Jackson Free Press

Good Lord: Do we have a bunch of children running these campaigns? The state Republican Party has launched this silly anti-Musgrove Web site, registered to the state College Republicans at 415 Yazoo Street. (The site doesn't contain any links; only quotes lifted from longer media stories.) If these boys aren't careful, they're going to convince me to vote for Musgrove, yet, even in the wake of that "10 Commandments" mess.

A Mississippi College student has apparently posted BarbaraBlackmon.com, a clever and deceptive (yeah, right) ploy to fool us idiot Mississippians into reading the site thinking it was actually hers. Lord. I haven't found evidence that the GOP is formally behind this work of staggering genuis, though.

WashingtonFatCat.com has long since come down. That was Mitch Tyner's (and his backers'; you know who you were; wink, wink) effort to expose Haley Barbour's shady past in Washington. To its credit, it did have links to interesting material. Now, it contains an endorsement by Tyner of Barbour. Wink, wink.

Is there any wonder voter turnout is so low? Of course, that reality directly benefits the GOP, so maybe they are smarter than us all.

Previous Commentsshow

Voter turnout low because of the availability of anti-candidate web sites? If you believe that then your more gullible than the voters. You've figured it out. (Yeah, right)

Mark

Oct 15 2003

Dude, I think she was saying that voter turn out is low because we are all sickened by the choices we have. There's too much mudslinging, too much crappy deal making, too much yuck. There's Ronnie inviting the 10 commandments monument, there's Blackmon/Tuck with the abortion debacle, there's Barbour trying to convince me my life is in danger from drug related crimes and it's ALL RONNIE's FAULT. Really, I wish the republican party would NOT spend money on anti-Ronnie web sites and try to find something positive to say. Oh, and they can stop sending me photos of Haley Barbour and his wife, from their wedding. Waste of money. And annoying.

Kate

Oct 15 2003

Thanks, Kate, for getting the point (and my back). Obviously, the puerile "Liar, Liar" site is the least of our political problems, but it sure is a symptom.

ladd

Oct 15 2003

Also, Mark, aren't you the Webmaster of BarbaraBlackmon.com?

ladd

Oct 15 2003

Bwahahahaha!

Nia

Oct 15 2003

Oh. My. God. If that's true, that's freakin' hilarious!

Kate

Oct 15 2003

The website isn't a clever and deceptive ploy to fool anyone. Mississippi voters are intelligent individuals and they can all quickly see the text on every page alerting them that the BarbaraBlackmon.com website is not affiliated with Ms. Blackmon or her campaign. If they miss that, the rest of the content should also get the idea across. Ms. Blackmon simply didn't care enough about courting the online vote to register the name. As you may have noticed, the website was only launched two days ago. Until recently, I was still undecided about my choice for Lt. Gov. When Ms. Blackmon made her demands for Ms. Tuck to sign an "Abortion Pledge," however, I knew that she was not the person I wanted in office. I voted for her in the primary, but she and her ìAbortion-Free Zoneî lost me. I canít think of anything more offensive. While I do not support abortion, I donít condemn or attempt to ridicule people who have made that choice. I donít want to support people who do. I know women who have undergone an abortion, and many of them are now strongly against the procedure. They should have just as much a right to change their mind as I do to change my mind on Ms. Blackmon. I'm not affiliated with anyone other than myself. I pay for the expenses in hosting the site, and manage it myself. I launched the website to share my views on Ms. Blackmon, and truly, I hope that voters so discover it and learn about this candidate. Yesterday over 1,000 people did. I couldn't be happier. Certainly there are negative aspects to political campaigns today. That negative information, however, gives you a broader view of the candidate -- a view that candidate won't give you. I think all voters should be fully informed about who they vote for, and should hear about the good and the bad about the candidate before making their choice. If you're sickened by the choices you have, perhaps it is time to get some new choices, but the ones we have now are the ones we are going to choose from on 4 Nov. (5 Nov. if you ask Ms. Blackmon's Campaign). Choose wisely.

BarbaraBlackmon.com Webmaster

Oct 16 2003

BB Webmaster - thanks for the info, and the correction. For me, the Blackmon abortion debacle literally made me feel nauseous, so I agree with you there. But Tuck makes me feel even more nauseous. I'll vote, because I believe in voting, but all the joy has been sucked out of it this time around. Which was basically Donna's point to begin with.

Kate

Oct 16 2003

Okay, now it's a less funny comment, but why in the world would anyone want to pretend to be the Webmaster of that site? That reason might be even funnier.

