I realize it's a bit of a challenge to know where to draw the ethical line when you've made your bones on behalf of an utterly corrupt regime, but here's a quick and easy rule of thumb.

If you're going to have people who work for you go onto blogs and talk you up, they need to disclose who they're working for.

Otherwise, crap like this happens:

It's really not that complicated-well, unless you've been hanging out too much with Karl Rove, and think whisper campaigns are just peachy.

Once Bush was elected governor, Rove marginalized the Christian right's party chairman, Tom Pauken, denying him access to party money, and when Pauken ran for state attorney general, Rove quietly assisted the campaign of his primary opponent, John Cornyn, who now represents Texas in the United States Senate. Yet despite the low regard in which he held evangelicals, Rove recognized the importance of keeping them in harness with economic conservatives.

So... Is this kind of masquerade ethical when it comes to politics, if a paid staffer is anonymously writing about the very campaign for which he's paid?

The answer, of course is no. If you're a paid staffer (or I'd say even a titled volunteer staffer), you need to disclose who you're working for before you comment on either them or any opponent.

And as for "Buck Smith speaks for himself", not when he's blogging from your Senatorial office, Senator.

Even a box turtle can understand that. 

tags: john cornyn  txsen  buck smith  david beckwith  

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