Nipslips and upskirts must be the inspiration behind Beavercam. I laughed myself silly at the intrepid buck-toothed rodent strapping a webcam to his furry head while trolling Hollywood Boulevard. Having just viewed the riotous DVD of Alvin and the Chipmunks, I see a real future for The Beav.
And then I got to thinking, which came first, BeaverCam or BarneyCam?
Barney, that lovable lolling canine of Dubya and Laura Bush, is the ostensible star of holiday themed webisodes created on behalf of our Executive Branch. I first learned about Barney's star power when White House insider David Almacy spoke at the morning plenary of GW University's 2008 Politics Online Conference.
Let's just say I've been waiting for the right opportunity to set the record straight about these webisodes and though this may not be it, I'm taking my shot.
According to David, BarneyCam was born by strapping a camcorder onto the President's pet and allowing him to romp around the White House grounds. Staffers wanted to provide information about the Executive Branch and limited access to the President on Whitehouse.gov and saw the videos as a way to attract the public. The pilot episode received over 8 million hits.
After reading my article about the Conference, David got the impression that President Bush was dying to be part of BarneyCam, sort of muscling his way in on Barney's success. He wanted me to know that wasn't the case. According to David, the President is and always has been the focus of these episodes.
The first time President Bush joined the cast, he made a joke about the number of viewers, something about whether his episode would get as many hits as the pilot. As I stated in my article, the President's webisode had low viewing stats, not because he was unpopular, but because the White House allowed other sites to embed the video.
Here's the feedback I received from David:
You are correct about the first [Barneycam focusing only on Barney] - I was referring to every one since. There wasn't a specific episode just focusing on the President and the shift occurred starting in 2005 as the Internet grew. The conversation I had with him about the 8 million [viewers] was not a separate meeting but rather just before we taped his part for that year's BarneyCam.
Phew! I am so glad to get that weighty matter off my chest, especially in an article about upskirts, nipple slips, and links to the President's daughter.