# "I approve this message." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909 "2008-10-07T21:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/21 "2008-10-07T23:18:34Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > So is Orwell’s 1985. Oh noes, George Orwell. That settles it! I suppose we should all go back to having anonymous mudslingers committing slander in the public press because **FourPaws** said “George Orwell.” ---
**Author:** ![FourPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/22 "2008-10-07T23:22:41Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Oh noes, George Orwell. That settles it! I suppose we should all go back to having anonymous mudslingers committing slander in the public press because **FourPaws** said “George Orwell.” 1. Sorry I was listening to a song referencing 1985. 2. Absolutely. 3. Here, we _are_ semi-anonymous mudslingers. 4. Fish on. ---
**Author:** ![FourPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/23 "2008-10-07T23:23:50Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Did you mean [Orwell’s 1984](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four) or [Burgess’s 1985](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_(Anthony_Burgess_novel))? _sigh_ I really have to watch what I type. Yes, 1984 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/24 "2008-10-07T23:28:08Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > 1. Sorry I was listening to a song referencing 1985. > > 2. Absolutely. > > 3. Here, we _are_ semi-anonymous mudslingers. > > 4. Fish on. Gee. And I was hoping for something like a recently discovered Orwell manuscript: “1985: Winston’s revenge” ---
**Author:** ![FourPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/25 "2008-10-07T23:35:49Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Gee. And I was hoping for something like a recently discovered Orwell manuscript: “1985: Winston’s revenge” If it was today’s media, then it would be _Revenge of the Nerds._ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/26 "2008-10-08T00:15:54Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > We shouldn’t have to cater to the inept. The tyranny of the majority. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/27 "2008-10-08T03:49:07Z")
I’m over it. I don’t give a fuck who approves what message. I just saw some John McCain say he approved this message, and an Outback Steakhouse commercial, so for a couple seconds; i thought John approved of Outback and missed the campaign message. A little while later in another commercial break, I saw Barack Obama speaking about his plans, and his website, and I remember what Obama said much more clearly. So now i want to go to Obama’s website, and for dinner later, maybe i’ll have a salad until I can shake loose this McCain/steak connection. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/28 "2008-10-08T04:22:12Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The candidate could just say that he had not actually reviewed the ad in question, and that the staffer had incorrectly placed his image/voice on it. Of course that makes the candidate look like a complete moron who can’t control his own staff … . ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/29 "2008-10-08T14:18:06Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > 1. Sorry I was listening to a song referencing 1985. There was Springsteen, Madonna, way before Nirvana . . . and U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV . . . I’m **Freddy the Pig** , and I didn’t approve this post. It was written by SDMB Veterans for Mindless Pit Snark and I never even saw it until now. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/30 "2008-10-08T16:09:57Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > Fine. Then I pit the audacity of the government that assumes we would honestly believe a politician’s claims that they didn’t approve the ad. Dude, the way this campaign’s going, I wouldn’t believe these guys if they told me the sky was blue. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/31 "2008-10-08T16:49:06Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > Stop poopin’ on my pittin’, y’all. But it’s such a good pitting [Triumph the Insult Comic Dog] **for me to poop on!** [/Triumph] ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/32 "2008-10-08T16:51:05Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Dude, the way this campaign’s going, I wouldn’t believe these guys if they told me the sky was blue. It’s not, really. It just looks that way. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/33 "2008-10-15T18:16:54Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > Of course that makes the candidate look like a complete moron who can’t control his own staff … . How is that any different from before the “I approve this” message was added? ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/34 "2008-10-15T22:24:44Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The candidate could just say that he had not actually reviewed the ad in question, and that the staffer had incorrectly placed his image/voice on it. Didn’t this exact thing happen with a John McCain ad recently? I searched for a while but couldn’t find a cite, but I could swear one of the recent ads (maybe the obama-called-palin-a-pig fiasco which they pulled from their website) prompted McCain to say he hadn’t specifically reviewed that ad, despite the staff putting the approval message on it. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/35 "2008-10-16T02:12:51Z")
Wow, OP, you’re dense, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/36 "2008-10-16T17:35:03Z")
I didn’t know this was required by law, but I still hate the commercials where the candidate just talks straight to the camera about his policies, and then ends with, “I’m so and so and I approve this message” Really? No shit? You approve the words that just came out of your mouth? This type of message should be excepted simply because it gets on my nerves! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/37 "2008-10-16T17:55:11Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > but requiring that the candidate personally make the statement verbally smacks of the government putting words into the mouths of people participating in the political process. No it doesn’t – you don’t have to say you don’t approve of something you don’t approve of. You just can’t put it on the air. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/38 "2008-10-16T22:30:32Z")
> [@monster](#): > > I didn’t know this was required by law, but I still hate the commercials where the candidate just talks straight to the camera about his policies, and then ends with, “I’m so and so and I approve this message” Really? No shit? You approve the words that just came out of your mouth? > > This type of message should be excepted simply because it gets on my nerves! 😛 I dunno. With some Republicans these days, you gotta make absolutely sure they agree with what they said 20 seconds ago before you can safely call them on it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/39 "2008-10-16T22:44:51Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I’m **Rysto** , and I approve of that law. Thank you for sayin’ it right, t’least. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/40 "2008-10-16T22:55:27Z")
> [@FourPaws](#): > > 1. Here, we _are_ semi-anonymous mudslingers. I’m not. So, how’s that rape trial going? Lawyer want you to testify? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909.md?page=3)