barack-obama

Hollywood Promotes the Vote

cityfile · 11/04/08 06:54AM

♦ A long list of celebs have been involved in a last-minute effort to get out the vote for Obama, including Oprah, Diddy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Edie Falco, John McEnroe, Mary J. Blige, Russell Simmons, Beyonce, and Jay-Z. In the elderly celebrity writer department, Vanity Fair's Dominick Dunne says he postponed surgery so he could vote today. [R&M, Politico]
Ivana Trump has been calling Marius Rusovici, the 23-year-old Belgian she's been hanging out with, "her boyfriend," although it may just be a plot to make Rossano Rubicondi jealous. Or stir up some press. Or both. [NYDN]
♦ David Duchovny and Tea Leoni were spotted holding hands while their kids went trick-or-treating on the Upper East Side last Friday, which may or may not mean they're getting back together. [P6]
♦ Sumner Redstone's ex-wife, Paula Fortunato, is still living in his Beverly Hills mansion. But he may have already reunited with his ex-girlfriend, Manuela Herzer. [P6]

Goldman Partners Feel the Pain

cityfile · 11/04/08 06:11AM

♦ Horror of horrors: The average Goldman partner may take home a bonus of $1 million or less this year. [FT]
♦ One of Goldman's flagship hedge funds, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, has lost close to $1 billion since January. [FT]
♦ UBS posted a third-quarter profit, but it still laid off 700 U.S.-based employees last week. [CNNMoney, NYP]

Obama Weeps For His Grandmother

Ryan Tate · 11/03/08 11:03PM

It was around 8 am this morning, John Heilemann reports, that Barack Obama first learned of the passing of his grandmother, a longtime guardian central in his upbringing. The Democratic presidential nominee maintained his composure throughout the day, including during an enthusiastic speech in Jacksonville, Florida. But he could not contain all outward signs of grief tonight at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After a break in a rain storm, Obama delivered a speech that, in part, eulogized his grandmother. It would be hard, in the attached video, to see that this remembrance moved the candidate to tears, but for some dabs of the cheek, so steady and familiar was the candidate's rhythm as he spoke.

Obama's Grandmother Dies

Pareene · 11/03/08 05:39PM

Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died today of cancer. Dunham, 85, largely raised Obama, from the age of 10 on, while his mother worked in Indonesia. She's a huge figure in his book, in his speeches, and in his campaign—the campaign he suspended to visit her just last week. Obama issued a statement with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng:

On Verge of Victory, Liberal Psyche Is Full of Fear and Dread

Pareene · 11/03/08 02:55PM

Do you feel that, liberals? If it's the first Monday of November, it must be nameless paranoid dread time! Maybe Joe the Plumber actually speaks to the secret fears of bitter Ohioans! Maybe Obama's bird-flipping scandal will turn off soccer moms! Maybe the polls are wrong, or tightening! Maybe the voting machines will be broken! Basically today all anyone can think about is how will we fuck this up? See, because all liberals have managed to do for thirty years is fuck everything up. So now they panic. Some have had scary dreams! A reader writes:

Drudge's Last Campaign Bombshell: Obama's Secretly Rude

Pareene · 11/03/08 01:36PM

Matt Drudge has lost it. Utterly, totally lost it. This is his headline, right now, the day before the elections. It links to a YouTube clip of Barack Obama scratching his face with his index and, yes, middle fingers. Just like he did to Hillary Clinton, once! Don't you remember? Now we know who the real Barack Obama is: he is a secret asshole. This is really the best anyone can do, because it turns out all those other secret things he is aren't true. Like, for example, Bill Ayers, radical domestic terrorist and respected professor, did not write Barack Obama's book. This was revealed when California businessman Robert Fox and his Republican Congressman brother-in-law paid an Oxford don to investigate similarities between Dreams From My Father and Ayers' Fugitive Days. The charges were "laughably unsubstantiated." But of course Obama is still a secret Muslim foreigner, right? He was totally born in Indonesia, right? Ha, the Director of Hawaii's Department of Health has actually bothered to respond to the lunatics. You may be shocked to learn that Barack Obama's birth certificate is real. So really all that's left is to basically accuse Obama of everything in the world, all at once, like in this 100% real robocall now being made in Pennsylvania.

