Bush is a Monkey...says MSNBC Anchor

Erin Burnett of MSNBC calls our Prez a Monkey...oops.

Chuck Norris and Mike Huckabee Video

I have no idea what this video is about. Chuck Norris supports Mike Huckabee...ok, sure, but the attempted message gets lost on me when the weird jokes come out. I like all (some) of Chuck's movies, he's a legend I get it. The rules about him are hilarious, yes, but what is this thing? Check it out for yourself:

Tancredo and His Controversial Iowa TV Ad

Wow, politics of fear. Vote for Tom or illegals will bomb us. Watch this video of Tom Tancredo making his case...

"How Do We Beat the Bitch" with John McCain

ha.

Barack Obama on SNL

Ha.

Viral Video All-Stars

Another video about all the Internet-famous folk we've been entertained by over the years - set to We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel. Check it out:

Ode to Ron Paul

Dear Ronald Ernest Paul,

I was a doubter, a naysayer, a skeptic. I did not fully comprehend the fervor of your followers, but you have me listening now. Let me explain to my reader out there, an experience I had on Saturday.

I live in a town, its rather large. The city of angels, that's right, Los Angeles... LA, the place where nearly 12 million people dwell. Where our mayor dates reporters, our houses catch on fire and the sun never ceases to shine.

One would think, that despite the many political enthusiasts amongst the city, a certain degree of anonymity would be afforded to me in this sprawling metropolis. And keeping my political interests/life at arms reach from my actually home, would be an easy feat to accomplish. In the past I was correct. But upon walking out of my place on Saturday morning, I ran into my neighbor and he disproved my assumption quite handedly.

My neighbor can be described as the following: Male. 55, tall, slender with salt and pepper hair. Lives with another guy - but i think they're straight. His mother moved into his place a month ago - ouch. Drives a Ford Taurus, circa 1995 - he works on it most weekends to keep it running. Occupation: unknown - but I've seen him selling clocks on a corner before. Daily attire consists of shorts, tennis shoes, no shirt, blue tooth ear piece affixed on right ear. Generally, very courteous to me in our very brief exchanges, but overall profile: odd local dude.

Upon this fateful Saturday morning he sees me walking by and I notice something amiss. His car, the beautiful faded grey that it normally is, has been obscured by decals of some sort. As I get closer and they come into focus. RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT. A big red, white and blue sign. But wait, not just one though, 5 of them! All around his car...and two bumper stickers! One on each side of his other bumper sticker (originally the only one) which reads "Support your local cat house".

Overnight his car transformed into one huge advertisement. We greeted eachother and my neighbor proceeded to laud Ron Paul to me for the next 8 minutes. I was transfixed at the sight of this man. A man who I never had any real connection to and knew nothing about...came out of no where and became this political juggernaut to my Saturday morning. He was attaching one of his many signs to his bicycle, which he was going to ride down to the beach to gain supporters with. He and his buddies had in the last day raised $28k and were going out for more donations. He was quite proud of this and went on and on about the merits of Ron Paul. Lauding him with each and every sentence. Our exchange ended with my neighbor making me take one of his signs. He instructed me to post it proudly, put it in the back window of my car...anything. Mind you, this sign is 3x2 feet, not exactly a lil' bumper sticker.

So...I'm currently driving around with a Ron Paul sign in the trunk of my car. I don't have a serious conclusion to this meandering post, but damn, that was an interesting slice of political enthusiasm I was given. Just wanted to share. Good times.

Ron, even if you don't win, which I think its safe to say you won't, you've carved a special place in my memories of this election. Even though you converted my neighbor into walking, talking version of yourself, I'm impressed with the effort and have been touched by the long arm of your supporters.

Stanton

Obama Edges Clinton in Recent Hollywood Fundraising

Let's face it. Money talks and bullsh*t walks. Um...well, this phrase actually has nothing to do with my story, but I kinda dig it, yah its a bit archaic and pseudo-lame, but its old school and under utilized. So, there you go. Pass it on.

Hill-dog is leading in California polls, National polls and is overall kicking ass and taking names. BUT, oddly enough, Hollywood is not listening - and the Obamanator continues to garner huge support. In Q3 of this year he has even managed to outpace Clinton in contributions. ($$$$)

Is Hollywood full of a bunch of dreamers?...a misguided bunch of liberals who stray too far from the general public, who are in for a rude awakening of wasted money? or is there still time for the Obama machine to gain the ground on Clinton. Eh, odds don't favor the under dog, but let's keep watchin'. In the meantime, your Viral reading of the day is this Variety article, Hollywood's equivalent to the finance world's Wall Street Journal. Does he still have a chance?

Edwards Scoffs at Clinton's Arrogance

Ha. Okay...John Edwards is annoyed that Hillary is acting like she's already won the Democratic nomination.
a) Hillary's killin' it in the national polls compared to Edwards
b) eh...Edwards is kinda close in the Iowa polls, sure
c) BUT the best part of the article is not really that Edwards joked, “Did I miss something? Did we already have the Iowa caucuses? Did we already have the New Hampshire primary?” ...but rather that he did so to a scant 60 people ...and better yet, while gathered in a machine shed at a farm.

Hillary should counter by taking a rally in a basement in Ohio and Obama should do the same in a treehouse in Michigan - you know, to keep up with Edwards. Read the Desmoine Register article here.

Star Wars X-Wing Launch

Okay, there's nothing incredibly viral about this video and you have to wait 2min 50sec for it to happen. BUT, all geeks out there can appreciate some bigger master geek dropping 5,000 bucks on creating a life size replica of the Star Wars X-Wing, dragging it out to the desert and amassing a group of fellow geektoids to watch a potentially disastrous launch. Btw, next can we see a nerd strapped to a Boba Fett inspired Jet Pack... Anyway, check out the X-wing for yourself:

Actually, here's launch if you dont want to see any of the set up. Click this link and you'll see the 22 second clip.

Iowa Polls Yield Mixed Results

With three months to go before primaries, it looks like Hawkeye voters haven't quite made up their minds on the Democrats - and Iowa's gonna come down to the wire.

Sen. Hillary Clinton holds a 6 point edge (30-24 percent) over Sen. Barack Obama in the latest American Research Group (ARG) poll, while Obama edges out Clinton by four points in a Newsweek poll (28-24 percent). Meanwhile, John Edwards comes in a close third in both polls — with 19% in the ARG poll and 22% in the Newsweek poll.

