Tech's Top 10 Election Lows

Technology has provided some of this campaign's best moments. Also, some of the worst

By Tom Conlon Posted 10.30.2008 at 11:21 am 12 Comments

Obama = Paris Hilton's new BFF

Poor John McCain. His first day behind the wheel of a computer, and his new Internet-only ad turns and bites him in the keister. After the ad tastelessly compared Barack Obama to brainless trainwrecks Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, comedy site FunnyOrDie.com released its own ad starring none other than Ms. Hilton herself, in which she referred to McCain as "that wrinkly old dude." Ouch. What's the deal with Internet-only ads anyway? Are these the ones the candidates are secretly unsure of, but figure putting them out on the Internet is like not really putting them out at all? How naïve.

Ashley Todd's Twitter:

The Twittering Attack Victim

Though the full story of what exactly happened still isn't clear, the Ashley Todd incident has left a black eye, not just on the McCain volunteer's own swollen, self-mutilated face, but on this entire election. What we do know is that Todd was feverishly pecking away on Twitter right up until the fake attack, her last updates reading, "Stubbornly searching for a bank of america to avoid ATM fees. Pretty sure I'm on the wrong side of Pittsburgh." That's just moments before she allegedly socked herself in the face, carved a 'B' into her own cheek and then blamed an African-American Obama supporter for the whole thing. She may be too much of a dolt to remember that letters appear backwards when you're writing in a mirror, but using Twitter to establish an alibi/cover story? That's a new one.

Ghost in the Machine

The ghosts of 2000 didn't even to wait for Halloween to start scaring the democracy right out of us again. They began haunting polling centers as early as last week, when 29 states officially kicked off early voting. Like some kind of orchestrated poltergeist in our political system, the new high-tech touchscreen voting machines immediately began breaking down, and in some cases actually casting the wrong votes. It got so bad in Florida that the state went back to paper ballots. In Georgia voting locations, computers accessing the state's voter database crashed, forcing early birds to wait for hours in line to get their worm. According to a CNN poll, 42 percent of folks polled in the aftermath of this national tech disaster are not confident that their votes will even be counted. November 4 is shaping up to be quite a fright night.

Palin Poses:

The Right to Bare All

Given the few details we actually knew about Sarah Palin at the time a faked photo of her surfaced, I can't say I doubted its authenticity in the least. After all, she was once a beauty queen, she loves America and guns, and she's in great shape for a mother of five. Other than that, I knew nothing else about her, and so the rifle, the Old Glory bikini and the redneck drinking Schlitz in the background didn't seem so far-fetched. I think that's why this cut-and-paste job caused such a stir on the Web...it was plausible. Of course, now that I know it's a fake, I'm embarrassed I bought into it. A woman is running for the second-highest office in the nation, and I'm easily fooled into seeing her as a sex object before seeing her as a politician. Shame on me.

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12 Comments

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Deco

from Sao Paulo, SP

10/31/08 at 6:16 am

Great story. Funny and informative. A++.

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jdkchem

from Lafayette, CO

10/31/08 at 3:41 pm

"While that would certainly be quite the feat for a guy who was all but unaware of the Internet until a few short months ago"

Before you repeat the lie perhaps you should do a little more research. This has been debunked repeatedly. Then journalists are have become unbelievably lazy and ignorant.

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aerpp

11/01/08 at 5:13 am

wow...

popsci is now officially infested with marxist/socialist ideas. whatever happened to non-biased info. i guess i will have to turn on the fox news.

This country was founded as a constitutional republic. What happened? why is it that almost every media outlet is spewing liberal propaganda?

can anybody agree with me?

I turn for popsci for science, not biased media.

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soundbyte

11/01/08 at 8:06 am

Since someone accused popsci is now officially infested of marxist/socialist ideas. My question is which of the following 3 sceneries do you think is more marxism/socialism

1. Obama's tax plan, which has exactly the same graduated tax bracket as Clinton era. (FYI, McCain's tax system is also graduated tax, only the tax rate different than Obama's)

2. Propose to use $300 billion of tax payer's money to buy up trouble mortgages at face value and restructure the mortgages load at market value. (McCain's proposal)

3. Impose special tax on oil company to create special fund for a one-time $1,200 special refund for every Alaskan eligible for the Permanent Fund Dividend. Each Alaskan also receives an additional payment of about $2,000 annually from this fund. (Palin’s first acts as governor of Alaska)

People, make your own judgement. Do not blindly believe what others have said and put label on. You do not have to believe me, all this information are freely available.

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polabear

11/01/08 at 8:41 am

Hmm, maybe you should rename to "Populist Science". Why all the political bent on a science magazine site? Why is the Sarah Palin picture on the lead-in link instead of Obama-girl?

But, interestingly, no mention of how Not-the-president Gore uses technology to manipulate the facts on so-called Man-made Global Warming? Some incredible PhotoShop work in his movie..oh, yeah, that's right, he already got the Oscar for that.

Thank you for saving me money..I'm added your rag to the countless others I have cancelled because they've gotten away from their main mission - reporting NEWS!!!! If I want editorial, I'll buy the NY Times or watch CNN.

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Bob no politics

from Summerland Key, FL

11/01/08 at 9:18 am

A few days ago I emailed Pop Sci voicing my discontent with the jump into the political arena. It doesn't matter which side you are on, this is a science magazine that is becoming a political magazine. STOP IT!
I subscribed because I have grown tired of listening to and reading politics...
It seems a lot of you agree.

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DukeOfGreenwood

11/01/08 at 10:08 am

I'm another subscriber that is disappointed at the politics of this article.

Don't you editors know that ANY political comment is going to piss off half of your readers..Jeez, who makes the decisions?

Try to stay focused.

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soundbyte

11/01/08 at 1:46 pm

Last I have checked, most universities still offer major in political SCIENCE. In an election season, politics is certainly a POPULAR topic. I don't see what's wrong with covering politics in election season on popular science. What happened to the freedom of press? If you don't like a particular topic, you are not forced to read it. It's your own choice whether to read it or not.

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ethan-c

11/01/08 at 4:31 pm

Speaking of election tech, here's an interesting video about some of the technical issues afflicting malfunctioning voting machines:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/145.html

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am2prunejuice

11/01/08 at 7:45 pm

you can add this article as one of the elections lows. mc cain knows what the internet is. his arms were broken from real torture, when he was a pow. as a result he has limited arm movement. and can't type, making e-mail difficult. bad fact checking? or lies?

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T23Guy

11/04/08 at 9:49 pm

As The Articale States, It Is The Top Ten Election LOWS On The Internet. Freedom Of Speech Gives All Americans The Right To Express Yourself Wether Your Liberal Or Conservative. This Right Also Allows Us To Laugh At Ourselves And Our Politicans To Remain Sane. We Can Also Elect To Read An Artical Or Not When We Find It Offensive To Our Own Personal Beliefs. Because Popular Science Chose To Feature The 10 Election Lows Reflects On The Lows Some People Have Practiced On The Internet Does Not Reflect On The Quality Of The Magazine. The Magazine Overall Reflects On Modern Day Science Issues Including Internet Use.

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