Mean Internet Prank on Christine O'Donnell Isn't So Mean

Her name has been Amazon bombed for witch-related results

This article is from the archive of our partner .

Failed Tea Party Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has a new book coming out this week as she tries to rebrand herself as a conservative activist following that loss. O'Donnell was one of the best stories of the 2010 elections because she'd made many appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher during which she said a series of unusual things, like that she dabbled in witchcraft in high school but had not done any dabbling in sexual intercourse. This is why she's been Amazon bombed, as Teagan Goddard notes.

It's kind of mean. When you search Amazon for O'Donnell's name, you get various products related to witches and virginity, such as the "Evil Warlock Child Costume," the "Black Feather Sparkle Broom," and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
But as mean liberal internet pranks go, it could be a lot worse. For two years, if you googled "miserable failure" your first result was President George W. Bush. (Google killed the bomb in 2007.) In 2009, President Obama got the same treatment. But the worst prank of all was visited on Rick Santorum, who recently complained that his own kids can't google his name. Santorum was the target of a skillful Google bombing led by Dan Savage, who didn't like Santorum's anti-gay rights views. Results for his name are a lot more sexually explicit than The Last American Virgin.
Update: The Daily Beast's David A. Graham noticed O'Donnell's Amazon bombing Wednesday. Graham notes that O'Donnell's Book, Troublemaker, "has also been given such tags as 'keeping America stupid,' 'grafter,' 'nut job,' and 'witches.'"
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.