Was AttackWatch Meant To Be So Funny?

Here's the beauty of Twitter - a completely cynical move by a paranoid and desperate White House can be turned into a joke in no time. What began as a shockingly bad move into over the top damage control is now a fun game on Twitter.

By taking the idea presented by the White House, aka the Barack Obama re-election campaign, as a quick response exercise and giving it a hashtag on Twitter (#AttackWatch), conservatives are making great sport of it all.

"Get the Facts. Fight the Smears" is the mantra of the new campaign launched by the White House. You can follow it on Twitter - @AttackWatch - and you can go to the website, too. Beware though, you are being tracked as a visitor to the website. Remember, paranoia reigns supreme in this administration.

As the 2012 presidential campaign heats up, President Obama’s campaign team has set up a new Web site, AttackWatch.com, to challenge negative statements about the president made by Republican presidential candidates and conservatives.

Obama for America national field director Jeremy Bird told ABC News that the site’s goal is to offer “resources to fight back” against attacks. Mostly, that means fact checking statements from the likes of GOP presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and conservative commentator Glenn Beck and offering evidence to the contrary. The site is designed in bold red and black colors, and uses statements like “support the truth” and “fight the smears.”

This appears to be the first tweet: @AttackWatch:False allegations and smears about the President are only going to pick up as we get closer to next year's election.

There is something really creepy about this. The website is black and red, for a beginning. Ominous. Even the Washington Post notes the strange totalitarian move, more obvious than the "Fight the Smears" website during the 2008 campaign.

It’s safe to say that in its 24 hours of existence, Attack Watch has already backfired, becoming a tool for conservatives to use against Obama 2012. A tweet by conservative author Brad Thor summed it up: “Wow, not only are Obama & Co. incredibly thin-skinned, they're paranoid.”

Social media is a great equalizer.