Macaca Moments Reconsidered: Electoral Panopticon Or Netroots Mobilization?

Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7:143–162, 2010 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1933-1681 print/1933-169X online DOI: 10.1080/19331681003748891 WITP Macaca Moments Reconsidered: Electoral Panopticon or Netroots Mobilization? Karpf David Karpf ABSTRACT. This article addresses popular misconceptions about so-called “Macaca moments”— high profile candidate gaffes that are captured on YouTube, receive a cascade of citizen views, and contribute to some substantial political impact. Since the 2006 Virginia Senate race, when Senator George Allen made the original “Macaca” gaffe and went on to be narrowly defeated by his chal- lenger, the term has become synonymous with the transformative influence of YouTube. This article constructs a case study of that Senate race through the archived blog posts on DailyKos, the largest progressive blogging community in America. It compares this case study with a second high-profile candidate gaffe occurring in the 2008 election season—Michele Bachmann’s verbal misstep on Hard- ball with Chris Matthews. The central argument of the article is that the impact of these high-profile moments, and of YouTube more generally, must be viewed in the context of the campaigns and organizations attempting to engage in partisan mobilization. YouTube provides additional tools for parties and political organizations, but its influence is often overstated when academics and commentators focus on the technology in the absence of the organizations that use it. KEYWORDS. Blogging, netroots, politics, youtubenetroots “This fellow here, over here with the yel- media would take a great look at the views low shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name of the people in Congress and find out, are is . He’s following us around every- they pro-America or anti-America? I where. And it’s just great. Hey, let’s all think the American people would love welcome Macaca to America, welcome to to see an expose like that.”—Congress- the real world of Virginia.”—Senator woman Michele Bachmann (R, MN-06), George Allen (R-VA), August 11, 2006 October 17, 2008 “What I would say is that the news media The so-called “Macaca moment” is often should do a penetrating expose and take a treated as indicative of YouTube’s transforma- look. I wish they would. I wish the American tive effect on American politics. Named after Dave Karpf received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania in August 2009 and is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University’s Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. His primary field of interest is the Internet’s effects on political associations. The research presented here was conducted while he was serving as a Fellow-in-Residence at the Miller Cen- ter for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Dave would like to thank Rogers Smith, Jack Nagel, and John Lapinski for their supervision and support throughout the writing period. Additionally, Lokman Tsui, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Daniel Kreiss, and Kevin Wallsten provided substantive feedback and early discussion around the underlying theme of the article, and the anonymous reviewers and active participants in the YouTube and the 2008 Election Cycle in the United States conference tremendously improved the piece from an earlier draft. Address correspondence to: David Karpf, Brown University, Box 1977, Providence, RI 02912 (E-mail: [email protected]). 143 144 JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & POLITICS Senator George Allen’s utterance of the obscure efforts, as political campaigns and Internet- racial slur at a camera-wielding, Indian-American mediated organizations incorporate it into their opposition campaign operative during a rally, repertoire. which was caught on tape, posted to YouTube, This article attempts, in essence, to “bring and led to an ongoing controversy, it is the organizations back in” to the study of infor- frequently referenced by scholars and pundits mation technology and politics. Rather than the alike, and is almost as frequently misunder- technology-centric framework commonly used stood. Allen’s subsequent loss in a close Senate to discuss YouTube, social networking sites, race has led the term “Macaca moment” to blogs, and other Internet artifacts, I propose a enter the public lexicon as a synonym for politi- community-centric framework that concen- cal gaffes that are heavily accessed through trates on the new communities-of-interest that YouTube and lead to cascades of media and have come together on the basis of the Internet’s public attention. As Ryan Lizza of The New York lowered transaction costs. As such, it pays Times puts it, “When politicians say inappropriate particular attention to the DailyKos blogging things, many voters will want to know. Now community. Previous research (Karpf, 2008b) they can see it for themselves on the Web” argues that such community blogs function as (Lizza, 2006b, p. 1). Likewise, political scien- quasi-interest groups. The DailyKos community tist Vassia Gueorguieva suggests that YouTube endorses and fundraises for political candidates, “ha[s] increased the potential for candidate engages in issue education and strategic mobili- exposure at a low cost or no cost at all and the zation around policy priorities, engages hundreds ability of campaign to reach out to the public of thousands of volunteers (or “Kossacks”) at for campaign contributions and for recruiting various levels of participation, and even holds volunteers. In addition, [it] ha[s] provided an annual in-person convention. lesser known candidates with a viable outlet to In comparison to all of the public and divulge their message to voters” (Gueorguieva, scholarly discussion of “Macaca moments,” 2008, p. 288). Communications professor David attention to new Netroots political associations Perlmutter writes that “Politicians learned, from such as this one has been surprisingly lacking. the example of George Allen, that the ‘citizen The article attempts to demonstrate the impor- journalist’ with a cause and camera should not tant role played by the Netroots organizations be ignored” (Perlmutter, 2008, p. 105). through the development of two cases studies This article argues that the political impact of of high-profile “Macaca moments:” the original YouTube as an isolated medium has often been George Allen–Jim Webb campaign and the overstated. A closer look at the Virginia Senate 2008 Michele Bachmann–Elwyn Tinklenberg race suggests that the individual “Macaca House race in Minnesota’s 6th district. Relying moment” itself had a relatively small effect on upon a dataset of over 1,000 blog entries posted the Jim Webb–George Allen race. The notion by the DailyKos community, it traces the time that user-generated video content has trans- series of events preceding and following the formed political campaigns into a panopticon in high-traffic YouTube clips, and notes how the which all politicians must beware the prying clips were used as tools in broader campaign eyes and video recorders of citizen journalists efforts.1 fails to account for the heavily skewed power I argue that the political impact of YouTube law distribution of attention throughout the videos is deeply rooted in the usage of such videos Web (Hindman, 2008). Even in the few high- by Netroots organizations such as DailyKos: profile cases where online video of a candidate Simply put, when YouTube videos are high- gaffe attracted substantive attention, detailed lighted by the major Netroots groups, they case analysis reveals that it is not YouTube receive substantial viewership and, more itself, but the self-identifying Netroots political importantly, are converted into campaign dona- community’s involvement, that drives this tions and pressure campaign tactics. Without process. YouTube’s impact on political cam- these donations and pressure tactics, it is paigns occurs in the context of mobilization unclear why large national viewer numbers Karpf 145 would be determinative in the outcome of a of the community-engaging Scoop software local election. platform in 2003, blogs such as DailyKos began Rather than the common technocentric “You- to offer their readers the opportunity not only to Tube effects” explanation, which treats collec- comment on the posts by Markos Moulitsas tive action as though it happens spontaneously (nicknamed “Kos” during his time in the or in response to formal elites, this theory of Army), but also to author their own “diary” “Netroots effects” argues that the dramatic low- posts and have them hosted for free on the site ering of video-content production costs only itself. In previous work (Karpf, 2008b), I argue bears political fruit when organized interests that these “community blogs” function as incorporate them into ongoing efforts. Thus gathering spaces for identity-based communi- the lasting impact of such Web 2.0 technologies ties-of-interest. The DailyKos community, for as YouTube lies not in the dissolution of elite instance, endorses, fundraises, and volunteers for control, but in the creation of more porous a slate of Netroots political candidates, even elite networks and the development of new, holding an annual in-person convention of self- “peer-produced” tactical repertoires. identifying “Kossacks.” The group engages in political education efforts, chooses issue campaign priorities, and attempts to pressure political BLOGOSPHERE RESEARCH: WHY decision-makers. The difference between an STUDY DAILYKOS? elite community blog and a traditional interest group

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