Interview with Dick Cheney (1994)

Flip before the Flop!

Lions ‘n Tigers ‘n Youtubes Oh My!

The Youtube Snowman’s Gonna GIT Ya!





The Republicans do not make good stand-ins for Dorothy in the Land of Oz, but this Youtube thing has taken them away from Munchkin Land into the big black Forest and it has really got them scared!

So, what exactly about Youtube causes the Republicans such fear and consternation?




I watched the debate and found that for the most part the people who participated asked incisive and penetrating questions. As Blog House from the Minneapolis Star Tribune put it:

One mother of a serviceman stationed in Iraq asked if Democrats were "putting politics before conscience," a worker at a refugee camp in Darfur asked if the candidates could promise the children there a better life and a lesbian couple from New York and a minister from North Carolina asked about gay marriage.

In addition, there were questions about Social Security, illegal aliens, terrorism, Iraq, Afghanistan, global warming - all asked by people who were not afraid to cite reports and quote statistics.



Moreover, the "snowman" asked a pithy question about that global warming Mr. Romney.



Now, I'm curious about Republican reticence in participating in the largest town hall like debate in the history of U.S. elections. It's not like they haven't done free-for-all debates before, and they do use the Internet.





Now they accuse CNN and Youtube of "cherry picking" questions to make the Dems look good. To me, that's a non sequitur. Given the last 6 years of Republican disasters on the job, a third-grader with a D average would be up to the task.



Of course, CNN and Youtube would weed out the jokesters, wiseasses, loonies, and otherwise incomprehensibles. However, if even the person who called his assault rifle his "baby," had a clear and concise question to ask, his post got airtime.



Now, Mitt Romney has some 18 of his own postings on his which can be reached from his own webpage.



All of his "official" postings tout his opinions, or what a great guy he is.



So, what are Mitt Romney and the other Republicans afraid of?



In my opinion, they are afraid of what they can't control.



Mitt Romney can't control all the other Youtubers who posted their own versions of Romney's greatest hits, showing him to be a flip-flopper. Like the ones on Election Central:

In the Romney videos you can watch Romney...Pledge not to impose his moral beliefs on others. Praise his mother's 1970 Senate campaign in Michigan as a pro-choice candidate. Discuss the experience of an in-law who died from a botched illegal abortion. Say the Boy Scouts of America ought to allow gays to participate. Completely distance himself from Ronald Reagan. And much, much more!

He also can't control his own ignorance of a new media, as when it manifested itself in his on air confusion of Youtube and MySpace.



The Republicans can't conceive of anything working well without being controlled therefore, they believe that if they don't control it, "big money Liberals, " or MSM controls it.



The truth is - Google controls it. In addition, Google does not care about political or religious opinion. The fact is, anyone on Youtube can post so long as the postings are tasteful, and are not sexually or blatantly offensive.



People get a little creative on Youtube. After all, it's their 15 minutes of fame. In addition, it's a cheap way to produce a video, or an indie short. And so, some Youtubers became the Slam Poets of the Internet, with props and all.



Yet to the Republicans, it's just controlled anarchy.



At least from Jed Babbin's of Human Events.com point of view, the whole CNN/Youtube thing was a "clown show," and Republicans shouldn't engage the Dems in anything other than in tightly controlled, micromanaged events stacked in the Republican's favor:

Think about it:†get the folks from, say, RedState, PowerLine, InstaPundit, LittleGreenFootballs and a couple of the milblogs like BlackFive and Sgt. Hook. (Guys, I know Iím neglecting a lot of other good-to-excellent ones.† But there just ainít enough room.)† Let Michelle Malkin moderate it.† The result will be the boost from online activism the Republicans whine they lack, and theyíll get a much better questions than theyíll get from YouBoobTube.

Uh, Jed, the whole idea behind debates is to present your point of view and try to win people over to it. Preaching to the converted is just icing on your cake, and strictly incidental.



Perhaps I'm wrong about this. However this media has the potential for great power. The Republicans are proving this despite themselves. By refusing to participate, they show themselves to be controlling and manipulating - cowards. Which means they can stand in for the Wicked Witch!