US Presidential Election 2004 V

Network performance and security consultant Netcraft reports that Bush Campaign Web Site Rejects Non-US Visitors. For over a day now, any visits to their website from outside the US are rejected with an “Access Denied” message while those inside the US can access the site normally. I tried it myself, accessing it from my Taiwan So-Net connection and got an access denied message. Through my US server I can access it no problem. I guess the Bush campaign doesn’t much care about foreigners or overseas Americans.

Let me list the celebrities Republicans have relied on:

  1. Ronald Reagan
  2. Arnold Schwartzenegger
  3. George W. Bush (Acting as President of the USA on CNN and other networks)

Very nice. I wonder what the purpose of the blocking is.

Lest we forget NRA’s darling Charlton Heston.

Not alot of Democrats in the NRA, so I hear…

You have named four. Hurray. Incidentally, all four are primarily known now not for acting or anything else but politics. Schwarzenegger is now the governor of California. Reagan and Bush are presidents and Heston is the head of the NRA NOT an actor. Anyone else want to give the Democrats some help here with their need for "celebrities?

Should the Bush campaign care about foreign nationals?

I’m in Ontario. I just tried it and I didn’t have any problem (my server is in Toronto). I guess I’m just not foreign enough.

[quote=“MaPoSquid”]I would say that there is a significant difference between Arnold Schwarzenegger going into politics and Barbra (“only two A’s please!”) Streisand whining: Schwarzenegger has done something useful beyond merely being a celebrity.

Schwarzenegger made some money from his bodybuilding and acting, sure. But he invested that into real estate, aircraft, and other leasing operations. He is a successful businessman in his own right.

Barbra, on the other hand, hasn’t done much of anything besides screeching for pay.[/quote]

MaPoSquid, it would seem you’re splitting hairs here to differentiate between celebrities. Are you really saying that a fake-o sport like bodybuilding should somehow be more “worthy” than singing? I’m no fan of Streisand or her type of music, but she’s cranked out album after album of stuff that people buy fanatically – and she’s doing well enough in the famous-singer community to have an album’s worth of duets. She goes on a concert tour, and she can pretty much charge whatever the hell she wants.

Along the way, she’s had a far more successful acting career than most movie stars – she’s somehow managed to be the first person to win a Grammy, a Tony and an Oscar. When was the last time Arnie won an Oscar? Streisand has two. Even Frank Sinatra has an Oscar.

She had a long career as a producer, and she’s apparently made money doing the nutty trifecta of starring, directing and producing movies at least twice.

[quote]
Should the Bush campaign care about foreign nationals?[/quote]

I don’t see why they should. However, there are a considerable number of American nationals living overseas who are also affected. This isn’t a good way to get your message across, especially in an election polls show to be very close.

of course not
But if the campaign would not care, why try to keep foreigners out?

Just curious, but does the website lay out any of the plans the Republicans have for what they will do to foreigners? That could explain it. Perhaps Ashcroft has a few sections of the site where he explains new ways in which he plans to abuse Arab-Americans.

Also, if the website still has that Hitler ad up, that could be really embarrassing if people from other countries saw it.

[quote=“MaPoSquid”]I would say that there is a significant difference between Arnold Schwarzenegger going into politics and Barbra (“only two A’s please!”) Streisand whining: Schwarzenegger has done something useful beyond merely being a celebrity.

Schwarzenegger made some money from his bodybuilding and acting, sure. But he invested that into real estate, aircraft, and other leasing operations. He is a successful businessman in his own right.

Barbra, on the other hand, hasn’t done much of anything besides screeching for pay.[/quote]

Which makes Babs a celebrity… in the entertainment business only.

Which makes Babs a celebrity… in the entertainment business only.

Which makes Babs a celebrity… in the entertainment business only.

Arnold is not only a celebrity in the entertainment industry, but has also been succesful in non-entertainment ventures as well as in politics.

What exactly about this obvious distinction is beyond your intellectual grasp?

