Politics still going strong on YouTube

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One of the more interesting intersections between the Internet and politics has been the ascendancy of political videos on YouTube. The phenomenon exploded this fall when the video of former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) calling a staffer for now-Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) "macaca" likely cost him the election. But the flurry of political clips didn't subside with the election – this week three of the 20 most-viewed videos and three of the 20 top-rated videos feature members of Congress or parodies of them.

Shooting up the charts, for example, is this video of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) positively railing against Republican members of the Senate last week. They were holding up the minimum wage increase bill in hopes of extracting concessions for impacted businesses. Kennedy exploded with anger, asking, "Do you have such disdain for hardworking Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? ... What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive that you won't permit even a vote... we don't want to hear any more from [Republicans] for the rest of this session about permitting and not permitting votes in here when you're denying a vote on the most simple concept, an increase in the minimum wage. We don't want to hear any more about that. This is filibuster by delay and amendments. I've been around here long enough to know it when I see it and when I smell it."

To get an idea of what Kennedy was so incensed about, check out Congresspedia's page on the minimum wage increase bill, which includes details on the amendments. (The bill, incidentally, just passed a cloture vote and is headed to a final vote on Thursday or Friday.)

Other videos came from the State of the Union: a "blink-off" between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Vice President Dick Cheney (final count: Pelosi 32, Cheney 0), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) apparently snoozing through the speech and a parody video featuring impressions of Bush, Pelosi, Cheney and Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Now, granted, the top-rated video of the week is a Japanese anime cartoon, but the most-viewed video of the week is: Sen. Clinton singing a... rather strained rendition of the national anthem. 835,660 people have watched this video; voluntarily, we can only assume.

Finally, in what is likely to become the most influential political video on YouTube this year, Sunlight Foundation executive director Ellen Miller's interview with Fox News this weekend is now available in its full glory on your computer screen: