Associated Press:Tape Catching Sen. Burns Falling Asleep Posts to YouTube

[Judi Lynn]

(Sorry to link to Fox, but it's the only source I can get for this story without a subscription)

Tape Catching Sen. Burns Falling Asleep Posts to YouTube
Monday, August 21, 2006
Associated Press


WASHINGTON — When Republican Sen. Conrad Burns briefly struggled to keep his eyes open at a Montana farm bill hearing last Thursday, a state Democratic party operative was right there taping it. Within hours, the video of Burns was on YouTube and available to viewers around the world.

"It speaks to the faster pace of campaigns in the Internet world," said Matt McKenna, spokesman for Jon Tester, Burns' Democratic opponent. The operative, 23-year-old Kevin O'Brien, follows Burns and tapes him whenever he can. If the video is good enough, the Tester campaign will post it on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site.

While viewing the video of an apparently sleepy Burns, YouTube visitors are given a menu of several other videos posted by the Democrats, including Tester's campaign ads. None of Burns' ads appear on the site.

"We direct people to our Web site, not YouTube," said Burns spokesman Jason Klindt. He characterized the YouTube posting as a "gotcha" video, saying Burns had gotten little sleep the night before the farm hearing because a flight had been canceled.
(snip/...)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209637,00.html

[wakeme2008]

1. link to video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_B0i2LukP4

:)

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks a lot! Exactly as bad as you'd expect!

[progdonkey]

7. it's really nothing to be ashamed about...

It's not like the Repub congressman who was autographing pictures of himself while he was presiding over a bill hearing (unfortunately I forget exactly who it was, though they mentioned it on Daily Show), or the other guy who was filling out a crossword during another hearing. Those are real cases of congressmen being totally worthless and derelict in their duties.

But we've all been in Burns' place before. You're sitting in a meeting or in a class--or just sitting around--and your eyes start getting heavy. It doesn't even have to be due to boredom, but lack of sleep the night before, or just that it's 2pm and your body's trying to get that mid-day nap, or you missed breakfast, etc.

The video is funny, though (the music works well), but it doesn't show anything that Burns would really have to make excuses or answer for.

[Occulus]

9. Rule #1 of modern politics:

Never, ever, under any circumstances, give those republican motherfuckers a pass on anything. They wouldn't stay quiet about this if the situations were reversed.

Try to be a little less understanding. They do- daily.

You and everyone should be demanding an explanation. Why were you falling asleep, Mr. Burns? Oh, you were up all night? And what were you doing? Your job? Oh, reeeeaaaally? And exactly what were you working on?

Etc., and etc. We should be cross-examining them for each and every last, littlest slipup. They would do the same to us.

[progdonkey]

10. "demanding an explanation"?

We should demand an explanation for why a guy is nodding off a little, as if it's something no human being has ever done? As I said in my earlier post, it's not like he was focusing his attention on something else (autographing, doing the crossword, etc.), where he could very well give the matter his full attention but chose not to. The guy was feeling tired, but he was trying to stay awake (making this also different from Cheney's multiple naps during five-minute long press conferences, where it's obvious he just doesn't give a shit--or has chronic sleep issues, which is another problem).

Do you really want to fault a guy for being tired because he was up late doing a lot of work (as a hypothetical)? Unless you have some outside proof that his tiredness is due to either sheer boredom or he was partying with hookers the night before, it's stupid to start bitching that it's beyond the pale for a guy to get tired. If you want to go head-to-head with the Republicans, don't fucking give them an opening to explain that Burns was a little sleepy because he was up last night writing letters to the families of dead soldiers (or whatever). ie. If anything, being tired proves he's over-worked, and "demanding an explanation" just provides the Republicans an opening to list all the "hard/important work" he's doing for his constituents.

As for "we should be cross-examining them for each and every last, littlest slipup," crack open Aesop at some point and refer to the Boy Who Cried Wolf. If we start going after them for everything, even the extremely stupid stuff like this, it lessens our credibility when we demand explanations about the serious things (and lessens their apparent seriousness). Not to mention why having heavy eyelids during the day should be construed as a "slip up." I mean, how dare he get sleepy!

