the left’ really aren’t liberals. Rather, they’re people who’ve been very put out by the Republican Party’s twenty year march toward ridiculousness.” Chris Conroy, the 21-year-old proprietor of a blog called Do You Feel Loved?, adores the sound of a Kerry-McCain ticket. “Dear John Kerry,” Conroy writes, “I would like you to win the election for President. Therefore, I urge you to ask John McCain to be your running mate.” In his “P.S.,” Conroy notes: “Please pay no attention to the post I made about picking Clinton as your running mate a while ago. That would have been stupid.” So fickle — how’s Kerry supposed to Feel Loved? “The issue with something like this is sort of asking, how much of your soul are you willing to give up to win?” young-looking Oliver Willis asks quizzically.
Speaking of, why not take a quiz this morning (relax, it’s multiple choice and popular blogger Atrios recommends it). By answering questions such as “what turns you on?” (options include: pristine Alaskan wilderness, myself, the English language, Bush’s lies…exposed!), you can find out Which New York Times Columnist Are You? Campaign Desk Cheatsheet: selecting “Julianne Moore” — the only female option — as the answer to the question “who would play you in a movie” does not guarantee that you’ll “be” Maureen Dowd (the only female columnist option). David Brooks should be so lucky to be played by Julianne Moore in a movie (or to be the subject of a movie, for that matter). Same goes for Nicholas D. Kristof.
–Liz Cox Barrett
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.