We Lied: More on the CNN/YouTube Debate!

• The Save the Debate Coalition, which was partly responsible for getting all of the Republicans to participate in Wednesday night’s CNN/YouTube GOP debate, has released a strongly-worded statement calling CNN’s editorial process “flawed.” Upset about the choice of questions — especially the one from General Keith Kerr, who is associated with the Hillary Clinton campaign — the group said they strongly encourage “YouTube and other new media platforms to refrain from working with CNN on future debates.” The coalition includes techPresident contributors David All and Patrick Ruffini, both of whom have posted their own complaints.

• Factcheck.org exists to examine the truthiness of the candidates’ statements, and their analysis of Wednesday’s debate shows that while no candidate strayed too egregiously from the facts, the truth did get bent a few times. One funny quibble: “Romney, claiming to be a ‘true suffering’ fan of the Red Sox, said the team waited 87 years to win a World Series. They actually waited 86.” Good to have that cleared up.

• Even the folks at the Institute for Politics and Democracy & The Internet (IPDI) got into the criticizin’ game. This week’s debates “devolved into some strange circus of a reality show,” they write on their blog. “The questions [from] Internet users appear to be as oblivious and vapid as sing-songy little forest elves. The problem isn’t the American people. Rather, it’s the gatekeepers.” Wow, CNN just can’t catch a break. Not that they should.

• But for CNN, it’s all about the ratings, and from that standpoint the debate went just fine. The New York Times’ Katherine Seelye reports that Wednesday’s debate was the most-watched political slugfest in history, with 4.4 million viewers tuning in. With these numbers, it’s a good bet that CNN’s producers aren’t so worried about criticism in the blogosphere. Meanwhile, debate executive producer David Borhman called the debate “the purest Republican debate” so far. Were we watching the same thing?

The Web on the Candidates

• Rudy Giuliani has been the subject of a couple of attacks this week. A few hours before Wednesday’s debate, the Politico’s Ben Smith broke a story claiming that Giuliani’s mayoral administration charged travel expenses — when he was traveling to then-girlfriend Judy Nathan’s house in the Hamptons — to obscure city agencies. But stories about Giuliani’s rich history of support for gay rights are also continuing to appear online. Earlier this week the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas wrote about a project by the Empire State Pride Agenda called the Giuliani Files that is cataloging the candidate’s record of support for gay rights. The group’s head, Alan Van Capelle, told Vargas, “If Giuliani becomes president, which Giuliani will be on our issues? The Giuliani we knew as mayor? Or the Giuliani we’re seeing as a candidate for president?”

• Self-promotion alert: TechPresident’s Micah Sifry gave a wide-ranging interview to Mark Glaser of MediaShift, in which he delves into the origins of Personal Democracy Forum, techPresident, and 10Questions, and gives his thoughts on who’s running the best web campaign.

• Also, check out 10Questions co-founder David Colarusso’s webcam interview with Off The Bus’ Shelby Highsmith. Among other things, they discuss the deficiencies of the CNN/YouTube debate and how we can make debates truly participatory.

The Candidates on the Web

• Hillary Clinton uses the web best when she has total control over it. So iVillage’s invitation to answer women’s questions on their site was probably just up her alley. She got to respond to tough questions like, “What were you like as a teenager in high school?” (political and nerdy), “What do you do to relax and take time for yourself?” (she watches Grey’s Anatomy), and “Who was your inspiration?” (her mother, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt). The effort definitely personalizes Clinton and we’re sure it was popular with her supporters, but it’s typical of her controlled approach to the web.

In Case You Missed It…

Our favorite videos are back! This time around, the increasingly non-threatening Joe Biden gets quoted by his opponents; John Edwards posts a couple of strong campaign videos; Mike Huckabee gets a strong endorsement and a curious phone call; and a new Mike Gravel video suggests a new career might be awaiting the former Alaska Senator.

Fred Stutzman writes that Facebook has announced changes to Beacon, the controversial ad program. According to the reports, there will be a change to the story posting flow, requiring users to approve a story before it is sent to the Newsfeed. This does address some of the concerns regarding information leaks through Beacon. Check out the comments section for Micah Sifry’s argument in support of MoveOn’s activism around the issues.

David All gets it first: Rudy Giuliani has launched a new social networking platform, “Team Rudy,” which you can access now at my.joinrudy2008.com.

CNN | debates | Factcheck.org | Hillary Clinton | Rudy Giuliani | Save the Debate | YouTube
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