“We are winning!”
- Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, declaring victory in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, adding “We have them surrounded in their tanks.”
South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster pulls an “al-Sahhaf” by declaring victory in the Craigslist debacle:
Columbia, SC – “The defensive legal action craigslist has taken against the solicitors and my office is good news. It shows that craigslist is taking the matter seriously for the first time
More importantly, overnight they have removed the erotic services section from their website, as we asked them to do. And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina.
Unfortunately, we had to inform them of possible state criminal violations concerning their past practices to produce a serious response. We trust they will now adhere to the higher standards they have promised. This office and the law enforcement agencies of South Carolina will continue to monitor the site to make certain that our laws are respected.”
That’s nice. But here’s the truth. On May 13 Craigslist announced it would remove the erotic services category on its site. Despite that announcement and the subsequent removal of all pornographic and prostitution ads on the South Carolina Craigslist site, McMaster threatened criminal action against Craigslist management.
The reason? McMaster doesn’t care about Craigslist. But he does care about becoming the governor of South Carolina, and Craigslist is an easy target. He needs the press to see him taking a tough stance on crime, and a faraway but high profile startup is his meal ticket.
But Craigslist stood firm, and today filed a lawsuit in federal court against McMaster seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order.
McMaster’s statement declaring victory came after that lawsuit. And what he’s really doing is running away from a situation that has become a little too hard for him to handle. Craigslist bit back. He’s moving on to easier targets.
Our readers agree that, if pressed, they’d choose Craigslist over South Carolina. But what’s most interesting is that the conservative residents of South Carolina agree – McMaster is a jerk.
So pop the champagne bottles, another bad guy was disgraced today.
If anyone can change the world. It is Michael Arrington.
I will vote for you if you ever decide to run for President of the WOrld
Oh my goodness
now they are charging 10$ per posting, it was victory for craiglist too. win-win.
hope he sues techcrunch for defamation.
It’s refreshing to read some straight words like Michael Arrington’s, isn’t it? I don’t always agree with his views, but at least he stands his ground.
There’s plenty of faint-hearted wishy-washy (AKA “politically correct”) stuff to read on other sites.
Fortunately, there’s freedom of press! Being an attorney, McMaster probably knows very well that taking legal action would be yet another failure.
How is snide “redneck-bashing” not “politically correct”? Are you using Bill Maher’s definition?
War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. And making fun of red staters on a tech blog is un-PC.
Wow. Did you see what he did there? He took two opposites and said they were the same to imply that two unrelated things are also the same. Good one. No one saw through that.
And politically correctness is not doing the typical. PC is when you go out of your way (usually diminishing your overall point) in an effort to ensure you do not offend ANYONE. Therefore outright calling someone an idiot is not PC.
Idiot.
Jim
This guy is a total ringer for the “cigarette smoking man” from the X-files.
http://us.imdb....name/nm0205657/
woot good news
@Arrington – you could make identical arguments against any politician. Why not attack Baracko the clown?
They are all self serving tools trying to further their infulence so they can impose their ideology on the people.
MA, i guess you miss that section of craigslist?
FROM A MORAL POINT – NOT RELIGION. I dissagree with the erotic section. Advertising sex and naked house maids is just wrong.
but McMaster’s argument was absurd and it was a total publicity stunt (that failed
)
WTF is wrong with sex and nudity? Get real, it’s 2009, not 1909. We live in past-1968 times. (Maybe you don’t, but that’s not OUR problem)
A thought occurs: if you don’t think it’s morally right, then don’t do it. But don’t tell me what I can or can’t do.
Fascist.
Hey guys I didn’t mean to get y’all all uptight. I’m giving my opinion. I never said anywhere you weren’t allowed to do it. Sex is a very enjoyable experience, but going around advertising to get F’d or F someone is just wrong.. In my opinion Sex should be restrained for people that you luv.. not random hookers. That’s just my opinion.
But I think you misunderstood my point. While McMaster’s actions were absurd, I don’t think that some of the advertising on the erotic section of Craigslist site was appropriate. Does that mean I was going to do anything about it? Even if I was President: no.
Your moral decisions are up to you not me. I’m in no way trying to tell you what to do; I’m just stating my opinion. That’s called America you retard.
