barack-obama

Facebook rigged for "Hussein" hack

Paul Boutin · 08/14/08 04:00PM

Supporters of giggle-monikered Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama have been changing their middle names to Hussein on Facebook and other sites for a few weeks now. Now Jordan Golson — yes, he used to work here — claims Facebook lets him change to Hussein instantly, but puts other changes on a 24-hour hold. Jordan smells a liberal bias at Facebook. Conspiracy theorists will note that Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes left the social network to run Obama's Web campaign. My guess: The staff just got tired of reviewing every single Hussein change.

Barack Obama Will Be the Only Black Person at the Democratic Convention

Pareene · 08/14/08 10:46AM

Every four years, the Democrats have Jesse Jackson come speak at their convention to remind black people that even though the party has nominated yet another old white guy, they are still the party of civil rights and not being racist all the time. This year, though, the Dems have gone and nominated an African-American! So, Jesse, your services will not be needed. "Ronald Walters, a former Jackson aide who is the director of the African American Leadership Center at the University of Maryland, said he does not think Jackson will be asked to speak at the convention," The Hill Reports. Sad. Al Sharpton isn't coming either! All because Jackson said he wanted to cut Barack's nuts off on television that one time. You whisper one castration threat, suddenly you're not welcome at prom. Hey, guess who else isn't invited-black Congressman Charlie Rangel! Rangel-as a New York politician-vocally supported Hillary Clinton throughout the primaries. But it's not like he's done anything to stab Obama in the back since then! Still, he will not be speaking in Denver. The Hill says there might be some black politicians allowed to speak, though. Like Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty! Who is much younger and less, uh, riled up than Jackson, Sharpton, or Rangel. He's also way more boring. But this is the face the Democrats would like to present to the nation: the party of calm, cool, young black guys. (Colin Powell, by the way, is not showing. Bill Kristol is a buffoon.)

Tim Kaine Definitely Will or Won't Be Your Next Vice President

Pareene · 08/14/08 10:04AM

Did you know that charismatic Virginia governor Tim Kaine is on Barack Obama's Vice Presidential short list? It's true, according to today's New York Times! "Now the Obama campaign is eyeing Mr. Kaine as a potential running mate, seeing in him a like-minded breath of fresh air who has also shown he can win in a red state," Kate Zernike reports today. Pretty convincing! In totally unrelated news, the Washington Post reports today that the selection of former Virginia governor Mark Warner to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention is a "hint" that current Virginia governor Tim Kaine will not be Obama's VP choice. "If Kaine were chosen as Obama's running mate, two Virginians would have back-to-back prime-time speaking slots, a scenario that party officials regard as unlikely." This is great media management by Obama, right? No one knows anything! [WP, NYT]

Polite Brits To 'Caution' Christian Bale On Assault

Ryan Tate · 08/14/08 08:26AM
  • Christian Bale is set to get a "caution" about his alleged assault on his Mom and sister in London, but only if he admits guilt first. Comedian Russell Brand: "In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved. Christian Bale, I believe whilst in a restaurant, rolled his eyes at the lighting. That is an offense punishable by five years in prison in the United Kingdom."

Idiot Columnist: Powell To Endorse Obama

Pareene · 08/13/08 04:42PM

Back in the day, confused Republicans used to like to pretend that careerist military hack Colin Powell would be the first Black President, because he is a Republican who is mostly well-liked. Powell never wanted the job, because he generally refuses to accept positions that force him to do anything other than follow orders (he is a very good soldier! cf. that fucking UN speech), and now he's a pariah for embarrassing the Republican Party in the UN speech and not being a very good Secretary of State. Now terrible hack Bill Kristol—who, as far as we can tell, has no professional or notable personal relationship with Powell—claims he knows for sure that Powell will endorse Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. What a scoop! You know, if it's true.

Obama now No. 1 on Twitter

Paul Boutin · 08/13/08 02:20PM

I'm sure his followers will make a big deal of Captain Change's rise to the top of Twitter's most-followed-feeds scoreboard. But, um, look at the rest of that list. Nearly as many people are tuned into Digg founder Kevin Rose's meticulously documented drinking problem. Note to Obama staffers: Whatever you do, don't enrage 56,661 Twitterers by announcing his VP choice to CNN before you tweet it. Then again, there are 228 times that many voters in the AFL-CIO, and they watch TV. Go for it.

