Sullivan Website Screw-Up Quotes Ron Paul
Photo by Zach Roberts
Carpetbagging Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan (OH->DC->AK) is running against incumbent Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) this fall. When serious and professional candidates run for office, they usually hire someone to develop a website for their candidacy. And in the course of developing the design of the website, there’s often something that says this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
If you’re incredibly well versed in the classics, your first thought might be, “Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that looks like a mangled section of De finibus bonorum et malorum, a 1st-century BC Latin text by Cicero, but with words altered, added, and removed which make the whole thing nonsensical, improper Latin!”
And you would be right. But to most people, it’s just gobbledy-gook, and that’s exactly what it is supposed to be. Because during the design of a website, those who are building it don’t know what the candidate is going to actually say. They just want nonsense text to plug in so you get the feel for what things will look like when they’re done, without the distraction of English words and sentences detracting from the visual experience. Words matter even in political web development, because if something goes wrong, it might make the candidate look like a crazy ideologue.
And nobody wants that, except the opposition.
On Thursday afternoon, when curious eyes went looking for DC Dan Sullivan’s “Issues” page, they found it, but they also found the development version of the site right there and published for the whole world to see. And it was a little more interesting than nonsensical muddled-up Cicero. Sullivan’s dummy text gave quite the opposite effect, because they thought it would be a good idea to cut and paste selections from controversial newsletters of former Texas congressman Ron Paul.
Included was a bit of advice that said:
“…an ex-cop I know advises that if you have to use a gun on a youth, you should leave the scene immediately, disposing of the wiped off gun as soon as possible.”
Good to know. Thanks, Dan!
Brian Donahue, a partner at CRAFT, a digital firm doing work for the Sullivan campaign, said the filler text was a vendor issue — and not something the Sullivan campaign did.
“We were made aware of so-called dummy copy, found on a development site, not on the Dan Sullivan campaign site,” Donahue said in a statement to BuzzFeed. “Normally, placeholder copy is used during the development process. We contacted the vendor and they removed it. This is a mistake of a developer and not of the campaign.”
A variation of the common lorem ipsum text has been used during typesetting since the 1960s or earlier. There’s a reason for this. Since Thursday, the “vendor issue” has been scrubbed, but Buzzfeed managed to capture it for posterity. The internet, as they say, is forever.
“Dummy copy” indeed.
Anybody but begich and his endless emails ( with no choice to unsubscribe).
Anybody? Really? Is this the extent of your concern for the welfare and future of our state?
“This is a mistake of a developer and not of the campaign.” said Donahue. Wrong.
The CAMPAIGN made the big mistake of letting something go public without checking and okaying it first. That is a real amateur mistake.
Ouch – and couldn’t happen to a scarier AK Wannabe, DNR Dan.
Three Dan’s running for offices the year. Three Dan’s too many. Vote no on Dan’s.
Strangely enough, the practice of inserting Latin text as a placeholder is known as “Greeking.” I know, I know, it makes about as much sense as voting for Sullivan.
Remember, Alaskans (and everyone), it’s not Republican voters who elect rightwing nutjobs. It’s Democrats and Independents who STAY HOME on Election Day. Register and VOTE in every election, primary and general. It’s really, REALLY important.
We are going to need a better word than ‘carpetbagger’.
I’d bet my dipnet permit most folks that will consider voting for this shyster don’t know the meaning (or the origin of) the word carpetbagger.
Sullivan looks sick in that photo! Why anyone would vote for him in Alaska is beyond me…he’s nothing more than a carpetbagger!
Of course. They choose unflattering photos to make people like you think the way you do.
Feeling pretty dumb now eh?