A campaign's dog days

Then on Wednesday Bush launched an attack on Gore over a DreamWorks Records compact disc with dirty words -- "Daisies of the Galaxy," by the Eels -- that was handed out at an August reception for Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., held around the time of the Democratic Convention and hosted by DreamWorks SKG and Chase Manhattan Bank.

"America's parents can't count on Al Gore to protect their kids from Hollywood's inappropriate marketing practices," says Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett. "If the Democrats didn't stop Dreamworks from handing out a CD with explicit lyrics at a convention under their control, why will they stop Hollywood from marketing the same material to children at other venues?"

But a closer review of the the details of the event, and the CD, makes the Bush charges seem overstated at best.

The Bush press release, titled "Offensive CD distributed at Gore's Convention," reported that the CD "was handed out in a 'gift bag' at last month's Democrat National Convention ... distributed at a DNC fundraiser." But the event was not a fundraiser, nor was it an official event of the Democratic Convention or the Democratic National Committee (whichever the release was referring to).

The event was a reception hosted by DreamWorks SKG and Chase Manhattan Bank. It wasn't even in honor of Gore, it was in honor of Democratic women members of Congress. Neither Al Gore nor his running mate, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman -- nor Tipper Gore, nor Hadassah Lieberman -- even attended.

"Al Gore had nothing whatsoever to do with the event," says DreamWorks SKG executive Andy Spahn. And, Spahn says, the luncheon took place on a Monday afternoon on the first day of the convention, when Gore wasn't even in Los Angeles -- wasn't even in the West Coast time zone -- at the time.

"I find this to be absurd," said Lowey's chief of staff, Matthew Traub. "This is the desperate flailing of a desperate campaign." When asked, the Bush campaign pooh-poohed the details of the event.

"I don't pretend for one instant that Al Gore knew about this CD," says Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. "But somebody in the Democrat Party should have seen this and said 'This is not appropriate to be handed out.'"

Why would it not be appropriate to be handed out? Well, the Bush campaign charges, because the CD cover features cartoon children. "It's classic marketing aimed at children," according to Fleischer.

But Spahn takes issue with the Bush campaign's assessment of the CD as being marketed to children. It's not, he says. DreamWorks Records went so far as to print a parental advisory warning label on the jacket of the CD itself, "not just on the wrapper." There are no cartoons on the cover, he says; it's serious art of a period style.

And Fleischer couldn't quite claim that the Eels' CD wound up in the hands of a minor because of the DreamWorks-Chase Manhattan Bank event. "There were children at the fundraiser, and everyone at the fundraiser was given a goody bag that contained the CD," Fleischer said.

"No one at the luncheon was a child," Spahn asserts. "There were no children there." Two other individuals who were at the event also told Salon they saw no children there.

Additionally, Spahn says that of the 600 party bags given out at the event, only 10 contained Eels CDs. "I think the Bush people are on drugs," Spahn says, calling the campaign "desperate" since Bush is "down in the polls."

Whether a kid got his grubby little paws on it or not, with or without parental advisory warning label, the Bush campaign did some labeling of its own, calling the CD "offensive" since one song is called "It's a Motherfucker," and the CD, Fleischer said, contained the lyric, "When I grow up, I'll be an angry little whore."

Fleischer did allow that on the cover of the CD the one questionably titled song is censored, labeled instead: "It's a MotherF@#%?."

Moreover, a closer review of the lyrics on the album indicate that the CD's actually pretty tame. The third verse reads: "it's a motherfucker/how much I understand/the feeling that you need someone/to take you by the hand/and you won't ever be the same/you won't ever be the same." In the 82 words of the song, the word "motherfucker" is used three times, and no other curse words are employed.

In fact, of the 1,960 words on the album, only a handful could pass as curses. There are three "motherfuckers," two uses of "shit," one "damn," one "piss" and one "turd."