How long before the internet starts ruining political careers?

[bgwah]

In 20 or 30 years, when the generation that has grown up with the internet is running for office... do you think we will see stuff from the internet come out and damage politicans? Stuff like old pictures from Facebook coming back to haunt people? Perhaps postings on a forum like this will doom politicians?

Thoughts?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I had a thread about this a few  weeks ago.  I think the  consensus was that there'll be a mutual understanding that both candidates have internet dirt, and not to go there.

[bgwah]

I had a thread about this a few  weeks ago.  I think the  consensus was that there'll be a mutual understanding that both candidates have internet dirt, and not to go there.

...Oh, I didn't see it

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I had a thread about this a few  weeks ago.  I think the  consensus was that there'll be a mutual understanding that both candidates have internet dirt, and not to go there.

...Oh, I didn't know

No - it wasn't meant to discourage this thread.  I was just giving input based on that poll.  But this is very interesting to me.

[Joe Kakistocracy]

Mark Foley?

[dead0man]

It would really depend on what it was.  If some future Democratic Pres. hopeful was posting pro-Stalin crap at the age of 15 I doubt anybody that might vote for him/her would care.  It would be harder to run away from racist/sexist things though.  If you called for the end of the Zionist state through violence or wanted to deny citizenship to all Mexicans or defended female genital mutilation you might have some issues.

The internet is NOT anonymous no matter what they tell you.

I wonder if a negative Ebay score would hurt.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Mark Foley?

OK,  that's different.  That's not normal internet crap - that's downright nasty pedophilia.  Internet or not, it'd get you in trouble.  Jesus is talking about stuff like me saying, "Screw the constituency" on the forum or calling Bristol Palin a whore.

[memphis]

The internet has already ruined political careers. Gaffes like "Macaca" and "If America had voted for Strom Thurmond, we wouldn't have had all these problems" get replayed over and over on youtube. It's a new day for politics.

[หมูเด้ง]

I wonder if I did anything so messed up here to warrant being ridiculed by the masses.

[Jake]

Facebook already ruins careers; I wouldn't be surprised if someone drags up an old profile in 20 years and uses drunk pictures to break someone's clean image.

[Erc]

Most anyone born after 1983 who isn't a perfect paragon of virtue is basically disqualified from office.

But, seeing as we won't have to worry about running out of politicians until 2048 or so (at least on the Presidential level), we're fine.

[dead0man]

Facebook already ruins careers; I wouldn't be surprised if someone drags up an old profile in 20 years and uses drunk pictures to break someone's clean image.

Our sitting President was a coke head for a time.  Obama has admited to using it as well.  It's nothing for somebody to admit trying the pot in college.  Why would a drunk picture be so horrible in 20 years?

[© tweed]

Mike Assad is already worried about this happening to him:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=82086.0

[CultureKing]

Most anyone born after 1983 who isn't a perfect paragon of virtue is basically disqualified from office.

But, seeing as we won't have to worry about running out of politicians until 2048 or so (at least on the Presidential level), we're fine.

...and then all civilization as we know it collapses.

[Jake]

Facebook already ruins careers; I wouldn't be surprised if someone drags up an old profile in 20 years and uses drunk pictures to break someone's clean image.

Our sitting President was a coke head for a time.  Obama has admited to using it as well.  It's nothing for somebody to admit trying the pot in college.  Why would a drunk picture be so horrible in 20 years?

Note "trying". I imagine it'd be quite different if someone made heavy partying a twice weekly thing for 5-10 years. No one can give the "I regret my decision" or "I didn't enjoy it though" line with that history. Just saying. I don't care, but employers will look at your online profile and toss your resume out if they see something they don't like.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's already started, around the edges, here and there. A local politician taken down for demanding eugenics here, a would-be legislator taken down for extremist idiocy posted on a message board when he was a teenager, there. But it'll grow and grow. People that don't think it'll get worse don't understand how the tabloid mind operates (and all of your newschannels are tabloids now).

[Chief Justice PiT]

     I think it could be an issue, though I wonder how much of an issue. Crazy people already do a good enough job of advertising their crazy positions.

[NDN]

Again, I think people are underestimating how quickly a lot of this information would be deleted or lost. A lot of websites that I've frequented have been deleted, bought out, etc. within a 5 year time period. I'd imagine that other than the usual rumors and accusations not that much would come out of something someone posted on a forum or networking site 30 years ago.

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

Again, I think people are underestimating how quickly a lot of this information would be deleted or lost. A lot of websites that I've frequented have been deleted, bought out, etc. within a 5 year time period. I'd imagine that other than the usual rumors and accusations not that much would come out of something someone posted on a forum or networking site 30 years ago.

One thing to take into account is archiving bots. For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22opebo%22+%2B+dinh&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Note the second to last result.

[Bacon King]

http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080908/ap_on_el_pr/college_republicans_obama

[Keystone Phil]

http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080908/ap_on_el_pr/college_republicans_obama

Yeah, this was stupid.

[cannonia]

I don't think Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is ever going to hold a higher post...