My stint this year as the executive producer of Eyeblast.tv confirmed what I suspected before I began the job — that conservatives are way behind the online video curve. But I was also pleasantly surprised to see some top-notch video work by conservatives, both amateur and professional.

Here are my picks for the Top 10 Conservative Videos of 2008 and why I chose them:

10) I Am Sarah Palin: Top female, conservative bloggers took a stand for Sarah Palin amid sexist media coverage of the Republican vice-presidential candidate. The video showcased the right’s online superstars and their creativity.

9) Children Sing Hymns To Obama: California parents who supported Obama gathered their children in a home to sing praises to “The One.” Negative publicity about the incident, including video parodies like this one, prompted the user to yank the video from YouTube. Other worshipful videos suffered the same fate later in the campaign.

8) Just Tell Us The Truth: This four-minute compilation of clips drew a clear distinction between the views about life expressed by Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin. It was one of several compelling videos about abortion, a topic largely ignored by the media during the presidential race.

7) Hillary Clinton’s Bosnia Lie: When Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton “misspoke” about being under sniper fire while in Bosnia as first lady, the press accepted it at face value. But Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center smelled a lie and found the CBS clip that exposed it. He showed conservatives how to do the investigative work that liberal journalists won’t. Clinton’s lie became a major story in the Democratic primary because of the clip, which also inspired a much-watched parody.

6) Obama’s Passion For Spreading The Wealth: A anonymous producer known to the online world as Naked Emperor News unearthed multiple audio and video clips that revealed the radical views of Obama, including this one about redistributing wealth. Like the Bosnia video, Naked Emperor News’ grassroots opposition research provided the kind of scrutiny Obama should have faced from the mainstream media and proved that conservatives can be the media. If you can’t beat ‘em, bypass ‘em.

5) Exposing Planned Parenthood (Episode 1, Episode 2): These are the first of two videos in the “Mona Lisa Project” being produced by Live Action Films. The investigative videos expose the illegal and unethical practices of Planned Parenthood counselors. Students for Life of America has produced similar videos. All of them are noteworthy not only for what they reveal but because YouTube has banned several of them as “inappropriate content.”

4) Not Wallet: In a video titled “Not Alex,” the liberal extremists at MoveOn.org manipulatively used a baby and distorted McCain’s words to criticize his views on the Iraq war. A conservative blogger answered with this “Not Wallet” parody, which effectively used the same 30-second ad format and theme of MoveOn’s ad to turn the discussion toward Barack Obama’s pro-tax economic views.

3) Burning Down The House: When conservatives create videos that strike a chord with the public, they often become the target for copyright-infringement “takedown notices” at YouTube. That’s what happened to this video about the financial crisis and what caused it. The mash-up showed people that liberals are really to blame for the current housing crisis. David All of techRepublican landed an exclusive interview with the video’s creator after the copyright controversy.

2) Joe The Plumber’s American Dream: Conservatives may not be great at creating original content, but they know a good clip when they see one and work relentlessly to make people notice. American voters definitely noticed Joe (The Plumber) Wurzelbacher. This is the clip that started the Joe the Plumber phenomenon and helped expose Obama for the spread-the-wealth radical he is. McCain arguably would have been defeated more soundly by Obama had this video not become a centerpiece of discussion late in the campaign.

1) Dear Mr. Obama: The power in this video comes from the personal experience of the veteran who made it. He practiced the message of sacrifice that Obama preached. The video earned 13 million views on YouTube, was mentioned as the top Obama-related video by a liberal publication, The Nation, and finished second to “Yes We Can” among election-related videos.