Random Iowa facts (you know... cause I know you wanna know):
a) Iowa's also known as the Tall Corn State.
b) Iowa has about 3 Million people.
c) Iowa state motto: Our liberties we prize and our rights
we will maintain
d) Famous Iowans: Jonny Carson, Herbert Hoover, Ashton Kutcher and John Wayne.

You can read more election info on the CNN political ticker here.

Viral Video Of The Week

So, this week's obvious choice for Viral Video of the Week was the video of the Swedish TV show Hostess throwing up on live TV. We were especially impressed by her immediate recovery and resumption of the segment. But, I just don't know how I feel about a throw-up clip topping the website until the next time a get a chance to update, given our crazy schedule and whatnot. Nope, just can't do it, gotta think about the kids. So instead, check out this video of fighting giraffes. It's way more tame.

Viralroots Required Course Reading 9/24/2007

Hello. So we're still clearly slacking on updates. We'll get back to normal in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's some required course reading to hold you over:

• Insta-Polling Young Voters, State by State
• And register at Our Voice 2008
• As Big Donors Max Out, Small Online Donors Vital to Presidential Campaigns
• How to Data Mine Google Reader Feeds for Trends
• Clinton campaign kills negative story
• Obama: Would Meet Iranian As President

PETA is HOT, so is a naked Alicia Silverstone

I dont follow PETA, I don't have anything intelligent to say about them, but those paint throwin' mofos have my attention now - by way of a video that's circulating online. I'm thinkin' its getting some attention...maybe...just maybe, cause it features Alicia Silverstone naked, I'm not sure. Still deciding...I'll rewatch it and think about it. Check it for yourself:

YouTuber to get TV show

The power of the interwebs is amazing. The whiny, 'Leave Britney Alone' guy (girl?) might have inked himself his own tv show!!??!... all based on his YouTube videos that have garnered upwards of 8 million view. This is train wreck entertainment and sadistically sad... its bananas that he might get a show. Can someone please explain to me wtf is wrong with tv these days?

Kid Tasered At John Kerry Discussion

So this story has spread like wildfire but I feel like talking about it anyway. Self-proclaimed funny man, Andrew Meyer asked John Kerry some really interesting questions at a University of Florida talk, but apparently due to the controversial nature of the questions, police pulled Meyer from the microphone, tackled him and tasered him. It was all caught on tape and you can clearly hear Kerry in the background saying that the questions were important and he would answer them. So what on earth prompted these cops to accost Meyer? Was he loud? Ya. Rambunctious? Yup. Controversial? Sure, but not offensive or provocative. So what's the problem? It was his turn on the mic. The nature of his speech did not present a danger to his fellow citizens. Kerry did not find his questions objectionable (not that I believe that to be cause for dismissal, but for the sake of argument.) Really, there was no situation. None at all until the cops approached Meyer. Who made this decision? The cops on their own? Were they prompted by Kerry's people? Personally, I'm racking this up as another case of police brutality. And you can't blame the cops really. It's not their fault that any illiterate moron can become a cop. A job is a job, right? It's not their fault that they're cursed with retched flashbacks to the glory days on the high school football field that sometimes results in aggressive and unnecessary behavior. See, somewhere along the line, this country lost sight of why we have police in the first place. I live in Los Angeles. Here, patrol cars are emblazoned with the motto, "To protect and to serve." The original intention of having police was just that. You know, like the Justice League. Stop bad guys, help old ladies cross the street, all that jazz. And somehow, we, meaning us and them, have lost sight of that. Now, cops pull us over for speeding and arrest kids for skateboarding on Venice beach. Meanwhile, can someone please help me find my car stereo?

Kerry Condemns Heckler Arrest

Alan Keyes Officially Enters Presidential Race

In a move that could only be an effort to make the debates even more entertaining than they already are, Alan Keyes officially filed his candidacy forms yesterday. It appears that the other candidates lack moral courage and he will now be raising the standard. It should be no sweat given that Dr. Keyes is up against drag queens, d-list actors, money launderers and $400 haircuts. Read the press release here.

Pangea Day: A Request for Videos from Around the World

A new organization, Pangea, is conducting a world wide event to promote peace. Yes...yes, this is some change-the-world hippy stuff, but in the vein of Live Earth, I'm thinkin' its a good cause. Relative to us though, it's cool cause the event's only possible due to the interwebs. This request for videos, the delivery and the low costs to distribute the final product in perpetuity...etc.

Apparently, Pangea Day is going to be on May 10th 2008. And there's a global search for films that 'provoke, entertain and inspire' from all around the world. Check out the promo vid below:

Hillary Nutcracker

Hillary's got the reputation of being a ball buster, and well...now all you GOP (or Democrats) out there who are fearful of her feminist ways can go buy this nifty lil' gift called the Hillary Nutcracker to help you cope with the idea of someday having a female president. She's got short hair, wears the pants in your relationship and wants to crush the crap out of yer fuzzy bean bag. Check out the site, buy it...um...or don't.

Viral Video of the Week: Internet People

An overview of the Internet's Viral Videos and the people that have captivated us.

Quote of the Week: President Bush

"WE'RE KICKING ASS"

- President Bush remarked when asked about his trip to Iraq. Read the Sydney Morning Herald or the CNN article here. This quote is by far one of the most crap-tastic lines I've heard in a long time.

Osama Bin Laden Breaches President Bush Security

This is sort of hilarious. During President Bush's visit to Sydney, Australia, the Chasers comedy troop posed as a motorcade transporting Osama Bin Laden. They made it passed not one but two security checkpoints before getting caught. Watch the 7 network video below.

Osama Bin Laden Security Breach

Fred Thompson on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Announces Candidacy for President

After months of political flirtation, Fred Thompson has finally and officially announced that he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Thompson, the ex-Tennessee Republican Senator from 1994 through 2003, remarked, "I am running for president of the United States" to much applause from the audience.

He came across as thoughtful and purposeful and was even relaxed enough to joke about his decision to attend the Tonight Show over the debates in New Hampshire. "No offense to New Hampshire but, it's a lot more difficult to get onto the Tonight Show than to get into the New Hampshire debate."

