Hopefully, by the end of the night (or early tomorrow morning), we’ll know who won the 2012 Presidential election. Even if something strange happens and we have to wait a little while for the official results, one thing is certain: the campaigning is over. The ads are done, the debates are done. America, it’s over.
In celebration of that, Bad Lip Reading has just unveiled their awesome take on the 2012 debates – the first Presidential debate, the VP debate, the town hall debate, and the foreign policy debate.
So, go vote and make your voice heard. And then sit back and watch Obama, Romney, Biden, and Ryan spew nonsense. I’m sure that plenty of you feel that that’s been going on for months already, but I’m pretty sure none of the candidates have mentioned Mufasa until now.
When Ann Coulter has something to say, chances are she’s going to anger a lot of people. The use of social media allows her to do that very quickly, and when she tweeted some very controversial posts after the most recent Presidential debate, she caught the attention of someone who was able to see past her affinity for ruffling feathers and pen a letter which was so well thought-out and devastating in its honesty that it is now garnering national attention.
30-year old John Franklin Stephens, a Special Olympics athlete, had this to say in an open-letter response:
Dear Ann Coulter,
Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet, John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia
With the Presidential debates in our rear-view mirror and the election less than two weeks away, YouTube has taken some time to reflect on the viewership numbers from their live streams. 2012 was the first year that YouTube streamed the debates, and according to them, they had a pretty successful debut.
According to YouTube, the four debates had 24 million views worldwide. Those views came from people of 215 countries.
Naturally, the United States had the highest viewership. Here’s the rest of the top 10, in terms of viewers (in order):
Canada; Australia; New Zealand; United Kingdom; Mexico; Brazil; Singapore; Japan; and France.
YouTube says that the live streams weren’t the only times the debates saw international interest:
“The worldwide interest didn’t stop with the live streams. The New York Times’ uploads of the first three debates have seen close to 13 million views, making them the most-viewed videos on their channel ever. Outside the United States, these videos have been viewed most heavily in the U.K, Canada, India, Germany, Australia and France — with almost half the views coming from outside the U.S.”
You can check out all of this campaign season’s debates below (all three Presidential and the one Vice Presidential).
Lindsay Lohan has been doing a bit of what those in the political world would call “flip-flopping”; after tweeting to Obama last month that he should lower taxes for “those that are listed on Forbes as millionaires” as well as the middle class, she told reporters at a launch party for a new drink that she supported Romney and would more than likely give him her vote.
“I think unemployment is very important for now, so as of now I think (my vote) is Mitt Romney,” she said.
But after a long, stressful night following the debate, Lohan tweeted support for Obama…and then quickly deleted it:
“RT @BarackObama: RT if you’re #ProudOfObama as our commander in chief.”
This was after she kept her followers posted as to her feelings on how the debate was going; so now we’re all wondering, Linds, who’s actually getting your vote?
You can always count on the folks over at Next Media Animation to put a unique spin on current events. This month, they’ve been animating the Presidential debates – much to our delight. Last week’s town hall debate animation featured calculator violence, a literal interpretation of Candy Crowley, and an appearance from angel-Steve Jobs.
This time around, we see Bob Schieffer on a walker, the Wheel of Foreign Policy, a friendly game of Battleship, and Jewish Street Fighter. NMA seems to give the debate to Obama, handily.
Check it out below. If you missed last night’s debate, you should probably not rely solely on NMA for your recap. To be a truly informed voter, we suggest that you watch the non-animated version if you get the time.
Last night’s third and final Presidential debate set out to focus on foreign policy, and despite a few detours into domestic policy, moderator Bob Schieffer managed to keep President Obama and Mitt Romney on that track.
This morning, Twitter has once again unveiled their statistics from the debate (which they’ve done for every previous contests). According to a blog post, Twitter users sent out 6.5 million tweets regarding the debate during its 90-minute duration. That’s just shy of what we saw at last week’s town hall-style debate, which generated 7.2 million tweets. But neither of them compare in sheer tweet volume to what we saw during the first Presidential debate – over 10 million total tweets.
