Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski is running for re-election as a write-in candidate, having lost her primary to a challenger.
Unfortunately, in an online ad, Murkowski’s campaign spelled her name, “Murkwski.” The “O” in the middle went missing. Perhaps it came to Chicago to appear on the cover of Oprah’s magazine. But when the staffers discovered the error, I bet they shouted out plenty of “O”s – followed by the 4-letter expletive of their choice.
The irony of misspelling the name of a write-in candidate – in ads meant to teach voters the correct spelling of the name, no less – is rich, and has been covered already.
What I’m interested in is how a mistake like this was allowed to happen. Everyone makes typos, sure. But if any written matter is worth spending money to proofread, political ads are it. Murkowski has already been defeated in her primary as an incumbent, damaging her chances of keeping her seat in November. She sure as heck didn’t need to look like a dummy who can’t even spell her own name.
The Real Value
Proofreading is a highly undervalued service in our society. On Craigslist, you see people trying to hire proofreaders as cheap as $7-$10 per hour. I think they should be earning far more (but that’s a topic for another post). But many people who should be hiring proofreaders simply skip it, or do it themselves (why you should never proofread your own work is yet another post).
Preventing a blunder like Murkowski’s misspelling is worth its weight in gold, even if you’re not a politician. It’s never about the error itself. It’s about how the error makes you look: rushed, uneducated, careless.
And Lord knows the world didn’t need more jokes about the intelligence of female politicians from Alaska.
Hire a proofreader next time, Murkowski! If there IS a next time for you, that is.
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