The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Google & Bing Treating Rick Santorum To Some Of That ‘New Tone’

Posted on | September 21, 2011 | 29 Comments

by Smitty

Alan Colmes points to Roll Call, where something completely tasteless is on display:

Try it for yourself: Enter “Rick Santorum” into Google. In a fraction of a second you’ll have hundreds of thousands of results. But two of the top four cite a graphic definition for a sexual neologism. In this case, the neologism is a reference to anal sex.

This, of course, is no accident.

Santorum himself sounded slightly defeated when asked about it recently.

“It’s one guy. You know who it is. The Internet allows for this type of vulgarity to circulate. It’s unfortunate that we have someone who obviously has some issues. But he has an opportunity to speak,” Santorum told Roll Call.

The number one Google result is the same sick URL as the third one on Bing. And, sure Google bombs are a game anyone with a script and a sick bent can engineer. And no, having the government regulate this is as sick an idea as that unspeakable link itself.

A couple of points:

  • If you’re doing right right thing, as Rick Santorum is, you’re going to offend some evil people. It would be a Left-handed compliment, if the Google bomb wasn’t so foul and debased.
  • Conservatives need to rally and support Rick Santorum, and anyone else taking the struggle to the foe. If you think that Western civilization isn’t under a continuous assault by the forces of nihilism, you need to wake up, pronto.
  • Rick Santorum is an intriguing conservative leader, because he has already served in the Senate, and thus knows the ropes, but has spent some years outside the beltway, and thus has some clue about, you know, America. The list of candidates with that mix is quite short.
  • Lisa Graas is a staunch supporter. Probably worth 1% of the vote in the primaries right there.

I hope that the search engines can find some solution that lets leaders of all parties focus attention away from crass, sophomoric attacks like this one on Santorum. Blogs should point out these abuses when they occur, so that this sort of abuse becomes more of an advertisement for the target than an effective attack. In the final analysis, that may be the preferred way to combat this.

God bless you and your campaign, Mr. Santorum.

Bonus Santorum: going after a waffling Perry for being a flip-flopper. Why does Santorum hate comfortable footwear?

Category: Rick Santorum

Comments

29 Responses to “Google & Bing Treating Rick Santorum To Some Of That ‘New Tone’”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:13 pm

    …Google bombs are a game anyone with a script and a sick bent can engineer.

    I resemble that remark!

  2. Adjoran
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:15 pm

    You would think the search engines could limit the number of inquiries counted from any range of IPs in a certain amount of time to defuse the tactic.

    Santorum was pathetic in his attack on Perry over Israel.  Perry’s been a long-time friend of Israel and has been there more than Santorum has.  But how bright can a guy be who lost his job to Bob Casey Jr. (who didn’t even show up for the state job he already had half the time) by 13%?

  3. Lisa Graas
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:19 pm

    Go ahead, Adjoran. Beat up on the one guy with the best chance to clean Obama’s clock because you want Bush 2. What good does that do anyone?

  4. Anamika
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:33 pm

    Shouldn’t that be Bush 3?

  5. smitty
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:40 pm

    No, we’ve had all of the Ruling Class Overlords we need.

  6. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:45 pm

    As I understand it, google is more or less continually updating their algorithms.  Of course, the google bomb goes right to the heart of the way they search.

    The wonder is that the people doing this think it’s a productive use of their time.  Is there anyone who would even consider voting for him that would be turned away by this stuff?  Maybe, but it seems more likely to garner support based on who his enemies are, and the sort of tactics they espouse.

    The problem Santorum has is that he has to be super aggressive if he wants to move up, since that’s the only thing that will get him attention.  It’s a fine line to walk.  Obviously, Bachmann stepped over it on the Gardasil thing, while Santorum handled it much better.  But now maybe he’s jumping the shark over Israel.

  7. JeffS
    September 21st, 2011 @ 1:55 pm

    Tsk tsk, Anamika, tsk tsk!

    Obama is a Democratic.  At least, that’s the party that endorsed him.  So, you can’t count him in the line of succession.

    Tsk tsk, Anamika, tsk tsk!

  8. Zilla of the Resistance
    September 21st, 2011 @ 2:06 pm

    I blogged about this evil disgusting attack on Rick Santorum’s very name back in June, here:
    http://zillablog.marezilla.com/2011/06/stand-with-righteous.html
    The douche bags responsible for this filth evidently think he is the only human being with that particular last name, what about all the other people with this surname that are hurt by this too, including Rick and Karen Santorum’s children? The name is actually derived from the Latin word for Saint, making this a bias attack.
    Go ahead and see what would happen if a similar google bomb attack was done for the word ‘mohammed’, there would be massive carnage and the political class would be wagging their fingers, wringing their soft hands and urging people not to do such things.

  9. ThePaganTemple
    September 21st, 2011 @ 2:11 pm

    I know this is going to sound mean and will probably piss some people off, but maybe it would help if some of those people, like my good friend Zilla, could get in touch with Santorum and tell him to work on that awful psycho killer smile of his. Gawd, that’s awful. Sometimes he looks like he’s got one crammed up his ass. When I see him flashing that smile in a debate I halfway expect him to start chasing the others around the stage with a power say. If someone on the street looked at me and smiled like that it would scare me to death.

  10. Joe
    September 21st, 2011 @ 2:22 pm

    When I scrap dog shit off my shoe I suddently think, “I stepped in a Sullivan!” 

    Mention it at google all the time.  If enough do it, eventually it will stick (so to speak). 

  11. ThePaganTemple
    September 21st, 2011 @ 2:39 pm

    Was this made up just for Santorum? That’s what I’m getting out of it, because of his stand against homo rights. The urban dictionary, which gets really, really explicit, credits it to former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerry.