Directly after the show, Thompson was slated to go on his website (www.Fred08.com) for a 15 minute conversation in an attempt to further reach his potential voter audience, this time utilizing the online medium.

Read the full CNN article to learn more about his appearance. Below is his pre-announcement commercial:

And just for sport, check out this example of the online community's creative (and snarky) response to Fred's recent announcement waffling.

Ron Paul Wins Maryland Straw Poll

The Maryland Republican Party’s first-ever presidential straw poll at the State Fair resulted in nearly 1,000 Marylanders casting a vote for their favorite Republican candidate for president. And the winner was: Ron Paul.

While most campaigns didn't have a representative present, the Ron Paul campaign had full representation for all eleven days. Paul came in first place with 263 votes, Mayor Rudy Giuliani was second with 220 votes, and Senator Fred Thompson received 188 votes, which garnered the third place spot.

The rest of the votes were cast as follows:
89 votes for Governor Mitt Romney
54 votes for Senator John McCain
35 votes for Governor Mike Huckabee,

Chris Cavey, First Vice Chairman of the Maryland GOP, stated the following: “The final vote showing Ron Paul won is a lesson for all campaigns of how grassroots politics can make all the difference. The Paul campaign repeatedly e-mailed their base of support to turn out at the State Fair to cast a vote for Dr. Paul, and in doing so, demonstrated that a small organized operation can beat the odds.”

Looks like Paul's Viral Campaigning has made quite an effect - at least at this local level thus far. We'll continue to monitor. Read more from the Maryland Republican Party here.

Viralroots Required Course Reading 9/4/2007

Hello, students. Welcome back to class. The following reading will be on the final exam.

• Join Rudy joins us in the modern world
• Romney concedes Iraq "a mess," describes three-step plan
• Campaign officials hope for smoother course
• Could GPay Be Google’s Killer Phone App?
• Underdog Paul Inspires Political Passion
• Hipster Olympics
  

Viral Video Of The Week

Okay, it's really obvious that Miss Teen USA South Carolina Is A Retard should be the viral video of the week, being that it's had 14 million views which has got to be some sort of record, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I can't. I can't and I won't. Last week, I saw Superbad in the theater. On the way out, I heard an old guy say, "Well, if that doesn't mark the demise of western culture, I don't know what does." Well, I know what does. And it's not Superbad. It's national TV doting on retards with killer tits and smiles. Oh, and there's President Bush, but that's a whole 'nother rant. Anyway, instead here's Keith Olbermann's Larry Craig Dragnet reenactment just because it's awesome:

Podium 08' by MSN

MSN has created a new site in an effort to navigate the matrix that is our various candidates and their respective stances on all the issues. Take a look for yourself at the newly dubbed Podium 08' site. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly impressed with it, as its only psuedo interactive and looks kinda hacky (check out the lame pixelated flowy flag in the background).

The site is set up so that you click on a candidate then click on a topic and three links associated with the candidate's stance on that topic pop up on the right. But I've notices a couple things.

a) There are only 7 topics available: Abortion, Economy, Environment, Health Care, Immigration, Iraq and Stem Cell Research. Yes, all these are very important, but what if want to hear their opinions on Education, Gun Control or why Criss Angel is such a douche kitten...then what do I do?

b) All the topics are in text and there are no embedded videos. But I dont want to have to click on an article to get re-routed to another link that has a video within that...common, help me out here, just put the videos on the site.

Overall, it kinda looks like it was built in 2001...which isnt a good thing. MSN, you can't just put up a site for the sake of putting up a site. Let's try to be a bit more progressive. Compare it to the YouTube YouChoose 08' site and judge for yourself on whether or not you like the set up.

Gmail: Behind The Scenes And Around The World

This is the new Internet.
Step 1: You gotta be Google.
Step 2: Post a single video on YouTube that conveys a concept and ask for submissions that elaborate on it.
Step 3: Watch the video spread virally around the world.
Step 4: Wait for the responses to come pouring in.
Step 5: Edit them together into one video.
Step 6: Disco. You have an original, entertaining and collaboratively created video promoting Google Gmail.

Google recieved 1100 clips from users in 65 different countries to create this video.

Where Have I Been?

No, not blogger's block, at least not yet. We have something new in the works that we'll be talking about in the next few weeks. It's taken away from my time to write open letters and in depth articles, but it will be worth it. In the meantime, check out what I've been reading:

-Republican Resurgence and the Myth of the Progressive Web?

-Why Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years

-Young(er) Voters going, going, gone?

-Beauty Pageant Contestant Gives It Another Shot

-Democrat Dodd's Office Burglarized

-The Web Changes How We Define Friendship

-Shelbinator has changed his YouTube Channel to ShelbinatorTV so check it out and check out Shelbinator.com

-There's a new site called Politifact that subjects all political speak to their Truth-O-Meter. Screenshot below.

Viral Video Of The Week

About six weeks ago, we marked the release of the iPhone with a special iPhone Edition of Viral Video Of The Week. In that short time, the below hacker boy wonder has managed to unlock the unlockable. He presents his iPhone unlocked and running on T-Mobile.

Ted Nugent Hates Obama And Hillary, There's A Shock

I don't know what's scarier. Some redneck jumping around on stage with machine guns or the crowd of rednecks cheering him on. Below, Ted Nugent quite eloquently invites Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to suck on the tips of his machine guns. Ted Nugent equals class.

UFO HAITI: Viral Marketing Watch Averted

Whew. The daunting task of having to write another long-winded Viral Marketing Watch post has been averted. The recent release of the below video timed with the LA Times article 'It Came From Outer Space', led me to believe there might be another Simpsons-esque marketing situation on our hands. But alas, there is no brilliant corporate puppeteer out there, its merely a brilliant individual with some brilliantly utilized extra time on his hands - which has yielded the UFO Haiti and UFO Dominican Republic videos.

And according to David Sarno of the LA Times this isn't the first time he's done it. Sarno who tracked down this mysterious Frenchman (who prefers anonymity) learned that he made similar vids in the past which showcased UFO's over Brooklyn and Paris. But, while those failed to garner much attention, these have reached viral levels and the UFO Haiti and UFO Dominican Republic videos have garnered 2.6 million and 300,000 views respectively in the last couple weeks.

