Rick Perry might soon boast the most disliked presidential campaign video on YouTube ever.
“[Y]ou don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school,” Perry states in the endorsed message.
Uploaded on Dec. 6, the 31-second “Strong” video has already been disliked 83,544 times, and that number has been increasing exponentially these past few hours—though the view counter, in what’s likely a bug, has been stuck at only 5,150 views.
Comments were disabled for the video. However, that’s only encouraged people to spread their anger and frustration across other social media platforms.
“You’re a hypocritical bigot,” Gwynne Ash wrote on Facebook. “Do you realize how much you sound like the racists in the 1950s screaming that racially integrating the military will ruin America? Do you realize you look just as foolish as they did? You’ve run Texas into the ground. Thank goodness Iowa voters are smarter than those of us in Texas.”
With every presidential campaign, there are at least a few videos that strike a sour note with viewers (see John McCain’s 2008 ads “The One” and “Celeb”). But we wondered just how “Strong” would stack up against some of the other more dishonorable mentions from the campaign trail this year.
“Rick Perry: Faith”
The Texas governor’s faith-based campaign got off to a rocky start with this dud, which has thus far received 8, 364 dislikes.
Mitt Romney: “Believe in America”
Mitt Romney’s went on the attack early against President Barack Obama, criticizing his ability to turn around the economy. The video received a slightly mixed review on YouTube, with the 648 likes contrasted offset by 1,664 dislikes.
Barack Obama: “It Begins With Us”
Of course, the GOP candidates aren’t the only ones getting into the mix. An ad announcing Obama’s intent to run again in 2012 was disliked by more than 6,000, showing perhaps how much of an uphill battle the president has in this election.
Herman Cain: “Now is the time for action!”
Even if he left the race, Herman Cain left his mark with what some people consider one of the worst political ads ever. It’s infamously known as the “Smoking Ad” and has been disliked more than 8,500 times.
