Filed under: Uncategorized
The Politico’s popular Shenanigans blog reported yesterday that Fatty’s Custom Tattooz in DC is offering a free Obama tattoo if you also get another tattoo priced at over $200.
However, check out the photo that accompanies the post on the left side of the pic below – that tattoo doesn’t look anything like Barack Obama. It does, however, appear that Fatty’s may in fact actually be offering free tattoos of former Congressman William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, the disgraced Louisiana lawmaker who was caught with $90,000 in ill-gotten cash in his freezer.
What do you think? Is that a tattoo of Barack Obama or William Jefferson?
Filed under: Uncategorized
OK, technically I suppose it’s two-stop shopping, since the new House Hub and Senate Hub reside at different urls, but you know what I mean.
In any case, the sites are pretty cool. They each feature a Google Maps mashup that allows visitors to click on the state of their choice to easily find YouTube videos that have been posted by Members of Congress from that state. One possible word of warning: each time I tried to click on a few states, my Macbook froze up – at one point for several minutes. Has anybody else had this problem? If so, let us know in the comments.
Each site also includes three Playlists: “Behind the Scenes,” “Got a Question?” and “From the Office Of…” There’s not a ton of content up there yet — a grand total of 14 videos spread through those three groups on the House Hub and 15 on the Senate Hub — but that’ll no doubt change in the near future.
In the meantime, check out the welcome video featuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House GOP Leader John Boehner.
It’s worth noting that Boehner’s the only one of the four who breaks out of the old-fashioned, rigid, straight-ahead TV-interview positioning, choosing instead to go with a more informal off-center, one-arm-on-the-conference-table posture that’s a better fit for the more laid-back nature of YouTube. Who knows – maybe next time he’ll even channel Don Draper and light up a smoke on camera? OK – that might be pushing it a little…
In what amounts to another sign that House Republicans are starting to make up some ground in online communications, GOP Whip Eric Cantor has posted a video calling for citizens to submit their own videos that offer their unique ideas for how to get the economy moving again. Check it out below:
Cantor’s video is already a smash hit with over 89,000 views and dozens of comments in just a couple of days. As of 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday afternoon, it was YouTube’s 2nd most viewed News and Politics video of the day, and the 21st most viewed online video in the world on Sunday.
And now some taxpayers (like me) and taxpayer advocacy groups like the National Taxpayers Union are producing their own videos and posting them as responses to Cantor’s video. The NTU video (full disclosure – I produced the video) is below, as is my personal response to Cantor’s plea:
This is all good progress. Cantor would be wise to quickly follow up his video with another one that shows him responding to some of the videos and other feedback that the first one generated. Maybe even respond to some of the negative comments or any nasty e-mails that have come in from people advocating more spending or higher taxes.
Then we’ll be engaging in an effective two-way conversation, as opposed to simply using the Internet to talk at people. In the meantime, you can upload your own video response to Cantor by clicking here.
Filed under: Uncategorized
It looks like Congressional leaders plan to bring up a proposed massive expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) next week. You may remember that last year they tried to greatly expand the program — increasing the income threshold to several times the poverty rate, and even allowing 25-year-old “children” to be eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits.
To build support for their effort, Speaker Nancy Pelosi today sent this flier to her colleagues and the media:
Filed under: Online Video
Big kudos to Congressman Buck McKeon of California, who recently posted video of an unscripted, impromptu tour of his Washington office on his official website. In the video, Congressman McKeon introduces viewers to his DC staff — the woman who sets up Capitol tours for constituents, the legislative staff, interns – even the New Media guy, Robert, who shot and edited the video. I’ve attached a screen cap below, but check out the video here.
This is the kind of thing that every Member of Congress should be doing. As the Obama transition team has already figured out, cheap, quick, unscripted videos are a great way to give your key audiences a peek behind the curtain and to put a human face on what you’re trying to accomplish.
The constituents who received Congressman McKeon’s video in his e-mail newsletter now almost certainly feel a closer connection to him and his staff, and are more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt the next time a political opponent inevitably tries to portray him as the Prince of Darkness. Members of Congress who don’t start using unscripted online videos to humanize themselves and enfranchise potential voters are ignoring a very powerful tool… at their own peril.
With the 111th Congress set to convene on Tuesday, and in the spirit of the holidays, here’s a free creative communications idea for House Republicans:
House GOP leaders should encourage every new incoming House GOP Member to buy a little Flip video camera to document his or her first day in office next week.
They could announce to the media today that they’re going to give their constituents back home an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at their first day as their new Representative. Then they just shoot video throughout the day — a first-person look, as opposed to third-person footage always showing the Member — showing the experience through his or her eyes.
Maybe open with a brief message shot that morning in their hotel room/apt. etc., introducing themselves and setting the stage. Then they film short clips of their commutes, their first steps into their new office, showing well-wishers coming through the door, filming the walk over to the Capitol for their swearing-in, their first steps onto the House Floor, etc.
Maybe they could conduct a short interview with a member of the GOP leadership in the Speakers Lobby or the Rayburn Room about what they hope to accomplish this year. Finish with a short clip of the new Member in his office toward the end of the day, tie loosened or removed altogether, saying how much he appreciated being able to share the first day with the folks back home, how he wants to hear ideas from the viewers about how to fix the nation’s problems, etc.
Mix in a little footage of the mock swearing-in ceremony, quickly edit the footage and post on YouTube and blast out to constituents and local media by the end of the day, preferably in time for the local 6:00 news, but definitely in time for the late local news.
These quick, easy videos would provide the same kind of voyeuristic behind-the-scenes glimpse that the Obama Transition Team has been providing over at change.gov, but they’d be localized for each individual Member. They’d also represent a dramatic change in the way Republicans have been communicating with their constituents. The big question is whether they’ll be willing to pull the trigger on something like this, or whether they still haven’t learned any communications lessons from the last campaign.
