I want to write a successful viral political e-mail that casts suspicion about a right-wing candidate’s suitability for office. It doesn’t matter which candidate. Help me 1) define the genre and workable tropes; 2) identify a candidate and plausible story to tell about him; 3) make it impossible to tell that the writer is a ventriloquizing liberal; 4) make it original. Bear in mind this warning:
[Founder of snopes.com David] Mikkelson is skeptical that anyone could intentionally write the kind of e-mail that would take off virally. “Even people who are steeped in it, it’s very, very difficult to start something deliberately that will catch on.”
I’m thinking that “Romney is a Mormon” has been done; “Romney is an effete Massachusetts snob,” however, should have stronger legs than it has shown previously.
