Wednesday, June 02, 2010

The Best Of The Drifts - Constablegate: The Straight Story


Originally published August 7, 2009

The Candidate And The Kid

Only those who work deep in the trenches of the hideous world of politics likely care, but there was a small flareup today when 15 year old Lee County blogger Kyle Constable claimed he was "bullied" by officials from the John Oxendine campaign after writing a piece questioning the legitimacy of the Oxendine ancillary website youcanstopObama.com.

Constable fueled the fire further by publishing details from what he admits was an "off the record" conversation with the campaign.

Prior to today's events Constable was a supporter of Oxendine and used his website to praise the candidate.

John Oxendine Campaign Manager Tim Echols believes this episode resulted from a misunderstanding between Constable and his staff and stated to Drifting Through The Grift, "We value the involvement of teenagers in this campaign. It is important that we work with them and their parents to determine the best role for them to play."

In the dog days of August, political campaigns tend to stall and all those who travel that strange road will search for any rest stop to quench the thirst for political spirits. Merely the idea of a gubernatorial campaign fueding with a teenager stirred the Georgia political blogosphere into a frenzy. However, once the dust settles, the conversation of the role of bloggers in politics and the ethical dilemmas encountered will likely continue.

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