George Clooney Latest Obama Ally to Face Charges of Improper Text-Messaging

STV · 08/12/08 03:20PM

We saw the disgrace that unfolded recently when Scarlett Johansson's putative e-mail relationship with Barack Obama was exposed for the sham it was, so it's with great care that we broach revelations that George Clooney is reportedly the Senator's new Hollywood BFF. As seen in the accompanying video, however, Obama's new Special Envoy for Text-Message Policy (West Coast) drew attacks Monday from the reactionaries at the Fox News institution Red Eye, which touched on Clooney's underqualifications as both a leading man and a filmmaker: "Do you want to take advice from the man who looked at the Batman and Robin script and said, 'Let's do this'?" Indeed, while we admit bristling at last week's GOP smear linking Obama to Paris Hilton, even we must acknowledge that the "nipple suit" is a far-too-sizable albatross for anyone to contend with come November. [Fox News]

Edwards, Obama and the Olympics

cityfile · 08/12/08 02:40PM
  • Nightline's exclusive interview with John Edwards on Friday night? It didn't pose much competition to the Olympics on NBC. [THR]

Barack Obama Art Exhibition Stops Off In L.A. Wondering Who's 'Got Next!'

T-RO · 08/12/08 01:35PM

I can't remember any other politician in recent memory who has inspired artists as much as Barack Obama. From the moment I saw the Shepard Fairey "Hope" poster, I knew that Hillary Clinton's presidential bid was toast. Just as she had inspired t-shirts eight years ago that gave an indication she was gaining enough buzz to enable her to win the Senate seat, I knew that Obama had captured the imagination of the general public when his visage turned into iconography. But for all the artists who have been jumping on the Obama bandwagon of late, there's one artist who has been dedicating his time to making art about the politician long before it was trendy. Ray Noland, aka Cro (Creative Rescue Organization), presented a blink-and-you'll-miss-it show at the HVW8 Gallery last weekend. Tag along as I take you on a quick-run through the inspiring exhibition.

Angelina Jolie's lips make it into 2.3 percent of all email traffic

Nicholas Carlson · 08/12/08 10:20AM

Angelina Jolie does so much good with her fame, she's almost like Bono, except her accent is more transatlantic than Irish. Or like Princess Diana, but alive. But sometimes, Jolie's fame is put towards evil use. For example, The Wanted. Also: spam. Jolie's name makes a lot of people click on emails. Secure Computing reports that each day, some 2.3 percent of all email traffic contains Angelina Jolie's name in the subject line. Think "Angelina Jolie naked," "Angelina Jolie nude movie," or "Angelina Jolie naked video,"writes InternetNews.com's Andy Patrizio. The 10 most common names associated with spam emails are below. We're glad to see so many people interested in nude movies featuring Barack Obama and George Bush.

Whose Book Will Ruin Everything For Barack Obama?

Ryan Tate · 08/12/08 05:49AM

Various people became quite alarmed when New York said the following at the end of a long article on Barack Obama's campaign and race: "In October, Obama's former pastor, [Rev. Jeremiah] Wright, will publish a new book and hit the road to promote it, an occasion that might well place the topic of Obama's blackness (along with his patriotism and his candor about what he heard in the pews in all those years at Trinity Church) squarely at the center of the national debate." Oh, EXCELLENT.

Windmills Will Win the Election!

Pareene · 08/11/08 12:59PM

Kinda spooky crane shots through futuristic windfarms are the new adorable little girls sleeping at 3 a.m.. Or puppies, maybe. Both Barack Obama and John McCain used the same damn shot in recent ads, suggesting that their energy policies are both based on pissing off Ted Kennedy and his neighbors. They really ought to have someone vet stock footage, right? Our own Richard Blakeley spotted the matching footage and put together the damning clip that will swing this election to Ron Paul. Paul only uses fiercely independent stock footage the mainstream media are too scared to show you.

Want Barack Obama To Whisper VP Secrets To You?

