back to article Democrat candidate attacked by GOP for being stabby assassin ORC

US Republicans are completely out of touch with, er, virtual reality - it would seem - after a Maine state senate candidate was outed by Republicans for being a sweary orc badass in the online game World of Warcraft. Apparently, Colleen Lachowicz' participation and persona in WOW makes her unfit to run for office - in GOP eyes …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Please please please don't start reporting on American politics, even if it is semi-IT related.

    1. TheRealRoland
      Happy

      Howdy

      You ain't from around here, are you pardner? Why don't you mosey on over to the next website if this one is not to your liking, will ya?

      Too late though, already lots of (American) politics is (are?) being discussed on this site / comments.

      Although, to be fair, this article should be more at home in Bootnotes?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Howdy

        "You ain't from around here, are you pardner?"

        Yes, I've been reading El'Reg since 2004 at least. In fact it's one of the few news site I do read because I couldn't give two shits about a bunch of celebrity-wannabies insulting each other and getting the general public riled up into some kind of craze, which is basically what American politics is.

        "Although, to be fair, this article should be more at home in Bootnotes?"

        I'd rather it went to somewhere like the Daily Mail.

        "Well at least US politics are WAY more entertaining than when they report on UK politics ;)."

        This is true, maybe my problem is just with politics in general.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Howdy

          You can't have been paying much attention if you've been here since 2004 and have yet to realise at least half the articles are irreverent tosh.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Howdy

            "You can't have been paying much attention if you've been here since 2004 and have yet to realise at least half the articles are irreverent tosh."

            Irrelevant tosh I don't mind, it's good for passing the day at work. American politics is far far beyond irrelevant tosh (even more so when you're not American.)

        2. TheOtherHobbes

          Re: Howdy

          "a bunch of celebrity-wannabies insulting each other and getting the general public riled up into some kind of craze, which is basically what American politics is."

          And consumer IT.

          Also.

    2. Kevin 6

      Well at least US politics are WAY more entertaining than when they report on UK politics ;).

    3. User McUser
      Holmes

      "Please please please don't start reporting on American politics, even if it is semi-IT related."

      Or one could simply refrain from clicking on headlines which are OBVIOUSLY related to American politics...

    4. Eddy Ito
      Facepalm

      Just WoW

      Much ado about nothing. It isn't even American politics; it's Maine state politics and she is running for one of 35 State Senate positions. It's a $23,000 per year job (plus all the traffic tickets you want tossed) to argue about which roads get repaved versus filling potholes, who gets bigger raises this year teachers or state police and lets not forget the occasional fight over whether to keep Moxie as the state soft drink, Chesuncook Soil Series as the state dirt and no doubt should WoW be the state MMORPG. Whatever the outcome it isn't going to make a hill of beans to the neighbors in NH and MA much less the rest of the US or the world.

      To top it all off it could go either way since she is about to be flush with cash coming in from all over for her own attack ads but the question is will she be able to counter the more traditional Mainers who may not be quite receptive to her comments online. Sure calling people teabaggers might get lolz around the D. party campfire but given the number of independents in Maine who likely know or are related to one or more tea party types isn't going to win friends and influence people.

      As a native Mainiac who now resides in a warmer clime, sometimes I miss Down East but not the weather. The politics are pretty much just as silly everywhere, well maybe not this silly but you get the drift.

      1. skeptical i
        Thumb Up

        Re: Just WoW

        Mmmm, Moxie, damn I miss that stuff. :D

  2. envmod

    wtf

    what the actual fuck? seriously, the republican party is a fucking embarrassment. they're less cool than microsoft...

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: wtf

      "....they're less cool ...." Ah, I think I may have spotted the problem with your persoanl candidate selection process. You see, politics is only about "looking cool" for the thickies amongst the electorate. What is often required of politicians are people willing to make difficult and sometimes downright unpopular choices for the greater good, which often takes a level head and experience. But those two qualities often don't go hand in hand with "cool", hence the number of idiot popularist politicians we have, voted for by numpties worried about "cool".

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Big Brother

    Meanwhile

    the "grab the campaign contributions and stuff them in your freezer" offline game and the "most disgusting candidate [morally or physically] that you CAN VOTE FOR" catwalk show are continuing apace.

    Democracy - it failed abysmally.

  4. Bumpy Cat
    Devil

    If this is a problem ...

    ... then I suppose my political career is over before it's begun.

