Free The Presidential Debate Videos

We're experiencing a great movement towards networked, grassroots democracy, and anything citizens can do to promote that is good for the country.

The Open Debate Coalition's principles mark a significant step forward in that direction. The Coalition asks that the videos of the presidential and vice presidential debates be released to the public for distribution on the Web, not kept by the television networks that air them. The point is to allow citizens to become a bigger part of the democratic process, to allow them to watch the debates at will and to share their own assessments and critiques.

This is a "big tent" operation; rarely do we see Arianna Huffington and Newt Gingrich, Glenn Reynolds and Markos Moulitsas, agreeing on anything.

Here's part of what we're asking:

Dear Senator McCain and Senator Obama,

We are a coalition of people and organizations across the ideological spectrum asking you to make this year's presidential debates more "of the people" than ever before by bringing them more fully into the Internet age.

Specifically, we ask you to embrace these two "open debate" principles for the 2008 debates:

1) The presidential debates are for the benefit of the public. Therefore, the right to speak about the debates ought to be "owned" by the public, not controlled by the media.

2) "Town hall" Internet questions should be chosen by the people, not solely by the media

This is a historic election. The signers of this letter don't agree on every issue. But we do agree that in order for Americans to make the best decision for president, we need open debates that are "of the people" in the ways described above. You have the power to make that happen, and we ask you to do so. Thank you for your willingness to take these ideas to heart. If you have any questions, please contact:

[e-mail]

Sincerely,

Lawrence Lessig - Professor, Stanford Law School & Founder, Center for Internet and Society
Glenn Reynolds - Professor, University of Tennessee Law, and founder of Instapundit.com blog
Craig Newmark - Founder, Craigslist
Jimmy Wales - Founder, Wikipedia
David Kralik - Director of Internet Strategy, Newt Gingrich's American Solutions
Eli Pariser - Executive Director, MoveOn.org Political Action
Adam Green - Director of Strategic Campaigns, MoveOn.org Political Action
Mindy Finn - Republican strategist, former Mitt Romney Online Director
Patrick Ruffini - Republican consultant, Bush/Cheney 2004 eCampaign Director
Arianna Huffington - Founder, Huffington Post
Markos Moulitsas - Founder, DailyKos.com
Jon Henke - New media consultant, including for Fred Thompson, George Allen, and Senate Republican
Caucus
Mike Krempasky - Founder of RedState.com
Matt Stoller - Founder/Editor, OpenLeft.com
James Rucker - Executive Director, ColorOfChange.org
Robert Greenwald - President, BraveNewFilms
Kim Gandy - President, National Organization for Women
Carl Pope - Executive Director, Sierra Club
Micah Sifry - Co-Founder, Personal Democracy Forum and TechPresident.com
Shari Steele, Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Josh Silver - Executive Director, Free Press
Carl Malamud - Founder, Public.Resource.Org
Roger Hickey - Co-Director, Campaign for America's Future

The other guys are the big deals, I'm just adding my voice.

Follow Craig Newmark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craignewmark

Comments

[maxx1]

I would like to see an add that opens with McCain saying like he did at the debate"I don't feel very well" followed by Palin saying I can see Russia, followed by "I don't feel very well" and the caption Think before you vote.

who can make this video?

[fuzzywuzzy6]

This is an excellent idea. And judging from the quality of some HPost subscibers, we might have more nuanced and intelligent questions posted online than are posed by some of the MSM.

The print newspapers at one time printed transcripts of all major presidential and political speeches. I have not seen this for some time.

One suggestion: Members of Congress and the Senate (particularly those who are away campaigning for President) should be allowed to vote by on-line telephone call on all the bills. Their votes would be very informative and they might be required to take positions on more issues. These positions would then be a matter of public record.

[Tulka2]

You are correct, of course. Are there no transcripts online? I would also like to know what compromises were made between the candidates. Usually there is a great deal of press about the negotiations between the candidates about size of podiums, ect. No news about that this time. I didn't think about it till i noticed the camera shots which seemed all about making McCain look bigger...or at least were disigned to minimize their size difference. I just saw it once. Did i imagine it?

[Steven Crandell - Huffpost Blogger]

Bravo Craig! And the same to your co-signers. What you suggest is simply common sense.
Free access to the debate video is an important tool for voters. I also think that questions from the people should not be scanned for news value first.
Wouldn't it be interesting to choose a question or two at random? A completely spin-less choice could be made.
Another way would be to allow Internet users to rank questions on-line. No way of deciding such questions is perfect. But a fresh approach would be welcome. Too many issues don't get attention because they aren't part of a pre-conceived notion of what is "interesting."

[PhoenixtheUndying]

you may add Uzoma Peter Lane as well

[Craig Newmark - Huffpost Blogger]

(JohnnyBoyyy and danielmcvicar, thanks!)

[JohnnyBoyyy]

I agree totally, Mr. Newmark! I know that you are "just adding your voice" to the Open Debate Coalition, but please don't under estimate the respect you have among all of us out here!

As a concerned voter, I get basically all my candidate information from sites like HuffPost. I have no desire to trust the important debates to the MSM. The corporate owned Entertainment News organizations have proven their bias and need for drama that tends to distort the facts.

I would hope that the majority of "low information" voters that only use their computers for porn and games would at least view SOME of the debates online. They might even become aware of all the wonderful information available online to make them better American voters. AND that's a goood thing!

This is OUR Time - This is OUR Moment

Obama/Biden '08/12!!!

[danielmcvicar]

add me to the list!