Word on the street is, the vids were made on a Mac and it took the mystery youtuber 12 hours to make the Haiti video - which for my money is really friggin solid. When Sarno got the creator on the phone, to prove he really created the vids, the Frenchman made the Naughty Granny vid (below) to prove it.

Okay, so its no Viral Marketing Campaign, but its a viral phenomenon regardless. Check it out:

Google Earth Launches Virtual Telescope: SKY

There is no bound to the far reaching ability of Google to influence the world. Their latest venture, which opened for business today, a platform called SKY has gone beyond the street level maps and conquered space - as in that black thing above the smog that we know nothing about - and by 'we,' I mean the normal non-Stephen Hawking civilians like yourself and that cube-mate sitting 4.7 feet away from you.

Sky, which utilizes third party images to map out the universe, allows users to view and navigate 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies. Its the latest step in the the tubes bringing information to the people. Low entry cost, an infinite array of information. Not that any of us were going to start studying astronomy while bored at work, but,...eh, check out the demo below, its actually kinda cool.


Read the CNN article here.

An Open Letter To Mitt Romney

As we discussed previously, Mitt Romney is really putting himself at a disadvantage by not committing to the CNN-YouTube Republican Debate. And I kind of feel it's our communal responsibility to sell him on it. God bless James Kotecki for trying to appeal to Romney emotionally and sentimentally. But I prefer writing open letters. Like the one I wrote to Ron Paul.


Dear Mr. Romney,

Congratulations on the success of your campaign. You've won the Iowa Straw Poll and you're ahead of the pack on YouTube along with Dr. Paul. You're award winning smile was featured on the cover of TIME MAGAZINE where you looked like a President of the people.

It is for these reasons that I am confused by your decision to deny the people a chance to engage you on the CNN-YouTube Republican Debate. This is no doubt a great opportunity for you to connect with young people across party lines in a venue that will be witnessed by all walks of Americans. It's a chance to show off your charm, witt and ability to think fast when thrown curve balls. All necessary skills of a great President. No doubt, if such a format existed when George W. Bush was running for President, he would be spending his days as an elephant shaver in the circus instead of as an elephant shaver in the White House.

You see, there's this notion of the Digital Divide. But that's bullshit. It's a myth perpetrated by the hippies. There is no divide. Nothing on this planet is exempt or immune or unexposed to the effect of the digital domain. You see, Mr. Romney, you are an old man that thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic System of systems. One vast and inane, inter-made, interwoven, interacting, multi-varied, multinational series of tubes. It is the international System of the Internet that determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And if you meddle with the primal forces of the Internet, you're campaign will fail. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Romney? Because in this world, there is no version of this debate being optional. Just as there's no version of election day being optional. The revolution will be viralized, Mr. Romney. And not even you can stop it.

Warmest Regards,

Philip Marlowe
Private Detective/C-List Blogger

Is Gays For Giuliani Actually That Effective?

There's been a bit of buzz (here and here) in the blogosphere about the Gays For Giuliani commercial. It came out (hahah) the commercial actually is a Democratic opposition tactic orchestrated by Democratic activist Mike Rogers. But I gotta question: How effective can this oppo tactic possibly be? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. As we discussed previously, the working assumption is that any Republican supporting Giuliani knows what they are getting themselves into. It's obvious that Rudy Giuliani's morality already has a polarizing effect on Republicans. I fail to see how such a tactic at this juncture could embellish that. It seems hard to believe that Giuliani supporters or even those on the fence will jump ship after seeing this video. And even more hard to believe, that Republicans that do not support Giuliani would ever support him. To top it off, for all the noise people are making, it's exposure is clearly limited at best. The Gays For Giuliani campaign ad has had a mere 52,000 views over the course of the passed two weeks [CLARIFICATION: 52,000 views on YOUTUBE]. It seems to only be on the radar of the savvy fringe that sways left anyway. It seems they're preaching to the converted. In the grand scheme of things, there's no way this particular campaign even makes a dent. If anything, could it garner support from Democrats? That's reaching I know, but I'm just a little confused. If you go after Romney, you're at least going after a candidate that dominates the base. But Giuliani? It seems he'll never win over a percentage of the base and no opposition campaign will change that. I feel like this is significant only because it's the first attack of its kind for this political season. Not because it's a shining example of a successful attack campaign. I'd like to know what you think.

Viral Video Of The Week

It's always nice to find evidence of hope for this crazy world. Below is an example of how people are still using the Internet for things like, um, learning. You know, science and whatnot. It's telescope footage of the Perseid meteor shower and it's the #4 most viewed video of the week on YouTube just behind the Cheney video we discussed yesterday.

Up and coming viral: INSANE Wave Pool In Tokyo

1994 Dick Cheney Interview

The most amazing thing about the Internet is its usefulness in not only preserving but indexing history. For instance, if you were Dick Cheney, and you made the following comments about invading Iraq, you'd probably go to great lengths to make sure no one ever comes across them again. But the nature of the Internet is such that old archived information can get buried, but once it's rediscovered, there's no stopping the viral machine. Below is 1994 footage of Dick Cheney talking about why we should NOT invade Iraq.

Half Hour News Hour - The Right Wing Alternative To The Daily Show - R.I.P

Fox dubbed it the Right-Wing alternative to the Daily Show, but it looks like the Half Hour News Hour has garnered about as much support as Qube TV.

“You can turn on any show and see Bush being bashed,” said creator Joel Surnow, producer of Fox’s 24. “There really is nothing out there for those who want satire that tilts right.” Unfortunately, as Fox has now learned, that’s because no one wants to watch that kind of satire...and TVNewser reports today that the HHNH has been canceled.

The first show guest-starred right-wing all-stars Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as President and Vice President. Here's the clip from the preview (soon it will be all you can find on the program):

Think Progress article

Republicans Still Left In The Internet's Dust

Here's an excerpt from yet another great article spelling out the poor state of Republican viralroots campaign efforts:

via The Politico:

-- According to Hitwise.com, which tracks the surfing behavior of 10 million Americans across 1 million sites, online interest in the Democrats is way ahead of the Republicans. For example, for the week ended Aug. 4, the Democrats drew a whopping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websites.

-- In terms of donations online, the Democratic field reports raising more than $28 million, versus about $9.4 million for the Republicans. While we don't think you can meaningfully separate online donations from the rest anymore, even the reported differences are stark. Overall, the Democratic field has outraised the Republicans by $180 million to $117 million in the first half of 2007.

