Hijinks and frivolity continue in the wake of Senator Ted Stevens’ (Democrat, Alaska) so-called “Internet Tubes” speech, in which Stevens remarked that the Internet is “a series of tubes” that could be jammed if stuffed with too many messages, and that it isn’t “a big truck.”

A Denver television station, cbs4, has piled on with a 30-second spot based on the Internet Tubes theme.

Bloggers and reporters were brutal in their reactions to the senator’s comments, and within hours of the speech, not only was audio available on hundreds of web sites and blogs, but there was actually a techno remix of Stevens’ remarks.

Howard Dean, well known for being the first presidential candidate to fully exploit the power of the Web to organize support for his campaign, was of course also the first politician to have his career fully trashed by that same Web, after a single “mistake” in a speech. Dean’s “war whoop” was reproduced on hundreds of web sites and blogs, has undoubtedly been played at least a million times, and quite likely ended forever his chances as a presidential candidate.

The reaction to Stevens’ remarks has been similar, but the technology for Internet-based heckling has advanced exponentially in the short time since Dean’s remarks. With sophisticated audio and video manipulation programs costing less than $100 (or in some cases costing nothing at all), and thanks to YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, flickr, del.icio.us, Technorati, RSS, etc., etc., it has become easier to create, post, share, distribute and find content than ever before.

The reaction to Stevens’ remarks was faster, more widespread and more sophisticated than we have seen with previous communications missteps. I believe this calls for a new communications “law,” (like Moore’s Law), which I am going to call Postman’s Law, that states:

“The speed and sophistication with which a communications gaffe is distributed, and therefore the damage it can do, will double every three years.”