All of the Presidential debates generated more buzz than the Vice Presidential debate, which saw 3.5 million tweets.
Twitter also looks at which moments from the debate that generated instant buzz in the form of tweets per minute across the network. And last night, President Obama’s “horses and bayonets” line took the crown with 105,767 TPM.
The next top moment of the night came when Bob Schieffer said “I think we all love teachers.” That saw 102,339 TPM. Finally, Romney’s comments on Obama’s “apology tour” came in third with 87,040 TPM.
President Obama’s “horses and bayonets” comment came in response to a Romney assertion that we now how fewer ships in the U.S. Navy than we did nearly 100 years ago. Here’s the quote of the night, according to Twitter buzz:
And as you would expect, a parody Twitter account popped up almost immediately. It currently sports over 34,000 followers.
Twitter also says that the topic of conversation in the Twittersphere stuck to foreign policy, for the most part (54%). The economy placed second, with 20% of the conversation. Terrorism took 9% of the chatter and taxes 7%. Finally, Twitter users spent 4% of their debate tweets discussing energy and the environment.
If you happened to miss last night’s debate, you can watch it in its entirety below:
Tonight, the final Presidential debate takes place between Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. And although those are the two candidates for America’s highest office that you hear about the most, there are actually other people running to be President.
You won’t see them at tonight’s debate (third parties haven’t been invited since Ross Perot in 1992), but you can watch them debate each other, live, on YouTube.
Participants in the minor candidate debate include Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Jill Stein (Green Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party). You can watch the debate on the Ora TV YouTube channel starting at 9 pm ET on Tuesday, October 23rd. Al Jazeera will also carry the live stream. No major television networks will carry the “Free and Equal” debate.
Former CNN host and broadcasting legend Larry King will moderate the contest. Interested viewers can still submit possible debate questions to Larry King via Facebook, Twitter, and reddit. You can find those submission portals here.
The third-party debate is being sponsored by Free and Equal Elections, a non-profit organization whose goal is to “ensure an fair an open electoral process for all.”
“It is our belief that a true democracy fosters a climate where all voices are heard regardless of political party or persuasion,” they say. “An electoral process where every individual has a chance of winning is vital in a democracy and we here at Free and Equal will continue to ensure every voice is heard by making the electoral process fair and open for every participant.”
No matter your political beliefs, I think most of us can agree that the more ideas, viewpoints, and solutions that we allow to break into the public discourse, the better. This is just another example of the internet succeeding where television failed.
Who do you think won this year’s First Lady debate? Ann Romney? Michelle Obama? I’m sure whoever came off as more knowledgeable and agressive without being condescending is the victor in the eyes of the public.
Oh, there’s no such thing as a First Lady debate? Right.
Don’t tell that to these liars. Jimmy Kimmel took to the streets to ask people who they thought performed better in the non-existent contest. It’s great to know that people have such strong opinions coming directly from their ass.
Make sure you watch the whole thing, a surprise lurks at the end:
Did you miss last night’s town hall Presidential debate? Not to worry, our favorite wacky animators over at Next Media Animation have you covered.
NMA scored the debate for Obama, although he appears battered and bruised by the end of it.
“The president also described Romney’s plan to cut taxes as “sketchy.” He said the math didn’t add up. But Romney hit back, noting national debt was $16 trillion, up from $10 billion when Obama took office,” they note.
We’re sure you’re already tired of all the back and forth on who really won the debate. It’s nice to see the candidates simply slugging each other, even if it’s just their animated forms.
Check out the video below for some Rocky-style training from Obama, a candy-eating Candy Crowley, and a surprise appearance from angel-Steve Jobs. Yes, Romney’s binders full of women make an appearance as well.
Last night’s town hall debate saw the two Presidential candidates go at it for a little over an hour and a half on topics both foreign and domestic (mostly domestic). We’ve already told you how the Twittersphere reacted to one particular moment involving binders full of women, and now we have the official tweets statistics from Twitter themselves.
According to the social media site, 7.2 million tweets concerning the debate were sent last night during its 90-minute duration. For comparison, last week’s Vice Presidential debate saw 3.5 million tweets and the first presidential debate saw over 10 million total tweets.
Out of those tweets, most of them were about the economy (28%). 17% were about taxes and 16% were about foreign policy. At last week’s VP debate, foreign policy won the night with 26% of the total tweets.
If you think Romney’s “binders” remark or one of various sparring matches between the candidates would have been the most-tweeted-about moment of the night, you’re wrong. Romney’s response to an audience member’s question on immigration actually won the night with 109,560 tweets per minute (TPM). Obama telling Romney that he’s “the last person to get tough on China” came in a close second with 108,619 TPM. Finally, Romney’s discussion on tax rates received 107,386 TPM.
If you missed last night’s town hall debate, you can watch it in its entirety below:
Last week’s first Presidential debate broke a Twitter record. With over 10 million total tweets coming in from start to finish, it became the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics. Could the Vice Presidential debate live up to that sort of social media chatter?
Not quite. But it did draw an impressive crowd.
Twitter confirms that last night’s VP debate garnered 3.5 million total tweets from the beginning to the end. When the time is not a factor, 4 million tweets were sent out concerning Joe Biden and Paul Ryan’s contest.
According to Twitter, 26% of those tweets concerned foreign policy, 21% were about the economy, and 16% specifically dealt with the topic of taxes. Twitter also highlights the top moments of the debate in terms of “tweets per minute.” Biden’s “Now you’re Jack Kennedy?” quip won the night with a spike of 58,275 TPM. Paul Ryan’s statement that “they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar turning Medicare into a piggybank for Obamacare” came in second, with 55,540 TPM.
Twitter also identifies the winning buzzword of the night. Unsurprisingly, it was “malarkey.”
If you missed last night’s Vice Presidential debate, you can watch it in its entirety below:
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that they would live-stream all three Presidential debates and the sole Vice Presidential debate via their new Elections Hub inside the Xbox 360 dashboard. But unlike YouTube, who’s simply streaming the events, Xbox is asking (Xbox LIVE Gold) members to provide feedback during the contests.
“Throughout the debate, the Xbox LIVE community will be able to weigh in with their opinions by responding to real-time poll questions about the candidate’s performances, their responses to questions and views on issues,” says Microsoft.
And according to a Major Nelson blog post, over 800,000 individual responses came in during last night’s Vice Presidential debate. That means that Xbox LIVE users averaged about 30,000 responses per question posed during the debate.
Based on those reactions, Xbox LIVE can confirm that undecided voters swung heavily in favor of VP Biden.
Here are some of the quick stats from last night:
Biden won the debate with Xbox Swing Voters: 44.1% of undecided voters declared Biden the winner with 22.9% choosing Ryan.
Biden was overwhelmingly viewed by our swing voters as being more truthful, garnering the favor of 72.2% of undecided respondents.
An overwhelming 70.1% of undecided voters do not consider a candidate’s religion when deciding for whom to vote.
53.7% of undecided voters felt that Biden is better prepared to step in as president compared to 21% for Ryan
When you look at the “who won the debate” question, 88.5% of Obama supporters (whether strong or leaning) chose Biden. The undecideds chose Biden, as did those who identified themselves as “other” – 52.6% to 26.4%. The only voters that picked Congressman Ryan as the winner were voters leaning Romney and those strong for Romney.
The same breakdown exists for the question “who do you think is more truthful.”
If you missed out on participating in the live polling on Xbox LIVE, don’t worry – you’ll have another two chances. Both remaining Presidential debates will be available on Xbox LIVE. The next one is on Tuesday, October 16th.
And while you wait for that debate, you can check out the Xbox Elections Hub for videos and more coverage of the campaign 2012. They say that they’ve made two more additions to the content that should be appearing later this week – BBC and Comedy Central.
Despite the fact that the first Presidential debate was available to be streamed live, for free, on YouTube (and other outlets), only a small fraction of American chose to watch the contest live on their computer or mobile device.
