Looks like Rick Santorum's not the only Republican frontrunner to have a "Google" problem. Mitt Romney has one now, too. If you Google "Romney", the third search result is SpreadingRomney.com, which provides hapless browsers with a not-so-flattering definition for the candidate's name. Because internet.
Mitt Romney can't be too pleased that his name, like Rick Santorum's, has now been associated with poop. SpreadingRomney.com shows up just below Mitt Romney's official campaign page and his Wikipedia entry, which means that thousands if not millions of people see that search result every day. You don't even need to click the link to see the gem that lies beyond:
Romney
(rom-ney) v.
1. To defecate in terror
Rolling Stone reports that SpreadingRomney.com was launched by 28-year-old Jack Shepler on January 10th. In just over a month, the site has seen a meteoric rise in popularity, which makes it rank very high on Google search results. It is apparently named for a story in which Romney drove all the way to Canada with his Irish Setter, in its carrier, strapped to the roof of Mitt's car. The traumatized animal shit all over itself in fear. Shepler felt more people should know about what he saw as an appalling story, and it worked.
Shepler has delighted in seeing SpreadingRomney go viral. But he says of its rise to #3 in the Google ranks: "There was no special trick to get it there. I simply created the site and made it easy to share."
What is Shepler's endgame? Beyond Romney's mistreatment of a family pet, he says, he wants to draw attention to Romney's judgment: "I hope to raise awareness for how Romney reacts to situations; good crisis management is pretty important for a presidential candidate."
Talk about activism down and dirty! The incident of the dog in the poop time has already been used against Romney in the campaign, but if the Google search results for Santorum are any indication, the worst may lie ahead. It's very possible that SpreadingRomney.com could eventually take the top spot. If I were involved in that campaign? I'd be Romneying like crazy right now. [Rolling Stone]