But didn’t it just re-incarnate as adult services and other masseuses will just move to the men for women personal sections. CL won’t police those sections.
lol let me rephrase not good news that McMaster won but good news that Craigs stayed firm.
mike…
another round of link bait eh… i’ll bite.
you’re a piss poor journalist, or maybe you’re a great journalist, in the same arena as the guys on fox. you spin like no other…
to begin. where in the heck do you have insight into the AG moving on. as far as i can tell, there’s been no reply from his office to have the CL issue/matter dismissed.. i think it’s still proceeding..
is he a publicity hound, maybe.. don’t know the guy, so i really can’t say. and he put out a PR piece that was slanted in the view of the facts.. that in and of itself shouldn’t be unexpected….
so where’s the disgrace…
sounds like you’ve got a man crush on the dude…
i’d check into that if i were you…
This reply is funny. Just because you don’t know what is going on doesn’t mean that nobody else does. I would say they are moving on if I were to look at it.
hate hate hate hate hate hate
….speaking of man crushes- tom do you want to tell mike something? Don’t be shy.
Similarity between Arrington and McMaster: Both are sucking up our time on an unimportant issue. However McMaster is doing it on the taxpayers back.
from the statement. that i quoted.
you want to check it for him? esp since you brought it up….maybe he’ll slap a restraining order on you (wheee!)
Unfortunately for the AG, Craigslist has no incentive to drop their suit.
This should be fun to watch.
It’s a pretty bad idea to wake up a sleeping giant, falsely accuse them, and then try to run away.
Thanks for playing, see you in court, Mr. McMaster
“Unfortunately for the AG, Craigslist has no incentive to drop their suit.”
There’s more story here. The possible tie to Larry Craig has been raised in comments. The tie to cops not getting their cut has been raised in comments.
Has anyone mentioned the powerful pimp lobby, and the resulting restraint of trade and anti trust implications?
This could get bigger before it gets smaller.
This is why i love reading MA and TC, help us readers get passed the rhetoric and propaganda to see the truth..
TechCrunch had absolutely nothing to do with this outcome. Your artificially inflated ego is a sign of severe depression.
You’re not kidding anyone.
…. easy off on the weed, stupid dude…
Techcrunch readers actually can make a difference. Here’s Henry McMaster’s PersonRatings profile. Lets all link to it and get it to the top of Google results: http://www.pers...McMaster/557521
“Our readers agree that, if pressed, they’d choose Craigslist over South Carolina.”
Being that I have never been, nor (most likely) ever will be in South Carolina, this is a moot point.
I’m sure that you could get a consensus for Craigslist over the other 49 states.
You should put in a plug for this guy’s primary opponent, Furman University professor @brentnelsen.
Job title: “Craigslist porn section monitor”
Ohh, they’re monitoring the site now.
I am sure they like their jobs.
lol nice one.
What a dirtbag!! But that is not new in modern politics.
…choose craigslist *over* the other *49* states?
Try 48. You can’t divorce a company with an office…from the location *of* it’s office.
As I’m from North Carolina and have worked with various companies in South Carolina, I’m actually very glad to see this being called out on TechCrunch.
It was only a little over a month ago that TechCrunch covered NextStart in South Carolina.
http://www.tech...rtup-incubator/
This just goes to show that even in a state the size of South Carolina (as with most other states of course) there is wild wondrous variation in terms of those that embrace the promise of technology and how it can truly benefit all — economically, socially, environmentally, etc…
If TechCrunch didn’t cover this and only covered the incubators and startups — that wouldn’t be a full picture.
If anything, I see a misguided AG that needs to remember that his _constituents_ benefit from technology and that the Internet is not a state by state issue — it’s a national and increasingly worldwide issue.
I’m glad TechCrunch is running this up the flag pole. Maybe those that want to bring technology home to the corridors of South Carolina will be able to put in calls to the AG and bring perspective and an understanding of the economics that are truly at stake.
Jeeze Michael:
“So pop the champagne bottles, another bad guy was disgraced today”
You’re as bad as the office of the attorney general. He wasn’t disgraced, no one is reporting that he’s an idiot but you. His statement that he won is as equally asinine as your statement that you won. Both of you lost in your stupid arguing. You always take the low ground in this regard by saying: “But we’re just a blog, we should not expect to be held to higher standards.”
On a separate but related note: can you please stop using TechCrunch as your personal attack platform for idiocy? There’s a lot of idiocy in the world, you’re not going change the world with it. We don’t read TechCrunch for your hard hitting attacks on handshakes and Attorney Generals. We read it for the news about exciting startups.
Yes others are. Google search for: McMaster is an idiot
http://www.goog...earch&meta=
As much of a douche bag as McMaster is, South Carolina could do worse for AG. Perhaps they’d like to try California’s Jerry Brown?