-- The number of small (under $200) donors to the Democratic field, 94,833, is 50 percent greater than the Republicans' 63,248, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Keep reading at politico.com

Hillary Clinton: First Iowa TV Ad?

It just broke on the wire this morning that Hillary Clinton will be running her first TV ad in Iowa. This video called Invisibles just wound up on YouTube and It's gotta be the first Iowa TV Spot.
Reasons why this has got to be the Iowa TV spot:
1. Cowboy hats.
2. Not a minority in sight.
3. No Kentucky Fried Hillary accent.

CNN-YouTube GOP Debate Is A Go

Last night, Washington Post's The Trail reported that the CNN-YouTube Republican Debate is a go for November 28th. It is still unclear which candidates will be participating. Winner of this weekend's Iowa straw poll and frontrunner du jour, Mitt Romney is yet to confirm participation and quick to object to the format. "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," says Romney.

Mr. Romney: Viralroots says you gotta go along to get along. Make no mistake, this election will be decided by a series of tubes.

Viral Video of the Week: Lions vs Buffalo vs Crocodiles

Our pick for the Viral Video of the Week is 'The Battle of Kruger.' As you may recall, this video was shot in Kruger National Park, South Africa and showcases a three way species war between Lions, Buffalo and Crocodiles. It's void of any slick effects...it's old school, and its real life drama, caught by a random guy on a vacation shooting video of big game - lucky enough to catch this three way war.

Since May, the video has accrued 10.6 Million views, which is staggering, but the more interesting thing is that today 86 blogs linked to the video, despite it being so old. The clip continues to garner Viral support and shows no signs of letting up. I wonder if it will hit the Real Life Simpson's Intro (16M views) level or the OK Go video level (20M views)? We'll keep monitoring. Check it out below if you haven't seen it.


View the recent linking phenomenon on the Viral Video Chart.

YouTube YouChoose 08 Gets Facelift

The YouTube YouChoose landing page has been completely redesigned. Previously, one candidate would get pushed off onto a second page. Which sucked. Now, there's a great new interface that not only sorts candidates by party and has direct links to their introductory posts, but also allows you to sort by issue positions. The result is that instead of just compiling a huge and growing assortment of videos, the YouChoose landing page is now a useful application for seeking out video clips of candidates discussing specific issues that are meaningful to you. Check it out: YouTube YouChoose.

Eric Schmidt: Web 3.0 Is Viral Distribution Of Applications

You've heard it first. Eric Schmidt himself postulates that Web 3.0 will be a web of small, fast applications pieced together, gathering data from "the cloud" and distributed virally. Stores and distributers are cut out of the equation because we are the distribution network. We are also the developers, given the low barriers to entry. Rather, the development tools will be provided by Google and the like. While this isn't alone mind blowing, his concept reinforces my notion that big business, out of necessity, will make available professional content for retooling. That oughta undermine the "cult of the amateur."

Mudslinging... At Obama Girl... By Home Of Obama Girl

Okay, so I started to write something vaguely witty and offensive about BarelyPolitical and their new Romney Girls Attack Obama Girl video, but I just don't have the energy for it. Seriously, I can't deal. So watch the friggin video and make up your own observations. Or don't. I don't care.

Senator Lindsey Graham Poses with Controversial Sign - Wants to be like Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is not the only one comparing Senator Barack Obama to terrorism. Check out this picture of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham holding up a sign reading "Obama, Osama and Chelsea's Moma Say Cut and Run"

Seems a bit bold to pose in front of a sign like this, in this Viral age where photo's can be sent out across the electronic universe so instantaneously...especially when Mitt just got done having to explain himself for his sign. But if he's cool with it, whatever...I'm just gonna comment on it. Perhaps Lindsey's trying to show the world his Romney support? Nah...he's got a John McCain sign there with him too. Is he showing off his disdain for Democrats? Yes, clearly. Either way regardless of the message, he's late to the game and comes off looking unoriginal...maybe he should have added some glitter.


Check out the TMZ article here.

Jeri Thompson: Trophy Wife Or Web Pioneer?

A great article care of ePolitics:

Sunday’s fascinating Post profile of Fred Thompson’s wife Jeri contained a little glimpse of the Good Old Days of the early political Internet. Turns out, when they were first dating and her last name was still Kehn, she pitched him on a personal political website separate from his official Senate site:

On Aug. 5, 1997, Kehn sent Thompson’s Senate office a 12-page proposal to “design, develop, host and maintain a world-class multimedia Web site” at a cost of $45,000 per year. As her qualification for the contract, Kehn cited her job at a small Nashville firm that provided daily news summaries to health-care companies.

Two weeks later, Thompson’s staff sharply rejected the proposal, according to memos located by the Memphis Commercial Appeal in the Thompson Senate archives, stored at the University of Tennessee. “I consider this project technically vague and stunningly overpriced,” a staff member wrote.

Keep reading at epolitics.com

Viral Marketing Watch: 070829

There's a new viral marketing campaign out there. Let's call it 070829 because that's the URL of the website. It's strange cell phone or mp3 player esque images floating around on a black background with creepy sounds slightly reminiscent of THE RING. If you wait long enough, you get red lady lips over static. It's no doubt for some sort of portable device it seems most definately to be by Nokia and is most likely for the Nokia N81 as discussed here.

Rudy Giuliani: When Social Networks Strike Back

Funny story over at TechCrunch:

Another social networking embarrassment for a presidential candidate: Rudy Giuliani’s 17-year-old daughter Caroline supports Barack Obama for president over her father. Until this morning she was a member of the One Million Strong For Obama Facebook group, and lists her political views as “liberal.” Caroline removed herself from the group after Slate emailed her about it, but it remained in her newsfeed...

More and screen-cap at TechCrunch.

Mike Gravel's New Campaign Video: Think Different

Question: How long until Apple sues Mike "I'm Fuckin Nuts" Gravel for "confusing their customers" by using their "Here's To The Crazy Ones" poem in this recent campaign video? MasterCard went after Ralph Nader for his Priceless commercial for exactly that reason. Of course, the claim was tossed out because the commercial is what one might call a "parody" which is a form of expression protected by the first ammendment, but that didn't stop MasterCard for trying.

