Someone Is Playing URL Tricks on the Democratic Party

More

First, the URL GutsyCall.com began redirecting visitors to President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign website this week, giving the embarrassing impression that Obama not only wants to campaign shamelessly on the death of Osama bin Laden, but that he's already doing it the worst possible way -- with a new web address that sounds really lame.

Except neither Obama's campaign nor the Democratic National Committee were responsible, a DNC spokesperson said today.

Now, we've noticed that a new URL redirects to the DNC's website: www.DNCCryBabies.com. Yet another, www.abigfuckingdeal.com, redirects to Vice President Biden's official White House bio page, referencing Biden's unfortunate microphone moment after the passage of health care reform.

Neither URL is traceable to a specific owner, as both were registered through the domain-hosting service GoDaddy.com, which obscures the results of domain ownership searches.

GutsyCall.com was registered on Wednesday. DNCCryBabies.com was registered today. Abigfuckingdeal.com was registered in March of last year.

Who could be behind this mischief? We can only suspect Republican Internet poltergeists.

Earlier this week, Buffalo Beast blogger Ian Murphy proved, once and for all, that candidates should register alternate web URLs before someone takes advantage of them. In Murphy's case, he registered an alternate domain to savagely and hilariously mock his House campaign opponent, Republican Jane Corwin.

But, as the DNC and Obama are finding out, it's harder to prevent such an unpredictable, multi-pronged URL assault.

Jump to comments

Chris Good is a political reporter for ABC News. He was previously an associate editor at The Atlantic and a reporter for The Hill.

Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Video

What Does It Take to Make Real Craft Gin?

Tour the Green Hat Gin distillery

Video

Letter From the Editor

The June 2013 issue

Video

What Straights Can Learn From Same-Sex Couples

New insight from decades of research

Video

The End of the Mall Rat

A tribute to that pillar of teen culture

Writers

Up
Down

More in Politics

In Focus

Picking up the Pieces After the Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

Just In