GOP fills faux Obama Facebook site with 'usual suspects'

The Republican National Committee has added a new feature to its growing online arsenal of Obama attacks: A fake Facebook profile portending to illustrate a series of Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's "notable associations."

The Web site, BarackBook.com, is a collection of campaign smears and attempts at guilt-by-association, with an emphasis on illustrating Obama's most controversial personal connections.

"William Ayers has updated his profile," reads one line. "Antoin 'Tony' Rezko is now friends with Nadhmi Auchi," states the next. And further: "Barack Obama and William Ayers are now friends with Marilyn Katz".

Clicking on the names leads readers to Facebook-like information sheets attacking Obama's past associations, substantive or not, on a variety of fronts. A separate page houses six videos lambasting Obama on issues like gun control, gas taxes and public service experience.

The parody site is a new feature on the GOP-sponsored MeetBarackObama.com, a launching point for more than 12 custom-tailored GOP attack sites aimed at the Democrat.

"But in using a faux social networking site to highlight what it considers to be some of Mr. Obamas more controversial acquaintances  past and present  the R.N.C. is also opening itself up to the inevitable comparisons between the Obama campaign's online efforts and those of his rival, Senator John McCain," wrote The Caucus' Michael Falcone.

And in Internet support over social networking sites, the Obama campaign has a significant advantage, boasting over 433K friends on MySpace, and a whopping 1.2 million on Facebook. Comparatively, McCain's stable of less than 200,000 friends seems lackluster.

The GOP itself holds slightly more than 15,000 members on its Facebook page, which it proudly displays in a graphic atop the page, while the Democratic Party's official Facebook page has over 26,000.

For a Republican Party trailing in the fundraising game, online creativity can only help.