But… take her and McCain seriously. Many people around the world didn’t think Bush would win his second term. And while some of it may have been due to tampering, the fact remains that the RNC knows how to mobilize its base and push an agenda of fear. Tonight, Palin puppeted the words that we’ve heard countless times over the past 30 years (at least) that the democrats would raise taxes, increase spending, blah, blah, blah fucking blah. While it may be a tired attack, FUD resonates with the American people.

An aside: all this makes me wonder if McCain would have picked a young African American man as his VP puppet candidate if his opponent had been Hillary?

• Good hero shot in prominent location (Grade Point: A)
• Call to action difficult to find amid blazing hot pink colors (B)
• Viral nature of the site (A+)
• Mention of Kevin Rose’s apology (B+)
• Links to other sites distracts from site’s intent, which Sherpa would probably give a low grade, but I happen to appreciate it for news like this (A-)

Kudos to Brave New Films for a revealing (pun intended) satire.

Although I was against the war from the start, after the invasion and subsequent occupation, I felt there was little other choice than for our troops to remain to help rebuild the country they had pulled apart. Unfortunately, terrible policy and cronyism failed the rebuilding process.

Rebuilding will happen some day for Iraq, but it’s not something we can foist upon the people. The country is too far divided and getting worse every day, which only serves to put our troops in more danger without any hope. I hope to see the Democratic Congress force the President’s hand on this and bring our troops home.

• Giving speeches, shaking hands, debating, kissing babies… all the usual junk we associate with campaigning
• Hanging out with friends, your spouse, political action committees, lobbyists, your campaign advisors, the democratic national committee, foreign diplomats, members of congress, going to church (or synagogue)
• Being eloquent, being stupid, being tongue tied, saying “fuck” and “bullshit” and “goddammit”

i.e., let the world see you as you are… your foibles, your brilliance. If you’re meeting with big oil or Doctors without Borders, we’ll know it.

Don’t own any rights to the video. Let amateurs mash up the video as they like, let professionals broadcast sound bites, let podcasters stream unadulterated content.

There are of course some downsides to this idea: it would be exhausting, potentially embarrassing, and it would be incredibly intrusive.

But, I think there’s more upside.

The 18-24 year old voters might, for once, care about the election. They’re already going to share video of you via YouTube, give them more than the gaffs. (In 2001, no 18 year old cared about Ozzy Osborn whatsoever. That changed. The lesson here is to not take yourself too seriously. If Ozzy was embarrassed about what he saw on camera, we would stop caring.)

People cynical about politics are cynical because of the politicians. Every year, you make promises through bright white smiles, and more often than not, the promises (see compassionate conservatism) are left dead and bloodied on the campaign trail. With a camera following you around everywhere, your genuine self is bound to be seen. Either you’ll be exposed as the real deal, or people will see right through you.

A 24-7 show about you gives you the time to explain your views… all of them.

Be real. The electorate are hungry for honesty, for finding someone they believe will really follow through on all those promises. But also, in American politics there is a notion that our leaders must somehow live up to an unachievable standard of perfection. Be transparent and honest about yourself 24-7—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and you have a better chance of overthrowing the ideal of perfection for the humility of being, gasp, a real person and someone people of all ages would want to vote for.

Dubya is leaving in two years… let’s hope whomever is elected is more honest with Americans and the world.