Conservative Party web design lifted from GOP web

December 12, 2005 7:56 PM

The layout of this site looks an awful lot like this one. Probably just a coincidence. [via matthewgood]
posted by tranquileye (61 comments total)

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH
posted by selfnoise at 8:00 PM on December 12, 2005

and?
posted by oddman at 8:02 PM on December 12, 2005

The future of this post looks an awful lot like this one.
posted by Falconetti at 8:02 PM on December 12, 2005

This is good.
posted by wakko at 8:04 PM on December 12, 2005

Wow. Does anyone else think those webpages look really, really unprofessional?
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:10 PM on December 12, 2005

So then it's true: quasi-fascism really does breed originality!
posted by MaxVonCretin at 8:10 PM on December 12, 2005

Before this thread gets deleted, take a look at the anti-Howard Dean ad that the GOP is highlighting on its website. It's the pinnacle of filth.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:21 PM on December 12, 2005

So Matthew Good is a boring political blogger now?
posted by kickingtheground at 8:24 PM on December 12, 2005

Howard...not in front of the troops.
posted by jaronson at 8:27 PM on December 12, 2005

The Howard Dean ad is TOTALLY fair play. And Dean is the biggest dick ever. JAMAIS!
posted by ParisParamus at 8:28 PM on December 12, 2005

Also, kudos the understatement of tranquileye's FPP. Very funny.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:29 PM on December 12, 2005

I'd say a coincidence. Similar approach. Messy, busy, a joke in general. The presentation definitely mirrors the content.
posted by juiceCake at 8:31 PM on December 12, 2005

They *are* very similar aren't they? It's almost enough to make me wonder if... maybe... they both used unimaginative web designers?
posted by thparkth at 8:32 PM on December 12, 2005

I am very disappointed at the Republicans. For not using Quicktime for that video.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:32 PM on December 12, 2005

McWebsites all look the same. It's just a testament to the kind of people they appeal too. Sterile. Unauthentic. Plastic.
posted by stbalbach at 8:34 PM on December 12, 2005

Paris, can't you manage to be a soulless douchebag on your own time?
posted by stenseng at 8:35 PM on December 12, 2005

last p
posted by AwkwardPause at 8:38 PM on December 12, 2005

ost
posted by AwkwardPause at 8:38 PM on December 12, 2005

Howard Dean isn't running for office.

Keep wasting your money.
posted by empath at 8:40 PM on December 12, 2005

These two look similar too - what's going on here?!?!?
posted by loquax at 8:48 PM on December 12, 2005

Mr. Paramus belives that WMD were found in Iraq. He's out of his mind.
posted by Paris Hilton at 8:51 PM on December 12, 2005

Holy crap, that video sends the message loud and clear: OBEY.
posted by knave at 8:57 PM on December 12, 2005

And one newspaper looks very similar to another. Lawsuits are coming!
posted by juiceCake at 8:58 PM on December 12, 2005

If Paris and Paris fight each other, can I buy tickets?
posted by Richard Daly at 8:59 PM on December 12, 2005

"So Matthew Good is a boring political blogger now?"

From boring musician to boring political blogger.. sad.
posted by mrcircles at 9:00 PM on December 12, 2005

Oh my God. It's that Matthew Good? I thought we all agreed in 1999 to never speak of him, Our Lady Peace and I Mother Earth ever again.
posted by loquax at 9:04 PM on December 12, 2005

No, the moratorium only extended to Our Lady Peace, I Mother Earth, Moist, and the Tea Party.

I actually like Matt Good's stuff... is that so wrong?

It is? OK, just checking.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:10 PM on December 12, 2005

And in response to that GOP ad, I'd like to point to a response ad I found from MeFi a while ago (not self link, though you'll need a video player of some type).



And can we ad "MeFi" to the spell-check tool while we're at it?
posted by Richard Daly at 9:10 PM on December 12, 2005

One of my greatest regrets is that we never got to enjoy the schadenfreude of seeing Scott Stapp of Creed fame join the Tea Party, as was rumoured in 2004. That would have been...fun.
posted by loquax at 9:14 PM on December 12, 2005

"Paris, can't you manage to be a soulless douchebag on your own time? posted by stenseng at 11:35 PM EST on December 12 [!]"

Funny, I was just about to ask you the same question.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:21 PM on December 12, 2005

i'm asking jesus to give pparamus the amnesia. maybe then he will start using the computer for things like bejeweled2.

thank you jesus!
posted by nola at 9:30 PM on December 12, 2005

The layout of this site looks an awful lot like this one

It does?

Seriously, unless one of the sites has changed in the last 1.5 hours, I honestly don't see what you're talking about.

They are both similarly BUSY, but I don't think that's what you meant.

(Though i did notice the Action Center/Action Centre thing. This sounds more like a catch phrase being bleated by a political consultant than some sort of web conspiracy.)
posted by Ynoxas at 9:37 PM on December 12, 2005

Gee! Could there be some design houses that have gotten referrals from one happy client to another, and even recycled some of the same design concepts?

CONSPIRAZY!!!!!!!!!!
posted by scarabic at 9:42 PM on December 12, 2005

Funny, I was just about to ask you the same question.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:21 PM PST on December 12 [!]

Oh Snap!!
posted by Balisong at 9:55 PM on December 12, 2005

Holy crap, if you want to see why the Republicans are winning, compare the RNC ad with the one that Richard Daly linked.

The RNC ad has video of the targeted Democrats -- all of whom are big-name pols -- with a clever "white flag" waving them off. And it ends with the image of a soldier watching the proceedings to reinforce the idea that this is undermining our troops.

