Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

  • http://openid.aliz.es/Surv Surv

    “Every president says a lot of stuff and none of it follows through” at least someone knows what’s up.

    Interviews with normal people are sorta unfair since we all sound like idiots regardless of who we vote for.

    • Mark_Frauenfelder

      I would sound like an idiot explaining why I’m supporting the Guns & Dope candidate for president, but I think there are plenty of people who could do a good job explaining why they support their choice.

  • shocking

    Stupid people are so cute!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Flugfrei-Jones/1403604860 Flugfrei Jones

    it’s that “deer in the headlights” look when they are asked to further explain their fox news talking points.. that’s where the funny is.

    • SomeGuyNamedMark

      Give them a chance to consult the TV first before answering.

      • FoolishOwl

        In fairness, it takes practice and preparation to explain one’s views in an interview. Many people will totally freeze up when surprised by a camera.

        Meatloaf doesn’t have any excuse, though.

  • bigorangemachine

    I face palmed so hard I gave myself a black eye.

  • voiceinthedistance

    This video was specifically posted to try to cure those of us who suffer from low blood pressure, right?  I felt mine rise, right on cue.  

    I will admit, though, that I didn’t make it all the way through, as I found myself looking for a pencil . . . to insert in my eye socket.

    • franko

      you mean you didn’t get to the part about the sneaky buddhists?

      • Preston Sturges

        Oh those fucking buddhists.

        • SomeGuyNamedMark

           Those meditating bastards

      • http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

         That was the best part of the whole damn video, without a doubt.

        • flickerKuu

           OH you know they are out there…

      • voiceinthedistance

        Thanks for the tip.  I went back and watched.  That was pretty entertaining.  The problem with the Buddhists is that you kill them, and they keep coming back again.  

        I definitely hope to see a policy soon that prevents rapists and Buddhists from immigrating to the U.S. of A.  Why we let either in in this day and age is a mystery to me.  We just need to determine where to put the fence, and then make it taller.  Much taller.

        • Rich Keller

          What if the Buddhists die and get reincarnated inside the fence?!!

          • voiceinthedistance

            Curses!  Foiled Again!

      • http://twitter.com/_bgw17 bgw17
  • autark

    it takes a special skill to be able to interview those people and keep a straight face

    • pjk

      He is really good at that. I am legitimately impressed. Whenever my dad says some of the stuff these people are saying, it ends in shouting and vein-bulging.

  • Cowicide

    I came for the rally, but stayed for the meatloaf.

  • edgore

    This is why we can’t have nice things.

  • http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

    I am above poking fun at the mentally ill.
    ;)

  • 〠

      Changes, lotsa changes!

  • http://www.somelovemusic.com/ Tuff Luke

    Kudos to the team that went into the rally to collect this footage.  If I had attempted to do this, I feel like, after only a few minutes, I’d have cut and run … like a Bat out of Hell

    • oasisob1

      You took the words right out of my mouth.

  • http://twitter.com/zhasu Zhasu
  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

    I’m not in any way a Romney supporter, but in all fairness:

    If you randomly select a bunch of people from a partisan crowd, of any political persuasion, you’re going to get a lot of dull cud-chewing stares and squirm-worthy quotes.

    • Henry Pootel

      The Daily Show did some great interviews at the two primary party conventions that showed this to be quite true.  The best were the name callers complaining about the other people being name callers.  That and the guy who kept pointing his finger while saying, “We need to stop the finger pointing!”

      *edit*
      Ah here we go -> http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-19-2012/finger-pointing-blame-game

      • http://www.facebook.com/bob.scarduzio Bob Scarduzio

        I thought that that bit was actually extremely weak. Yes, there were some people at the DNC who were legitimately being intolerant (e.g. calling Republicans “rednecks”). But, with a bit of critical thinking, we can see that the following claim is legitimate – “I will fight for every person’s right to equality, and I reject and repudiate bigots.” 

        You can call bigots whatever you want, homophobes, religious extremists, so on and so forth – but their rights to equality aren’t in question (and if they were, a humanist would defend them). Therefore there is no contradiction. “Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”

        But yeah, the guy pointing his finger made me lol

    • http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

       I’d be kind of interested to see whose interviews did not make the final cut.

      • inkfumes

        If you go to the youtube author’s page he has some b-roll interviews.

