Politics and Fair Use

I read an interesting article on fair use, YouTube, and John McCain this morning in Library Journal's Academic Newswire. It seems that the McCain campaign recognizes the strong contribution that YouTube videos make towards the political process. YouTube, as a result of their continuing legal battle with Viacom, has been very quick to comply with DMCA takedown notices. The McCain campaign has asked YouTube to investigate more closely the request that come regarding political material. So far, Google/YouTube have maintained that this would be impossible. The LJ article notes how this is just another example of how fair use faces numerous challenges in the current climate. Librarians and educators depend on a robust fair use protection of free speech. Looks like I'm on John McCain's side on this one.