Democrats.com hijacks WND (and FreeRepublic)

A website run by Democrats is "hijacking" a number of other sites – including WorldNetDaily.com – in a "spin-control" campaign that some feel is derogatory.

Democrats.com is using the address rightwingnutcases.com to bring readers to WorldNetDaily's page that lists commentaries written by former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, now a columnist for WND.

"Patrick Buchanan has won the right to send people to www.rightwingnutcases.com to find his extremist commentaries," declares the site, which is operated by Democratic activists, but has no formal connection to the Democratic National Committee. "Since Pat has now left the Republican Party for being too moderate, how much longer until he renounces his American citizenship and seeks asylum in Paraguay?"

Buchanan, who in addition to writing columns is also selling a new book, "The Death of the West", says his political opponents are apparently returning to a familiar strategy.

"Devoid of ideas themselves, leftist Democrats have taken to the old name-calling and smear tactics, interfering with speakers and writers, that they perfected when they were all wallowing in the mud of Woodstock in 1969," Buchanan told WorldNetDaily. "Where conservatives gave us Ronald Reagan and victory in the Cold War, these folks gave us Bill and Monica and the soiling of the White House. As they have nothing to say themselves, they can only attract attention by interfering with and attacking others who do have ideas."

No one with Democrats.com responded to repeated inquires from WND, but the site explains its intent on one of its pages:

"Democrats.com is proud to announce a major new achievement in our ongoing effort to recapture the English language from reactionary forces who would hijack it. Today we are releasing version 1.0 of our exclusive new Spin Control Machine. The Spin Control Machine makes it possible to relabel websites that misrepresent themselves. This has become urgent since the events of September 11th, since it is now commonplace for the extreme right to try to appropriate the language of patriotism and claim exclusive proprietorship of the words indicating a love of America. ... Congratulations for setting new lows and shame on all of you for testing the limits of tolerance."

It goes on to list what it calls "crazy conservative zealots," creating hyperlinks to relabeled addresses, among them:

"We've been framed!" was the initial reaction at ConservativeHQ.com, according to its Internet consultant, William Greene. His site has since inserted a code to break out of the framing by Democrats.com, but staff are nonetheless enjoying the attention and view the label as a badge of honor.

"We must really be making a difference in the fight against liberalism if Democrats.com does something silly like this," Greene said.

Some Web surfers might confuse Democrats.com with the official site of the Democratic National Committee, as their addresses differ only in suffix. The DNC's homepage is Democrats.org. The DNC refused comment about what Democrats.com was doing, except to say, "We have no control over this website."

Although names of the people responsible for Democrats.com appear nowhere on the site, a public-records search of registrants indicates the domain name has an administrative contact of David Lytel of the Sherpa Consulting Group in Syracuse, N.Y.

The site says of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, "Only an idiot would believe he's fair and balanced," to which O'Reilly replies, "These fanatical websites are popping up all over the place, both on the left and the right. Some are well-financed [such as Slate.com and TomPaine.com], but all of them are fringe outlets. I ignore them as most of America does."

Ann Coulter, another weekly columnist for WND, doesn't appear bothered by the rightwingcrazies.com label.

"I'm delighted Democrats are reading my column!" she said. "I just hope their lips don't get tired."

But not everyone is thrilled about the relabeled hyperlinks. WorldNetDaily's Editor and CEO Joseph Farah feels it's a clear violation of Internet etiquette and thinks it will make many people angry.

"What should we expect from people who describe themselves, apparently proudly, as Democratic activists?" Farah asked. "If ever there was a philosophically bankrupt political party, devoid of values and virtue, bereft of ideas and without a moral center of gravity, it is the party of Bill, Hillary and Carville and company."

Etiquette is one principle, but law is another, and hyperlinking to other websites by creating another domain name doesn't appear to be illegal. That according to Brian Marcus, an intellectual-property lawyer in San Francisco. He says there's no problem as long as "they're not passing off someone else's information as their own."

