February 2003	July 2003

The joseph2004.org site went up January 27, 2003.  Nick Jehlen, a political activist and art director of The Progressive magazine, wrote and designed the site.  Additional programming was done by Matthew Howard.  The look of the joseph2004.org closely resembled that of the official campaign site.  However, whereas the Lieberman site proclaimed on its opening page, "The American Dream isn't just a story...," the parody site text read, "My American Dream is a fairy tale..."  In addition to having some fun (there is an elaborate and slow-loading set of steps on how to fold an origami-style donkey out of a dollar bill) this site does make serious policy criticisms.  For example, on the question of expensing stock options there is a link to the PBS Frontline program "Bigger than Enron."

Official Site

Original Site	May 29, 2003 redesign

"The site has only been up for a week, but it's had thousands of visitors so far and we're hoping to keep updating every week. Lieberman isn't necessarily the most obvious target for satire, but I find his moral superiority complex mixed with his questionable ethics on issues like expensing stock options, military spending and the death penalty really hard to swallow, and from the response so far, there's a lot of people out there thinking the same thing."

"We've added a new activity (build your own missile shield!) and introduced our online store where you can buy bumperstickers and t-shirts and show your support for Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat from the Republican wing of the party."

"I've been getting a lot of mail in the last few months, even though I'd let the site go without an update for a while. It finally got me to get to work on an updated site.  I've only gotten a few vitriol-filled emails from Lieberman supporters, and they're generally not very specific to the site - just mad that someone would be making fun of their candidate.

"The activities seem to be the favorite part of the site for most people, though I'm hoping our new Adopt a Jew! segment will become a crowd pleaser.

"One person who got in touch with me to interview me about the site noted that she'd heard about it from Lieberman campaign staffers, who apparently have been keeping up with the site, though their press person hadn't heard about it.  When she asked him for a comment on the site he noted that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Then she told him the site address and asked him to pull it up to take a look, after which he apparently said 'well, not in this case.'

"That's probably my favorite story so far!"

Copyright © 2003  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.