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Joe Trippi Interviewed
MikeCapone writes "Mother Jones and Alternet interviewed Joe Trippi,the guy behind the Howard Dean campaign ('the candidate lost but the campaign won'). He has a new book out, 'The Revolution will not be Televised' (click for excerpt), about how the Internet is radically changing the way politics is done. Choice quote from the interview: 'The open-source stuff was amazing. I mean, 650,000 brains are a lot smarter than the 50 [...] They spotted stuff that we didn't see, came up with ideas we wouldn't have thought of, and made the campaign a lot stronger. Just like how open-source works in running software -- it's the difference between Linux and Microsoft.'"
'the candidate lost but the campaign won'?
Last I checked, Linux has yet to win the OS wars.
What success did his campaign really have? Aside from charging up the angry Bush-haters, he made no headway with the mainstream. When the primaries came, he couldn't manage to win even one. Even John Edwards came up better than Dean, and now he's the Vice-Presidential candidate.
This open-source nonsense is just that. Outside of the liberal, techy crowd, Howard Dean and his movement is a distant and faded memory.
Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.
I would rather have 50 known productive workers than 650,000 unknown hobby-hackers...
I have just finished "The Success of Open Source" by Steven Weber. (I found out about it in a Slashdot book review.) He pretty much proves that open source methods can outcompete top-down management models. He also points out that just being open source doesn't guarantee success. Figuring out how to make open source work is quite tricky.
Having said the above, the internet will change political campaigns just as surely as the advent of television did. Of course, the nature of that change isn't clear to most of us yet.
Last night's edition of "Nightly Business Report" was saying just the opposite, that the Internet's effect if pretty minimal overall and the biggest results come from good ol' rallys, picnics and door to door volunteers talking to everyday people in the street. Web sites could be rallying points for the jacked-in crowd, but the vast majority it's still just AOL/MSN, pop-ups and spam, with a few emailed photos from relatives and offspring at college. However, NBR was emphasizing personalized, point-casting the message toward individuals over the mass media network broadcasting as a winning strategy.
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Sorry, the DMCA, software patents and similar legislation have demanded that nerds get political. It's not about left or right. It's about freedom. For too long nerds have relied on just doing the tech., while politicians have put obstacles in the way. In my opinion you are beginning to see the nerds fight back on the politician's own ground. Let the battle begin...
I've become weary of such declarations. Ironic that the 2004 primary season paralleled the dot-com boom: In both cases the Internet created a tremendous amount of "buzz" and everyone said "The Internet has 'radically' changed the rules and the old model is obsolete" -- yet when all was said and done, "buzz" did not translate into stable business models nor votes, and the declaration of the total death of the old order and conventional wisdom turned out to be premature. (The scream was only part of it.)
The Internet brings incremental changes. "When it comes to technology, most people overestimate the impact in the short-term and underestimate it in the long-term." -- Arthur C. Clarke
Brent J. Nordquist N0BJN
The networks were taking the feed right off the directional mike, while Dean's famous whooping hardly made a dent in the ambient noise of the cheering supporters.
Once again, like 98% of voting Americans, I'll simply be reduced in November to choosing the lesser of two evils.
Dean's direct, logical approach was refreshing. [I recall where his support numbers grew larger in sampled populations as the degree of education increased. His support among PhDs was high.]
Logic didn't win, though. Nor can real people win that make public mistakes once in a while.
No, the only ones that can win the presidency are properly handled actors in collaboration with large money donors and the right adverising talent.
American politics is pure product selling, complete with the deception, innuendo and emotional button pushing that works so well for any other product.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
So, for example, Kerry may have been the winner of the 2004 primaries but the only thing anyone will remember is Joe Trippi and blogs and the cult-ish atmosphere the Dean campaign constructed.
Primaries? Remember? Hahah. The only people that remember primaries are wonks. It's like watching the full regular season of baseball. Who's doing that? Only the hardcore fans.
Of course, I don't see him talking about the other big conflict of interest: the millions of dollars in advertising kickbacks he walked off with.
I don't see it either. And in fact, I've never seen it, so if you would be so kind as to provide some backup to this unsubstatiated claim, that would be nice.
A blog? Hell I would be somewhat pleased if Bush would at least give a damn press conference every once in a while. He has given the least number of press conferences on record, 12. 12. That's over 4 years. 4 years where we had a major tax adjustment, a major terrorist attack, an offensive action against Afghanistan, an offensive unprovoked action against Iraq, a major Medicare adjustment, ballooning defecits, unemployment, a nuclear North Korea and Pakistan.. It's not like there isn't anything to talk about. Oh, how about we do it this way: Don't submit the questions ahead of time. Thanks.
P.S. To the press: Ask the tough questions, and demand answers. Thanks.