The response has a bunch of white-on-black text (half of which I couldn't even read) along with commentary that types itself across the screen slowly enough to engage my "Hulk smash!" reflex. And a song that I associate with the iPod.

The Democrats need to get it through their heads that it's not always "propaganda" to present your case in a compelling way. Michael Moore* seems to be the only one to realize this -- is it any wonder that they've worked so hard to drag his name through the mud?

* Also the Daily Show writers. Seriously, those are the only two places I ever saw the "now watch this drive" clip, coverage of which is the absolute minimum that should be expected of any liberal media group.
posted by bjrubble at 9:58 PM on December 12, 2005

Oy, went and watched the Dem ad again, and can't help myself:

Who the fuck is "Mr. Mehlman" and why should I care?

Jesus, you guys are stupid.
posted by bjrubble at 10:01 PM on December 12, 2005

I thought the same thing. When you're on the right side of hte issue, you don't have to resort to something as lame as attacking a few low key republicans who AGREE with you. But the latter ad was not a professional thing, it's just some internet shmuck, right?
posted by knave at 10:35 PM on December 12, 2005

"Mr. Mehlman" is the RNC's Howard Dean. Except, unlike Dean, he is not a lunatic wacko who has likely already assured a loss for his party in 2006 and 2008.
posted by ParisParamus at 10:46 PM on December 12, 2005

Keep it up, Howard! Make my job here at Metafilter as easy as possible!
posted by ParisParamus at 10:47 PM on December 12, 2005

Yeah, soon enough we'll all be republicans.
posted by knave at 10:58 PM on December 12, 2005

knave: Right.

Paris: Self-parody at its finest.
posted by punishinglemur at 11:00 PM on December 12, 2005

Keep it up, Howard! Make my job here at Metafilter as easy as possible!

And your job here is what, exactly? consistently making yourself look foolish? Is it even possible to make that job any easier?
posted by loquacious at 11:34 PM on December 12, 2005

Matt Good's blog isnt bad, but I like his wife's better

i think it's cuz she talks about hockey more than he does.
posted by tsarfan at 11:40 PM on December 12, 2005

i am pretty sure parisparamus is a sock puppet honestly
posted by wakko at 11:51 PM on December 12, 2005

This just in: Conservative organizations use conservative web design.
Pictures at 11.
posted by brundlefly at 12:10 AM on December 13, 2005

By the way, why does anyone EVER respond to PP's posts? If I were a conservative or a Bush supporter (as mutually exclusive as those categories may be), I would be ashamed every time PP posts anything. I'm with wakko. I think PP is actually some guy from Democratic Underground who pretends to be a neo-Con to make neo-Cons look bad.
posted by brundlefly at 12:13 AM on December 13, 2005

What's the point of this thread? (seriously)

We already know that political groups have websites and that most of those websites suck.

Is there anything else this thread is supposed to spotlight, or is it just a place for liberals to bash conservatives, and for ParisParamus to be a dick?
posted by I Love Tacos at 12:25 AM on December 13, 2005

Eh, I think the only person who probably takes ParisParamus seriously is probably Rothko, and we're pretty sure he's the suck poppet of a neo-con anyhow.

Thus is the circle of life.
posted by loquacious at 1:38 AM on December 13, 2005

LIBERALS SAY PARENTS WOULD CHOOSE 'BEER AND POPCORN' OVER QUALITY CHILD CARE

They say it like it's a bad thing.
posted by magpie68 at 2:37 AM on December 13, 2005

Must be an example of website evolution - certainly couldn't have had an intelligent designer...
posted by Chunder at 3:12 AM on December 13, 2005

Keep it up, Howard! Make my job here at Metafilter as easy as possible!

I had a feeling this was your only job.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 4:57 AM on December 13, 2005

The point of this post was that neither site knows what a Portabello mushroom looks like.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:22 AM on December 13, 2005

The point of this post was that neither site knows what a Portabello mushroom looks like.

OK, that was worth this stupid post. Now we can close this baby down. Calling poppo...
posted by languagehat at 5:30 AM on December 13, 2005

Actually, I have something to add. The RNC website ad that was mentioned here is a fake according to Slate.
posted by ND¢ at 7:09 AM on December 13, 2005

The reason why anyone cares that the Conservative web site might look like the GOP site is because Canadians worry that the Conservative/Reform/Alliance party might be too much like the GOP.

The fact that the two sites look somewhat alike is almost certainly more to do with the generic nature of web sites for organizations and corporations. But the fact that the Conservatives didn't ensure that their site bore no resemblance to the GOP site speaks volumes about their misunderstanding of Canadian politics east of Alberta.
posted by Zinger at 7:14 AM on December 13, 2005

Quick poll - how many people in Canada (or the US) do you think have actually visited the website of any political party, let along the CPC/GOP websites? I'd guess <1%. If this is part of a master plan, I think that plan merits a second look.
posted by loquax at 7:46 AM on December 13, 2005

Has one of the sites changed their design? I don't think they look all that similar.
posted by moonbiter at 7:56 AM on December 13, 2005

No, they never looked similar. This post makes no sense.
posted by knave at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2005

The purpose of this post is to flip out and kill people.

(...that quote lame internet memes)
posted by Sparx at 3:00 PM on December 13, 2005

I find it incredibly infuriating that no Democrat has yet pointed out that the President himself said that this war was impossible to win.

NBC, "The Today Show", 8/30/04

MATT LAUER: You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war of ter--on terror? For example, in the next four years?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I have never said we can win it in four years.

MATT LAUER: No, I'm just saying, can we win it? Do you say that?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't--I don't think we can win it.

posted by bashos_frog at 7:58 PM on December 13, 2005

(BTW, I meant: loudly, and in public, with video)
posted by bashos_frog at 7:59 PM on December 13, 2005