    • class_enemy

      Yes, and if you edit your program or your website so that only one side’s airhead supporters are ever shown, the bias is blatant.

      I’m voting for an anti-war candidate.  Not Obama, not Romney.  And I live in a swing state, too.

      • http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

        That will send a message!

      • Navin_Johnson

        Thanks for your Green Party vote!

        *oops…you meant somebody else….

        • class_enemy

          Actually, I could support voting for any candidate who has not endorsed the president’s right to assassinate  American citizens at a whim.  Stein and Johnson are both lightyears ahead of Mitt and Barry.

          • Antinous / Moderator

            Ben and Howard?

    • Napalm Dog

      And I’d like to think that’s the most substantial reason we’re mired in a two-party system. I do have to admit as a RAGING Independent  myself though, an outside observer if you will, that the right side of the constituency are willfully ignorant. It just boils down to their god for the most part…

  • Steve White

    Not Meatloaf again!

    • millie fink

      Yeah, it’s gotten really stale by this point. Spoiled rotten, even. It’s no wonder that when Romney was on stage with it, he moved away.

  • http://twitter.com/sfrazer Scott Frazer

    You win, I could only make it to 3:18.

  • Preston Sturges

    “I’m voting for Oat Willie!”

  • K-9

     I can’t be the only one who started thinking of “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”.

  • hughstimson

    Anytime I’ve ever been interviewed I’ve managed to forget every reason for everything I thought ever. Just sayin’.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

       Only time I was ever interviewed on the street for TV I think I did quite well. I didn’t make it on the news because I thought the renovations to the Maryland governors mansion were awesome and I spoke with my flat East Texas vowels. I should have remembered to fake a Maryland accent.

      • hughstimson

        Anytime I’ve ever been interviewed I’ve managed to forget my Maryland accent and my flat East Texas vowels.

  • http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

    Did that one dude really call Obama angry?  Obama is like Spock on downers!

    Also, the old lady with the somewhat crazy hair…  That lady is…  I should be nice, huh?

    • Scott Slemmons

       Well, of course he’s angry. We all know that all black men are Angry Black Men!

      • http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

         Angry black men are angry? 

        • http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

          Turns out they may also be BLACK

      • Navin_Johnson

        Haha yeah, lots of coded language in there that can easily be distilled down to “He’s black!”

    • Anon_Mahna

      That old lady.. deja vue..

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YIq5Q15L1o

       

  • Jay Converse

    I’m a middle-aged white guy who voted for Mr. Obama last time, and will vote for him again.  I will get great joy at pissing this idiots off.

  • http://thisisonlya.blogspot.com robcat2075

    Remember in your high school civics class… how the teacher would explain the Electoral College by saying, with a chuckle, that the founding fathers didn’t trust the people to make a wise choice, that they thought the common class might be too easily deceived by tricksters?

    This video would only confirm everything the Founding Fathers thought about their lessers.

    • Navin_Johnson

      If we didn’t have the undemocratic EC, then both candidates wouldn’t have to spend so much time catering to these idiots in swing states.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nell-Anvoid/100002383626402 Nell Anvoid

    Sorta like shootin’ fish in a barrel, isn’t it?  I do give the interviewer props for maintaining a serious demeanor, though.

  • pecoto

    Come on now.  We all know how this works, you interview a couple of dozen people and then cherry pick the ones that sound crazy/ridiculous/funny.  Jay Leno does this almost every night.  I figured people had already figured this out already…..I guess not.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003979144832 Andy Snee

      People aught to be intelligent enough to take it as a work of comedy and not a statistically founded intelligence quota of romney voters.

      Plus, rallies are terrible places to find smart, un-emotional voters.

    • millie fink

      I get your point, but OTOH, I think it would take a LOT of time and effort to find anyone in that crowd who can make a  reasonable, well-supported case for Romney (basically cuz there is no such case to be made).

  • GertaLives

    I never particularly liked Meatloaf. Then I heard a radio piece about Meatloaf both suing and personally lighting into a British tribute act. I was moderately confused that anyone would impersonate him, but utterly baffled that Meatloaf isn’t flattered/amazed to have inspired the act let alone enough fans to sustain it. Now comes this, and I wonder how anyone can still believe in a benevolent higher power.

