Updated at 11:55 a.m. on Sept. 10

It's rare that footage from a congressional committee gets much play the first time it's aired, let alone repeat viewings. But somehow, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., has become a YouTube sensation for his opening statement during a hearing about health care reform. The nearly four-minute video has drawn almost 2.9 million views. Many are watching the clip on blogs where it's shared, but the link is also being forwarded across the country in e-mails with subject lines like "a clear look at Obama,s [sic] health care plan."

The video shows Rogers expressing intense opposition to the plan, saying that it will take away benefits and punish the 85 percent of Americans with health insurance just to help the 15 percent who don't. He quotes Abraham Lincoln's famous line: "You can't make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak." Rogers, a cancer survivor, then quotes statistics from the National Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Intelligence Centre in the United Kingdom and the Canadian Cancer Registry to argue that cancer survival rates are better under the U.S. system. He closes with an impassioned plea to protect the middle class.

"The very innovation of who we are is what got us here, and it wasn't the federal government and it wasn't Washington D.C. It was individuals who stood up for themselves and said 'we can do better,'" Rogers says in the video. "And because of that we have the greatest middle class on the face of the earth, and this is one more tick in their ability to succeed ... We must and can do better. This is a travesty, Mr. Chairman."

The sentiment of the video -- that the government-run system will hurt the middle class and diminish quality care -- is one that's been spreading through conservative ranks, so it's not surprising that the video has struck a chord. But with pundits like Glenn Beck and enraged town hallers saying the same things in arguably more entertaining fashion, why has the congressional testimony gotten all the hits? Sylvia Warner, Rogers' press secretary, said that's a question the office is having trouble answering.

"I think it has to do with the fact that he's so direct," Warner said. "It's very succinct, but it very clearly states the major concerns across America on this issue."

Even though Rogers' office is fond of using video (he has an active YouTube channel), the staff hasn't publicized this one, and none of their other videos have taken off.

"He has a video where he talks personally about his own fight with cancer," Warner said. "That one to me is very compelling, so I was surprised that this one got more attention."

The video mentioned by Warner has received only 10,000 hits, and only a few others on his channel have gotten more than 10,000. But how significant is 2.9 million views? Only four of the 1,866 videos on President Obama's YouTube channel have exceeded that number.

Coming next week: NationalJournal.com fact-checks Rogers' video.

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