Youtube Video Of The Day

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Youtube Video Of The Day

I am not endorsing this ad or this guy (although a number of commenters on this blog do).

The reason I am posting this is that it has opened my eyes to the power of YouTube as a political weapon.

Awesome.

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» Campaign Ads on YouTube from The 463: Inside Tech Policy
Prediction: By the end of the election year, a majority of candidates in Internet-forward states, districts, and cities will be posting their campaign commercials to You Tube-like services (see examples after jump). Well-funded pols won't be the only ... [Read More]

Tracked on May 9, 2006 9:22:33 PM

Posted May 9, 2006 in Politics

Comments

"We went to war in Iraq for the oil companies."

I'd be curious to hear his explanation of exactly how that works. Actually, no I wouldn't.

He needs to get his talking points straight - was the war to secure additional supplies of oil (which would reduce the price of oil, hurting the oil companies) or to help the oil companies? (of course, it was neither)

Posted by: Rockwell | May 9, 2006 6:01:53 PM

It's strange that you should mention youtube as a political weapon - but it works.

Singapore recently went to the polls (in some areas) and a lot of the younger voters relied on youtube (10 minute handphone video vlips, anyone?) and citizen coverage from the blog and message boards to follow the opposition campaign, which was starved of both coverage and fair coverage in the mainstream media (government owned TV stations and newsprint).

Unfortunately, the net savvy, alternative new source users are still a relatively small deomgraphic group of voters. Hopefully, by the next election, this proportion will have changed, or the technology would have made mainstream media just another news source, like blogs and youtube.

However, this election has shown me the power of the net to unleash information, information that can make any process a due process with the help of citizens.

In a sense, the net and the web as we know it now is an expression of the power of many, each giving just a little. Tagging (without tag spam), page rank, open source, clustering, social networking are different expressions of the same principle - the power of many.

Now if only we could all do something to prevent our political systems in both countries from being gamed by the mainstream media and their vested interests.

Posted by: Karen Teoh | May 9, 2006 7:15:39 PM

Thanks for posting this Fred.

In 1997/98, Paul Wolfowitz and a number of other neo-cons listed here (cheney, rumsfeld, etc) in a statement

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

made the case for invading Iraq, as well as in a letter to Clinton here:

It hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world’s supply of oil will all be put at hazard. As you have rightly declared, Mr. President, the security of the world in the first part of the 21st century will be determined largely by how we handle this threat.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

It had nothing to do with 9/11.

I shot the ad and know Chuck well--he's the real deal. Great guy. www.chuck2006.com

Posted by: charlie crystle | May 9, 2006 8:48:22 PM

Very astute observation

Posted by: David Lazar | May 10, 2006 8:16:46 AM

The key is that YouTube and online video is a medium of choice, not interruption. Your typical political TV ad tries to be inoffensive and mealy-mouthed (unless it's an attack ad). Chuck is reaching out to people who want to hear his message, and he is following Seth Godin's dictum of being remarkable.

This is brilliant. Of course, the same thing can work for conservatives as well...(E.g. "I don't just oppose gay marriage...I oppose homosexuality altogether.")

Posted by: Chris Yeh | May 10, 2006 8:00:11 PM

Conservatives--true conservatives--don't have a problem with gays. But I get your point.

Posted by: charlie crystle | May 11, 2006 9:47:38 AM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC