Obama’s Twitter plan backfires
“Build it and they will come,” but they may also trash the place, is an accurate axiom for anything online, President Barack Obama is learning.
AttackWatch.com seems to do plenty of attacking itself.
The president, whose campaign launched a website to track and rebuff anti-Obama attacks, encouraged his supporters to take it to the Tweets with an #attackwatch hashtag, but the Twitterverse is comprised of a much more politically diverse, and perhaps cruel, crowd than the last time he ran for office.
The hashtag has been taken over by comedians who seem content to mock and ridicule, says a Wall Street Journal blog.
Those with a conservative bent have been drawn to the hashtag as though it were a tax-and-spend flame:
@Drill_Thrawl Hey Kids, are mommy and daddy talking bad about Obama? Be sure to report them at #attackwatch #1984
@gregmcrc … check this=9% unemployment, no green jobs, 49 million uninsured, 1 in 6 Americans in poverty
#AttackWatch If you want to really upset a megalomaniacal wannabe dictator, just mock him via social media.
@bonnie1b: Jobless claims jump to 448,000 #attackwatch
Jimmy Carter must be feeling good knowing he’s no longer the worst president in U.S. history. #attackwatch
AttackWatch.com is similar to a “Fight The Smears” site Obama unleashed during his 2008 campaign, says The International Business Times, which says the new site has “become a laughingstock.”
Conservative talk show hosts are getting in on the act, including Neal Boortz (aka @talkmaster):
@attackwatch, you can tell me just how much money Obama thinks I should make. Don’t want to exceed his limit, you understand.
I don’t claim to be an expert on politics, but “control the message” has to be a basic tenet of campaigning. Unleashing the #attackwatch hashtag on an embittered public doesn’t seem wise.
I speak from experience, just read the comments below. 
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239 comments Add your comment
Ron Burgundy
September 15th, 2011
11:38 am
commoncents….apparently kgray is smarter then my little finger…oh well. LOL!
chris
September 15th, 2011
11:39 am
It’s a shame no one mocked the person really responsible for our woes. G. W. Bush. They let him off with a free pass and call him a great President, HA! What’s worse, is they blame the next guy. Typical! America always passes the buck. What a country we live in! If you reward the richest people, bankrupt the country fighting TWO unnecessary wars, and do it in the name of God, you are seen as a hero. Meanwhile the guy trying to clean up the mess afterwards is mocked and laughed at by idiots who think a credible news source is Wikipedia. We’ll see what happens when they get a Republican in office. How much better off will you be?
Fletch
September 15th, 2011
11:40 am
I like how he unveiled the “America First” initiative. WHAT WAS THE FOCUS THE FIRST 3 YEARS? It should be first, last and only – and it isn’t. That, my friends is what scares me more than the debt, more than the wasteful spending, more than anything else. It isn’t about America to him, it is about him to him.
Real
September 15th, 2011
11:43 am
Obama may not have the “Best President” moniker. But I’ll vote for him over Romney “the perpetual loser”, Perry “W the 2nd coming” or Bachmann “Never had a chance and never will”!!!
Fletch
September 15th, 2011
11:43 am
chris: much.
please tell me what GWB did to single-handedly trigger a global economic collapse? i know you are tired of the Obama bashing but he is ill-equipped to “clean this up” – common sense dictates that he is making wrong decisions, not in the best interest of the country’s long term success. This isn’t baseless defamation, he is making things worse by most measurable criteria.
Smokewagon
September 15th, 2011
11:44 am
I get really tired of the supporters trying to justify Obama’s obvious imcompetence by pointing out mistakes made by past presidents. Please tell me what qualifications this man had in the first place to be voted president. There is a segment of America so driven by partisan hate that they will vote for anybody regardless of the consequences to our wonderful country. Very selfish in my opinion.
commoncents
September 15th, 2011
11:44 am
Chris, If you’re going to play the “Blame Bush” card, you must also blame the democratic congress, who recommended everything he signed off on and who approved (did not veto) any other decision he made.
War in the name of God? Maybe a war in the interest of justice…
Ron Burgundy
September 15th, 2011
11:50 am
Good point commoncents – the MAJORITY of the Bush deficits came after 2006.
Again as far as the financial crisis….BUSH tried to reform fannie and freddie loans in 2004 but was blocked by dem leadership….open your eyes up epople. We are not racist we are trying to help everyone by making them learn to fish instead of giving them fish.
commoncents
September 15th, 2011
11:53 am
kgray- It’s a good thing those horrible Coke brothers spilled the beans to you about their union busting idea while you were a bank teller. Good thing you saw them report their earnings as income from an international entity.
Thank you for informing us! We are forever grateful! #attackwatch
He was the most qualified? Really? Which policies did he support or reforms did he author as a senator that make him qualified? Where are his qualifications? He wrote a book! He did nothing! And he’s still doing it now!
RAMZAD
September 15th, 2011
11:54 am
Obama is the best thing yu’all got. Want to try out Perry for Bush III?