 | ||
 | Edwards is mad and won't take it anymore | |
| Politico Playbook: The debate in 5 mins. | |
| Dems crush GOP in money game | |
| Recovering S.D. senator plans Hill return | |
| Storm brewing over auto-milage standards | |
| NBC/WSJ Poll | |
| Obama's Wilson Center Speech | |
| '08 Notes: Big Day on the Hill | |
| The Daily 2008 | |
| Durbin Gets a Challenger |
| The War We Need To Win | |
| Spitzer in Tragedy of His Making | |
| Clinton's Campaign Commits Big-Time Goof | |
| Economic Illiteracy and Rational Voters | |
| The Hinge of Fate in Iraq |
| Inside Report | |
| The War We Need To Win | |
| Clinton's Campaign Commits Big-Time Goof | |
| Ron Paul: Idea-Driven, Decent, Unworthy | |
| Hillary's Letters to a Young Friend |
|
July 31, 2007
YouTube Isn't the Problem. A GOP Online Presence Is
By Blake D. DvorakLast Monday's CNN/YouTube debate was clearly not the pivotal moment in American politics many had hoped or even claimed afterward. Sorry, but answering a question from a snowman is silly, not significant. Likewise, answering a question from a man named Santa Claus (who has submitted a video-question for the GOP YouTube debate) just proves that the Internet is not the apotheosis of enlightened debate.
But neither is Chris Matthews asking Democrats how they would use Bill Clinton in their administration or asking Republicans to raise their hands if they didn't believe in evolution. No matter the medium, good debates are hard to come by.
Nevertheless, the Internet is the new medium, whose influence on the democratic system grows each electoral cycle. This weekend in Chicago, the Democratic candidates will attend the YearlyKos Convention, named after the liberal Web site Daily Kos. Republicans have nothing that compares to the organization, structure or reach that makes a Web-driven venture like YearlyKos possible.
The reasons why would take longer than we have here and no one would argue that attending the CNN/YouTube debate, whenever it might be, will solve them. But the fact remains that the Republican Party lags in having an online presence that promotes activism, and skipping a debate that, however loosely, ties in with the online activists wouldn't help its efforts to create one. As Rep. Tom Cole, head of the NRCC, said recently on CQ Radio, "This is an arena and a medium that we have not participated in as forcefully as we should."
There's a misconception about the Internet that suggests that as long as you have a flashy site, a blog and some video clips, you have an engaging online presence. Of course all the Republican candidates have these things. But when Michael Moore issued a challenge to Fred Thompson and Thompson responded (within hours) via video, it did more for his campaign than Mitt Romney's blog. Thompson was using the medium.
Republican activists and supporters use the YouTube format to engage with themselves, their opponents, and their candidates -- and the candidates should engage back. Particularly since it's the younger generations that make the most of the new medium and it's precisely the younger generations Republicans have the biggest problem attracting, shunning a debate marketed toward them isn't the way to grow their numbers.
Naturally, there's potential for a biased choice of questions, and some conservatives think that that alone should convince the candidates to stay away. If this was a MoveOn.org-sponsored debate, of course. But Republicans cried foul when Democrats boycotted FOX News, as they should. As Cole added, "If you're running for president, don't you think you ought to participate in the kind of debates that actually capture public attention?"
Call out a silly question; criticize the bias; just don't ignore it. If CNN wants to turn the debate into a Santa Claus and Snowman affair, let them. But conservatives will be submitting questions via YouTube along with liberals, and the least the candidates could do is show up.
