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Calling Sarah Palin
Prank video reveals which side has used the most powerful election media best.
All the news fit to stream.
After nearly two years of exhaustive coverage, the moment of truth has finally arrived: voter and ballot will be alone at last. But what has really informed American minds in the choosing of their next president?
More than any in history, this year's U.S. election has been shaped by ideas far away from the campaign trail and far from coverage provided by traditional media sources. A whole other political dimension has emerged online: on blogs, chat rooms and video sites.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact the flurry of new videos that has surfaced in recent days will have on voters. But those videos do provide insight into how effectively the two campaigns have used the medium to their advantage.
On Saturday, Sarah Palin was pranked by Montreal-based radio hosts Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel.
Posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Audette has a telephone conversation with the real Sarah Palin. Near the end of the phone call, Audette says he watched the Hustler video Nailin' Paylin: "the documentary they made on your life."
"Oh, good, thank you, yes," Palin replies.
"That was really edgy," Audette says.
"Well, good."
The Alaska governor invites "Sarkozy" to go hunting with her, and chuckles when the fake president says his wife Carla Bruni was "hot in bed." "We have such great respect for you, John McCain and I, we love you," Palin tells him -- a remark many commentators have deemed unsuitable for a conversation between political leaders.
During a whirlwind media tour on Monday, the comedy duo told CBS that the Palin prank shared two unfortunate parallels to the prank they played on Britney Spears.
Spears and Palin are the only two prank victims that didn't eventually catch on, and in fact had to be told outright they were the butt of a joke. Secondly, the duo said it took less than a week to get both Spears and Palin on the phone. (By comparison, it took several months to get in contact with Paul McCartney.)
In fairness, Palin didn't embarrass herself too badly here. Even though she misses most of the cues, she comes across as cordial, engaging and rather quick on her feet, in what was, to her mind, merely a friendly call, not a serious discussion on bilateral relations. If we're being kind, we'd also say that because of his exaggerated accent, she couldn't understand a lot of what Audette was saying anyway.
The big mystery is how, only days before the election, these guys were able to get access to the candidate for vice president so quickly. It's especially unusual since news media have complained they've been limited to little or no access to Palin throughout the campaign. The prank says more about the McCain/Palin campaign, which has been inconsistent in its own message and erratic in its attacks, than about her ability to carry a friendly conversation with a foreign leader. Palin's understanding of foreign policy and other crucial issues is, of course, another matter -- as seen in last month's disastrous Katie Couric interview.
It's hard to imagine the handlers of Barack Obama, or even the gaffe-prone Joe Biden (think: "when the stock market crashed (in 1929), President Roosevelt went on television"), getting taken in by these Montreal pranksters.
It's true that in recent days, disparaging audio of Obama has surfaced, explaining his cap-and-trade policy, and how it could bankrupt America's important and well-connected coal industry.
But the most-viewed Obama video over the last few days remains, in contrast to his opponent, his own creation: the 30-minute infomercial that aired last week, finely-crafted to win the hearts of swing state voters.
Whether these recent videos play a role in determining the outcome isn't so clear, but it does give a clue as to which campaign better employed the powerful tools at their disposal.
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5
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omoge
3 years ago
More spoofing on Sarah Palin
A visual guide to the call...and check out the guys who made it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbtKzTww3Gs
David Lewis
3 years ago
Obama's carbon policy
"It's true that in recent days, disparaging audio of Obama has surfaced, explaining his cap-and-trade policy, and how it could bankrupt America's important and well-connected coal industry."
I'm not sure if you think its true that Obama's policy will bankrupt the coal industry.
Personally, I'd like to see the coal industry go bankrupt. So keep that bias in mind if you read this.
I agree with NASA'a James Hansen, thought by many to be the best climatologist in the world, who says he expects to be called to testify at the trials of some of the CEO's of coal industry companies when they are tried for crimes against humanity. Hansen says they've been acting just like the convicted tobacco companies as they lobbied to continue selling their harmful products.
But I've followed Obama's policy development a bit, and I don't see where he intends to bankrupt the coal industry.
If he actually succeeds in enacting a cap and trade plan that is more ambitious than anything in the world that exists, there will be plenty of room for a vibrant coal industry. The EU is presently leading the world, they've had cap and trade for a number of years, and Germany has a major expansion of its coal industry on the drawing boards, 26 plants I believe, as they are phasing out nuclear at the behest of their Green lobby. You can lead the world on carbon pricing and hardly accomplish a thing.
Obama is talking a good line. 100% auctions is one key point when talking cap and trade. If you give all the permits away, your plan probably won't accomplish a thing. But there are still many details that can cause problems. I'm waiting for an Obama administration to present something to Congress before I get too excited about looking too hard at anything. What I do see is that less than 50% of the US electorate sees climate as an urgent issue. Obama will have as hard of a time as Campbell is having in BC trying to do the slightest teeny tiniest thing.
OilbertaRedTory
3 years ago
Calling President Obama
His first test will be on justice :
http://www.mslaw.edu/MSLMedia/LTV/6.4.pdf
(After the funeral for his grandmother)
David Lewis
3 years ago
Palin and Sarkosy
Palin was told this was the President of France by the Republican campaign for President she had only fairly recently joined. I'd like to see anyone receive a prank call in that situation and twig on to it rapidly.
Her first inclination must have been to be astonished at the President of France. The comedians hit her with the President wants to talk about sex with the comment he made about his wife being hot in bed, she dodged it, they struck again with the praise about the Hustler Nailin Palin video, and she dodged that. They hit her with her own Presidential ambitions, and she managed to dodge that.
People who attack her for saying "we love" whatever are being ridiculous. You might want to look up how Nixon talked in private. Its recorded. If you read memoirs you'll run into the occasional Thatcher quote. What do people think goes on when leaders talk in private? They're supposed to talk like they know you can overhear them?
I hope she sinks out of sight after the McCain defeat because the Republicans decide they've let loose something that will destroy them. She looks like if she studied for four or eight years she'd be ten times as awful as she is now.
Skywalker
3 years ago
Not so David.
She didn't dodge the question about her presidential ambitions. They clearly nailed her on that and if this is the best the Republicans will have to offer then they are in a pretty sorry state. Her campaign has been dogged with gaffs of one kind or another giving fuel to the comedians. You only do that if you are an airhead.