"As far as 'right-wing crazies,' I think that's First Amendment and protected free speech," Marcus said. "If I were to have a link to knuckleheads.com and have a link to your website, that is in essence protected free speech."

Because the Internet is relatively new compared to other media such as newspapers and broadcast stations, there's not a plethora of existing laws governing it. But some standards were spelled out in the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act, considered a hot potato by many involved with copyright law, according to Dr. Robert Diotalevi, director of legal studies at Mountain State University in West Virginia.

"Some claim the DMCA would hinder concepts of fair use and other acceptable means of validly utilizing copyrighted materials," wrote Diotalevi. He states others believe it "stifles operation, free thought, expression, system corrections, etc."

President Clinton signed the measure in October 1998, saying, "This bill will extend intellectual protection into the digital era while preserving fair use and limiting infringement liability for providers of basic communication services."

Despite the state of the law on the matter, the notion that one website would purposefully create derogatory domain names for others still leaves WND's Farah amazed, especially when it comes to Democrats.com.

"They have no imagination of their own, so all they can think of doing is to rip off and deface the ideas of others," Farah said. "They can't debate. They can't stand toe to toe with people of principle. They are like a desperate band of

democrat rat .com information

Who We Are

Democrats.com is a private company created by two veteran Democrats to serve as a trusted vendor of Internet services to Democrats. Our mission is to create and implement effective Internet campaign services for Democratic campaigns and party committees.

We have assembled an array of talented and experienced Democrats in the Internet community, giving us a unique combination of partisan dedication, technical expertise and energetic commitment to innovation.

We are proud to be the exclusive vendor of Internet campaign services for Democrats in the new DNC Store. What can we do to help you use the Internet to win your race?

David Lytel, Co-founder

Lytel was the co-developer and managing editor of the award-winning White House Web site, called in 1995 by Hotwired "easily one of the best sites on the Internet." A former Democratic elected official and congressional campaign manager, his Internet business development clients have included Sony, AOL, SAIC and others. He holds a Ph.D. in political communication from Cornell and wrote his dissertation about interactive media and politics.

Bob Fertik, Co-founder

Fertik created the Internet consulting firm I-Progress, which specialized in Internet development consulting for non-profits. He is the co-founder of Women Leaders Online, the Women's Voting Guide, and Political Woman Hotline. He has been a consultant to numerous campaigns, including Geraldine Ferraro's 1998 race for the United States Senate.

Jim Buie, Director of Candidate Services

In 1995, Buie founded the Internet Democrat, which has grown to become the largest independent discussion list of Democratic activists on the Internet. As a public relations executive with Barksdale Ballard & Co., he has managed the Internet components of several accounts, including Bill Moyers/Public Affairs Television and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His writing has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Baltimore Sun.

Democrats.com Advisory Board

Democrats.com draws upon the expertise of Internet professionals who are committed Democrats. Our Advisory Board includes:

Holley Atkinson, Vice President of the Interactive division of MJI Broadcasting, the largest privately-held syndicator of broadcast radio and Internet programming. Dick Bell, formerly the head of the Interactive Media Department at the Democratic National Committee and now Vice President for Communications of the Worldwatch Institute.

Jean Parvin Bordewich, former candidate for Congress (NY-22nd) and executive editor of Business without Borders magazine.

Martha Coven, formerly technology and Internet advisor in the office of the House Democratic Leadership and now a law student at Yale.

Jeff Eller, former Director of Office of Media Affairs at the Clinton White House and principal in the public affairs consulting firm Public Strategies, Inc.

Jock Gill, formerly Director of Special Projects the Office of Media Affairs in the Clinton White House, co-developer of the White House Web site and Executive Director of Greenstar Foundation, which brings electricity to remote areas in developing countries.

