Personal Democracy Forum – Daily Digest: Tag Clouds as Truth Serum

The Washington Post has been profiling the presidential frontrunners all week. So far they’ve published long-form pieces about the lives and politics of Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, John Edwards, and Fred Thompson. But for the time- and attention-starved, however, the accompanying tag clouds culled from a national survey asking respondents to describe the candidates might suffice. Take a look at Fred Thompson’s cloud and you’ll see what I mean. One word overshadows the rest: “actor.” Other terms like “conservative,” “republican,” “old,” “likable,” and “law-and-order,” show up, but they’re totally dwarfed by “actor.” Compare that to John Edwards’ cloud: “good” is the most popular term, but it competes with “likable,” “dislike,” “handsome,” “liberal,” “democrat,” and “lawyer.”

The Politico’s Ben Smith has been on fire recently, recently publishing an oft-quoted piece alleging that Rudy Giuliani billed trips to the Hamptons to obscure city agencies while mayor of New York. Yesterday he published an investigation of Hillary is 44, “an anonymously-maintained website that serves as a hub for negative information about [Hillary] Clinton’s rivals and as an organizing vehicle for some of her supporters.” The Clinton campaign says it isn’t behind the site, which bitterly attacks her rivals while painting the rosiest picture possible of Hillary. Smith discovers that the site is probably being published by someone in Washington, who may or may not be woman (check out that pink!). But, as Smith notes, it’s still but a “drop in the ocean” of the largely anti-Clinton blogosphere.

Politics site McClatchy has launched a special 2008 section, called alt.campaign, in which screenwriters, filmmakers, and journalists all opine about the election. “We’re asking a handful of high-quality observers to make some non-traditional observations for you as this campaign unfolds,” the site says, and the added cultural heft makes it a fun site to read. But by my count there are an average of about two posts per week. How about some more frequent updating?

Care2, the massive enviro-community site that encourages people to sign petitions, post news stories, and advocate for causes, has launched its much-anticipated politics channel. Called simply Election2008, the new site is focused less on pure activism and more on issues that people care about and that are on the table this cycle. In addition to sections on specific issues of interest to the Care2 community (Environment, Iraq, Civil Liberties, Health Care, Education, Economy), it also has guides to the candidates and their stands on those issues. Readers can add their comments to the candidate profiles — predictably, there’s little love for the Republicans — and, of course, take action. It’s a great site with a huge built-in community that should ensure its success.

This may be the year of the niche debate. A group of scientists and academics is calling for Sciencedebate2008 a presidential debate on science and technology. We definitely back the project, as science and technology — like a host of other issues — have been neglected in the official debates.

CQ Politics blogger Eric Pfeiffer reports that Republican listserv has had to temporarily shut out many members due to an infiltration by liberal bloggers. The Republican Party Tech Working Group, a forum created by techPresident’s David All, was originally open for all, but after it was discovered that bloggers like OpenLeft’s Matt Stoller and the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney were listening in All restricted membership. Intrigue!

In light of revelations about the CIA’s destroying tapes of interrogations, some people have been looking for an alternative way to record interrogations. Look no further than YouInterrogate, a joint partnership between the CIA and YouTube to help suspects record coercion activities. “By allowing suspects to record the interrogations and then post them to YouTube and sites across the Google network, the CIA will ensure complete disclosure of all their activities to YouTube’s audience,” writes “Nick Mockiavelli” (the name should clue you in to the satire). Glad to see YouTube is getting more involved in politics! But seriously, for real video documentation of human rights abuses, check out The Hub, a kind of YouTube for human rights just launched by Witness.

In an hour or so, the Why Tuesday pranksters, who are pushing for electoral reform, will be showing up at the Iowa Public Television studios in Des Moines to cover today’s Republican debate. Here’s the catch: they’ll be wearing 19th century clothes and will be driven in a horse-drawn carriage. The stunt is meant to drive home WT’s opposition to our antiquated voting system. (We vote on a Tuesday to accommodate folks coming in from out of town by carriage. Thus the, uh, carriage.) Stay tuned for what should be some pretty funny stuff.

This is not really about the web, but I’m making an exception for humor’s sake. Yesterday the Iowa Independent editors got the chance to write one of the best headlines of the year: “Robot Heckles Bill Clinton on Behalf of Sister Souljah During Iowa Stop.” Just read it.

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