Out of those surveyed in a recent Pew Research poll, 56% said that they watched the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney live. Out of those live viewers, only 3% watched it via the internet exclusively – but 11% of those surveyed said that they spread their viewing across television and online at the same time, making them the coveted “dual-screener” group that online sites and social media outlets like to tout.
The point is, television still rules. 85% said that they watched the debates live on their TVs exclusively.
Unsurprisingly, the numbers change when you look at different age groups. Young people were much more likely to use the internet to watch the debate. Among respondents aged 18-39, 10% streamed the debate online exclusively, and 22% identified as dual-screeners. On the flip side, those aged 65 and older watched that debate on television at a rate of 98%.
Of course, watching the debate isn’t the only way to interact. Posting about it on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter is also a big part of any national community event like a Presidential debate. Here’s what Pew has to say about that:
“Only about a third of those who followed the debate in real time online – representing 5% of the overall debate audience– say they shared their own reactions to the debate online. This includes 8% of live debate watchers younger than 40 and 5% of those 40-to-65. No real-time debate watchers 65 and older reported sharing their reactions online while the debate was going.”
When it comes to getting news about the debates (not watching them live), television still ruled (70% of the respondents). Online news grabbed 29% of people’s attention and social media sites attracted 22% of them. Over half of those surveyed under 40 got at least some debate news from and online/social media source.
Despite this, YouTube says that the live stream of the first Presidential debate was one of their biggest live-streamed events ever. Do you go online for you live political events, or do you stick to the tube?
If you want to see the current Vice President of the United States and the man that could assume that role battle it out face-to-face, tonight’s your only chance.
At 9 pm ET, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will meet for the only Vice Presidential debate of the campaign season. The debate will take place at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and will cover topics both domestic and foreign policy oriented. The debate is scheduled to run for an hour and a half.
If you don’t have access to a television but do have internet access, you’re in luck. That’s because YouTube is continuing their live coverage of the big political events of the year with a live stream of tonight’s debate, starting at 9 pm.
YouTube says that last week’s first Presidential debate was one of their biggest live-streamed events ever. YouTube streamed it through their new Elections Hub launched back in August. YouTube will also be streaming the final two Presidential debates later this month.
Here are some top moments from past Vice Presidential debates:
YouTube is not the only place to watch the debate live. Xbox LIVE members can also stream tonight’s contest on their consoles, and they can also interact by answering poll questions throughout the duration.
If you missed the first Presidential debate, don’t worry – there are still two more to go. And even if there were no more televised contests it would be cool, because Bad Lip Reading has you covered.
The folks at BLR have tackled the debate, putting their spin on the Denver showdown between President Obama and Mitt Romney. As a voter, would I suggest getting your information from a Bad Lip Reading episode? Probably not. But I can confirm that it’s a lot more interesting than what was televised last Wednesday.
Check out Mitt Romney’s slightly Beavis-like giggle below:
If you’re looking for more Bad Lip Reading goodies from the past few weeks, including some takes on Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan by themselves check here.
Political junkies, members of the informed electorate, concerned citizens: YouTube isn’t the only place to watch a live streamed version of Wednesday night’s Presidential debate. Those of you with Xbox LIVE can also stream the first debate of the season – and you can even participate if you want.
Xbox LIVE members can watch the live stream via the Election 2012 Hub on their dashboards. Microsoft launched the Elections Hub back in August as users’ go-to place for streaming election content as well as some original content.
The interactive part comes in the form of live poll questions designed to track each candidate’s performance. Here’s how it will work, courtesy Major Nelson’s blog:
“Throughout the debate, the Xbox LIVE community (Xbox LIVE gold membership required) will be able to weigh in with their opinions by responding to real-time poll questions about the candidate’s performances, their responses to questions and views on issues. Participants will be able to view poll results of the Xbox LIVE audience throughout the evening. All Xbox LIVE participants are also encouraged to submit poll questions via Twitter – #XboxPoll. Submitted questions will be reviewed and some of the best will be asked to the Xbox LIVE community during each debate.”
You can catch the first debate on Wednesday night at 9 pm ET. You can expect the same setup, streaming+interactive, for the other two Presidential debates as well as the Vice Presidential debate later this month.