Nia

Oct 16 2003

Webmaster, if you are not [email]mark@marklyon.org[/email] and that person is pretending to be the Webmaster of the anti-Blackmon site, you should know that your domain, http://www.barbarablackmon.com, is registered to a Clinton post office box and the same phone number that is on Mississippi College student Mark Lyon's online resume, which I downloaded when I originally found the site a couple days ago while writing this issue's cover story. That resume also lists the e-mail address, [email]mark@marklyon.org[/email] You might want to look into that odd coincidence. To your point, of course you're entitled to get your opinion out about candidates. But I would argue that the use of Ms. Blackmon's name, whomever registered it, strikes me as sneaky and irresponsible, no matter what your views of her are. I'm not saying you can't legally do it, but I would argue that you shouldn't ethically. It still smells like dirty politics to me, whether or not it's one person or a whole party (or the College Republicans) behind the ploy.

ladd

Oct 16 2003

Ladd, If you read my post, you will read that I said the previous poster was not who he claimed to be. Because your commenting system requires no authentication, anyone can post as anyone else. I was merely clearing up that I did not make that comment. The registration information is correct, however. There's no great secret involved, you could have called or emailed me. I'd have been more than happy to comment for your article if you'd have been willing to call or email. I moved the registration from my personal email address and name to the current contact information so that I could better separate the correspondence regarding this site from my personal email. I expect the site to generate a lot of traffic, and with that comes people with questions and suggestions. Surely you understand the need to organize such things. As to the issue over the use of the name, Ms. Blackmon is a public figure and chose not to register the BarbaraBlackmon.com domain for her own reasons. I think it is a perfectly legitimate, and effective, place to discuss her candidacy. If I was using the website to instead tell you that she was the greatest thing since canned beer, I donít think you would raise the same objection. In the end, itís all the same to me. It does not profit me one bit if Ms. Blackmon wins or loses. I do, however, have a chance to let others know everything about Ms. Blackmon is not perfect, and possibly keep a few of them from voting for someone that would say, think, and do such hurtful things.

BarbaraBlackmon.com Webmaster

Oct 16 2003

Webmaster, I'm a little unclear on what you're saying. If you're saying that you're Mark Lyon, Webmaster of the site, but did not make that first comment above, fair enough. I didn't call you because I wasn't doing a story about your identity, but I did think it made sense to respond frankly to a critical post by "mark@marklyon.org" that wasn't mentioning the connection to the BB site. Do you have any sense why someone would pose as you to criticize the comments here? And I ask that in all seriousness. Also, it looks like the domain was first registered back in February. It sounds like someone got to it before she did. Did you register it then, or buy it from someone else?

ladd

Oct 16 2003

I'm certainly not voting for any of the major candidates. I don't want to give them the satisfaction. The all suck, in my opinion. Regardless of election day, Haley and Amy will win the big offices. The GOP has done a very effective job at scaring voters into believing that anyone not Republican is anti-Christian, anti-freedom, pro-communism, pro-crime and basically anti-American. Mississippians really vote on their religious convictions and their vote will be for Haley because they think he's a Christian. God help us all.

Diogenes

Oct 16 2003

Ladd, you are correct, I am Mark Lyon (mark@marklyon.org) and I was trying to clear up the issue of the first post. I am uncertain why someone would feel the need to pose as me, or who would do so. I would note, however, that all the information necessary for someone to do so was right there in your article. Perhaps you might implement a system that requires a valid email address to be verified before people can post? I did register the domain in Feb. She knew that she was running for Lt. Gov. long before I did, but as you probably already know, there wasn't any content on the site until a couple of days ago. I chose to register it after seeing it as unavailable, and nobody ever asked me for it.

BarbaraBlackmon.com Webmaster

Oct 16 2003

Mark, thanks for the clarification. You'll note that whoever posted first used a valid e-mail address -- apparently yours. There's only so much we can do about that, unfortunately. Someone was just complaining a couple days ago that we even ask for an e-mail address at all, saying we're not a "free" press as a result. ;-D I must have run into the site literally just as you posted it. And I went there looking for her site, not yours. I know it's become a common practice to register other folks' domains--which I don't agree with--and last I knew the courts are forcing some to be given back to the rightful "owners." But as far as I know that hasn't been the case for political figures (although it is for celebs). I'm not saying it shouldn't be legal to do what you're doing, but I do think it just adds to the muckety-muck nature of today's politics to trick people in to looking at a negative site. I don't, however, find your site as offensive as the "Liar, Liar" site for what it's worth. That one's just plain stupid.

ladd

Oct 16 2003

This whole thing is just bizarre. Love to know who really made the first post. Diogenes, I don't think that it's a shoe in for Barbour and Tuck at all. I think it's going to be a tight race, and I think Musgrove stands a decent chance at re-election. But, I haven't seen any polling data at all, so I'm basically making that up. I'm truly amazed at the level of mudslinging in this state. I don't watch alot of network tv, so I miss much of the advertising. But what I see from all sides is just about criminal in its tone. And, while we're at it, I'll bring up the topic of Dillon and his bid. I'm all for him being allowed to participate in the debates - I think it's really stupid that they don't have the other candidates in those forums. However, his attempt to crash the debate the other night was lame. Especially since I haven't seen much campaiging from him in any other venues. Maybe I'm not tapped into the right networks, but I haven't seen editorials, public appearances, fundraising events, anything. I'd love to hear more from his campaign, and less on the unfairness of it all.

Kate

Oct 16 2003