| Just in time for tonight's CNN Republican YouTube Debate...
Today the DNC is launching an awesome and potentially very valuable new tool they are calling Flipper TV. They are archiving tons of tracker video on the Republican presidential candidates and accepting new video from activists and citizen journalists around the country. Even better, they storing them on blip.tv allowing users to easily download and edit or re-edit them. Very smart. From an emailed press release:
DNC Launches FlipperTV
New Tool Makes Raw Video Footage of Republican Frontrunners Available Online
Washington, DC - As the Republican presidential candidates prepare to finally answer questions tonight directly from the American people at the CNN/YouTube debate, the Democratic National Committee launched FlipperTV, a unique, new online video tool that is part of the DNC's ongoing efforts to hold Republican frontrunners Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and John McCain accountable for their positions and flip flops along the campaign trail.
For months now, Democrats have been tracking the Republican presidential frontrunners in the field, compiling a video library of candid moments as they campaign across the country. Found at FlipperTV, insert link, Americans can now watch and download this video and use the footage as they wish, putting raw material into the hands of the American people to hold these candidates accountable for their comments and actions.
By crowdsourcing, the DNC is seeking to engage people by making data available for their own personal use, enabling users to sort through the video and expose the Republican frontrunners' flip-flops, contradictions, and policy positions that show how our of touch Republicans are with the American people. FlipperTV will allow activists and voters to download video to their computers, edit it to create new user-generated video, and help catch Republicans flip-flopping and exaggerating their records.
"The idea behind FlipperTV is simple: let the American people hear directly from the Republican candidates unscripted and in their own words, and let them decide if they want four more years of Bush's failed policies or a Democrat who will bring change to the White House," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "This video will come directly from the campaign trail, letting voters see who they truly are, not who their campaigns want them to be."
FlipperTV already has more than 80 separate events on video and will quickly upload new footage as it happens, starting with clips from tonight's Republican CNN/YouTube debate. Online video has played a critical role in the political process and in 2006 was essential to Democrats defeating Republicans like George Allen, Conrad Burns, and Lincoln Chaffee. Already, candid videos have captured John McCain singing the words "bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" as well as Mitt Romney saying that instead of serving in the military, his sons are helping the country by campaigning for him.
This is a smart move in many ways and again shows that Democrats are using and deploying these new mediums and technologies much, much better than their GOP counterparts. I'm sure many of you have heard recently about the NRCC's user generated video contest that was to pick 5 winning videos attacking Democrats. The contest, described by Chris Bowers as a "massive bellyflop", received only 5 entries, one of which was this hilarious spoof, submitted by, um, Democrats. I'm not entirely sure it didn't go completely over the heads of the judges either...
More on the flip... |
| In fact, the NRSC recently asked its supporters to submit videos telling the world what they were thankful for. They got one response, a video from GOP Senator John Ensign, who happens to be the, uh, chair of the NRSC itself.
The GOP netroots is getting their asses handed to them day in and day out. Tools like Flipper TV will go a long way towards widening the gap even further while simultaneously doing two very important things. First, the American people deserve to see these candidates (ideally of both parties, though I don't see the GOP reciprocating anytime soon.) as they exist in their natural environments. They deserve to see and hear them in situations that they've never really been invited to before. The average American doesn't get to go to fundraisers or campaign rallies and such. Tools like Flipper allow those who don't engage at that level to also be able to judge the words and actions of the candidates, not just those who were invited or those that live in states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
Secondly, it provides yet another avenue by which ordinary citizens, bloggers, small town journos, etc can take their engagement even further. For the activists, there is the chance to submit their own video from events as well as the chance to download and edit the video output of others. This is a good thing. Hopefully, this development inspires folks with a video camera to maybe show up at that rally next week and share what they saw and heard and that the rest of us will learn something new.
"We're trying to take the Web to the next level," said Stacie Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party. "We don't want people just chatting about what's wrong with the Republicans. We want them to use the information that we've gathered and do something with it."
Loose the hounds...
|
