That's my summary of the DUmmycrat Youtube show!
Posted on 07/23/2007 5:27:38 PM PDT by mdittmar
It had been billed as "a milestone in presidential campaign history", a chance for the anarchists of cyberspace to pitch the kind of questions at White House candidates that no mainstream journalist would dare to ask.
While executives from the CNN television network and its partner YouTube, the video-sharing website, were trumpeting last night's debate between Democratic candidates as revolutionary, the reaction from bloggers and new-media commentators has been decidedly lukewarm.
Although the 2,989 questions submitted by video ranged from the weirdly off-beat to the outright cheeky, the aspiring participants in the debate held in Charleston, South Carolina, condemned plans by CNN to decide which ones the candidates would have to answer.Some were never likely to be used. "Hi, I'm John Dardenne and I'm not wearing a shirt," says a mop-haired young man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "My question is for Hillary Clinton. Given the precedent set by previous Clinton administrations, I was wondering - can I be your intern?"
Ralph Schofield from St Petersburg, Florida, asks Mrs Clinton, the clear Democratic frontrunner: "In the light of the commandments and your own experience, what do you think is deserving of the harsher punishment, perjury or adultery?"
Neither question was ever likely to be selected by the five-person CNN panel winnowing the videos down to a few dozen.
"There's not going to be a foolish, gotcha question because we're not out there to stump," said David Bohrman, CNN's senior vice-president and chairman of the panel.
Joshua Levy of the website Techpresident.com said that YouTube users should have been able to vote on which questions would be selected.
"If CNN has total editorial control over what videos are shown to the candidates, it's pulling the rug out from under the so-called 'user-generated content' revolution.
"This stuff is much less fascinating if a third-party gatekeeper comes in and tells us what is interesting and what is fluff." The blogger Lonewacko wrote that the debate was designed to create "the touchiest-feeliest, puffiest of the puffball debates possible, spiced with comic reliefs designed to contrast the wacky, wild internet v the respectable, responsible world of journalistic hacks".
Conservative bloggers said that what they saw as in-built liberal bias would be used in the selection of questions.
Justadog, on the wheresyourbrain blog, predicted that tough questions about taxes and the death penalty would be avoided because CNN represented "typical liberalism in action" disguised as democracy.
"It is totally scripted, censored, filtered, and sanitised," it said. "Are these liberals totally brain dead or do they really think the American public is that STUPID?"
All 2,989 video questions had been posted on YouTube, allowing the presidential campaigns to be able to review them and prepare for any that might be particularly problematic for their candidate.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll published yesterday said that 45 per cent of Democrat supporters favoured Mrs Clinton, while 30 per cent would vote for Barack Obama and 12 per cent for John Edwards.
I hear the Repulican Party is going to try this.
That's my summary of the DUmmycrat Youtube show!
“There’s not going to be a foolish, gotcha question because we’re not out there to stump,” said David Bohrman, CNN’s senior vice-president and chairman of the panel.
He then added, “We’re out there to toss balls of fluff at a collection of Empty Suits, and one overly-full Pant Suit!”
... but CNN will chose the questions.... farcical
The video questions they allow to be asked of the Democrats are on only all the Democrat topics and talking points they wish to cover.
I see no uncomfortable tough questions for candidates at all.
If the questions were live, that would be one thing, but they are just pre-taped questions, pre-screened to make the demonrat candidates look good so they can spew on and on about their talking points. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the candidates got to hear the questions before the "dabate" so they could prepare. Boring.
“I hear the Repulican Party is going to try this.”
CNN and Youtube have already planned and scheduled the event in December.
Youtube= Google
For the dems it was scripted, they even had earbuds “to hear the audio of the Youtube posts better”.
If we are to lazy to get up off our butts,raise hell,and demand those who we put in office do what we elected them to do,then,I think,we might be screwed.
Well the questions were all online. A bunch of staffers could ff through them to eliminate the dumb ones and the ones CNN would never pick, and put together a profile of likely questions.
Or CNN could have sent a compilation of 100 and told all the candidates (or the one they liked) what the 100 most likely were.
While I’m ranting on, I’ll state that the slice of America who could ask questions was thin. Must have access to a broadband-connected computer, must have a webcam, a microphone, and know how to use it all to record, edit, and post a clear understandable vid. A lot of kids and slackers do, but among “most likely to vote”, not that many. AARP members seem to be underrepresented on Youtube and Myspace for some reason.
If they we're smart, they'd tell them to kiss off.
Most of the questions came from morons (thus an accurate demographic sampling) and one came from a snowman.
Oh, and don't forget, 'undocumented immigrants' will be covered under any Democrat health plan.
Did you 'text' for peace like Kucinich asked?
What a completely pathetic state of affairs.
"do they really think the American public is that STUPID?"
I think the great majority are really that stupid. It's a very small percentage of educated, cultured, and enlightened individuals on either side.
While Web technology is easily grasped by schoolchildren, republican leaders shunned Youtube offers (the political wing of Google) to provide a modern forum for free.
The party of Katrina and Iraq remains totally out of touch with modern voters, their needs, and their communications channels.
In more news, a warehouse fire sent clouds of smoke into the Californian sky as three...
That’s why they agreed to the circus, imo.
I hope Republicans don’t do this stunt, it was completely embarrassing.
They”re not smart, don’t worry.
My butt has never been “politically lazy,” (started working on political campaigns in High School) but I do fear that my conservative brethren have been beaten down to the extent that they will “sit this one out.” :(
Actually those demographics are rapidly catching up. The average age for a blogger is mid-forties. And MySpace and Facebook are quickly growing with Boomers. More than half the country has access to Broadband and roughly 40% regularly view YouTube videos.
This is a misnomer that is crippling the Republican Party. The web allows conversations and true discussions to take place. If used correctly, it's a much better form of democracy than broadcast campaigns. If you want actual numbers, visit
I agree that net tech is superior to broadcast to “get the message out” in a number of ways.
It does require a capital investment, though.
My point was that while using Google to pose questions for a debate, the base would have been bigger if phones had been used.
I use the tech; most of my friends do too- but we are all geeks with incomes and techie jobs.
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