Oregon legislature gets ‘Rick Rolled’ on YouTube

Unless you are a die-hard political junkie, most legislative debate videos are about as exciting as watching paint dry on a really humid day.

But in what could be the most glorious political clip you watch all day, someone has assembled footage of Oregon state legislators and spliced it together into a recreation of Rick Astley's ubiquitous '80s pop ballad, "Never Gonna Give You Up."

In other words, the Oregon legislature got "Rick Rolled."

You can watch the video after the jump, via YouTube:

In case you've been living under a rock the past several years, being "Rick Rolled" is an Internet joke that essentially involves a bait and switch. Viewers are advised to click a link that they believe is a video about a specific topic, only to have it interrupted with video of Astley's cheesy 1987 hit.

Even the nation's top leaders haven't been immune from the practical joke. In 2009, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated the launch of a special YouTube channel for congressional videos by posting what viewers thought was footage of her cats fumbling around her office. But roughly 30 seconds in, the clip abruptly segued into Astley's shimmying.

The big mystery about the Oregon video, which has quickly gone viral, is whether lawmakers were in on the joke. So far, none of the House legislators featured in the spot have publicly commented on the clip, which was posted, perhaps not coincidentally, on April Fools Day. But a source close to the operation suggests they were. The Ticket will bring you more on this story tomorrow.

(Screenshot of Rick Astley via YouTube)