After this election I think what everyone needs right now is a big hug. A great big unifying hug.
I think this is a pretty positive concept, a conciliatory gesture to the 48% of Americans who didn't vote for Barack Obama. Make your own photo asking for unity and submit it to 52 to 48 with love.
This was my photo:
Obama victory celebration in NYC at 1:45AM
Ya know, food tasted better this morning. Colors seemed brighter. The air felt crisper. A spring has returned to my step. And my blanket of cynicism I hold so dearly to my heart is being enveloped with an unfamiliar sense of patriotism and pride in my country again. Lets hope it lasts!
...Gunpowder, treason and plot. We don't see a reason, why gunpowder treason, should ever be forgot."
You've woken to a new world. What will you do now? Where will we go together?
Congratulations America, we have picked a wise leader.
Rachel Maddow gives some good analysis of the schemes used to trick people into NOT voting on election day by intimidation, scams and lies:
Bring your cellphones, digital and video cameras to the polling booths and document anything you think is delaying, preventing or disenfranchising your vote this Nov. 4th.
videothevote.org
"Video the Vote is a national initiative to protect voting rights by monitoring the electoral process. We organize citizen journalists—ordinary folks like you and me—to document election problems as they occur. And then we distribute their footage to the mainstream media and online to make sure the full story of Election Day gets told. Watch our 2006 highlights and join us as we Video the Vote this November."
60 Frames brings us this video about the wasssup guys in 2008. It looks like times have changed.
John McCain mocked Barack Obama for saying that nuclear power needed to be done safely.
McCain said, "You know, the other night in a debate I said his eloquence is admirable but pay attention to his words. We talked about offshore drilling and he said he would, quote, consider offshore drilling. We talked about nuclear power. Well it has to be safe, environment, blah blah blah."
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast October 25, 2008.
Seesmic is an international web video site that asks everyone to become part of the conversation with their own webcams. See their introductory video at the link for details.
John Cleese has created a profile there and voiced his thoughts on the US elections from a European perspective.
"Conservatives for Change" is a documentary project featuring Republicans and Conservatives voting for Obama. These are real people, speaking in their own words.
Conservatives For Change:
Electon 08 brings us a whole new breed of web attack video. . a hilarious one. .
It's brutal but I bet you laugh anyway. .
Blogger interrupted brings us this very simple and effective video that simply asks questions of McCain/Palin supporters. At least one of them, the blond lady pictured on the video thumbnail, gets very confrontational without really making much of a case for herself.
And here's part 2:
Multimillionaire Sean Hannity proved he's not just a loudmouthed blowhard but seriously out of touch with everyday Americans. Kudos to guest Robert Kuttner for refusing to be intimidated. From the 9/10/08 Hannity & Colmes.
I got tired of searching for all 4 parts of the O'Reilly Factor interview with Barack Obama, so I created this 4-part playlist.
A remarkably restrained interview for O'Reilly, he almost seems to genuinely like Obama throughout the entire 30 minutes.
This version of the video is a draft that has spelling errors but it got the early web momentum so I am just going with it. If the spelling bothers you then the final version can be found here.
I am sick of the Rove attack machine. I am sick of McCain using Rove as an adviser who comes up with character smears and gimmicks. Now we have a new swiftboat style book being released by the same old Rove operatives. It will go #1 on the NYT best seller list because Right wing organizations are buying them in bulk and giving them away. It is full of made up facts and footnotes that point to the authors opinions in other books. . it is easily debunked but people will be parroting what it says anyway.
Politics used to be like fencing. People would duel but it was mostly honorable and fair. Stuff got dirty but it wasn't really the norm. Somewhere around Reagan or Dukakis or at least by election 2000 the Republicans started to bring guns to this sword fight and institutionalizing dirty politics, literally, so that today it almost happens on an assembly line. Unfortunately, the Democrats still think they are fencing.
I don't believe that people will one day just get sick of the dirty politics and stop listening. It is a very old profession. I think it is more likely that they will start seeing politics as something like professional wrestling and the one who doesn't put on a great show, with the help of their most rabid fans, is the weaker candidate regardless of qualifications.
My suggestion is that it's time to bring our own guns to this gun fight. People of conscience don't like to fight dirty anymore than they like to get violent or go to war. Unfortunately, sometimes, it is necessary for self defense. Obama can take the high road just like Bush did. He believes that this is "politics of the past" and that's fine. That won't stop the past from taking pot shots at him in the present, though. That also shouldn't stop this kind of pushback work from the grass roots. We've been waiting for the moment to arrive when the web can successfully compete with TV and publishing as a powerful messaging machine. I say it's that time is here and now. . and this is how we prove it.
I believe a good viral video can work just like a swift boat book in todays environment, only in this case we don't need to lie, or come up with the cash to publish a book and then buy it back from ourselves. With the strength of video, we can create the exact same kind of message to millions of people as a counter punch. We can get people talking and emailing each other and the next thing you know something from the video is coming up in everyday conversation. Many people don't understand how powerful this medium is becoming these days.
I didn't set these standards of institutionalized dirty politics but it's time we began using our new system to beat up on the old system in self defense. So thatis why I made this video. So we cold have our own "taste of their own medicine" payback device. Use it to help make the case. Use it to help relieve your frustration. Use it as payback. . . use it as an email link!
Copy and paste this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmPZoRVRII
For the record much of the stuff in this video is already out there as common knowledge and the less familiar stuff is backed up by sources including Wikipedia, McCain's own biography, and work by The US Veterans Dispatch. I DO use audacity and the snarky Republican tone. I DON'T just make this stuff up.
The never ending imitations of the original Obama/Black Eyed Peas political mashup continue with this dark entry: NO YOU CAN'T.