An Open Letter To Ron Paul

Dear Dr. Paul,

Congratulations. As I'm sure you are aware, you're the only presidential candidate that I am yet to rag on. And I'd like to keep it that way, as I've never intended the Viralroots media empire to be just another second rate burn blog that rags on everyone for LOLs. See, ordinarily at this juncture, I would say something snarky and cruel in hopes that my dry humor lands me a new subscriber or two. But instead, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and write you a letter imploring you to see the error of your ways and do your best to fix them.

My specific grievances have to do with your videos in the YouTube YouChoose Spotlight. In the text of your first video, you proclaimed yourself the "Internet's BFF." And over the months I've published statistics that support that claim. The fact is, I'm not aware of any candidate ever achieving such a level of success through a viralroots campaign as you. Your accomplishments are truly remarkable. Which is why I'd like to make you aware of two major missteps in your YouChoose Spotlight and am humbly asking you to correct them:

A) Why on earth would you allow a vacuous-eyed meat-head fratboy to introduce all of your spotlight videos? I mean seriously. There's never gonna be a rEVOLution when your poster-child looks like you picked him up from a Campus Republicans meeting. I swear I saw him on HotChicksWithDoucheBags last week. I beg you to lose this guy.

B) As the Internet's BFF, what on earth would possess you to use chopped up clips from what looks like a CSPAN-2 BOOK TV interview for the YouChoose Spotlight? I'm really confused. It seems that while candidate after candidate botched their time in the YouChoose Spotlight, you were making creative videos and engaging YouTube better than anyone else. You spoke to James Kotecki in his dorm room. You called out Rudy Giuliani. You posted humorous and enlightening clips from TV personalities like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. You did a fantastic interview with Google. In other words, you did everything right. And finally, it's your turn to really shine and you posted a bunch of recycled crap. You don't talk to the YouTube constituency. You don't ask questions. You don't answer questions. Nada. Please, for the sake of this new political age, I beg you Dr. Paul, fix this. Go back to what works. You're good at it. No. The best at it. So please: Own it.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Warmest Regards,

Philip Marlowe
Private Detective/C-List Blogger

Viral Video Of The Week

I gotta say, it's been a rather slow week. iPhones are sooo two weeks ago. Transformers who? Obama Girl is damaged goods. What's a Simpson? Nope, seems like everything new with lots of views this week is either ripped from TV or involves country music. To find this week's Viral Video Of The Week, we had to globe trot all the way to Russia where some creative and ambitious students turned the side of their high-rise dorm into... TETRIS!

Iraq: Armed Robots Join The Front Lines

If you're one of those people that love asking rhetorically, "Why do they hate us?" then this video might give you a clue. I assure you, what you're about to see is real. This is neither a hoax nor satire on the American military complex. It's not a viral campaign for some new-world-order-big-brother movie. This is the real deal. These are actual remote-controlled, heavily armed robots being deployed in the streets of Iraq. And in the great tradition of dystopian sci-fi, they are equipped with failsafes and kill switches just in case they go, you know, haywire. But I shouldn't be so cynical because with these bad boys patrolling the streets, a troop withdrawal is closer than we all think.

Read more at Wired's Danger Room.

Poll: White Male Factor Helps White Male, John Edwards

Recent Rasmussen Reports polling shows that despite Hillary Clinton's lead in the Democratic Primary pack, she's behind John Edwards and Barack Obama in match-ups with Republicans. Today's poll puts Hillary Clinton neck and neck with Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani while a poll from last week puts John Edwards 11 points ahead against Fred Thompson and 7 points ahead against Rudy Giuliani. Even Barack Obama holds 6 point leads over both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, despite being a white male only in spirit. So when push comes to shove, is America ready for a female president, or just not Hillary?

Weekly Video Roundup

X-GAMES SKATEBOARD FALL
OMG, watch this clip of pro skater Jake Brown yesterday at the 2007 X Games Big Air competition. He completes a sick 720 degree crazy spin thingy over a humongous gap then proceeds to hit a massive quarter pipe, only to get absolutely crushed in an epic 50 foot fall... then walk away. Watch where his shoes go...



MINNEAPOLIS BRIDGE COLLAPSE VIDEO
I had been looking for this video. Its rather dramatic...check it out:



SUPERBAD TRAILER
As contender for this week's Viral Video of the Week, I nominate the Superbad trailer! Not that its the most watched video on YouTube this week, but more because it looks abso-fucking-lutely hilarious. I've heard from industry insiders that this is better than Knocked Up, which for my money was pretty friggin solid itself.

So, with 2 weeks to go before it even hits theatres I think its kinda nutty/awesome that this clip has clocked 400,000 views already and is sitting in the top ten most viewed YouTube video's this week. Dude, Evan punches the girl in the boob, that's cinema!

Manchester United Recruits 9 Year Old YouTube Phenom

9 year-old soccer prodigy Rhain Davis was recently recruited from Brisbane, Australia to the worlds most popular soccer team, Manchester United - based on video footage. After Rhain's grandfather sent Man U a 4 minute DVD clip of the young phenom juking the junk out of another team, he was immediately moved across the world to join their youth squad. Since then, the clip has been viewed nearly 1.4 Million times and Rhain's now being dubbed the next superstar...at the age of 9! Ah, the power of YouTube, even connecting us to the land down under. Read the SI article here...but more importantly, check out this amazing lil' video below:

Polling Passions: 49% Of Voters Emotionally Resistant To Hillary Clinton In the White House, Survey Says

Choosing a Presidential candidate to vote for in the Primaries is not the easiest decision in the world. Personally, I look for various cues, and they're not all ideological. For instance, one of the most important questions I ask myself is, will I sleep well at night with this candidate in the White House? Well, Resonance Technologies and Flimp Media have developed an emotionally based survey system that attempts to get passed ideology and uncover voter passion. Press Release:

Using a unique neuroscience-based methodology that quantifies the genuine passionate emotions that motivate or inhibit voter behavior, Resonance Technologies and Flimp Media released the first of a series of RezTech VoterTrends™ surveys that measure voter passions and motivations for the leading presidential candidates.

[...]

Two national voter passion surveys were conducted in April and June via the internet to a pool of over 100,000 voters measuring voters’ emotional reaction to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In-depth survey data and nearly 1,000 specific voter comments were collected in response to the question:

What if Hillary Clinton is elected the next President of the United States? How would that make you feel?

