After going after Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney back in August, they’ve now turned their sights to his running mate, Paul Ryan.

This Bad Lip Reading is a bit different from the most recent ones. Here, they’ve added some elements and photoshopped some items into the setting that give it a nice story arc. Paul Ryan, no longer able to call his awesome band “Steak Baby” anymore, must think of some new names.

We won’t spoil it, but some of them are pretty great. Check it out below:

We’ll be waiting to see if BLR tackles President Obama and Joe Biden in the last month leading up to the election. If you’re still craving some more BLR, check out these equally awesome episodes featuring The Hunger Games and Twilight.

The first mention of the internet in the platform is to state that there should be no regulation of political speech on the internet. Next, an entire section is devoted to the topic titled “Protecting Internet Freedom.” The GOP has chosen to go with its free market sensibilities in regard to the topic, and states that it generally wants things to stay as they are. From the relevant section:

The Internet has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively than any other technological advance inhuman history. Its independence is its power. The Internet offers a communications system uniquely free from government intervention. We will remove regulatory barriers that protect outdated technologies and business plans from innovation and competition,while preventing legacy regulation from interfering with new and disruptive technologies such as mobile delivery of voice video data [sic] as they become crucial components of the Internet ecosystem. We will resist any effort to shift control away from the successful multi-stakeholder approach of Internet governance and toward governance by international or other intergovernmental organizations. We will ensure that personal data receives full constitutional protection from government overreach and that individuals retain the right to control the use of their data by third parties; the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector.

The platform mentions in several other places that the GOP opposes any diplomatic measures that would put the internet under some sort of international regulatory control, such as the UN. It also states that Republicans want to auction off any surplus spectrum to help spread broadband access and dismisses the FCC’s net neutrality stance as government micromanagement.

The Republican platform, however, is not wholly libertarian with regard to the internet. There is another section in the document titled “Making the Internet Family-Friendly.” It details the GOP position that internet gambling should be illegal and pays lip-service to having “service providers” protect children from internet predators.

The full text of the 2012 Republican Platform can be seen on the GOP website.

And as his new page is approaching 2 million likes, Ryan decided to thank his new fans with a video.

“Hey everybody, thanks for following us on Facebook,” says Ryan. “I’m out here on the road, talking to Americans across the country about how we get the country back on track. I’m excited about sharing Mitt Romney’s vision for a stronger middle class, getting jobs and the economy growing again, strong national defense, showing our country a better future…”

“This is exciting,” he continued. “It’s energizing.”

Check out the short thank you video below:

It’s interesting that Ryan would use Tout to get out his message, as opposed the the much more popular YouTube or even Facebook video for that matter. Tout, an online microblogging service, allows users to upload short video clips, usuaslly around 15 seconds. It gained some popularity back in June of 2011 when legendary NBA star Shaquille O’Neal used it to announce his retirement from professional basketball.

Earlier this month, Facebook released some figures about candidate buzz on the site. They said that after Romney picked Ryan, Ryan quickly became the most buzzed-about man in the race.

And this year’s party hasn’t even gotten off the ground yet. Even with a weather delay that postponed all of the opening speeches one day, Twitter users are buzzing about the 2012 Convention.

Twitter announced this little factoid inside a blog post that highlights the creation of a new event page for the convention. Twitter recently unveiled event pages, which feature a mix of algorithmically-chosen and hand-picked tweets about an event. Twitter says they’re designed to give users a central hub for in-depth, real-time coverage and have used event pages for the recent Summer Olympics as well as earlier sporting events like NASCAR races and international soccer tournaments.

Facebook is also making a more concerted effort to cover the election from the social angle. Their U.S. Politics and Government team is taking on both conventions this year, and the company has entered into partnership with CNN to bring election insights as well as a new Open Graph voting app to users.

And if you’re looking for a place to watch all of the convention speeches, YouTube is live-streaming both conventions this year.

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Looking forward to a great day here at #GOP2012 – can’t wait to hear @GovChristie and @AnnDRomney speak tonight !

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The GOP Convention channel is an arm of YouTube’s Elections Hub, which they just debuted last week. The Elections Hub features reporting from The New York Times, Univision, Al Jazeera, the Wall Street Journal, ABC, and more – and will eventually feature live streams of the Presidential debates as well.