  5. Robert Ramsay
    Facepalm

    I think the phrase she's looking for is "you don't have to answer a barking dog"

  6. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    This thing becomes even more ridiculous when you consider that the republican party is pro-firearms

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/gop-platform-gun-rights_n_1843279.html

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best argument against democracy

    well look at the article, and imagine the same occuring in the UK at the next general election. (we're normally 5 to 10 years behind the US policitical gimick curve)

    suggest a pre-emptive strike, by cutting 650 publc sector jobs, i.e. those found at the "Gas Works" in westminster!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Best argument against democracy

      Well, The Peoples' "Dave" has already tried to look less like an angry old Etonian C3PO facsimile made of ham by name-dropping Angry Birds; it can only be a matter of time before David Milliband comes out as an Eve Online player..

      1. Rab Sssss

        Re: Best argument against democracy

        if only then i coiuld ank teh shit out of him online ;-)

        1. Irongut

          Re: Best argument against democracy

          Hell yeah!

    2. Tom 79
      Stop

      Re: Best argument against democracy

      >we're normally 5 to 10 years behind the US policitical gimick curve

      If your politicians say anything about finding hidden WMD's, say you're not interested. Oh wait.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Level 68?

    Level 68? She's not exactly a hardcore player then is she!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Level 68?

      My thoughts exactly... People have leveled Monks to 90 faster...

      1. tkioz
        Trollface

        Re: Level 68?

        She is/was max-level (85?), at least according the attack site they put up. The misunderstanding comes from the "stab" quote, which was made when she was level 68.

        I urge you to check out the site, it's very funny in a "they really spent time and money on this?" way.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's a cheap move by the Republicans, but if you look at the actual attack site it's fairly obvious it's just a cynical attempt at ridicule rather than trying to make some serious anti-videogame stance. It's really more a case of just "lol look at this nerd" more than anything, which admittedly is aided a lot by Lachowicz's pretty cringe-worthy quotes.

  10. Britt Johnston

    I'd like a Syria add-on, to contribute to the free world.

    Any chance of real drone connects?

  11. Grikath
    Facepalm

    So...

    She'll lose about 15 votes from the Diehards who "will not fraternise with Horde Scum!!", and gain a couple thousand votes from the middle ground who can now actually relate to her beyond her political portfolio.

    Those republicans must be hell-bent on losing a seat there..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So...

      In my naive delusions I like to think there are more pressing issues to consider and that most people shouldn't be influenced one way or another by this story.

      1. bobbles31
        Happy

        Re: So...

        You're right, those are naive assumptions.

      2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: So...

        There are issues? There are no issues! There weren't any issues when the debate started, there are none now and we stick to that story. Beside, everyone has signed the no-issues memorandum of understanding

    2. Eddy Ito

      Re: So...

      Considering there were under 14,500 voters in that particular district in the last election and the median voter age in Maine is nearly 50 there probably aren't thousands of people who care let alone "relate to her beyond her political portfolio".

  12. tkioz
    FAIL

    Yikes... I better no run for public office if people are digging up WoW forum comments...

    But in all seriousness, I think personal hobbies should be off limits, some people like model trains (I can't see the attraction), some people like building ships in bottles (really can't see the attraction), some people play video games, everyone needs a way to unwind.

  13. Tom 35

    When Republicans play WoW they're all paladins

    That's what they say, but they are really all just gold farmers.

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: When Republicans play WoW they're all paladins

      <Sigh> And the politics of envy strike again. Do you find yourself playing WoW and moaning about all the people that have more gold than you? Do you moan that it's "not fair", that those "rich" players should have their gold and items taken away from them and distributed amongst other players (namely, you)? Often spend more time criticising the epic-equipped players that regularly kank you because you spend more time whining about "inequality" in the game economics rather than spending the time working with others to build guilds and work together? Do you always look at those top-ranked players and bitch about them as "must be gold-mining and scamming to have" item X, etc., and neatly forgetting that they all started at level 1 with nothing, just the same as everyone else? Well in that case I bet you vote Democrat in real life too.

      At least Lachowicz seems to understand that building a good playing experience often involves working with others, though she may find her "socialist" guild is simply more like a typical capitalist enterprise, where training and co-operation are used to maximise company profit and achieve better results than the competition. Now that would make her head spin - pointing out that WoW is a capitalist enterprise which promotes many capitalist values!

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: When Republicans play WoW they're all paladins

      Well, I did used to have a pali on every server I ever played on (five European and two US servers). But that was more because they could tank and/or heal and so get into dungeon groups more easily. It was also because I used to spend time helping newb guildies leveling their PVP skills by ganking mining bots with them. Whilst there was an element of doing it because the bots did seem unfair, it was also because it used to make the botters soooo p*ssed off.

