Chetly Zarko brings us this real funny political add from his backyard and the DNC’s as well…literally!

Posted by ~TeddyBear in September 17th, 2008

Oakland Politics A website devoted to original citizen news reporting, politics, and the political community of Oakland County, Michigan.

Ass Whisperer Disappears, Reappears, and Candidate Asserts Bogus Copyright
by: chetly
Wed Sep 17, 2008 at 19:48:59 PM EDT

It’s been almost two weeks since our story on Democrat-Donkey worshipper and candidate for State Representative Scott Hudson’s YouTube self-imolation called the “Ass Whispered”.

Last week, while in Arizona, I learned that candidate Hudson removed the video from YouTube, after we more than tripled his exposure in terms of views. While I had planned on reposting my archived copy (unable to in Arizona), a citizen of his district apparently did for us.

ForeverDonkey’s version is here:

Oakland Politics A website devoted to original citizen news reporting, politics, and the political community of Oakland County, Michigan.

Now, apparently according to the Oakland Press, Hudson is asserting that some kind of copyright violation has occurred, and that if he doesn’t want the video up he’s entitled to order others to keep it down.

That’s a gross misinterpretation of copyright law, and the “fair use doctrine” would blow a hole in the theory quite quickly. You see, Scott Hudson is a public figure, running for a office of high public trust in the state of Michigan, and anything that sheds light on how he’d perform in that office - particularly his own commercials (despite his regrets in producing them) - is free speech, and fair use, at its apex.

But its possible you’ll see YouTube take it down anyway if a DMCA complaint is filed and the anonymous owner of the account fails to file a DMCA defense. If that happens, we’ll consider reposting here directly.

The Oakland Press story by Carol Hopkins captures this quote from Bill Ballenger:

Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of “Inside Michigan Politics,” had even stronger words for the incident.

“Obviously, the guy did an incredibly stupid thing,” he said.

Ballenger had advice for Haines.

“I don’t know what she plans to do, but as somebody once said, ‘Never interfere with your opponent when he’s in the process of destroying himself,’ ” he said.

Sage advice.

Apparently, a group of citizens may show up at Hudson’s next school board meeting asking for his resignation.

~Chetly Zarko of http://www.oaklandpolitics.com