Open Thread: Obama's Widely-mocked Attack Watch

September 15th, 2011 9:51 AM

Only hours after launching a smear-fighting campaign website, President Obama's latest campaign tactic has already become a widely-mocked target of conservatives. As explained at Hot Air,

Not only are major papers running headlines about the site becoming a laughingstock, even respected liberals are admitting that they would have flipped out had Bush tried something similar.

Do you think Attack Watch will weather the PR beating? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The website was launched with an email from Obama for America campaign manager Jim Messina, who wrote that he is looking for people to report "phony attacks" on the president.

Here's the deal: We all remember the birth certificate smear, the GOP's barrage of lies about the Affordable Care Act and the string of other phony attacks on President Obama that we've seen over the past few years...

There are a lot of folks on the other side who are chomping [sic] at the bit to distort the president's record. It's not a question of if the next big lie will come, just when -- and what we're prepared to do about it.

Attack Watch has already criticized GOP frontrunners Gov. Rick Perry and former Gov. Mitt Romney, with Messina explaining the site can "nip [their] attacks in the bud before they show up on the airwaves and in emails." Many feel the site feels too much like Big Brother to be taken seriously. Twitter users especially have taken to mocking the site, taking over the #attackwatch hashtag to hurl humorous insults to the campaign.

At just over a year out from the 2012 presidential election, it is already clear that negative attacks are going to be a central part of campaigns. Do you think Attack Watch will weather it out to 2012?