As a bonus, Major Nelson says that anyone who watches at least three of the four debates via Xbox LIVE will receive a free Halo 4 Warrior Armor avatar.
Today, we begin the last full month before election day. And as we turn our calendars to October, the first Presidential debate is only a couple of days away.
University of Denver will host the first debate of the season, and it will air across the country at 9 pm ET. Along with traditional broadcast channels, you can also watch the debate live on YouTube.
Google will not only live stream this debate, but will also stream the other two Presidential debates on October 16th and 22nd, as well as the only Vice-Presidential debate on October 11th.
“Throughout the month of October, President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney will go head-to-head in a series of highly-anticipated general election debates. This year, for the first time, you can watch the debates live and in full on the YouTube Elections Hub, via our partners at ABC News, who will be live streaming all four debates on the ABC News YouTube channel. No matter where you are in the world or how you’ll be accessing the internet, you’ll be able to watch the most important events of the 2012 election on YouTube” they said in a blog post.
YouTube launched the new Elections hub back in August as not only a place for live streaming events, but for election news coverage from a variety of partners, including ABC News, Al Jazeera, BuzzFeed, Larry King, the New York Times, Univision, and the Wall Street Journal.
Two of cable TV’s biggest personalities are set to square off in a online debate of epic proportions. “Bill O’Reilly. Jon Stewart. 2 podiums. 1 Air-Conditioned Auditorium.” That’s the pitch for The Rumble 2012, set to stream on the interwebs on October 6th at 8 pm ET.
Already the participants in some memorable showdowns on each other’s primetime shows, Stewart and O’Reilly will “take an entertaining and comedic approach to today’s pressing political issues in an attempt to find the best direction for America,” according to the announcement. You can watch the debate live for the price of $4.95 (since every event on the internet is now $5). And it’s for a good cause, as half of the net profits will go to charities of Stewart and O’Reilly’s choosing.
You can pre-order your access to the show now, and that will give you access to the stream and a digital copy once it’s over.
“Oh yeah it’s on,” said Jon Stewart. “Two men enter and both leave…but probably not together. We are going to have an argument – it is going to be like the worst Thanksgiving anyone ever went to. I’m looking forward to it.”
“We’ll be debating the state of the union, and how the upcoming election is likely going to affect it. So, if you wanna watch this train wreck, sign up. It’ll be a night to remember, at least for Stewart and his eighteen writers,” said Bill O’Reilly.
The debate will take place at George Washington University, and if you want to be there live you can do so for the price of $75-100. Although the Fox News host and the The Daily Show host have always had their differences, the two always refer to each other as “my pal.” We’ll see how their relationship stands after The Rumble in the air conditioned auditorium.
Pulling a gun on live TV is certainly a good way to get people interested in politics, though I’m sure it doesn’t settle very well with the individual who is staring down the barrel of said weapon. This is precisely what happened during a recent debate on a Arab-language television talk show, according to the Associated Press. When things got heated between Jordanian opponents Mohammed Shawabka and Mansour Seif-Eddine Murad, Shawabka threw his shoe and then brandished a pistol, which he pointed in Murad’s general direction.
Murad, an activist who has ties to various Arab nationalist groups, filed a complaint against his opponent at Amman’s First Instance Court on Monday, stating that Shawabka had attempted to murder him. “He was going to shoot me and he should be punished for that,” he said.
Prosecutors are currently investigating the matter. However, since Shawabka didn’t point the weapon directly at Murad’s head, for example, trying to pin attempted murder on the man is a little difficult. Although pulling a gun during a heated argument, especially one that’s being broadcast to a large group of people courtesy of a satellite system, is definitely cause for concern, attempted murder might be out of the equations. Still, prosecutors seem to think there could be serious charges levied against Shawabka for his behavior.
These sort of violatile debates are apparently quite common on Arabic-language television programs, with hosts often booking guests who violently oppose one another. The Shawabka/Murad debacle shows just how extreme these debates can get, particularly when these individuals simply cannot stand the sight of one another.
