Damien Mulley

And more again and done to Dolly Parton. Lads, you gotta do one to the BeeGees too.

Edit: Please note this is not an ordered “top 10” viewed list. It isn’t in any order at all and there’s 11 vids!

This seems to be turning into a regular thing. Update on the viewing stats for some of the political videos out there:

Mary Harney behind her desk asking to put her back in power come election time. – 1,905 views. Views have gone way up because of the below video.

Piss take of Mary Harney by Political Thicko – 1,507 views in a week!

Labour’s “But are you happy?” video – 842 views.

Dan Sullivan’s “You pay taxes so we don’t have to” – 1,321 views.(Done twice, viewed 964 times and 357 times)

Enda Kenny awkwardly being a people person. It almost works too. – 1,489 views.

Bertie Ahern Ard Fheis Speech – 832 views.

Frank Chambers (FF) talking to you from his kitchen – 1,440 views.

Putting Words in Bertie’s Mouth – 1,650 views.

Trevor Sargent on Podge and Rodge – 8,877 views.

non-political:
Irish Bloggers on de tele – 1,035 views.

The banned Trocaire Ad – 9,261 views.

Since FG don’t have a YouTube account/channel, I found Enda’s Ard Fheis speech here. – 10 views. And holy shit but does Lucinda Creighton eat babies too? “Let’s get dis party started” was the intro music. This is really cringeworthy.

Oh maybe this is the FG Channel. FG HQ? Enda, brush your bloody hair and stop buying “casual” clothes from the politicians section of Marks and Spencer.

“Such is the duality of the Southern thing”. I love that line from this song. Or poem. Or is it spoken word? Whatever it is, it’s brilliant. Live version of The Three Great Alabama Icons. This song is about racism, misunderstood meanings of what being Southern was about and a history of Southern men. like Alabama Governor George Wallance who would do anything for a vote. I was reminded of this song by a comment from Cian over on IrishElection on why Irish voters re-elect controversy soaked politicians.

This is just a small capture of the whole song:

Which leads us to George Wallace…Now Wallace was for all practical purposes the Governor of Alabama from 1962 until 1986… Once, when a law prevented him from succeeding himself he ran his wife Lerline in his place and she won by a landslide… He’s most famous as the belligerent racist voice of the segregationist South… Standing in the doorways of schools and waging a political war against a Federal Government that he decried as hypocritical…

And Wallace had started out as a lawyer and a judge with a very progressive and humanitarian track record for a man of his time. But he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hedging on the race issue, against a man who spoke out against integration…Wallace ran again in ’62 as a staunch segregationist and won big, and for the next decade spoke out loudly… He accused Kennedy and King of being communists.He was constantly on national news, representing the “good? people of Alabama…And you know race was only an issue on TV in the house that I grew up in…Wallace was viewed as a man from another time and place…

And when I first ventured out of theSouth, I was shocked at how strongly Wallace was associated with Alabama and its people… Ya know racism is a worldwide problem and it’s been since the beginning of recorded history… and it ain’t just white and black… But thanks to George Wallace, it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent.

And bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd attempted to show another side of the South… One that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flag… And this applies not only to their critics and detractors, but also from their fans and followers. So for a while, when Neil Young would come to town, he’d get death-threats down in Alabama…

Ironically, in 1971, after a particularly racially charged campaign, Wallace began backpedaling, and he opened up Alabama politics to minorities at a rate faster than most Northern states or the Federal Government. And Wallace spent the rest of his life trying to explain away his racist past, and in 1982 won his last term in office with over 90% of the black vote… Such is the Duality of the Southern Thing…

And George Wallace died back in ’98 and he’s in Hell now, not because he’s a racist… His track record as a judge and his late-life quest for redemption make a good argument for his being, at worst, no worse than most white men of his generation, North or South…But because of his blind ambition and his hunger for votes, he turned a blind eye to the suffering of Black America. And he became a pawn in the fight against the Civil Rights cause…Fortunately for him, the Devil is also a Southerner

The Next Steps website. Great to see the parties create websites and YouTube videos. The new over-slick videos from Fianna Fail will not work though. Guys, address the camera, address the user. YouTube viewers want to be addressed in a personal manner and honestly, do all your candidates have to point out you have a wife, 2.3 kids and a dog named sparky. Us web people don’t care about that. We read Twenty Major, do we really care about your wholesome family image?

The Western people reported on two Mayo Dáil candidates doing YouTube campaign videos. Fianna Fail’s Frank Chambers and Fine Gael’s John O’Mahony both have videos on YouTube but they’re quite different. Chambers’ video takes place in his kitchen whereas O’Mahony’s is a medley of photos and screens listing his promises and contains music from the Saw Doctors and some other Irish band.

This is Frank’s – “Be Frank, Vote Chambers”.

Not a bad video apart from the looking down too often.

Frank then has local people giving their video support but the trouble is it looks staged. Maybe it’s just nerves but it does feel like the guy is reading from a script.

All Frank’s videos can be accessed here.

This is John’s – Vote John O’Mahony

Slicker, more like the usual political TV spots. No video of the man himself talking to the people. I’d prefer the human touch of Frank’s.

Here’s an interesting fact. Frank’s video was uploaded around the same time as the Labour Party’s “But, are you happy?” video and the Labour video has been viewed 639 times. Frank’s has been viewed 891 times. O’Mahony’s was uploaded two weeks ago and has been viewed 486 times.

Meanwhile Boards.ie now has an 2007 Election forum.

As broken by IrishElection earlier Labour have launched a new website, a bit like Obama’s site with his video saying he is going for President. It actually impressed me as it is Pat Rabbitte looking comfortable and “But are you happy?” is the phrase of the election. It is the new “A lot done, more to do.” I think they might just have beaten FF to the punch on this. It’s a pity I could not get to the conference on Saturday as it feels like they got it right and came up with a campaign that might interest people. 5 simple steps and one great catchphrase. Lets see how strong it stands up to scrutiny now. Well done for putting this on YouTube too. Blogs, YouTube, Flickr. Social networking site next for Labour? I expect Google Ads from all the parties too.

Via Politics.ie

In short, the media facilities here are apalling. Not to draw any other comparisons, but the last conference (Fianna Fail) the space available was vast, easily accommodating 20+ journalists at a large desk in a vary large room.

The media room is in what can only be called a janitor’s closet, with space for about 7 people I’d say. If there’s no contempt for the media intended, it’s certainly felt, and I’m not the only person of that opinion. I’m currently next door leaning down on the floor to file this, not actually in the media room, there’s no space, so I’ve had to go next door and file from there.

Stay tuned to the front page of Politics.ie for updates throughout the day.

One thing though, at least Labour extended an invitation to the press AND bloggers. More power to them for that.

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