CNN Discusses the Young Republican Facebook Dustup
CNN’s webshow the “Blogger Bunch” discusses the story of Audra Shay’s Facebook page. Shay is running for President of the Federation of Young Republicans and had some supporters post racist remarks on her Facebook page which she at first sort of agreed with (probably by accident) and then distanced herself from. Max Brantley has been all over this story with the Arkansas angle since Audra Shay is originally from Arkansas. Several national bloggers including Marc Ambinder have since picked up on the story and have attempted to paint the issue as “a microcosm of the internal debates the party is having throughout the country.”
Anyway, I find the whole discussion interesting. I don’t know anything about Audra Shay and have no opinion either way on her campaign and to be frank I really don’t care. But it seems to this Arkansas blogger that the story has been overblown. This is a minor internal party race that only a small group of party insider care about. And the racial comments were not even made by Shay. If she was guilty of anything it is not being diligent enough in patrolling her Facebook page for improper content.
At the same time, let this episode be a lesson to you politicos out there to make sure your online presence portrays the message you desire. The world is watching. Well, at least the Max Brantley’s of the world are and they will certainly tell everyone else about it.
Tags: 2010 Candidates