But tonight, it’s all about the GOP. You can live stream every word from the featured speakers from now until Mitt Romney’s (highly likely) acceptance speech on Thursday night.

You can visit the GOP Convention page while you wait for live coverage to begin. It features, “did you know”-style facts, conversation boards, highlights from Twitter and Google+, as well as photos, videos, and bios of the featured speakers.

Of course, YouTube isn’t playing favorites with the GOP. Starting September 4th, you can watch all of the action from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. That live coverage will run all the way up to President Obama’s speech at the Bank of America Stadium on the 6th.

Tonight, you can watch House Speaker John Boehner, former candidate Rick Santorum, and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus around the 7pm hour. At 8, you can catch New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayottte and Republican Governors Nikki Haley, Scott Walker, and Brian Sandoval.

Possible first lady Ann Romney is scheduled to go on around 10, and in that hour we’ll also hear from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

This odd little compliment (?) is evidence of a certain problem that some voters have with Romney. To his detractors, the man just seems to struggle with relating to the common man. Between interesting little moments like this, bouts of uncomfortable laughter, stories about strapping dogs to car roofs, and impromptu Baha Men performances, some have come to question his authenticity as a candidate.

Some have even taken it a step beyond that to question his authenticity as a human being.

Now, I have plenty of opinions about Mitt Romney, but I don’t subscribe to the notion that he’s an alien or some sort of cyborg. But the fact remains, some voters are hesitant of a guy who seems uncomfortable in his own skin at times.

Enter James Lipton, the 85-year-old master thespian and host of Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio. He has some advice for the eventual nominee, you know, in order to help him act a bit more…human?

A tinge political in his delivery? Admittedly. Nonetheless, Lipton brings the subtle humor as always. Check it out below:

[Via NY Mag]

The 2012 campaign has seen basically the same thing. Mostly due to the fantastic job the Democratic party did last time to build up their good social media karma, they are still riding high. As you can see from the infographic below, even with all of the Republican Presidential hopefuls put together, they don’t even make a dent into what is an enormous social media advantage for Obama.

Thanks to Overdrive Interactive for this great Infographic!

This kind of forward thinking has allowed the Obama reelection people to focus on promoting their ideals and beliefs, and not spending time to build a social media presence. This is where the ‘Life of Julia‘ slideshow comes in. In something that resembles a Google product release video, ‘Life of Julia’ follows a fictional woman who, throughout different stages of her life, is benefitting from the entitlements given to her by President Barack Obama.

“Julia starts her own web business. She qualifies for a Small Business Administration loan, giving her the money she needs to invest in her business. President Obama’s tax cuts for small businesses like Julia’s help her to get started. She’s able to hire employees, creating new jobs in her town and helping to grow the local economy.” This kind of political showcase is how and where the Democrats have a chance at getting Obama reelected. The Republicans will have a huge unknown factor unless they can do something to show that they know how to run a social media campaign that is effective.

Obama did not just win the Presidential election in 2008, he dominated it. One of the biggest factors as to how he was able to do that, was that he is the first President in history to really nail down the proper way to use social media as a campaign tool. Not only does it reach the masses way faster than any other form of traditional advertising, but it is in most occasions completely free.

Today the Republican party has finally started to get on board with this idea that social media is a viable option for voter connection and they have released the Social Victory Center App for Facebook. The app, which is brought to you by the Republican National Committee, features a lot of ways for either potential, or existing Republican voters to get a little more involved in things.

The social media app features 4 main sections:

News

The news section gives you a one stop place for all the news that the GOP feels you need to know. Kind of pigeon holes you into one set of ideas, but i’m pretty sure you won’t be at this site unless you are a fairly ardent conservative. You have the option of choosing national or local news stories. There is also a videos section, which at this time is populated by political campaign ads.

Events

The events section is where you can find all the national or local events to participate during the upcoming campaign. There are listings that you can RSVP to such as phone banks and county meetups. They also organize door to door and get togethers on election days.

Volunteer

The volunteer tab is an interesting one. There are 2 distinct parts to this section. One part just gives you the names and addresses of the Republican Party offices in each state. The second part allows you to call potential voters and poll them on things that are important right now. All you do is enter your number and you get a phone call from a New York City number that immediately redirects you to the potential voter you are polling.

