lifetime video fix for political junkies and policy wonks

February 1, 2006 11:46 AM

If last night's speech didn't satisfy your thirst for politicians in front of audiences, head over the the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, where the video archives of every taped JFK Jr. Forum are now available for free. Hours of fun reflecting on past mistakes with Robert McNamara, worrying about WMDs with William Perry, thinking about peace with Shimon Peres or giggling with Jon Stewart. Delve into the past, watching John Perry Barlow talking about the internet and elections in 1996, or compare Bill Clinton before and after. George W. Bush hasn't spoken there, but both his parents have, as well as a 2008 hopeful or two. (all embedded realvideo).
posted by allan (6 comments total)

This is a goldmine. Thanks!
posted by nyterrant at 12:29 PM on February 1, 2006

Technical question: Any way to get the plugin to work with Real Alternative?
posted by Saucy Intruder at 2:47 PM on February 1, 2006

This is awesome. The Governor Clinton video is must-see.
posted by js003 at 3:00 PM on February 1, 2006

nice post except everyone hates politicians. watching them anymore than we have to is torture.
posted by j-urb at 5:03 PM on February 1, 2006

You know who I hate more than any politician?

Rob Glaser, CEO of RealMedia, scum of the earth. Worst digital video format ever created. If you want to 'release' internet video that you don't want anyone to actually see, release it in streaming RealVideo. Noone will see any of it but for a few frames, maybe.

Why do you think all of the viral advertisers use Quicktime and WMV, usually in their non-streaming-only forms? `Cause they actually want people to view their fucking adverts.

What drives someone to pay a shitload of money for a server to 'stream' RealVideo istead of just encoding it in normal Quicktime or WMV, and uploading it to a normal webserver, for free, in a form people can reliably view. Even FlashVideo would be tolerable.

Why does RealMedia even still exist? Are there really that many video-website running fools with a pile of money they'd like to be parted with?
posted by blasdelf at 6:53 PM on February 1, 2006

i fucking totally agree with blasdelf. this is a shame.
posted by phaedon at 12:20 AM on February 2, 2006