    Urban Dictionary-Santorum

  12. Anamika
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:07 pm

    Of course, it is. Dan Savage was the architect of that new definition:

    Campaign for “santorum” neologism

    What else?  Santorum’s first name “Rick” has been re-defined too (by Dan Savage), just recently:

    In a 2011 Funny or Die video, Savage proposed to redefine Santorum’s first name if Santorum did not stop criticizing homosexuality. Later, in the August 17, 2011, edition of his Savage Love
    column, a reader suggested a redefinition in response to the video:
    “rick (v): to remove santorum orally. (“He was so grateful for the lay
    that he ricked his partner.”) In the column Savage stated: “Santorum
    hasn’t laid off the gay bashing, as it’s all he’s got, so it looks like
    I’m going to have to go ahead and redefine his first name, too.” He gave
    his apologies to “Rick Dees, Rick Fox, Ricki Lake, and all the other
    innocent Ricks out there” for the impact of this new definition, and
    then adopted the suggested redefinition.

    Dan Savage website, spreadingsantorum(dot)com was a very succesful campaign and is #1 on google search results for the word “santorum”.
    removesantorumorally(dot)com [re-defnition of “Rick”] has a long way to go though.

  13. Joe
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

    Lisa, Of the GOP challengers out there now Rick Santorum is not the best guy to clean Obama’s clock.  I admit I am not that much of a fan (I always thought he was more social con than fiscal con), but if Rick was a contender his numbers would be higher (with Republicans).  I do not see a lot of momentum either. 

  14. Joe
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:37 pm

    You are right, it was Savage.  Although Sullivan promoted it too. 

    Perhaps we can start calling yeast infections “Savages”  and stepping in poop, stepping in a “Sullivan.” 

  15. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:42 pm

    Lisa, I live with Rick in TX. He’s more conservative than the Bushes by a ways.

  16. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:44 pm

    The defense for this is to take a page from Sam Adams’ playbook. Once some of these scum realize they will actually pay a price for it, it will stop.

  17. Bob Belvedere
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:46 pm

    That’s The Spirit!

  18. Anamika
    September 21st, 2011 @ 3:47 pm

    Here’s the proper link:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_%22santorum%22_neologism

  19. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 4:48 pm

    Sounds like a compelling argument to do this with the word ‘mohammed’. How exactly does this work?

  20. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 4:50 pm

    Sounds like a plan.

  21. Elize Nayden
    September 21st, 2011 @ 4:53 pm

    Rick Santorum? The Arlen Specter pal? The guy endorsing useless Arlen against Pat Toomey? He is an intriguing conservative leader?

    Right now he looks untrustworthy, sophomoric, pompous and desperate, like during his last campaign in Pennsylvania. And its not really an impressive act to supply Democrats with talking points and attack add material on our likely nominee because his campaign is going nowhere. Same is true for Bachmann.

  22. ThePaganTemple
    September 21st, 2011 @ 5:27 pm

    That’s the name of that tune. Its why they’re called primary contests. If Rick can’t hold his own against Santorum and Bachman, he doesn’t need to be the nominee. And just so you’ll know, the Democrats don’t need Santorum’s help coming up with talking points and attack material.

  23. Anonymous
    September 21st, 2011 @ 5:58 pm

    I hadn’t heard.  When did Jeb declare his candidacy?

  24. Tennwriter
    September 21st, 2011 @ 6:39 pm

    A friend told me when I smiled it looked like I was contemplating axe murder with many whacks.

    I know I’ve been all ‘We need a Happy Warrior True Conservative’, but y’know, there’s something to be said for ‘You people must have been really evil for God to send me to you.’ and ‘the best thing? To hear the tears and lamentations of their women’.

    My suggestion is the opposite of yours….”Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.”

  25. Zilla of the Resistance
    September 21st, 2011 @ 7:11 pm

    I hate you for making me laugh at my chosen candidate! Oh well, at least he’s not an ole leather face like Perry!
    😛

  26. Joe
    September 21st, 2011 @ 8:56 pm

    SDN, Rick Perry is not pals with the Bushes.  They do not like one another. 

    Rick Santorum is the social con who lost his senate seat in his home state (which he should have won).  Usually not a good sign. 

  27. Joe
    September 21st, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

    How about using the term Mohammed to describe 56 year old men who marry and have sex with nine year old girls?  Let me give it in context:  “Hey, did you see that Mohammed with that little girl?  Someone should call the police!” 

  28. Anonymous
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 3:35 am

    I refuse to use Google OR Bing. I use IXQUICK instead. Very happy with it. It doesn’t track or store your ID.

  29. Anonymous
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 4:13 am

    It takes about 15min to write a script, if you don’t mind it occurring within a particular IP block.

    If you want to spend about an hour on writing it, you can use bots to enlist any machine with zombie clients… latest estimate I’ve looked at is approximately 63% are infected with inactive zombie clients – of various flavors. For such simple purposes the “flavors” don’t figure in. Of course, that activity would peak after approximately a week, then drop sharply off. The falling off is due to a bunch of things… the zombie client root kit becomes detectable when it is out of stasis, and A/V-anti-root kit stuff can clean it.

    Take 6-7hrs and you can bot servers to do the work. This will last the longest and probably provide the most “bang for the buck”.

    Note that with the 2nd & 3rd ways I mentioned it would seem like a natural phenomena… as if real people in disparate places were making actual queries and links. How Google could tweak their code for that and *not* cut their own legs out from under themselves is problematic. Any method architectured along the lines they’ve based their ranking methodology on has innate weaknesses, and this exploits those weaknesses.

    Oh, and for the script-kiddies who might think they’ve gotten ideas: I left a lot of important info out (and provided some slight misdirection…). ;~)}