Memorandum On Ashley Todd
By Jason Kenney | Saturday, October 25th, 2008 | Catch-AllMemorandum Colors is an interesting tool that allows you to visualize bias based on linking activity so you can see the slant of coverage of political events without having to read anything. God bless color coordination.
It’s an especially interesting tool when applied to the recent case of Ashley Todd, the McCain volunteer in Pittsburg who said she was robbed and then assaulted based on her support of McCain but then recanted a day later. My apologies for falling for it. But I certainly wasn’t alone.
Where Memorandum comes into this story is a before and after shot of the coverage of the story:
As Andy Baio (creator of the Memorandum Colors script) says in the photo’s comments:
At first, conservative blogs flock to the story while liberal blogs tend to ignore it… Then, when it’s discredited, mostly blue bloggers report on it for the first time while less conservative blogs post a followup.
This is also a reflection of reaction and comments I saw first hand in conversations with others. Left leaning individuals were shocked at the news but a bit hesitant to buy it and witholding judgment accordingly. Right leaning individuals were disgusted and ran with it. Some were hesitant and waiting for more information, but still jumped at the story.
The moral of this story?
This has been and will continue to be a crazy political year and people will do stupid things.
And Memorandum Colors is a neat tool.
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About the author
Jason Kenney has blogged at J’s Notes since 2001, is the director of RedStormPAC providing online fundraising for Republican candidates in Virginia, and co-founder of K6 Consulting. He is a graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University and resides in Richmond, Virginia.
Comments
4 Responses to "Memorandum On Ashley Todd"
Jason, you did more than just fall for her story. You also inserted that Barack Obama played a part in inciting the alleged “attack”.
Even more despicable is that it was the McCain campaign that pushed the story on reporters.
Everyday there’s a new low with you.
A quick correction: I didn’t create Memeorandum.com… Only the Memeorandum Colors script that’s used with it.
Eileen,
The reason Jason “fell” for it, along with so many others is that the story was just so darn believable. We can’t keep up with the real stories about vandalism, threats of physical violence and the near assurance that there will be rioting if John McCain wins.
Barack himself was the one who told his supporters to “get in their face.” By the way, did he ever retract the lie he told about Governor Palin in the debate when the Secret Service verified that no one was yelling “kill Obama?”
Andy – Thanks for the correction, I’ve made the changes. And thanks for a great little toy.
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