I'm going to upvote this, because I skimmed the comments on Obama's videos at YouTube, and I could only find one opposing view on the three videos I skimmed. Not scientific, granted. Still, it's a little alarming.

Obama's Youtube account is not a Forum for posting your pollitical opinion, there are plenty of those on the web these days. It's there as a campaign to promote his presidency.

You wouldn't see a movie who's commercials say how bad it sucks would you?

I don't find it alarming.

YouTube is a cesspool for comments and if they have to edit, why not leave the comments that support their candidate.

Anyone under 50 might know the "internet tubes" have "spammers"...

All this does prove is that McCain does not pay attention to the little things... and that Obama has even minute details covered.

I find it alarming that YOU find it alarming, in light of the fact these fear mongering tactics actually work so damn well.

As if McCain checks his YouTube video posts. C'mon now.

All this shows is that the techs running McCain's YouTube campaign didn't tell him you can delete negative comments. Or that he was getting negative comments. Or perhaps even that people could make comments.

This says nothing about freedom of speech.

Now the roundup and imprisonment of activists near the RNC, and riot cops randomly gassing crowds, that says something about freedom of speech.

maybe i'm missing something here.. but how do we know that there were negative comments on the vids in the first place? is there anyway we can know for certain that they were deleted?

Well I have to say, knowing how hateful & over zealous the McCain people can be, I wouldn't be surprised if they were removed for being inflammatory & offensive and in that case I would have probably done the same thing.

Has anyone tried posting a well thought-out criticism on one of the videos? Was it deleted? That would seem a more sensible way to determine whether or not Barack's campaign was deleting opposing viewpoints.

If they are... should I be outraged? If he were to say, falsely accuse McCain of wanting to teach kindergartners about fucking in a campaign ad... that would alarming. I don't know if I could support a candidate that supported those kinds of lies and distortions, but a campaign deleting negative YouTube comments... meh.

So the accusation is that Obama's campaign is Silencing dissent, by moderating comments on youtube. Since this will only be seen by people on youtube, presumably the absurdity of the accusation will be apparent, specifically :

1) youtube is a spam/flame-fest, moderation of popular videos is required if any discussion is expected to take place.
2) it's on fucking YOUtube, anybody can post pretty much anything they want, neither campaign has any power over it.

Come on....

Anybody who's been on the internet for more than a week knows how vicious and persistent the right wing can be - especially its many racist members.

Why indulge them?

Let them rave in their own little cesspools of idiocy.

I've seen heavy viciousness from both sides, rougy.

I've seen ignorance and intolerance from all directions as well.

Many of you make very good points here but clearing ALL of the comments that aren't praising Obama.. that kind of irks me.

^Exactly.

I don't have a problem with the Obama campaign deleting comments with racist epithets, or are juvenile like "OBAMA SUCK MY WEENIE!", or are spam. But come on, are ALL anti-Obama comments THAT bad? Really? Of the millions of YouTube users who are supporting McCain, not ONE of them has written a thoughtful yet critical comment about Obama?

I'm supporting Obama because he's a HELL of a lot better than McCain, but that doesn't mean that Obama should be beyond criticism. And one more thing: I guarantee that if the McCain campaign was doing this instead of Obama, this video would have at least 5 times as many votes by now, if not more.

It alarms me that the Obama campaign is doing this because I'm always alarmed when politicians try to silence dissent. It's not democratic at all.

I never knew the posters of videos on YouTube could be moderated by the poster. I thought you either disable the comments or have to accept any comment.

Also I don't know how correct this video even is. I can't read any of the comments that scroll through the video. The only thing that tells me something are the red dots. I don't know how reliable the person is that put those in.

Its his account he can do what he wants with it.

Now, do i agree with it? No.

Obama's been called worse on the basketball court, now he needs to experience the stinging pain of the internet slur. As all IP addresses should.

Downvote for making an assertion without evidence. If the video maker actually wrote a comment and documented it being deleted, or took snapshots of the comments from two time periods, then that makes sense. Simply reviewing a single snapshot of the comments isn't enough.

Besides, as pipp3355 pointed out, I can't check these comments for myself as they're unreadable as they scroll by. We only have the video creator's word, and based on the other videos that they have posted on YouTube, I don't think that's a credible source.

Wait ... wait people read youtube comments?

Is one of you testing this allegation under the name Nmnykg or does the Obama campaign think nobody will watch Bill Richardson's endorsement? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y62jhStuawA.

Also comments like "obama deletes bad comments here" or "this site is heavily censoring anti-Obama comments" do not seem to get removed.

I respectfully posted a comment stating that I don't trust obama or mccain and I feel that a 3rd party should be elected and it got removed.

I tried it again stating that he hasn't really elaborated on an economic policy and needs to do so and it also got removed.

Tested on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR1VruSYu7c which is showcased on Barack's main page.

username: barackobama.com

tried, tested and confirmed... my opinion was silenced.

Some of you are very quick to downvote with an incorrect assertion that the maker of this vid is deceiving us. Knee-jerk reactions. You know you could have easily tested this yourself.

>> ^Constitutional_Patriot:
Some of you are very quick to downvote with an incorrect assertion that the maker of this vid is deceiving us. Knee-jerk reactions. You know you could have easily tested this yourself.


Could have, yes. However, the burden of proof lies with the individual making the assertion. In my opinion the video creator didn't provide sufficient evidence, hence the downvote.

and it's so simply easy to verify his assertion isn't it... he did prove it if you ask me.. are you saying that he should have slowed down and zoomed in so you can read all the comments.. seriously now... you're just looking for any reason to downvote. This is typical of a campaign loyalist.

your fears exist, i acknowledge this. but i refuse to be afraid of what you fear.

"obama" will not "silence" dissent; "bush" has already tortured innocent people in far away prisons.

it can't get any worse, cp. don't worry about youtube comments.

I don't want you to be afraid.. you're perception of where the fear is coming from is skewed 180°. It's Obama that fears any criticism and open discussion that might put him in a bad light. I want you to get mad at those that silence dissent.. as he has done. I've tested it myself.

You are the pot calling the kettle black.

You stereotype and overgeneralize so much it's ridiculous.

>> ^rougy:
Come on....
Anybody who's been on the internet for more than a week knows how vicious and persistent the right wing can be - especially its many racist members.
Why indulge them?
Let them rave in their own little cesspools of idiocy.

I worked for someone who believes Obama is a Muslim Terrorist... but they have a bigger fear that he is the former moreso the latter.

This employer themself belongs to quite a small sect espousing judeo-christian beliefs.

I quit, having had my suspicions they were an asshole, but waiting until confirmation came out of their lips and into my sweet ears.


Let's elect Obama, and if every racist, ignorant, apathetic, greedy, fearful, ungrateful, 51% majority, uneducated or educated-but-still-a-fuckwit prick turns out to be right, your Bud Light Lime is on me, Larry the Cable Guy.

But when they're wrong, AGAIN, for the billioneth time in human history... this time.... I'm gonna be super duper mad for reals.

And I'm totally telling.