Mohammed Habashna, who hosted the debates between the two political adversaries, was a little shocked by how the events played out. ” I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “It was like the Wild West, but we needed horses in the studio.”
If you’re curious to see the incident for yourself, check out the video below.
Last night’s GOP debate in Florida will be the last debate for almost month. With a win apiece for 3 of the 4 candidates (Santorum in Iowa, Romney in New Hampshire, Gingrich in South Carolina), it was gloves-off time heading into the Florida primary.
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have been giving each other body blows, sometimes through surrogates, all week. Last night they had a chance to go toe to toe, and they did not let the opportunity go by.
A nice compilation video of the night’s best lines:
There seemed to be far less Twitter traffic during this debate, as most people wonder what there is left to talk about. But, there’s always some good snark to be had if you dig deep enough.
Apparently I missed a GOP debate last night. Last one til Feb 22??? What will I use Twitter for til then?
Last night, the Republican primary candidates gathered for one of many debates taking place this election season – this time for the CNBC network. And by all accounts, it wasn’t a great night for Texas Governor Rick Perry.
While discussing what “agencies of government” he would eliminate if elected to the nation’s highest office, Perry had a bit of a brain-fart and was unable to recall the third doomed agency key to his platform.
The moderators pushed him on whether or not he could remember the rest of his point, to which Perry uncomfortably looked down, attempted to recall his point, and eventually resigned and said “oops.”
Here’s the clip, if you missed it:
That clip has been submitted to reddit by tons of users, and here are some of the headlines that they have come up with:
Watch Rick Perry’s Campaign End Before Your Eyes –
Rick Perry flushes it all down the toilet in one golden minute –
Rick Perry drops out of the Republican race –
Rick Perry just “oopsed” his way out of Republican candidacy –
The Twitter reaction has mostly piled on as well –
(image)@MoRocca Mo RoccaBREAKING: Rick Perry to drop out of race “to spend more time w/ my wife Anita and 3 children Griffin, Sydney and… Griffin and Sydney”(image)2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
(image)@Rich_Fulcher Rich FulcherThere are three things I want to say about Rick Perry: he’s pompous, inarticulate and uh….uh….wait a minute, uh…i’ll tell you later.(image)6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
(image)@KenJennings Ken JenningsMy favorite category, “Before, During, and After,” turned up on Jeopardy tonight: 3-part answers required. Sorry, Rick Perry.(image)9 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
It appears that the third agency that Perry couldn’t get out was the Energy Department. Perry made his rounds this morning in order to try and battle the negative tide that appears to be turning against him.
“There were so many federal agencies that come to mind, that I want to get rid of, that the Energy Department would not come out,” he said in an interview with Good Morning America.
Not everyone it quick to jump on the Texas Governor, however. For this we go back to reddit, where a comment thread in the politics subsection is drawing some attention. User phreakymonkey is not pleased with the era of the soundbite:
Having a brain fart at the umpteenth debate in the middle of a relentless campaign tour doesn’t mean anything about his fitness to govern and shouldn’t, in a perfect world, affect his chances in the election. There are plenty of policy issues he can and should be taken to task for, but this sort of inane bullshit is what cost people like Howard Dean the nomination and further ensures that only emotionless rhetoric- and platitude-spewing robots will ever reach office.
He’s obviously no Rick Perry fan, but he seems to be less of a fan of the level of political discourse and candidate-choosing in the country.
Fuck Rick Perry, but fuck everybody who buys into this cynical reality show simulacrum of a political dialogue the U.S. has developed, too. If you’re the kind of person who discounts Rick Perry based on thirty seconds of footage, you’re a part of the problem.
Full disclosure, I’m no Rick Perry fan. But does that reddit user make a valid point? Does it undermine the legitimacy of our political discourse to allow something like this to absolutely ruin a campaign? Of course, the fact that we live in the age of YouTube probably doesn’t help this.
On the other hand, however, how you look on camera is important – we’ve seen that phenomena hold true since the time of JFK. And Perry did look pretty ridiculous on television last night.
And thanks to the internet, will continue to look ridiculous for the days and weeks to come.