This is a very cool option, but it also has the potential to backfire, as anyone can do this if they want to.

Discussions

The discussions tab is basically the forum of the site. The big problem is that you cannot submit your own topics for discussion, which is probably done to keep out the extremists. There are a wide range of topics to discuss with people from Obamanomics to Solyndra to the Fast and Furious scandal.

It is obviously way to early to tell if something like this will have the ability to sway voters, or even reassure voters. This election will be one of the hardest and nastiest elections since the early 1800′s when candidates use to accuse each other of having sex with farm animals and cross dressing. It looks like the Republicans are in for the long haul and are ready for the challenge.

It was widely speculated that Gingrich would officially announced the suspension of his campaign on Tuesday – and he has, kind of. He posted a YouTube video to his supporters, announcing that he will officially suspend his Presidential campaign at a press event on Wednesday.

“I wanted you to know first, because your help was vital. We had nearly 180,000 people who donated to the campaign. We had thousands more who worked as volunteers. We had two and a half million voters, all coming together at a grassroots level to try to fight for a better America.”

Gingrich went on to praise a “terrific campaign” and says that he will continue to tour and campaign (for Romney, we assume).

“When we do announce officially on Wednesday that we’re suspending the campaign, it’ll be with great thoughts of those who were with us side by side all these months. And we want you to know that without you, none of this would have been possible,” he closed.

Check it out below:

According to filings, the Gingrich campaign was $4.3 million in debt by the end of March. It’s expected that when Gingrich officially drops out, he will throw his support behind Mitt Romney.

So every time anyone search “Santorum” on Google (and other engines), they were treated with a graphic neologism. His problem has seemingly been mitigated in recent weeks, as that particular search result has been pushed down the page.

That issue received a lot of attention during the campaign, but few people know that frontrunner (and future nominee) Mitt Romney had a similar (albeit less serious) Google problem of his own.

Just a couple of months ago, anyone who searched “Romney” in Google would see a result near the top for the site spreadingromney.com. That site redefined the candidate’s last name into a verb meaning “To defecate in terror.” Let’s use that in a sentence, shall we?

“Dude, I woke up and thought I saw a ghost – I almost Romneyed all over myself.”

All of this stemmed from a story that Mitt Romney probably regrets telling. Meant as a humorous anecdote, it became the focus of the campaign back in January.

Romney detailed one fateful road trip where Seamus, his now-deceased Irish setter got a bad case of diarrhea and made quite the mess all over the car. Not the inside of the car, mind you – the outside. That’s because Seamus was tied to the roof of the car.

Sure, he was secure and in an open-air crate, but you can understand why some people were left a little uneasy by the story. It’s odd to a large portion of the population to strap your dog to the roof on a car trip. As you would expect, he caught a lot of flak for this – the neologism search result probably the least of it. But, of course, the news cycle spins and all is forgotten.

Until it’s brought up again on the national stage.

In a recent interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Mitt’s wife Ann Romney was asked about the Seamus incident. Here’s the conversation, courtesy of ABC:

DIANE SAWYER: As we move away from this primary campaign into the next phase– again, on Yahoo, we got two questions most often, first about Seamus– which as you know is out there forever– would you do it again?

MITT ROMNEY: Certainly not with the attention it’s received.

DIANE SAWYER: You said it was the most wounding thing in the campaign–

ANN ROMNEY: It’s crazy.

DIANE SAWYER:–so far.

ANN ROMNEY: The dog loved it. The dog was, like–

DIANE SAWYER: But the dog got sick, right?

ANN ROMNEY: Once, he– we traveled all the time and he– he ate the turkey on the counter. I mean, he had the runs. But– he would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation. It was to me a kinder thing to bring him along than to leave him in the kennel for t– in– in– in a kennel for two weeks, so.

Crazy because he was excited? Or scared sh*tless? You be the judge.

I can see the campaign ads now: Barack Obama – loves dogs, puts his on the White House Christmas card. Mitt Romney – thinks his dog loves being tied to the roof of a car.

Somehow, in this crazy season of politics, dog-oriented ads don’t even seem like a stretch.

[Image Courtesy]