Hoax Museum Blog: Politics

Terry Tate for Governor — To the list of fictitious characters campaigning to become Governor of California we can now add Terry Tate, the 'Office Linebacker' in those ads by Reebok. Terry Tate is played by actor Lester Speight, but it's Tate that's running, not Speight. So we now have Gollum and Tate running, as well as Gary Coleman, Gallagher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the pornstar Mary Carey, Angelyne, and Larry Flynt. All elections should be this fun!
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003.   Comments (0)

Gollum for Governor — Here's the latest entrant to the California recall election: Gollum, from Lord of the Rings. Considering the other candidates running, he just might have my vote.
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2003.   Comments (0)

Cherie Blair Dance Hit — A dance hit by Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is taking the clubs by storm in Spain. Or, um, maybe not. (Thanks to Keith Brogan for emailing me about this).

Update 8/14/03: According to this article, maybe it's not a hoax.
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2003.   Comments (0)

How Californias recall election can erase the states deficit — A lot of people have been wondering whether this whole California recall election is some kind of hoax, what with candidates for governor such as Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, and Angelyne. Well, it's no hoax. All it takes is $3500 and 65 signatures and anyone can announce their candidacy for governor. Personally I think people are failing to see the potential here to get rid of Gray Davis and solve our budget woes all in one fell swoop. Think about it. We've got a $35 billion deficit, and it costs $3500 to run for governor. So if the entire population of Los Angeles registered to run for governor, our deficit would be gone in an instant. Apparently we're already well on our way to achieving this goal.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003.   Comments (0)


King Bloop Zod of Mars — King Bloop Zod from the planet Mars strikes up an email exchange with Mel Martinez, the White House Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and gets a response.
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003.   Comments (0)

Bush Learns to Read — image This picture of Bush reading a children's book upside down is a fake. Read the explanation here.
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)

Saddam Hussein Doubles — Apparently Saddam Hussein employs many doubles of himself. The men shown below are apparently not the real Hussein. They're his doubles. So will the real Saddam Hussein please stand up?
image
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)

NZ Electoral Pranks — Pranksters play havoc with New Zealand's new online electoral rolls, changing one woman's name from Kylene Soar to 'Mr. Fat Ass.' They also manage to register a basset hound to vote, listing its occupation as a cable-layer.
Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2002.   Comments (0)

Sham Economic Forum — Bush to Hold Sham Economic Forum. At least, so claims the Democratic National Committee. I find it amusing when politicians start accusing each other of shams and staging events, since modern politics has become all about manipulating appearances and posing for photo ops anyway. Though in this case I'm inclined to agree with the DNC. The economic forum does appear to be what the historian Daniel Boorstin would describe as a "pseudo-event." Boorstin offered 3 criteria for identifying a pseudo-event:
1) It is not spontaneous;
2) Its success is measured by how widely it is reported;
3) Its relation to the underlying reality of the situation is ambiguous.
This checklist comes from Boorstin's book THE IMAGE: A GUIDE TO PSEUDO-EVENTS IN AMERICA. First published back in 1961, but still relevant reading today.
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002.   Comments (0)

Cheney Cracks Down — Cheney promises crackdown on corporate fraud. I don't know. Somehow it seems a little fishy.
Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2002.   Comments (0)

Dr. Pepper Pledge of Allegiance — Got a few e-mails about the Dr. Pepper/Pledge of Allegiance issue that's circulating through e-mail. Here's the text of the e-mail that people are receiving:
Just sharing the info with you that I received!

For those who have not heard, the bottlers/manufacturers of Dr. Pepper and their other products, have started a "new" can campaign. They are putting patriotic scenes on them. One, is the Empire State Bldg. with the pledge of allegiance...but ... they left off the words..."under God". They felt it might "offend" some. I don't know about you, but as a Christian, I am boycotting their products! They said they didn't "have room" for those words, but yet they had room for "indivisible" on the can Please pass this along to others and see if we can get a message out to Dr.Pepper ....ifhaving "under God" on cans offends them, then they don't need our money with "in God we trust" on it!!!

It turns out that Dr. Pepper did quote part of the Pledge of Allegiance on a patriotically themed can, and they did leave out the phrase 'Under God.' But then they only quoted three words from the pledge: "One nation... indivisible." So they also left out all references to the flag, the republic, liberty, and justice.

Here's Dr. Pepper's official response to the controversy: Dr. Pepper
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2002.   Comments (2)

Presidential Candidates — Some alternative presidential candidates from the past: fig bar man, pogo, and nobody.
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2002.   Comments (0)

Page 8 of 8 pages ‹ First  < 6 7 8