Friday, July 25, 2008

John McCain's YouTube Problem

In another age, politicians might be able to get away with creative self-reinventions, salvaging a "straight-shooter" image while boldly lying about their own history and positions. In another age, the failure of the mainstream media to push back against the bullshit slung at them by presidential candidates would reward dishonesty by swinging the election to a serial liar.

This, however, is not that age. And John McCain needs to learn that, while he's also learning how to use a computer. In this age, anyone can quickly put together a McCain v. McCain smash-up, post it to YouTube, and dare the mainstream media to finally take their gloves off and call McCain's relentless reinventions of himself exactly what they are: convenient lies, made inconvenient by the fact that in this age of blogosphereic challenges to mainstream media hegemony they are oh so very easy to spot and call out.

So, while CBS News may be willing to edit out McCain's factually inaccurate Iraq timeline, and while parts of the mainstream media continue - despite McCain's incessant and obnoxious complaining about coverage - to reliably be his "base", no politician or candidate can any longer entirely get away with weaving dishonest revisionist self-histories. This is the basis of the claim that John McCain has a YouTube Problem.

Here is more proof positive that McCain's YouTube problem is indeed very real, and very damning. While John McCain - though still perpetually playing his "The Surge Is Working" card - is now trying to paint himself as "The War's Biggest Critic," there is ample video evidence that he was from the beginning one of its biggest cheerleaders, aiding and abetting the Bush administration as they dishonestly dragged us all into an unjust and illegal invasion and occupation. So you just had to know that somebody would compile it and post it to YouTube.

I saw this video at Jack and Jill Politics:

4 comments:

Sami said...

Thanks for finding this and posting this!
My thought after watching this is "John McCain how can you disagree with what the majority of Americans want and still expect to be the American president?"

Anonymous said...

Of course, too many people never see anything on youtube but dancing cats. The MSM is still the main source of "news" for most voters--otherwise McCain would be 20 points behind by now.

Liam said...

I agree with Michael -- Whenever the MSM decides to pay attention to YouTube moments (e.g., "Macaca", Jeremiah Wright), they become issues. It's still early and McCain is making a million mistakes though, so it might be YouTube that finally sinks him.

Anonymous said...

There is also a new video discussing McCains continual usage of the word gook, which of course is horrendously racist. Unfortunately for McCain in a digital age past actions do no just disappear. Let us hope that as the information circulates about exactly what kind of man he is, that January does not find him in the Oval office.;