[quote=“Dr_Zoidberg”][quote]
Should the Bush campaign care about foreign nationals?[/quote]

I don’t see why they should. However, there are a considerable number of American nationals living overseas who are also affected. This isn’t a good way to get your message across, especially in an election polls show to be very close.[/quote]

The problem is that American nationals voting from abroad use paper ballots. These can’t be “massaged” with a Diebold voting machine. Can’t have a messy paper trail, can we?

I look forward to Bush’s victory, and hearing his explanation on November 3 about how he won the election by 300 million votes.

cheers,
DB

Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.
– Josef Stalin

While I agree that he isn’t a GOOD actor, an actor he is, nonetheless.

With more than twenty movies in the last ten years to his credit, he might beg to differ with your assessment of his career. I certainly do.

Or, was he acting in his capacity of NRA wag in Any Given Sunday and Cats & Dogs? You tell me…

And, link-lover, here is one for you:

imdb.com/name/nm0000032/

A dieu!

This story is starting to get picked up by various news outlets:

PC Advisor UK
Computerworld NZ
The Register UK

The articles back up Dr_Zoidberg in that the site is still accessible from Canada, but not from other non-US countries.

[quote=“Tigerman”]

Should the Bush campaign care about foreign nationals?[/quote]

Hello–Earth to Tigerman–what about American citizens abroad that want to view it?

I can view it–using unipeak.com.

The Christian rock issue is worth mentioning, especially in a country that has a division between state and religion. Bush’s use of religion is highly divisive and a cheap trick to get people to be satisfied with a raw deal (weaker economy, huge deficit our grandchildren will have to pay thanx to Republicans, poor results of ‘trickle down economics,’ etc.). Religion tends to be strongest in poorer countries whereas reason tends to have more influence than religious appeals in more developed countries. Since Republicans really can’t appeal to reason (i.e. justify invading countries on whim, benefitting the extreme rich above the poor, destroying the environment because ‘global warming is just a theory,’ etc.), they need to claim that ‘God is on our side’ and appeal to fanatics who are afraid of homosexuals and women who have abortions. Christianity as a religion is pretty much as bad as the others excepting Christian terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and the clinic bombers, but I will confess I’m more partial to Buddhists, who believe in tolerance. Christianity, in stating that everyone who is NOT a Christian will go to Hell, is essentially undemocratic and thus antithetical to the U.S. Constitution (if all men are created equal, then would we send missionaries to brainwash people having ‘primitive’ beliefs?). N’est-ce pas?

Celebrities are commonly used to draw attention to political causes, charities, world hunger, etc. I see nothing “low” or “desperate” in that.

It says that the democrats are merely using the various forms of influence that are available to them.

While I’m no fan of Christianity, and certainly not of Christian rock, your above logic is flawed.

Although all men are created equal, we still send some to jail. There is nothing undemocratic about this.

[quote=“MaPoSquid”]I would say that there is a significant difference between Arnold Schwarzenegger going into politics and Barbra (“only two A’s please!”) Streisand whining: Schwarzenegger has done something useful beyond merely being a celebrity.

Schwarzenegger made some money from his bodybuilding and acting, sure. But he invested that into real estate, aircraft, and other leasing operations. He is a successful businessman in his own right.

Barbra, on the other hand, hasn’t done much of anything besides screeching for pay.[/quote]

I’m not much of a Streisand fan, but…How do you know Babs hasn’t ventured into business? She’s collected quite an antiques collection that she makes a small mint off by unloading every once in a while. She holds the record for the highest-grossing concert ever–that’s not doing business? Sounds like a pretty successful businesswoman to me–especially since all she had to do was read off a teleprompter.

Her stuff from old movies fetch a huge sum in CHARITY auctions. She’s given a shitload of her own money to charity too, and not just the Democrat Party kind.

Schwarzenegger is proof you can do anything if you have money–including become governor.

Where do you people get this crap that Democrats “rely” on celebrities? Aren’t these celebrities involved in the party all Democrats? Does that mean they are relying on themselves as well. You’re just mad because all you can scrape up is Heston and some white trash musicians.

P.S. Fred Smith, IMDB.com lists Heston as still actively involved in movie-making.