  14. Combat Wombat
    Gimp

    Best quote I have seen on this story...

    "This might lead her to losing a lot of votes from voters playing Alliance characters."

    That said, I love the fact that her "secret life" involves a computer game, while that of a lot of republicans involve fucking men in public bathrooms."

    Pure gold..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Best quote I have seen on this story...

      Right-wingers historically always have much more interesting scandals than left-wingers. Closet homosexuality, sexual hedonism, rampant recreational drug use, etc.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Re: Best quote I have seen on this story...

        "Right-wingers historically always have much more interesting scandals than left-wingers...." Depends on your definition of "interesting". I mean, how about single girls with married Dem, leaving said single girl to her to her fate after causing an accident whilst driving drunk, and covering it up to avoid political embarrasment, and then forcing his preganant wife with a previous history of miscarriages to attend the funeral just for show of political unity and then her having a miscarriage again....

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident

        1. Reg Blank
          Gimp

          Re: Best quote I have seen on this story...

          @ Matt Bryant

          No contest. He's a Kennedy, if they aren't screwing their way through the female population then we have to start wondering what new world-ending STD is about to drop.

          OTOH, prominent outspoken homophobic misogynist hypocritical twitching married arseholes who lean heavily on their wholesome "Christian" family values are outed offering blowjobs to strangers? It's the kind of schadenfreude that money just cannot buy.

          Icon: "I was asking him to blow my party horn, as I was feeling in a festive mood while taking a dump in a public restroom".

  15. Roger Kynaston
    Happy

    Folllowed the attach site

    What will the republicans think when they get all the UK IP addresses hitting their site - assume we are doing a DDoS and launch drone attacks?

    1. Elmer Phud
      Happy

      Re: Folllowed the attach site

      I read that as 'UKIP'

  16. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Happy

    Obviously

    Looks-wise, her choice of an Orc was just a realistic way to represent herself as a female Democrat representative (hint, Rosa Delauro) : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/28/michele_bachmann_effect/

    The sneaky, stab-you-in-the-back-with-posioned-blades bit was just standard for all politicians (execpt for Greens, who probably all play Shamans and get their butts kicked).

    Besides, everyone knows Feral Druids are better than Assassins.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In other words

    ...republicans can't tell the difference between fiction and reality?

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: In other words

      "...republicans can't tell the difference between fiction and reality?" No, Reps like Reagan and Arnie got PAID for making fiction, whereas the Dems pay for it. Well, pay for it for now - she'll probably start some push for WoWcare, a scheme to help everyone play WoW, funded by taxs on employers....

  18. Risky
    FAIL

    WoW-playing Voters

    I don't suppose the views of WoW players will affect the result much as they'd have to leave their bedrooms to vote......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: WoW-playing Voters

      Can't they just register for absentee voting on the grounds of being in Azeroth?

  19. Kevin Rogovin
    Flame

    Just a thought: how many hours of play does it take to reach level 80+ on Wow? If a candidate is like, well, playing WoW 8+ hrs/day for a long spell, maybe they should not even be a community organizer, much less a seat on a state senate.

    1. Thecowking

      How long? Not long.

      I saw a guy do it in about 12 minutes last week.

      He was using recruit a friend though (bonus levelling).

      Just normally? A month, maybe 2, playing pretty casually, (no more than an hour at a go, perhaps 3 sessions in a weekend). It's nothing like a grind now. Which is good in some ways, but I did kinda like it the old way.

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Kevin Rogovin

      Not necessarily. It could take weeks of just an hour every other night, or one week if you took holiday and played twelve-hour stretches. When the Cataclysm upgrade went live one of our DBAs had booked a week off just because he wanted to be first on his server to race all his chars from level 80 (pre-Cataclysm max level) to 85 (post-Cataclysm max). So probably less time out than other candidates might spend following their favourite TV show, keeping fit, or posing for the cameras playing basketball.

      It all depends on the WoW player's outlook. If you actually want to enjoy the experience of levelling, get all the achievements, gain an understanding of the storyline and explore the worlds and all the quests, then it can take months even if you play several hours a day. However, if you just want to level up to 85 ASAP then that can be done inside game rules in a week or so using so-called power-levelling guides.

      1. Kevin Rogovin
        Devil

        Re: Kevin Rogovin

        So.. either she played it a lot, or played it like an ass-hat. Sounds like a kind of grim choice.

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