"Egged on by prizes ranging from a GOP bumper sticker (75 points) to a leather portfolio (525 points), eager partisans used the site's automated e-mailer this month to spam just about every newspaper in the country with a letter to the editor that begins: "When it comes to the economy, President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership …" (Try it yourself by signing on as member "slategop2003@hotmail.com," password "slate.") To the thinly masked glee or disdain of bloggers everywhere, nearly 50 papers—including the Boston Globe and the Financial Times—actually ran the thing, each one under the name of a different, and presumably genuine, local author. "

Slate reveals the source of the recent astroturfing I mentioned here earlier this week and offers a devious plan of their own.

"Instead of getting mad, though, why not get even? An option on the site allows letter-writers to compose and send their own messages in lieu of the canned statements, meaning the technology used to push Bush's agenda can be used to bash it as well. For an ironic Gen X-er, what better reward for e-mailing 100 anti-war letters to the editor than a GOP Team Leader fleece pullover?"