US:John McCain's image is taking a battering on the popular website, writes James Raineyin Washington.
THE VIDEO lasts just over three minutes. But that's long enough to raise some nasty doubts about John McCain's reputation as a straight talker.
There's the Arizona senator arguing both sides of president Bush's tax cuts. Here's the supposed foreign policy wizard flubbing the simple facts about which terrorists are being trained in Iran. He's even ducking his own admission that he needs to learn more about economics. The newsreel of McCain lowlights has zoomed up the YouTube charts in the last week, with more than 1.5 million views. "John McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare" is the video's title, which might be dismissed as partisan hype, except for one thing: it's true.
The presumed Republican presidential nominee is taking a serious drubbing on YouTube, the most popular video-sharing service on the internet and the virtual town square for millions of new young voters.
Search "John McCain" on YouTube, and you'll find the latest broadside, by Brave New Films of Culver City, California, and a lot more that's not good for a candidate who's built his reputation on constancy and authenticity. There's McCain stumbling over a debate question, and worse, his cringe-worthy answer wickedly paired with the hapless Miss Teen USA contestant who went blank on a query about Americans and geography.
There's McCain, seemingly on the verge of swallowing his tongue, so great is his discomfort when gay actress Ellen DeGeneres demands to know why women like her shouldn't be allowed to marry other women. Six of the top 10 videos returned by a "John McCain" YouTube search on Thursday pegged the 71-year-old as inconsistent, extreme, wooden or a combination of the three. (The one clearly favourable piece came from the McCain campaign and focused on his navy service.)
Contrast that with a YouTube search of "Barack Obama". It's a swoon fest - with virtually all of the top entries featuring the Illinois senator at his eloquent, uplifting best. The videos range from the pop-icon worship of Scarlett Johanssen and John Legend & Co in "Yes We Can" (closing in on 13 million views) to a clip of the candidate's speech on race following the explosion over the controversial sermons of his one-time pastor, Rev Jeremiah Wright jnr.
That 37-minute political speech has logged 4.5 million views, a phenomenal number in a web world more fixated on American Idol rejects and piano-playing cats.
With about five months to go before the general election, Obama will face his own uncomfortable video moments. Elsewhere in the fractured media universe, say AM talk radio, he'll feel the heat. But that doesn't mean Republicans aren't worried about the YouTube imbalance.
"This is another example of the generation gap that the Republicans are facing. And that gap is morphing into a chasm," said Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican pollster. Yes, many of the young video viewers are already committed to Obama, but watching and even making the short films has turned the merely amused into the deeply committed.
Witness Brave New Films - formed by entertainment industry veterans who have enough time and financial security to devote themselves to political activism. The outfit relies on an e-mail list of more than 400,000, aggressive outreach to social networking sites and a full-time blog liaison specialist to help promote its films.
- (LA Times-Washington Post service)