Ryan Tate · 08/11/08 01:25AM

A donor to the Barack Obama presidential campaign forwarded an email from the Democratic candidate offering very special early notification when Obama picks his running mate. Obama even offered to text the guy's phone with the news just as soon as it's decided. "You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice," the campaign wrote. Only problem? Obama is saying the same exact thing to random strangers on his website. He's probably just trying to build a big email list to spam/telemarket for donations, which is predictable, but also NOT change we can believe it, damn it. Full email and blown-up spam form (picture, left) after the jump.

It Had to Be Done: Barack Roll

ian spiegelman · 08/10/08 12:03PM

Try as I might, I cannot resist posting this. You're gonna see it somewhere-if you haven't already because it's been spreading madly for the last 24 hours-so you may as well see it here first. Actually pretty clever vid after the jump.

Bill O'Reilly Devours Conscience-Stricken Movie Blogger

STV · 08/08/08 07:10PM

Jon Voight's recent toe-dip into the murky pool of political commentary attracted more than a few piranhas, the hungriest of whom may have been Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells. And after a July 29 blog item suggested freezing Voight's career as payback for his public condemnation of Barack Obama ("If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn't pissed me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, 'Voight? Let him eat cake'"), Bill O'Reilly came a-calling last night with a theory about a new Hollywood blacklist against conservatives. While we (and Wells himself, apparently) had hoped for a more bloodthirsty offensive from Wells, we're endlessly engrossed by his session on Dr. O'Reilly's couch, elucidating the vengeful feelings inherent to angry industry bloggers everywhere. Seriously, Bill, this is nothing — wait until Oscar season. [Fox News]

Paris Hilton Reveals Campaign Platform: Line of T-Shirts at Kitson

Kyle Buchanan · 08/08/08 12:00PM

Some things are simply too fragile for this world, and so it goes with our newfound toleration for Paris Hilton. After building up unexpected goodwill with her on-point McCain rebuttal, Hilton has immediately moved to quash the memory of those kudos with a mercenary cash grab: she's rushing out a line of "Paris for President" T-shirts (to be sold exclusively at Kitson, natch). E's Marc Malkin has more on this flagrant abuse of the campaign finance system:

New York's Biggest Bundlers

cityfile · 08/08/08 06:00AM

The Obama and McCain campaigns have released lists of their biggest bundlers, the 98 people who have helped raise more than $500,000 for the two presidential candidates so far. There are nearly 20 residents of the tristate region on the list, although McCain has a significant local advantage—12 people versus Obama's four. See the names and details for yourself after the jump.

This Is All Meaningless Until the Conventions

Pareene · 08/07/08 12:17PM

John McCain's been hammering home his "Obama's a celebrity" angle for weeks now. The not-so-hidden message behind those ads is an old and effective one-Obama is the candidate of Europeans and Hollywood nutjobs. Get it? Now Democrats are upset that Obama's not fighting back hard enough. Meanwhile, the polls remain infuriatingly even. Attached, a graph of InTrade market predictions closing prices for Obama over the last couple months, measuring how likely an Obama victory is. As you can see, the polls are nearing a statistical tie but Obama's still the odds-on favorite to win. Here's the thing, though-nothing that happens in the campaigns between now and the conventions means a damn thing. We're in stasis. Silly season. It's media Groundhog Day, replaying and debating the same stories and narratives over and over again. Sometimes they'll switch the players around-now McCain's on top! But we're still in the post-primaries hangover. Once that campaign finally ended, Obama got his requisite little bump and then things evened back out. But the campaign stories now are just an excuse to pass the time. The citizens who care about politics were already energized by the primaries. As those dragged on, the likely voters all made up their minds. The undecideds and uninformed maybe grew briefly interested or invested, but by the end they were burned out. The campaigns they don't want to energize everyone again until the final leg of the battle, so for the most part they're treading water (Obama) or just throwing shit out to see what sticks (McCain). The majority of Americans, even the ones who probably will vote this year, are not going to pay attention again until the conventions provide something interesting to look at. Those of us who are still obsessing over every little campaign detail are just torturing ourselves. The polls will remain in stasis until Denver and St. Paul, then we get to actually see where this godforsaken nation is heading. In the meantime, enjoy your stupid Paris Hilton videos and tire gauges and trips to Sturgis and surprisingly pleasant Entertainment Weekly interviews (McCain loves Viva Zapata, the forgotten Elia Kazan/Marlon Brando collaboration. Obama says Shrek 3 was "not as good at the original.").