A majority (51%) of the voters responded that they are “highly resistant” to the thought of Hillary Clinton as President while 28% responded that they would be “enthusiastic” about Hillary becoming President.

Resonance Technologies and Flimp Media have developed an incredibly breakthrough web application to showcase their results where, in addition to distribution graphs, you can actually view verbatim comments from respondents. Check out the Flimp Viewer microsite for the Hillary Clinton National Voter Passion Survey.
Future forward, there will be more RezTech VoterTrends passion surveys covering other presidential candidates. As of now, we can look forward to Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

Resonance Technologies and Flimp Media are "apolitical and do not support or receive funds from any of the candidates running for President." For more information about the companies, check out Flimp.net and ResonanceTechnologies.net

Congressman Calls President George Bush A Clown

Check out this video of North Dakota’s Rep. Earl Pomeroy calling President Bush a “clown.” For my money, the video is less groundbreaking for his comments, but more hilarious for how annoyed he gets with these two women bothering him on the streets of D.C. Stuck at a cross walk waiting for a light to change and left unprotected without staffers, Pomeroy gets so frustrated with these 'Grassroots America' women peppering him with questions about the impeachment of Bush, he can't help himself in his responses.

“Most of the people I represent think that’s (impeachment) a horrible idea. I’m a Democrat, and I can’t stand this president, but I’m to represent the people that I represent and they are against impeaching the president,” Pomeroy said while pointing and waving his arms. He goes on to say he "can't stand" Bush, amidst the exchange, check it out for yourself.

YouChoose Roundup

• John Edwards: Stop trying to make HAIR happen.
• Dennis Kucinich: I like you, but why would you remind us that you're friggin 90? BTW, I like that you still wear that suit.
  
• Barack Obama: Hip-Hop still scares voting-age white folk. Just sayin.
• John McCain: Oh wait, nevermind. I forgot that we don't talk about you anymore.
• Joe Biden: If you're gonna do David Letterman, go for the LOLs! But good job.
• Rudy Giuliani: Congratulations. You sold out a coffeehouse. PS, can someone please tell me a) where South Carolina is and b) is that where DELIVERANCE took place?
• Mike Huckabee: Contrary to popular belief, some us are, in fact, descended from monkeys. Why is that so bad?
  

Post CNN-YouTube Debate Poll: Hillary Clinton Nearly 2-1 Favorite

In the most recent Poll following the Cnn-YouTube Democratic debate, a Wall Street Journal/NBC news poll is showing Hillary Clinton's numbers climbing and Barack Obama's numbers falling.
via Reuters:

Forty-three percent of Democratic respondents said they preferred the New York senator and former first lady over other Democratic candidates in the 2008 contest, up from 39 percent in June, the poll showed.

That put Clinton even farther ahead of chief rival Obama, the Illinois senator who slipped from 25 percent in the June poll to 22 percent in July. Clinton and Obama have sparred in recent weeks, trading accusations last week over foreign policy positions.

The poll surveyed 1,005 adults from Friday to Sunday and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Those polled cited Clinton's experience and competence highest among her positive attributes.

Ron Paul In YouTube Spotlight

Ron Paul, the self-proclaimed "Internet's BFF," takes to the YouTube YouChoose Spotlight this week. Ron Paul will be coming at us with a video every day this week, addressing a different topic. In his first video, Ron Paul talks about his Internet popularity and the importance of the Internet in Politics.

CNN-YouTube GOP Debate Roster Shaping Up Or Shipping Out?

There's been a lot of buzz lately about whether the Republican CNN-YouTube Debate is going to get canned. That would be a shame. I think it's really important to see both parties participate in this platform, which is clearly a breakthrough component of election politics 2.0. Just this morning on KFI AM640's Bill Handel Show, they were claiming that it looked like Ron Paul was the only Republican candidate committed to participate as of today. They did not cite sources. But just yesterday The Hollywood Reporter reported that Ron Paul, Tommy Thompson and John McCain were on board. Also yesterday, Washingtonpost.com's The Trail included Mike Huckabee as a participant as well. And then there's the possibility of CNN postponing the debate until more candidates agree to participate. We will continue to keep you posted on this matter.

Lousy Republican Web Campaigns, Finally Statistics To Back It Up

Patrick Ruffini for techPresident wrote a killer article reinforcing our previous and obvious statements that the Republicans just can't keep up with net campaigning. You can see our take on QubeTV and John McCain. According to Patrick's article, Republicans invest just as much in the web as Democrats, but not nearly as much in their web staffs. Web staffs of course being young savvy folk that create effective content. Rather, most of their money goes to technical outsourcing instead of internal staffers. He backs this up with a very interesting spreadsheet. Here are some highlights:

While Republicans and Democrats are spending almost equally on their Web efforts, Democrats are spending dramatically more on in-house staff. Approximately 36% of the Democrats' Web budgets are dedicated to staff, while less than 8% of the Republican budgets are. Overall, the Democratic candidates have 39 people working in the Web departments while Republicans have 18, spread over 9 active candidates. That works out to an average of 5.6 staffers per candidate on the Democrat side, and just 2 on the Republican side, encompassing both frontrunners and also-rans. Obama alone has 10 people on his Web staff... and it shows.

And:

Why is this important? Because it shows Republicans are largely outsourcing their Web operations to highly capable technical firms but don't have the boots on the ground to drive content, marketing ideas, and ensure that the effort stays relentlessly in synch with the campaign's message. It ensures that Republican innovation on the Web will continue to be more about applications rather than brilliant new ideas that get press, driving traffic and the self-reinforcing perception that a candidate has the momentum online.

Keep reading at techPresident.com

Human Tetris Round II

I've been in DC for a week. It was a fantastic trip. That is until it was time to fly back home. I spent two days stranded in the airport. I hate Delta. My brain is completely numb. Seriously, I feel like a retarded person. But I know that's not the reason I almost peed myself laughing from the Human Tetris Round II video. When I watched the first one I was completely coherent and still almost peed myself. This video's been up for nearly a month and hasn't cracked 400,000 views. Apparently, not everyone's sense of humor is as sophisticated as mine. This bad boy should have like 4 million views by now. So send it to your friends.

via Geekologie

Simpsons Movie: Viral Marketing Follow Up

Our previous posts about the Simpson's Viral Marketing campaigns have proven to be spot on. The Simpsons Movie has shot to number one in the box office this weekend and grossed a solid $72 Million domestically - and a staggering $168 Million world wide. Fox's Marketing department deserves a raise, a bonus...or at least some Duff beer. They've really done well with what I feel is an inherently narrow American-esque style of comedy, and made sure that everyone in the world felt the buzz.

