Online satirists pull no punches on US election

Some are born to rule, others to ridicule is a worthy reminder to US Presidential hopefuls struck by an endless arsenal of satirical barbs o...

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Some are born to rule, others to ridicule is a worthy reminder to US Presidential hopefuls struck by an endless arsenal of satirical barbs on the web.

A host of cybercynics take aim at President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry in fake news reports, multimedia presentations and childlike artwork online, offering comic relief from blood-boiling political debate. But unlike their more famous peers on television or in other media, web satirists grapple with few limits of time, space or good taste.

‘‘Any prematurely bald guy with a modem can get online now and write satire,’’ said Sam Margolis, a freelance writer who created Chortler.com and boasts of about 150,000 monthly hits.

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Margolis pens pieces for the site from Budapest, Hungary, including an obscenity-laden ‘‘Ask Dick Cheney’’ advice column and an anthology of ‘‘The Secret Poems of Arnold Schwarzenegger.’’ He says the stakes have never been higher.

The Specious Report delivers updates from dozens of satire sites under its ‘‘Division 2004’’ heading. The site promises to stay abreast of the zingers through the November vote.

Recent headlines include ‘‘Republicans Outsource Kerry Attack Groups to India’’ from Skewpoint, touching on domestic controversy over US companies sending jobs overseas, and ‘‘Teresa Heinz Kerry Launches Five-Language Tirade’’ on Broken Newz, poking fun at the would-be First Lady’s multilingual riff during the Democratic Convention last month.

The Humor Gazette endorses Kerry outright, delighting in his correct pronunciation of the word ‘‘nuclear’’ compared with Bush’s ‘‘nookyuler’’ iteration. —(Reuters)