Audio courtesy of my friend Bob Kincaid at HeadOn Radio. I'm so Proud!
Not the way to start a campaign
During the 2008 presidential election that swept President Obama into office, the generation of college students and 20-somethings became a powerful force. From support groups on Facebook to the Youtube debates, the Internet offered candidates a way to reach millions of people for very little money. But Youtube can go very, very wrong.
Luther Strange, who declared his candidacy for Alabama's attorney general, decided the web's most popular video site would be the best way to announce his campaign. A Youtube video player placed his speech at the opening of his site, where Alabamians across the state could see it.
His speech was fairly tame. He says he want to restore ethics and respect to the office, but when the announcement ends things get interesting.
Youtube related videos appear on the player, including a rainbow flag thumbnail with a link to the video entitled, "Troy King and I'll Blow," which is set to the classic song, "King of the Road" and discusses rumors about King's "personal life." Something like this on the website of a major political candidate caught my eye, as I'm sure it did for others who viewed it.
My jaw hit the floor as I saw the video playing under a banner declaring "Luther Strange: New Leadership for Attorney General."
"No one's shocked at the recent news, my libido doesn't match my views," says the video, which was posted July 11, 2008. "My tale's for sale or rent," it continues.
He had just announced his candidacy, how could anyone get that negative on the first day of his campaign, even if he did have a great rhyme scheme. I was dumbfounded.
After pulling up another of the video links, I realized that the video was not produced by Strange's campaign, which was the first thought that popped into my head since it continued to play on his site. The shocked tone of the "Oh my God" his campaign manager let loose when I called to make sure she knew about the video also reassured me that it was a mistake.
But how do you over look something like that. Since they allowed a video called "Troy King and I'll Blow" onto the site, I assume this was Strange's first foray into Youtube. But did they not watch the video all the way through?
It's not Strange's first rodeo when it comes to Alabama politics. Strange lost a close race for the lieutenant governor's office to Jim Folsom Jr. in 2006, so I'm sure he understands that little things can decide an election. However, having a video that sings rumors about your opponent's sex life on your website is not really a small thing.
It is probably not the best way to start a campaign.
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I also note that Luther Strange is using a JD Crowe toon of Troy and his pig. He's also broken the Ronald Reagan rule of 'never speaking ill of another Republican'. This election cycle is going to be a wonderful circus. Troy King is going to have a very rough time. I expect to see lots and lots if the pig and much play of the Troy King video's on YouTube. I've handed the AG's office to the challenger (D or R) with nothing more than a parody song and an inflatable pig. Who knew it would be this easy? Well, actually Troy helped a WHOLE lot!!
3 comments:
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ROTFLMMFAO!!!!!
Yeah, those videos are automatically selected by Google -- I feel sorry for his website manager, that was a big screwup.
Probably the reason why they're using Vimeo.com to host their videos now!
Whether you admit it or not Loretta, you're becoming a major player in AL politics. And I couldn't be happier about it!
Now if we could just clone or find 10 more of you :)
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