They had the real life Simpson's intro that's been seen over 15 Million times and then more recently had the Statue of Liberty clip, the Hollywood Sign clip, and the Seattle Space Needle clip, which all three clocked in nearly a million view each.

We'll never be able to accurately link Viral buzz to box office success with quantitative accuracy, but one has to offer this as positive evidence of the correlation. Check out The Daily Variety article on The Simpsons Movie's success here.

Viral Video of the Week: Beyonce Falls On Her Ass

It's sad to say, but this week's Viral Video of the Week is going to be a clip of pop star Beyonce Knowles falling on her butt during a live show in Orlando. Interestingly enough, I found this clip below today (which has been viewed over 1.3 Million times in 4 days), but the others which I had seen earlier in the week and more clearly showed the fall - have been taken off YouTube.

At least 5 other YouTube clips, totalling over 3 Million views have been stricken from YouTube - one of which entitled 'Ring The Alarm Gone Wrong' yields a message once clicked: This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Sony BMG.

Looks like the lawyers are involved in this one, trying to do some damage control in the wake of the viral phenomenon surrounding Beyonce's fall from grace. I highly doubt BMG would be this diligent and expedient if the concert went on without a hitch.

Well, for the time being, at least you have this one to watch. 35 seconds into the clip below, you can still see the beginning of the fall. Good times...

Mike Gravel In YouTube Spotlight, Comes Out Swinging

Mike Gravel gets right to it in the YouTube YouChoose Spotlight. Not one for chit-chat, after a brief introductory video, Gravel starts slinging the mud at rival Democrat, John Edwards. Gravel connects the metaphorical dots, illustrating how John Edwards' previous employer, Fortress Investment Group helped finance Humana Health, a predatory health care provider. Therefore, John Edwards profits from Humana despite his plan for health care reform. Is there truth to it? Well, I'm on vacation so I didn't bother fact checking. Regardless, for a baby candidate, Gravel sure knows how to make lots of noise. And the YouTube is listening...

YouChoose 08' Stats of the Week

In looking at the latest YouChoose stats, we can plainly see that Barrack Obama leads the pack with a robust 11 Million channel views - a full 8.6 Million more than the next closest candidate. We still don't know how this will translate to votes, but in the meantime in an environment where buzz and press make all the difference in the world, we have to assume that the interest online will have some impact and/or correlation with outcome. The latest YouChoose stats are as follows:

Barrack Obama has 11 Million channel views and 9,400 subscribers
Ron Paul has 2.4 Million channel views and 22,000 subscribers

Hillary Clinton has 770,000 channel views and 4,900 subscribers
Mitt Romney has 690,000 channel views and 2,600 subscribers

John Edwards has 590,000 channel views and 3,500 subscribers
Rudy Giuliani has 585,000 channel views and 2,000 subscribers

Bill Richardson has 520,000 channel views and 1,300 subscribers
John McCain has 450,000 channel views and 1,400 subscribers

Joe Biden has 260,000 channel views and 1,000 subscribers
Mike Gravel has 200,000 channel views and 1,900 subscribers

CNN-YouTube Debates Review: Top YouTube Question Was Censored

I generally liked the YouTube debate and can't wait for the the GOP version to occur. But, its recently come to my attention that number one topic and question submitted to CNN/YouTube was on impeachment - and YouTube did a bit of censoring. Here is the list of what was shown.

Here's the video according to Community Counts which was not shown to us:

CNN-YouTube: The Great Goatse Hoax Of 2007

A few weeks ago, if I remember this right, Scoble was quoting someone who was quoting someone else who was asserting that we are on the verge of major backlash against the blogosphere. That amateur citizen journalism is doomed because of it's inherent lack of fact checking and journalistic ethics. I initially wrote it off because it seems all the "news breaking" is done by entertainment and gossip blogs (which doesn't really count because what's really the difference between legit pictures of Britney's cooch and bogus reports of Sinbad's death?), and everything else is merely high-horse opinion, right? Well, then came the Great Goatse Hoax Of 2007. See, I was really impressed that CNN and the candidates would open themselves up to the people for a debate. And I thought it was an impressive show. It would be a shame if it was somehow "hacked." And then I looked at today's search traffic landings for Viralroots and it was strange that searches for "CNN-YouTube Debate" had "Goatse" strung along them. So I investigated. And I immediately found this Digg claiming that a goatse pic was spliced into a YouTube question and was shown on live on CNN for 1/24 of a second. And then I saw that even Wonkette was reporting this. So it must be true, right? Well... no. Not even. Just for LOLs, a blog created this hoax and some of the biggest political sites actually started reporting it as news. Since then, Wonkette has posted a correction, but this should be a major lesson. And it looks like the drive-by-media scores a point here, cuz not for nothing, I can't find a single legit news source reporting this story. The actual video as aired on CNN is above. As you can see, it contains no objectionable frames.

CNN Anchor Refuses To Read Lindsay Lohan Story

A question: Clocking in with 3 million views, did the video of Mika Brzezinski tearing up and refusing to read a report on Paris Hilton raise the bar for drive-by-media anchors? I pose this question in the wake of the emergence of a clip of CNN's Jack Cafferty refusing to read off the teleprompter about Lindsay Lohan's latest DUI arrest. It's hard to look at it from the inside, but at what point does a whisper on the internet bubble over into the mainstream zeitgeist? For politics, it was years of viral political clips, then candidates uploading their own, then a billion dollar take-over of YouTube by Google to finally lead up to last night's CNN-YouTube debate. But I don't believe that it's gotta be that complicated. I propose that, ya, we might actually be living in a world where one person pulling a "mad as hell" can be digitized, spread like wildfire and actually induce change. I think this is just the beginning. I think we're going to be seeing more news correspondents refusing the gossip stories and sticking to, well, you know, actual news.