Shit, people get tired. Even when you've had a good night's rest and a good breakfast, you're most likely going to have a dip in your energy level during the day. Especially if you had a lot of sugar in the morning, you'll find yourself having a lot of energy only to then crash when your insulin levels rise; regardless of how much you want to stay awake, you just don't have the energy.

There are literally hundreds of reasons for a person to find himself nodding off during a hearing/meeting/lecture, etc., and boredom and lack of interest are merely two of those.

Yes, there's a time to be civil and a time to take off the gloves, but this is neither of those. Sure, the Republicans would probably be making a lot of hay out of this as well, were it a Democrat, but that's because they're Republicans, ie. idiots. We don't have to always be more civil than Republicans, but we should sure as hell be smarter, and faulting a guy for getting a little sleepy during the day is just stupid.

[Judi Lynn]

12. He needs to step aside. The people of Montana deserve to have

someone in that seat who is there to pay attention, and do the job they voted for him to handle.

If he can't meet his responsibilities, it's time to move on. That's NOT the kind of bequeathed position he seems to think it is. It has actual duties he must perform or it's time for a new senator.

[dsc]

14. given his recent horrid behavior toward firefighters

that he berated for supposedly being lazy, yeah. I might have a little more sympathy if he had, had a little more.

[kurth]

11. Exactly. When are Dems going to learn from

the tiny minor details that were swiftboated by the GOP into major issues that sank Gore and Kerry? Take no prisoners.

[ixion]

3. don't you just love FAUX spin?

:sarcasm:

It takes a really poor journalist to write such an openly biased lede.

[rodeodance]

4. you bet it is a Gotcha moment. As it should be.

[zalinda]

5. I watched some of the Tester videos

They are quite good. His and Spitzer's have the same type of flavor. I think these are the ads that we should be running. I loved the haircut one, reminded me of the Lamont's messy desk. I think if we could start injecting humor into our ads, our message would be remembered.

zalinda

[underpants]

6. Comments & Responses

mark as spam thepunditblogger (16 hours ago)
I'm sure he has. The President who a majority of the American people voted for, even after the mess up in Iraq. A President who was Democratically elected.
(reply to this)

mark as spam thepunditblogger (16 hours ago)
"the majority" voted for Bush in 2004. As evidence by the fact he won, and Kerry conceded.
(reply to this)

mark as spam thepunditblogger (16 hours ago)
That's the only tactics Democrats have left, huh. Putting videos online to make fun of someone and then say "Vote Democrat". The only stances Dems take are the anti-bush and anti-republican. No issues fixed, just ridicule. By the way, Democrats voted for the Iraq war. I'm sure you criticize them just as much as Bush, who can only declare war for 90 days without Congressional approval.
(reply to this)

mark as spam dukemeiser (15 hours ago)
Yes, I'm sure there has never been a "democrat" that has fallen asleep at any long boring meeting. I sure wouldn't vote for Tester with these childish fun-poking.
(reply to this)

mark as spam dukemeiser (15 hours ago)
"Save The World America. Vote Democrat This November!" Yeah, they did a great job in Louisiana last year didn't they?
(reply to this)

mark as spam OutaSynch (15 hours ago)
Words that come to mind: thin, flimsy, a real stretch.
Maybe this country would be better off if all the politicians went to sleep. I'd certainly feel safer.
(reply to this)

mark as spam pidpit (14 hours ago)
Why should I vote Democrat? How are they going to keep us safe from terrorism? what's their plan?
Oh wait! That's right! They don't have one.

[sofa king]

8. Hee, hee. I saw him do that at a couple of Indian Affairs hearings, too.

Once I was so amused I couldn't pay attention to anything else, to my professional embarassment. As I vaguely recall, Chairman Inouye sent an aide over to whisper in his ear, and he left shortly thereafter. I can only imagine the message.

But at least he showed up to those hearings once in awhile. Prior to resuming the Chair of the Committee himself, I saw John McCain at a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing exactly once--in about four years. (I didn't go to them all, but I sure as hell went to a lot more of them than he did!)

[Minstrel Boy]

13. It took me a few reads to understand that headline

First time, I thought it meant there was a tape circulating of a Senator burning himself after he'd fallen asleep while posting to YouTube.

Maybe I need some sleep.