Obama praises McCain as American hero at pre-Inaugural dinner

President-elect Obama meets Sen. John McCain

Sen. John McCain on Jay Leno Tonight Show (Nov. 11)

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John McCain’s concession speech on Election Night in Arizona

One of the best speeches John McCain gave during the Election.  Despite the booing by some of McCain’s supporters at the mention of Barack Obama’s name, which McCain quickly squelched, this was a very classy speech.  We all owe a debt of gratitude to McCain for his years of service.  It’s hard not to wonder what would have happened had he won the Republican nomination in 2000, when the Straight Talk Express was running and when McCain was not aligned with George W. Bush.

John McCain votes in Arizona

Video of Sarah Palin voting in Alaska

John McCain with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live (SNL) (Nov. 1)

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Absolutely hilarious!  John McCain was incredibly funny, along with Tina Fey, appearing on the QVC network.  McCain could have a career in this!  Who knew?

McCain also appeared on Weekend Update on SNL.  Click here for the video.

Arnold Schwarzenegger pumps up Republicans in Columbus, Ohio stumping for McCain

Obama launches scary Halloween ad re: McCain’s robocalls

Obama ad questions choice of Sarah Palin by McCain

Funniest video ever?: Obama launches mashup video to avoid losing victory at last minute

This has the look of an amateur mashup video, very uncharacteristic of the Obama camp’s videos.  But it is from Obama!

Will Ferrell returns as George W. Bush to Saturday Night Live (SNL), along with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

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Virginia rallies for Obama — responds to Sarah Palin’s “pro America” comment

Brian Williams NBC interview Sarah Palin + John McCain

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Saturday Night Live (SNL) Thursday parodies 3rd debate between McCain + Obama

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John McCain on David Letterman

John McCain to David Letterman on why he bailed on him: “I screwed up.”

Interview was funny.  McCain should have done this the 1st time around.

John McCain + Barack Obama bring down the house at the Alfred E. Smith dinner

News: As is tradition, the two presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama sat down together for the Alfred E. Smith dinner in NY. The white tie event honors this nation’s first Catholic candidate for president. It’s a serious event, but the speeches are hilarious roasts!

Both John McCain and Barack Obama were unbelievably gracious and funny. Who knew these guys were that funny!! They also expressed a lot of genuine admiration for each other. It was poignant and reassuring after such a heated and at times nasty campaign. Too bad we didn’t see more of this during the campaign, but for one night we saw what is the best in American politics. Bravo Senators McCain and Obama!!

For some of McCain’s jokes, click here.

For some of Obama’s jokes, click here.

Life imitates art: Sarah Palin to appear on SNL with Tina Fey

More here

Obama camp launches ads on McCain’s flip flops on allegiance to President Bush

McCain on support for George W. Bush ad

90 percent ad

3rd Presidential Debate between McCain and Obama

Discussion on negative attacks and Ayers

The full debate

Analysis: Bob Schieffer of CBS was the best moderator of the all the moderators in 2008. He asked some new questions that had not been asked before (such as on the Supreme Court, the qualifications of VP candidates, the negative ads), and he elicited sharp and spirited exchanges between the candidates without being unduly restrictive on the time.

McCain camp sends letter to YouTube about DMCA takedowns of McCain videos for alleged copyright infringement

News:  Several people have alerted me to the copyright controversy brewing over at the McCain-Palin camp, and at YouTube.  McCain’s attorney sent YouTube a letter–addressed to CEO Chad Hurley, GC Zahavah Levine, and copyright counsel Bill Patry–asking YouTube to make a determination that McCain’s unauthorized uses of copyrighted content are clearly fair uses and therefore should not be removed after a DMCA complaint.  Apparently, several McCain videos–McCain’s letter says “numerous“–have been removed by YouTube after YT received DMCA notices from copyright holders alleging that McCain had infringed their copyrights by posting videos with their content, which McCain’s camp says consisted only of clips of 10 seconds or less of copyrighted news broadcasts.

The DMCA does have a “counter-notice” procedure that allows people to seek the re-posting of videos taken down under a DMCA notice, but the process takes between 10 to 14 days for that to happen, which the McCain camp says is not quick enough for the impending election.

Lessig Blog has a copy of McCain’s letter to YouTube. EFF also has copy posted here.

Analysis:  First things first.  Against today’s backdrop of the financial crisis, this controversy over YouTube videos does seem, well, somewhat trivial.  Also, there is some irony in complaining now about “overreaching copyright claims” under the DMCA, a law that I believe McCain voted for in 1998.  I am generally sympathetic, though, to the McCain camp’s call for liberal fair use in the context of a presidential election.  I’ve written an article arguing exactly that (click here). 

One of the problems for YouTube, though, is that the fair use doctrine is notoriously vague, to be judged on a case-by-case basis.  What is “clearly” fair use may depend on the eye of the beholder.  Companies like YouTube follow the DMCA notice-and-takedown procedure in a more cautious manner, in order to avoid being sued.  But the DMCA itself is vague in places — that’s why YouTube faces 2 major copyright lawsuits asking YouTube to pay damages of over $1 billion. 

It’s just too bad we haven’t had any discussion by either presidential candidate about reforming the DMCA at any point in the campaign season.  And with the financial crisis, copyright issues might never get discussed before the election. The frustrations McCain’s lawyers have expressed to YouTube are not new–they are ones with “overreaching copyright claims” that regular people have faced since the DMCA regime was enacted.  Don’t get me wrong:  I’m all for a DMCA safe harbor for Internet companies, but the one we have may need some tweaking or clarification.

I do wonder a little bit about what McCain videos have been removed, and what news networks have actually sought their removal. The McCain camp says “numerous” McCain videos have been removed from YouTube.  How many are we talking about?  I follow all the presidential videos pretty regularly, and I know only of 1 such McCain video involving a clip of Katie Couric that had been taken out of context and used in a negative ad against Barack Obama to suggest inaccurately that Couric was commenting about “sexism” in Obama’s use of “lipstick on a pig.” Is that kind of use of Couric’s broadcast, taken out of context and used in a negative attack ad, a fair use? Hard to say–possibly, debatable at least. Without a case or law saying that this kind of use in presidential campaign material is presumptively or per se fair, YouTube is in a difficult spot to do what the McCain camp proposes.  It would be helpful if the McCain camp identified which videos have been removed and posted them all on the McCain website, where it has a section for videos.  Then we can know what copyright holder or news network sought the takedown (and try to understand its basis for doing so), and see if all of it should be considered fair use or not.

UPDATE: YouTube wrote a letter to McCain denying his request, citing both practicality and the impossibility of determining fair use with reasonable certainty without a court ruling. “Lawyers and judges constantly disagree about what does and does not constitute fair use. No number of lawyers could possibly determine with a reasonable level of certainty whether all the videos for which we receive disputed takedown notices qualify as fair use,” wrote the YouTube general counsel. (More from PC mag and from ars technica.) Lessig Blog has a copy of YouTube’s letter.

Another option for the McCain camp is to send a letter directly to the news networks that have sent DMCA notices to take down McCain videos, and press their fair use claims with the networks.

Sarah Palin parody song, “Vice President” (parody of American Boy by Estelle ft. Kanye)

John McCain finally intervenes to stop his angry supporters from smearing Barack Obama with lies

Saturday Night Live (SNL) – Hall + Oates sing Obama + McCain song

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Saturday Night Live (SNL) spoofs 2nd debate between Obama + McCain (no Sarah Palin or Tina Fey)

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The guy who played Tom Brokaw nailed it!!

McCain mistakenly calls audience “my fellow prisoners”

Stephen Colbert declares John McCain winner of 2nd Debate

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Cleveland Browns players Brady Quinn + Joe Thomas campaign for John McCain

Poll: Barack Obama beats John McCain in 2nd debate

News: So far, the McCain camp hasn’t posted any highlights from the 2nd debate on its YouTube channel. The conventional wisdom was that John McCain had to score a “game changer” in order to resurrect his campaign.

John McCain refers to Obama as “that one” during debate

Not one of John McCain’s finer moments last night.