Yesterday the Los Angeles Times column Webscout looked a little closer at the videos that Reille Hunter made for the Edwards campaign. As you know by now, John Edwards recently admitted that he had an affair with Hunter.
Putting aside the public’s prurient concerns, I’m most interested in how Hunter managed to convince the campaign to hire her and what they hoped to achieve with the technology. Apparently Hunter met Edwards in a bar and some cynics might argue that the video contract was a way to formalize their relationship. But I think they were genuinely interested in using video to reveal something about Edwards.
Webscout says that “The four short episodes are usually referred to as “campaign videos,” which might explain why they have not drawn much of a crowd.” But why weren’t they successful? It seems that even though Hunter and the Edwards campaign were interested in new technology, they still had a very “top down” way of using it. Instead of something dynamic, they went for some sort of stale “Reality-TV” style.
Ultimately Webscout thinks that Hunter used video as an excuse to get close to Edwards:
Hunter is revealed as not simply a videographer hired by the Edwards campaign but a member of a much older profession: a groupie. And “Inspiring Politics” represents one of the most inventive ways a groupie has ever gained unlimited access to the power guy of her dreams.
Watch the videos and decide for yourself:
- Episode 1, “Plane Truths”
- Episode 2, “The Golden Rule”
- Episode 3, “Plight of Uganda”
- Episode 4, “Plugs”
Another
Did you see the recent
With all the excitement and hoopla over gay and lesbian weddings taking place in
Recently
Do-gooder intentions go disastrously wrong when Hollywood gives a young Iraqi film student the chance of a lifetime. Operation Filmmaker tells the fascinating and riveting story of Muthana Mohmed’s odyssey in the West, with uncanny parallels to America’s recent misadventures abroad.
Immigration has been a thorny issue for John McCain. Over the past few months, he seems to be playing both sides of the issue. As co-author of the
his first 100 days in office. Even so, Latino congressional reps are worried that Obama isn’t doing enough to court Latinos.
There was also news this week that
Over the past two years, we’ve heard a great deal about our “broken” immigration system. Both sides of the issue use the term but for distinctly different meanings.
what they’re really talking about. If an immigrant rights advocate uses “broken system” in a press release, opponents may see a validation of his views since it is so strongly connected in our mind’s eye with a broken border wall.
an Elephant” regaled the audience with the 21st century’s research findings on “real reason” and how it relates to current political debates.
possible. Lakoff also riffed on the use of “illegal” and why it’s so inaccurate. “No one calls you an ‘illegal parker’ if you get a parking ticket,” he pointed out. Since Lakoff teaches at Berkeley, he may have heard his colleague
In our work to reform out-dated immigration laws, it’s important to remember previous struggles against unjust and retrograde laws.
