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Stealing from Pythons Could Hurt New Jersey Candidate Chris Christie

11/02/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
And now for something completely different…a politician being sued by Pythons. That, at least, is the possible outcome of the election tomorrow between New Jersey Governor John Corzine and his opponent Chris Christie. A recently pulled down and expunged advertisement run by Christie’s campaign featured a segment of the popular show Monty Python‘s Flying Circus. The advertisement features actor Michael Palin discussing deja vu. Below him is the political advertisement attacking Corzine. Perhaps he had meant to use a clip of Sarah Palin instead of the actor who is known for singing The Lumberjack Song.

The timing of this problem could not be worse. With twenty-four hours to go before the election, the negative press could hamper Christie, especially since the illegal use of someone’s intellectual rights runs contrary to the lawyerly image that Christie has attempted to craft. Christie was a Bush appointee for a Federal attorney’s job. Python alum Terry Jones stated “It is totally outrageous that a former US Attorney knows so little about the law that he thinks he can rip off people. On the other hand — another of Bush’s legal appointees was Alberto Gonzales and he didn’t seem to know much about the law either…”

Michael Palin had this to add to the whole issue: “I’m surprised that a former U.S. Attorney isn’t aware of his copyright infringement when he uses our material without permission. He’s clearly made a terrible mistake. It was the endorsement of Sarah Palin he was after — not that of Michael Palin.”

The GOP has a long history of infringing on other people’s intellectual property. In 2008, singers Anne and Nancy Wilson complained about the use of their song “Barracuda” as Sarah Palin’s theme song. While that was legally obtained, the funds that it generated for them and their late singing/songwriting partner Roger Fisher went to the Obama campaign. A song used by the McCain campaign written by Jackson Browne resulted in an out of court settlement.

Of course, could Chris Christie be elected governor, this incident will save the citizens of New Jersey some time in having a governor already embroiled in a political scandal.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus celebrated its fortieth anniversary last month.

Chris Christie Rips Off Monty Python, Troupe Threatens Suit