George W. Bush Vs. Parody Site

Bob Kopp writes "According to an article in Monday's Washington Post, Texas governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush is attempting to shut down a campaign parody site. " Read the full article - it's not an open and shut matter. Some noteworthy other links as well - An Al Gore Parody, as well as some choice quotes from Pat Buchanan.

Comments

Sticky Situation

[Zontar The Mindless]

Satire is one thing, but conducting an active political campaign -- even if it's against a candidate is another -- and that's what this guy seems to be doing. He's actively soliciting (monetary) contributions, and has no prominent disclaimer.

I can see why the FEC is interested.

Zontar The Mindless,

Is it satire, or is it political?

[jedinite]

I do not argue that this site is a great satire, according to the true definition of the word:
1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

But read the article, and see why Bush is trying to shut it down:

Bush's lawyers had warned Exley that he faced a lawsuit for his Web site's use of photos lifted from the copyrighted official Bush campaign site.

The Bush campaign also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Exley of violating election laws and demanding that he operate under the rules and regulations of a political committee

Just to play devil's advocate, I have to agree (in theory, but not in principal) with those statements. I'd been to gwbush.com before, and saw it as much more of a political statement site than a humor or satire site. I feel the political nature of Exley's site definately falls within the second of GWB's points. And I'm not even going to start the flamewar over whether copywrights on websites are moral or no.

But, to stop playing devil's advocate, I'm pretty much entirely anti-government and anti-government-intervention. I personally think it's pretty "weak" that GWB would try to shut down any site. But, I can't argue with the two points that his lawyers are making... at least there's a somewhat valid reason, and they powers-that-be are not just shutting down the site for no good reason.

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Question: How do I leverage the power of the internet?

Disclaimer?

[Spazmoid]

Fact: The first amendment grants os freedom of speech.
Fact: Political Parody has been around since before the first amendment.
Fact: If Al Gore had been around we would have had an internet before the first amendment as well.


I can see Bush's problems with this site but I think it would be prudent to at least first ask for a Disclaimer at the top of the page or maybe a splash screen stating that the site is politically motivated but is a parody of George Bush Jr.

The site is pushing on a subject that I hold very dear to heart. The drug war and extensive imprisonment. Having an uncle myself that got ten years for dealing when he had never dealt before. He was trying to make money to support his smack habit that he had gotten back into after almost a year off. Read the get seriously pages on the site. Some snippets for your perusal:

This all sounds impossible, but it is all true. For example, Lula
Mae Smith of Mobile Alabama served 7 years in a federal
prison beginning in her early 50's. Her crime? Her son was a
drug dealer. The prosecutor never claimed that Ms. Smith
aided her son in any way with his drug business. She was
simply charged with "conspiracy" to distribute drugs with her
son because he bought her a new car while he was a drug
dealer. However, in 1989 she began serving a sentence that
was cut short in 1996 only because of two stokes she
suffered in prison. She is now on home release.

Some More:

Possession and use of illegal drugs such as cocaine are crimes
Bush will not deny committing. Yet our whole criminal justice
system is based on sending people who commit these crimes
to jail for a very long time.

And Finally:

Gwbush.com, was born by accident. It was made famous by
Bush's own hotheaded attacks against it. Now, with hundreds
of thousands of readers per month, it is one of the voices in
the presidential race. We would like to use that voice to alert
people to this massive human rights violation being carried
out by our government against our own people, and to force
former drug user candidates to justify their support for this
human rights violation in light of their own past drug crimes.

Just as the first amendment gives us the right to free speech it does not give us the right to misrepresent ourselves. Lord knows there are some morons out there who think that site is Bush's and is gospel truth. I think it would be prudent to openly say that the site is not related to The real campaign but to destroy it completely hell no. The guys motives are admirable at least.
Anyway I am running out of things to say so I will get off my soapbox.

This post had attempts to be funny and informative. When both pluses get put together I will have a negative moderation score. 1+1=-2 :)