Online cartoon jabs at both Bush, Kerry

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jul 22, 2004 | by Deseret Morning News wire services

"You're a liberal sissy

"You're a right-wing nut job

"You're a pinko commie.

"You're dumb as a door knob.

"You've got that botox.

"But I won three purple hearts.

"This land will surely vote for me."

-- Jibjab.com

From the "liberal wieners" to the "right-wing nut jobs," this political satire was made for you and me.

And it's taking the Internet by storm. Since its launch last week at www.jibjab.com, a parody of "This Land Is Your Land" -- featuring President Bush and his presumed Democratic challenger John Kerry trading political grenades to the Woody Guthrie tune -- has become the online equivalent of a film having a blockbuster opening weekend.

Los Angeles-based Jibjab, the Flash animation studio that produced the clip, told the Chicago Sun-Times that hits already have topped 5 million.

The clip is as bipartisan as they come. Each candidate -- thanks to animated photos and voice impersonations trades character assassination bon mots to the melody of Guthrie's folk classic.

The barbs include Bush quipping that Kerry has had more waffles than a house of pancakes and Kerry retorting that it makes him nervous that the president can't say the word "nuclear" correctly.

Jibjab finally exceeded its allotted bandwidth and shut down Tuesday. While operators work to get it back online, surfers can try to view the film at www.atomfilms.com.

Atomfilms, which specializes in animated shorts, has been hosting Jibjab's works since 2000. Jibjab previously offered satires on the 2000 race (a rap song featuring Bush and Al Gore) and Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign for governor of California, among others. None has had the impact that "This Land" has had, however.

The clip was posted to Atomfilms on Monday afternoon, and by the end of Tuesday it had already had more than a million hits -- a record for that Web site.

Jibjab is run by two brothers, Gregg and Evan Spiridellis. Gregg writes the material and Evan animates. The pair have used their animated political satires as a calling card for their company, which also produces Web-based animation and artwork for companies including Disney and Scholastic.

"We're poking fun at the whole political system right now," Evan Spiridellis told MSNBC. "People on both sides of the aisle can sit down and laugh about this."

"There's enough silliness on both sides," Gregg Spiridellis told CBS News, laughing. "No one's had a monopoly on stupidity, so we figure we could make fun of both sides."

"Neither candidate has called us to tell us what they think of the cartoon," Gregg Spiridellis said.

Atomfilms' vice president of marketing, Scott Roesch, said the Jibjab brothers are masters of political spoofery. As for why this piece seems to be resonating more than previous works, Roesch said it's just a case of being the right film at the right time.

"It's an amazing piece. It plays to the red states and the blue states. something for everyone to latch onto," Roesch said.

If anything can bring Democrats and Republicans together, it's the power of music.

At least in the clip, all ends well. As Bush and Kerry embrace, Democratic figures like Bill and Hillary Clinton join the likes of Karl Rove in the final chorus.