Stan Greenberg, Chairman of Greenberg Research, a survey research firm founded in 1980. He has served as an advisor to President Clinton, former Vice President Mondale, Senators Dodd, Lieberman and Bingaman, the Democratic National Committee and many other prominent Democrats.

Michael North, a California technology executive who founded North Communications, an interactive marketing firm.

Jared Schutz, co-founder of BlueMountainArts.com, which is among the top ten most trafficked sites on the Web, as well as founder of the e-commerce site Proflowers and of AIS, an early regional ISP.

Andrew Sernovitz, founder of the Association of Interactive Media and now head of GasPedal Ventures, an Internet business development firm.

Greg Simon, former chief domestic policy advisor to Vice President Gore and president of Simon Strategies, a strategic planning and public affairs consulting firm.

Ken Wasch, president of the Software and Information Industry Association and founder of Majority 96, an independent expenditure committee.

David Whitmer, Internet consultant and chair of the Loudon County Virginia Democratic Committee.

Robbin Zeff, president of the Zeff Group, a consulting, research and training firm specializing in Internet Advertising and co-author of Advertising on the Internet and other books.

http://www.democrats.com/commerce/candidate/about.cfm

oh here it is

Richard Viguerie Launches RightwingFruitCakes.com

08-Mar-01

Right Wing

As part of its continuing effort to recapture the English language from the right wing fringe, Democrats.com is pleased to announce that Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com will now be known as RightwingFruitcakes.com. "The response to our relabelling of FreeRepublic.com as RightwingNuts.com was so overwhelming we knew we were on to something," said Democrats.com co-founder David Lytel. The Viguerie site is notable for its merciless pounding of Jesse Jackson and Ted Kennedy and other public figures who Viguerie's research shows incite right wingers to part with their money even though they know that he will be keeping most of it. We can only hope that as many Rightwing Fruitcakes as possible pour as much of their money as possible down the Viguerie sink hole. Democrats.com Launches New Right Wing Nuts Translation Service 09-Feb-01 As a public service to the Internet community Democrats.com today began the slow but important process of reclaiming the English language from right wing extremists. In response to Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's declaration that he is a proud member of FreeRepublic.com, Democrats.com has now pointed the domain name RightWingNuts.com to the FreeRepublic site. FreeRepublic, which both hosts and incites violent words and actions against political leaders with whom they disagree, includes threats on the life of former President Clinton and an active discussion on how best to disrupt Clinton's future public appearances. Don't believe us? Check out the new and improved RightWingNuts.com!

This is so stupid. Two things here:

1. They are paying money, small sum but still money, for an extremely childish prank. Great use of resources. Considering #2 below, it can be said they are spending money counter to their own goals.

2. So whats the first thing YOU do when someone mentions a website address that might be of interest? How many of you typed (or cut and pasted) the addresses in to check it out?

Finding anything on the net (if your not net-aware) is difficult. Giving a website higher visiblilty by creating a story such as this is very stupid. I can see the headline now "Petty political squabble breaks out in cyberspace", since its democrats making fun of conservatives, it'll be picked up everywhere, the lib media just loves these types of stories. This is "Human Interest" fluff. People will see this on TV or in the newspaper and become curious. The conservative sites that were "targeted" will get a few more firs time visitors which may lead to repeat visitors, which eventually leads to converts.

As anyone in the Web Business knows, the 2nd hardest thing to do with a website is get traffic, the first being getting that same traffic back. Giving the conservative sites ANY publicity is extremely stupid, nevermind having to pay for it. Unless your aim is to shut down a site by shaming the ISP, as we've seen in the past, the best thing you can do is ignore it an hope no one finds it, especially the Democrats, they cant argue with us, they cant argue with common sense and good humor, sending anyone to Ann Coulter to somehow color the party as bad is crazy. The absolute last thing the democrats should want is more people travelling to conservative sites. This is Marketing 101.

This story needs to get out more. It might even be beneficial to have someone (WND maybe) threaten a lawsuit, just for shits and giggles.

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