Searching for Truth

Here's an excerpt from an interesting email I received from John Kerry today--(well, not a personal email!)

First, we're initiating an innovative new way to reach people with the truth. We're instituting a new strategy for search engine ads, so whenever anyone searches for information about a smear in races up and down that ballot and across the country, we'll be there with a link to the truth. One of the most common ways people get political information now is through Internet searches, so we can make an enormous difference if we have the resources we need to get the truth at the top of all the searches.

It's well known that the Obama campaign lives on the cutting edge of technology, networking and the internet. This could be interesting to watch. I assume it's something like Sears paying Google, so that whenever you search for "dishwashers," they pop up at the top of the hits. So here, if you search, say Obama and terrorists, I suppose the first link would lead to the Obama site.

I'm torn on this. I've never liked skewing search results, and I know if I were searching say, Palin and First Amendment, I'd be pretty annoyed--probably even outraged--that a paid piece of pro-Palin propaganda came up first. No reason why a McCain support wouldn't feel the same about Obama ads. I suppose it will be clearly marked that it IS an ad.

But it does make you wonder at the increasing ability of politicians--whether you like them or not--to work their way into our lives in even the smallest ways. Unnerving, to say the least.