RNC finds out its Barack Obama site, 'Audacity Watch,' wasn't the first

Having read about the Republican National Committee's new "Barack Obama Audacity Watch" campaign, a web page where the RNC tracks less-than-glowing stories about Obama -- I went to Google to find out more. 

The top result for a search on "audacitywatch" yielded, what else, a site called "Audacity Watch."

Under the motto, "Exposing Barack Obama and the Radical Left," the site -- Audacitywatch.com --consists mostly of opinion-heavy, fact-light criticism of the Illinois Senator. One representative post is entitled, "Marxists Support Obama??!!" and another asks "Does Barack Obama Have Narcissistic Personality Disorder?" In the latter case, after offering an excerpt of the Mayo Clinic's definition of NPD, the post concludes thus:

Barack Obama says, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”  Are we sure that the “we” he means isn’t the Royal “We” (Pluralis Majestatis) – as in the Queen of England saying, “WE” – meaning “God and I” – ”are not amused?”

Perhaps someone should give Obama’s medical records — especially the mental health sections — a thorough re-examination.

Well, I knew the RNC was not Obama's No. 1 fan, but this didn't sound like the kind of insinuation they'd make, especially if all they had was the Queen of England argument. Where had I taken a wrong turn?

After a bit of step-retracing, I figured out my error. Instead of Googling "audacity watch" (with a space), I'd searched for "audacitywatch."  The former yielded the RNC page, and the latter this other site, by an anonymous but non-RNC-affiliated person from Washington state. 

Hmm. I couldn't help but wonder why the RNC would develop a feature that shared a name and basic theme with a website that already existed.  The URL Audacitywatch.com was created on April 30th, three months to the day before the RNC's "Audacity Watch" page went live. Given the name overlap, and the way a lot of people search for sites just by typing the name directly into the address bar -- didn't the RNC anticipate any reader confusion?

I contacted them to ask.  First of all, did they know about the other Audacity Watch when they were planning their own?

"We did not," wrote Amber Wilkerson, the RNC's Deputy Press Secretary, in an e-mail to me.  She also noted that there was "no link at all" between the two sites. "I actually haven't seen it."

You tell me: Does the RNC deserve a demerit for failing to find the other Audacity Watch before it went ahead and launched its own?  Or are we savvy Web surfers smart enough to tell the difference?

Comments

[John Paul Telhomme]

And you really want to believe that they didn't know that the other site had existed since April? You are either too naive or too trusting. The same schmucks - The RNC - operate both sites....

[pacificGatePost]

IT’S NOT JUST BECAUSE CAMPAIGN ADS ARE NEGATIVE THAT THEY ARE A PROBLEM ---

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-evidence-that-republicans-dont.html

McCain’s campaign may be getting torpedoed by Republicans.

[Sam Vaknin]

Frivolity does serve a purpose.

Still, here is a more substantial contribution to the deebrate:

http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/69618

Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

[chris]

I would expect they new. In order to not get sued by the earlier existing website, the RNC would have to have had done some research on website names. 1), in order to make sure the website name they wanted was not taken. 2) To ensure that when people look for the website they won't find adult only (or other questionable) content. 3) Just as the democrats, they have a "war room" full of people looking on the internet for any little thing that can derail their opponents campaign. Meaning, they have to be internet savvy about these things. 4) I doubt the RNC put up the website itself. Their business is politics, not website design. Not saying website designers can't be republican, but chances are they paid an outside company (or an internal IT department) as opposed to a freelance college student to build and host their website. Which means professionals would have been on this project and should have uncovered this stuff.

My own personal feeling is that someone out of the "Swift Boat Veterans For Selling Out A War Buddy to Make Money" is behind this. Of course, I can't prove it, but that's my gut feeling.

[AudacityWatch]

Sorry, JPT, the RNC has nothing to do with my site. Your fantasies about the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy are just that -- fantasies. And why are you so against anyone questioning your candidate? Afraid his phony veneer will crack under scrutiny?

The site does NOT question his race, his religion or his patriotism. It DOES, however, question his inexperience, his policiies, his arrogance, his choice of associates, his motives, his tactics, his poor judgment and his ego -- all valid considerations when choosing the next President.