    • Boundegar

      Give the guy a break.  When was his last hit, like the 1940s?  Doesn’t he have the right to spend his golden years yelling at the TV and suing his perceived enemies?

  • http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

    Always love these NLM videos. The best part for me was the guy wearing the “A&F” shirt at 2:20 who contradicts himself and doesn’t even realize it…

  • otterhead

    Every Romney supporter I’ve talked to has used some variation of these statements:
    - “Everything the President says is a lie is just scare tactics. Besides, Obama’s a worse liar anyway.”
    - “I don’t pay much attention to the things Romney says about abortion or gay marriage or taxes. Presidents never do the things they promise.”
    - “He used to be a moderate conservative. I’m sure he’ll swing back that direction once he’s elected.”

  • The Grim Snark

    Meatloaf. My most hated of all loafs.

  • FusionEnvy

    my fellow Ohioans are insane

  • foobar

    Well that’s properly horrifying. Halloween is over, you know.

  • ahrimano

    This is an excessively exuberant exerciser in exposing the reasons for expediting expatriate dreams and eventually expanding the possible distance between the ever encroaching gene pools of those who desire such eugenic energies and those who have no idea what this sentence means.  We shouldn’t have to expose the idiocy (on Goddard’s scale of lunacy) of the general public or celebrate it in laughter as if it doesn’t affect us.  The erudite who desires to expose inherent flaws in a given system without the balls to provide effective and relevant erudition only desires to illicit a disruptive effect within that system with little care of any residual effect.  Perhaps the next time he goes out interviewing he should hand out free contraceptives.

    • http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

      Exactly

  • Caz Granberg
  • http://creamneuron.tumblr.com/ creamneuron

    Oh Shiiiiiii… He’s all Three???

  • http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

    Meatloaf WTF!  (In case you bailed on the video clip, skip forward to 7:52).   Even Romney is wondering what’s going on.

    • millie fink

      Best part is how Romney edges away once the Loaf goes batshit.

      • http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

        New Theory: Donald Trump is actually a Democrat super-troll, who unleashed Meatloaf upon the Romney campaign to ensure defeat. Trump’s twitter bullshit is just a diversion.

  • miasm

    Speaking as an Atheist, Jainist, Muslim, Taoist, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Bonpo of the Western-Internets Mystery tradition, I can only agree that if we don’t keep people like me out of politics, the whole enterprise will begin to appear misguided.

  • http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

    I noticed how in the brief part where they showed Romney talking to the crowd he said “I saw a story today … Jeep is thinking of moving ALL production to China.”

    Note how he says “I saw a story today”– this way technically he’s not telling a lie, because he never clarifies that this story he saw is actually completely made up (and I bet he probably saw that story on one of his own TV ads), in fact I’m sure he KNOWS it is false, Jeep is NOT moving all production to China, and has said so publicly.

    I wonder about Mitt’s Mormon faith, how deep it is, because like most Christians you’re not supposed to lie, there is a very clear commandment regarding that, “thou shalt not bear false witness”, and regardless of how he threads the needle with “I saw a story today…” he is still using a lie to further his aims.

    • mv_sidow

      Precisely the point. I would also include this: the whole Mormon religion is based on one lie after the next, so I don’t think there is a conflict for Mitt in being a first class liar. His whole life is a lie. The GOP as well, has created a fictional version of Obama to run against to fit their talking points; then there is the actual President and the actual statistical facts and evidence that is indisputable how he has turned this economy around from disaster back on the right track. How he is the most respected President internationally we’ve had since Ike.

      The rest is the Koch Bros/Murdoch/Rove LIE Machine which Romney represents quite capably…. and here is why:

      “All we have to do is replace Obama. We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate. Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become President of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.”

      ~Grover Norquist, calling for conservatives to elect a weak President they can use as a puppet, CPAC, February 2012. NOTE: While Norquist did not specifically mention Romney, other Republicans on this list have noted Romney’s weak leadership skills and his lack of spine in standing for what he believes in. Bryan Fischer stated in an earlier quote that Romney would be a pushover as President, which is exactly the kind of President that Norquist wants.
      –addictinginfo.org

  • http://thisisonlya.blogspot.com robcat2075

    I recall when Christopher Lee hosted SNL and introduced the musical guest with “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet… Loaf!”

  • http://twitter.com/illusiodesign Chuck Spidell

    Examples of people abducted by aliens.