Apparently Democrats Don't Like Bush. Who Knew?
Part two of the series on games featured on party websites.
Lightspin looks at theDemocratic National Committee website and internet games and cartoons featured on it.
As a brief commentary on the website itself, compared to the GOP website, the DNC have their work cut out for them. The site is simplistic, difficult to nagivate, and lacks the pure media charm that the GOP website has.
The moral of this story is that donkeys and cowboys don't mix.Screenshot from Kick Bush Out. Copyright 2004 DNC.
The mirror of the GOP’s Kerry Corner is the DNC’s Dem TV. This section features videos, clips and most notably for Lightspin, interactive animations that trash Bush.
Kick Bush Outis a cartoon allows you to use a donkey to kick a cowboy George W. Bush out of the White House. Depending on what button you choose, Bush says a different quote and the donkey kicks in a different manner. There’s even the ubiquitous Matrix-style kick.
Unfortunately, this cartoon suffers from exactly the same problems many of the Republican games/animations featured in the last post: there is a strong lack of political backing. Bush's quotes may be silly or sound stupid to a Democrat, but Lightspin cannot foresee anyone being convinced to change sides or even get off the political fence using an animation that punishes Bush for quotes. The quotes are not even given context. There’s no mention of policy whatsoever.
Social Security and its sequel
are two flash-cartoons that are a little better; they do deal with a political issue. At the same time, the cartoon format causes the creators to go a bit off the handle. George W. Bush’s Social Security plans are made on the idea that the privatization of social security will bring in a better return than leaving it with the government. But in the cartoon he's kicking old ladies down hills.
On a commentary level, Lightspin doesn't understand the analogy. Did Bush know that stocks would drop? Probably not. And while the numbers on stock-market failings are helpful in delivering the message intended, making Bush into a villain once again turns the message into simply verifying the beliefs of people who already hate him. In our opinion, that quality makes this particular cartoon less effective than if it was played straight.
Oddly enough, there isn’t the sheer quantity of cartoons and games on the DNC's website that the Republican websites have. The selections weren’t based on personal favorites, the best or even the worst. In the end, these were some of the only pieces of Internet-exclusive media on the Democrat website.
However, both sites have used the same general style in their games and cartoons. The cartoons make the other guy into a fool or a villain, intent on ruining the United States for everyone and their poor, old grandmothers. While good for solidifying their positions, Lightspin thinks these cartoons wouldn’t work to convince people with other opinions. It’s a contest of mud-slinging, using the newest technology to say the basest things about each side’s opposition.
And with a lack of quantity on their side, Democrats may be disappointed to learn that they are losing this mud-slinging game.
Lightspin looks at theDemocratic National Committee website and internet games and cartoons featured on it.
As a brief commentary on the website itself, compared to the GOP website, the DNC have their work cut out for them. The site is simplistic, difficult to nagivate, and lacks the pure media charm that the GOP website has.
The moral of this story is that donkeys and cowboys don't mix.Screenshot from Kick Bush Out. Copyright 2004 DNC.The mirror of the GOP’s Kerry Corner is the DNC’s Dem TV. This section features videos, clips and most notably for Lightspin, interactive animations that trash Bush.
Kick Bush Outis a cartoon allows you to use a donkey to kick a cowboy George W. Bush out of the White House. Depending on what button you choose, Bush says a different quote and the donkey kicks in a different manner. There’s even the ubiquitous Matrix-style kick.
Unfortunately, this cartoon suffers from exactly the same problems many of the Republican games/animations featured in the last post: there is a strong lack of political backing. Bush's quotes may be silly or sound stupid to a Democrat, but Lightspin cannot foresee anyone being convinced to change sides or even get off the political fence using an animation that punishes Bush for quotes. The quotes are not even given context. There’s no mention of policy whatsoever.
Social Security and its sequel
are two flash-cartoons that are a little better; they do deal with a political issue. At the same time, the cartoon format causes the creators to go a bit off the handle. George W. Bush’s Social Security plans are made on the idea that the privatization of social security will bring in a better return than leaving it with the government. But in the cartoon he's kicking old ladies down hills.
On a commentary level, Lightspin doesn't understand the analogy. Did Bush know that stocks would drop? Probably not. And while the numbers on stock-market failings are helpful in delivering the message intended, making Bush into a villain once again turns the message into simply verifying the beliefs of people who already hate him. In our opinion, that quality makes this particular cartoon less effective than if it was played straight.
Oddly enough, there isn’t the sheer quantity of cartoons and games on the DNC's website that the Republican websites have. The selections weren’t based on personal favorites, the best or even the worst. In the end, these were some of the only pieces of Internet-exclusive media on the Democrat website.
However, both sites have used the same general style in their games and cartoons. The cartoons make the other guy into a fool or a villain, intent on ruining the United States for everyone and their poor, old grandmothers. While good for solidifying their positions, Lightspin thinks these cartoons wouldn’t work to convince people with other opinions. It’s a contest of mud-slinging, using the newest technology to say the basest things about each side’s opposition.
And with a lack of quantity on their side, Democrats may be disappointed to learn that they are losing this mud-slinging game.
posted by Mike Drucker at 1:55 PM
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