John McCain's Cold War With Tina Fey

Ryan Tate · 11/03/08 06:29AM
  • Tina Fey was "frosty" and "awkward" with John McCain on the Saturday Night Live set. Which is weird because McCain has been so polished and friendly in all his other televised appearances. [Scoop]

YouTube Endorsement Puts Obama Campaign In Jeopardy

Alex Carnevale · 11/02/08 08:55AM

I write you, my friends, at a grave time in this country's history. Apparently people think they can just record any old YouTube endorsement of Barack Obama without the possibility of it backfiring and costing the Democrats the presidency. Ben Affleck endorsed John McCain for the greater good of the Democratic Party last night. If you're like him and you find yourself with a lower IQ than the norm and access to a video camera, don't post your thoughts to the internet, especially when those thoughts involve chanting, "Black Man in the White House!" Only the McCain campaign's lack of YouTube awareness can save us now.Can we really rule out that transgender YouTuber (and pop singer) Ms. Chris Crocker is a spy working directly under Karl Rove? Ms. Crocker made herself famous by netting millions of pageviews in YouTubes like "Leave Britney Alone!" Judge for yourself whether she made an egregious mistake in this one:

Don't Call It A Comeback

Alex Carnevale · 11/01/08 09:35AM

When Matt Drudge saw the Zogby poll that put McCain up a point last night, he let out a squeal of glee. "A story I can control!" he shrieked, probably still in his The Crow Halloween costume and makeup. McCain is within the margin of error in one Zogby poll, that much is true. But on the same morning where Drudge tries to sell a McCain victory, respected National Journal Charlie Cook says that the Republican candidate can't win without divine intervention. We have to ask: could Obama really be in trouble?Drudge has to tell his story, and in this case it's that McCain slipped above Obama in what basically amounted to an afternoon and a morning of polling. As of this writing, Drudge's "reporting" consisted of this quoting this John Zogby exercise in hyperbole:

America's CTO does infomercial for Obama

Owen Thomas · 10/31/08 05:40PM

In exchange for his late-to-the-party endorsement of Barack Obama, Google CEO Eric Schmidt got a spot on Obama's prime-time infomercial last night. Note how Schmidt explains his decision, made only after Obama took a substantial lead in the polls: "When I read his economic plan and saw the people endorsing it, Warren Buffett, I thought, 'This is the right plan for America.'" In other words, Schmidt didn't endorse Obama until he saw it was popular with the right people, and might help Google get its search deal with Yahoo passed under an Obama administration. Brave! We still don't think you'll get that government job, Eric.

Lady de Rothschild: Obama Shows His Elitism By Hating the Elite

Pareene · 10/31/08 04:16PM

Prominent Hillary Clinton supporter Lynn Forester de Rothschild, of the noted international finance and banking Rothschilds, recently endorsed John McCain because Barack Obama was, in her words, too "elitist." How elitist is he? He is so elitist, he would like to raise the marginal tax rate the highest brackets pay by four percent, to 39%. This is elitist socialism. Elitist socialism that leads to free money for elitist non-tax-paying poor people. As Rothschild points out at the Huffington Post today:

Five Celebrities In The Tank For Sanctimonious Politics

Richard Lawson · 10/31/08 03:54PM

As AlleyInsider notes today, little online video clips have helped shape the election. And you know who else has helped? Celebrities!! Yes the rich and frivolous famous folks who would like to gay marry the sound of their own voices have been out in force, most supporting a Arab man who drives a fancy Volvo full of explosives named Barack Obama. Though John McCain has had some vocal supporters too, most notably the braying little marmot named The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck. After the jump we'll take a look at Ms. Hasselbeck and several other celebs who have lent their questionable names to their candidates' causes.

Barack Obama: Cockblocker

Pareene · 10/31/08 02:47PM

In November of 2006, Nicklaus Lovelady wrote a shocking column about Barack Obama for the Henry Daily Harold in Henry County, Georgia. The column was a first-hand account of the despicable behavior of Senator Barack Obama during an appearance at the Southern Illinois University Edwardville. Lovelady, covering the event for a local paper, apparently had his eye on "a pretty young thing" interning with a rival paper. But when he tried to ask Senator Obama a question, Obama humiliated him in front of everyone and ruined Lovelady's chances of going home with the pretty intern.

Zac Posen Takes to the Web, Anna Chokes Up

cityfile · 10/31/08 02:21PM

Zac Posen posted a 15-second video online urging people to vote for Obama. Also: He'd really like you to dress for the occasion. "I think blue obviously is the color of choice, and red is a good accent color." Duly noted! [WWD]
Anna Wintour choked up? We can't contemplate the thought. [Unbeige]
♦ Bravo has no less than five new fashion reality shows in the works. [The Cut]
Sarah Jessica Parker has no less than three fragrances to promote these days—Dawn, Endless and Twilight. [WWD]
♦ Chanel creative director (and part-time Vermont resident) Karl Lagerfeld has unveiled Chanel Unlimited, a newline of bags and accessories. [Vogue UK]