Politics In The Age Of YouTube

The Internet Has Transformed Campaigns Into A Race To Put Gaffes Online

(CBS)  Back in the 1990s, a forgettable movie called "Ed TV" made comedy out of the idea of following someone around with a camera 24/7.

But as CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports, fiction has become reality in political campaigns across the country. The idea now is to catch candidates making mistakes and then post them on the Internet, where they can be seen worldwide with the click of a mouse on sites like YouTube.

Virginia Sen. George Allen has become the poster child for what can go wrong when a candidate gets caught saying something stupid.

"Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America," Allen said.

"Macaca" means "monkey" to some. It’s not a smart thing to call your opponent's campaign aide when he has a camera pointing right at you. It all wound up on YouTube, and the controversy paved the way for new charges this week that Allen has a racist past.

But Allen isn't the only politician who has been caught on tape. Florida Republican Tramm Hudson lost his primary this month after a video of him was posted on a political Web site.

"I know this from my own experience that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim," Hudson was heard saying on tape.

The video was posted on the Web on a Thursday. By Friday, the story was making headlines in the local media. On Tuesday, the once-unknown Tramm Hudson was already a punch line on "The Daily Show."

Hudson's political consultant, Dan Hazelwood, did his best to control the damage.

"What you see here is the political equivalent of a drive-by shooting," Hazelwood says.

Hudson may have shot himself, but his campaign believes the video was shot and delivered to the Web by his political enemies. It's a form of guerilla warfare that's now a fact of life.

"You got to have your person out there video taping the other side. You've got to have your staff traveling with you, taping them, and you probably got to have a backup in case one of them needs to run an errand. It's 24/7 now for everyone," Hazelwood says.

Including the candidate. Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh is running for president, and he has even joined the popular college site Facebook to woo young voters. But he also knows negative news can pop up online instantly, anonymously and cheaply.

"There's no such thing as opening off-Broadway anymore. It's all prime time, and it's all real time. So everything you say is out there for public consumption for better, and occasionally for worse," Bayh says.

It used to be that 90 percent of life was showing up. Well, not anymore. Ask Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, who was seen online while dozing. Now you have to stay awake, too.

[jnorregaard]

I noticed that all of the examples you provided where politicians made some kind of mistake and were caught on video where all republicans. Is it safe to say that Democrats don't ever make mistakes! You guys are such hypocrites that you make me sick between your Bush bashing, drive-by mentality and your liberal agenda. Do you actually believe that people fall this stuff. Are you so arrogant that you think that you are changing peoples minds. Well it's not working here so stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

[roach9703]

RE: MACACA Remark by George Allen
In examining dictionaries I found nothing that shows MACACA as relating to a monkey. One set of views I examined said that the word refered to some South African town. One fact is clear that the individual was stalking and harrassing Senator Allen. This operative achieved his political objective, but so what? What does it really mean? We live in a world where we can annoy each other and say things that really don't reflect any malicious actionable intent. Now James Baldwin in the book, " The Fire Next Time" examines words and hidden motives. He causes the reader to carefully examine hidden attitudes in speech and words and how that CAN beget negative actions.
Now, Sentor Allen is an inconclast of political correctness and a supporter of some of the symbolism of the Confederacy. Is George Allen George Wallece the race baiter? Now both are conservatives about Federalism and individual rights, but is Gerge Allen a racist? I don't think so. Whether it is the remarks of Pope Benedict to George Allen it seems to me that we are in an Orwellean state of linguistic facism.

[iamerican]

The threshold for elected office in America should be probity: proven integrity.

George Allen's willingness to lie about something as easily verified as his practice of using the N-word, and N-word derivatives, at the University of Virginia, speaks to more than his lack of character, or failure to understand Our Nation's Mottoes.

Allen's blatant racism and his gross dishonesty reflects on those "what brung him." His parents failed him but more importantly the political network that foisted him off on Virginia must be his moral equal to have advanced him.

One suspects his rise was at the behest of the Nixon branch of the Bush/Rockefeller cabal, as Nixon was a family friend. The same racism and anti-semitism was recognized in Nixon, who like Bush1, was "unable to recall" his whereabouts upon hearing of President Kennedy's assassination.

Please read David Ray Griffin's "New Pearl Harbor." Bush did 9/11 and buffoons like Allen are helping him get away with it. What could we have expected from a draft-dodger/closet-queen whose grandfather was the money-conduit to the author of "I Paid Hitler," papal "baron" Fritz "The Rockefeller of Germany" Thyssen. Google: Prescott Thyssen Auschwitz if you care to know who George Allen is really working for.

[mediahead07]

You can see Joe Biden making a fool of himself in the clip at the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIT3jUrNTX0
I think this would have helped to balance out the segment. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Back in January 2004, Hillary while at a fundraiser, segued into a Mahatma Gandhi quote by saying of the great Indian leader: "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis." It was an allusion to the stereotype of the Indian convenience-store owner. She later apologized.

YouTube is really the thing that has started this whole revolution. take a look at the following very powerful 1 minute ad against George Allen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGPbLl4V6g The Ad appears to have had NO funding, no marketing dream team behind it, and even no political affiliation whatsoever. But by election day likely hundreds of thousands of 20 somethings will have seen it. Do they watch TV? no, they watch daily show on YouTube, and they will see ads like this. I.T. has come into its own and now everyone can have a political voice.