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Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has a problem. It's not that he has no chance of winning the 2012 Republican presidential nomination but seems to be hell-bent on spending whatever money it takes to convince himself that he's a contender anyway. Instead, it's that his name has become an Internet laughingstock. According to one article, Sen. Santorum has a “Google problem.” This unique problem of the wireless Internet age may ultimately sink what little chance Santorum has of winning the nomination for this upcoming election. Sen. Santorum is known for taking stances on social issues that are extremely conservative, even for Americans. During his time in the U.S. Senate, Santorum was outspoken on the issue of gay rights, stating, for example, in one of his tamer moments, that he had “a problem with homosexual acts.” In response to years of inflammatory statements by Santorum, sex and relationships advice columnist Dan Savage, who is gay, mounted a contest to redefine the meaning of the word “santorum” and “spread” it throughout the popular lexicon. The winning entry in the contest was as elegant as it was disgusting. Specifically, Savage instructed his fans to use the word “santorum” in reference to “the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the product of anal sex.” In the end, Savage succeeded in “smearing” Sen. Santorum beyond his wildest dreams. To this day, Savage's definition of “santorum” is the top result in a search for this word on Google, and in second place for “Rick Santorum.” You can use your wireless Internet to check this and see it for yourself. While the Santorum presidential campaign has bought Google AdWords to have a noticeable visual presence at the top of such search pages, at this point enough people know to ignore them to make Savage's campaign continue to be effective. In the end, Savage's campaign was a classic “Googlebomb,” a unique social event in the era of mobile broadband and other 21st century technology. “Googlebombing” takes advantage of holes in Google search algorithms to generate content that pushes up the search rankings of a particular positive or negative phrase about a person or thing. While Google eventually discovers the vast majority of “Googlebombs” and adjusts its algorithms accordingly, the Santorum story has been so prevalent and written about organically by so many people that it can no longer be given the negative epithet of “Googlebomb” and instead can be called a genuine Internet phenomenon. In fact, it may not be long before we see Savage's definition of “santorum” in the Oxford English Dictionary. We may also get to the point where in long-distant obituaries of Sen. Santorum, the news media will feel obligated to report on this controversy as a part of the senator's legacy, just as actress Joan Crawford is now known more for her daughter's tell-all “Mommie Dearest” than her long acting career. In the end, as a result of Savage's efforts, Santorum's comments about gays might be what the senator is known for, which was likely Savage's purpose and intention all along as the struggle for gay rights continues to pick up steam in the U.S. To learn more about the Santorum campaign, and Savage's campaign, get wireless Internet service through http://www.ClearWirelessInternet4G.com.
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