April 2008

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Pigs for Obama: YouTube clip of Roger Waters at Coachella

Filed under: Barack Obama

Via Drudge Report comes word that during Roger Waters' performance at Coachella, he launched an inflatable pig that endorsed Obama:

The pig, which was led above the crowd from lines held on the ground, displayed the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read "Fear builds walls."

The underside of the pig simply read "Obama" with a checked ballot box alongside.

Here's a YouTube clip of the pig launch. Obama is written on the sow's underbelly and comes into focus at 1:54 of this clip:

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 28, 2008 11:39 AM | Comments (1)

 

CGI Ron Paul can survive a flood and keep talking

Filed under: Ron Paul

Just when you thought it was safe, Pennsylvania. Just when you thought we had narrowed the field to three major-party candidates. Ron Paul is back! With a vengeance.

Well, not "Ron Paul," exactly. The Paulbots that stalk the Internet seeking heretic blood have created a golem in the man's image, a cybernetic libertarian warrior, a bizarre animatronic orator. A Paulbot that is almost literal.

Don't take my word for it. Watch this "High Tide" promo, which features a computer generated animation of Paul speaking while hilarity ensues all around him.

Watch it twice. I'm serious. Otherwise, you'll miss the details, like submersible doves swim-flying around the submerged candidate as flood waters abate. Or Ron's avatar traveling through time to meet and blow off the framers of the Constitution. An unseen cheering throng comes into full throat as money flies around Paul.

This is one weird video. There is no getting around it.

Weirdest of all, the real Ron Paul has moved on from the presidential race, choosing to focus on keeping his congressional seat. In his place, we have this technological vision of his backers.

The question is: is this a good trade? As the comments in this thread make clear, I think Ron Paul is a bigot who has shamefully made a political career out of pandering to the worst elements of society. Might we be better off with a mere simalcrum?

Let's consider the points in favor of each candidate: the real Ron Paul and the CGI version.

REAL RON PAUL

"I swear I didn't know about all the racist stuff my campaign did for 40 years."

FIVE POINTS IN REAL RON PAUL'S FAVOR
* Doesn't want to bomb Iran, wants to pull out of Iraq
* Wants online poker to be legal
* Wears an oddly confused expression even when expressing rage, which takes the edge off and makes him appear marginally sane
* Keeps fighting on against unimaginable odds, which makes him kind of like a vampire Don Quixote -- probably utterly impossible to kill
* Has less empty, soulless eyes than CGI Ron Paul

CGI RON PAUL

"I'll swallow your soul."

FIVE POINTS IN CGI RON PAUL'S FAVOR
* Can survive a flood and keep talking while water should be filling his mouth
* Meets the Founding Fathers, but more or less ignores them, showing he's his own man (er, animated character)
* Can avoid temptation to "make it rain" while a money whirlwind surrounds him (shows independence)
* Took no money from white supremacist groups, does not have Klan members organizing for him, did not oppose the Civil Rights Movement
* Is not real

The last item is the most desirable trait of them all, one I wish the real Ron Paul shared. One day, this dream of a Ron Paul-free world will be realized. But until then, CGI Ron Paul has my vote.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at April 22, 2008 5:27 AM | Comments (38)

 

Hillary Clinton on YouTube: I'm F*cking Obama

Filed under: Sex

Inspired by Sarah Silverman, here's the Hillary Clinton mash-up:

Now someone needs to make a Bill Clinton response video, "I'm fucking Monica Lewinsky, and Paula Jones, and Gennifer Flowers, and ..."

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 21, 2008 8:55 AM | Comments (0)

 

Obama: Our first hip hop presidential candidate

Filed under: Barack Obama

Several months back, I happened across an interview with Obama on BET entitled, "What’s In It For Us? Barack Obama And the Black Vote." What really stunned me was when Barack started talking about being a fan of hip hop, including Jay-Z's new album, American Gangster:

I love the art of hip hop. I don't always love the message of hip hop. There are times when even ... with the artists I named -- the artists I love, you know -- there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but also something I'm really concerned about, it's always talking about material things. Always talking about how I can get something. How I've got more money...

This was in stark contrast to most politicians, who can't denounce hip hop fast enough. I thought this was truly a revolutionary moment--our first hip hop presidential candidate. To me, it represented Generation X penetrating the political establishment, much like JFK was for the baby boomers.

I was reminded of that yesterday when I was watching TV and saw Obama mime Jay-Z and brush the dirt off his shoulder in reference to ABC's embarrassingly shallow debate.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who picked up on the reference, because there's now this amazing YouTube mashup that features Jay-Z's Black Album banger as a soundtrack:

I love the bald black dude over Obama's right shoulder who gets the reference immediately and starts pointing like he's in the front row of a hip hop concert.

Obama's got 99 problems, but Hillary ain't one.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 18, 2008 4:13 PM | Comments (1)

 

ABC roundly panned for Philly debate questions UPDATED WITH VIDEO

Filed under: Media

I don't know if Obama or Hillary won the debate, but I know who lost: ABC.

The network is being booed all over the Internet for ignoring serious issues like Iraq and the recession in favor of asking "gotcha" questions about flag pins on lapels, imaginary sniper fire, and ... the Weather Underground?

Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher called it, "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years." Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic called it "a travesty" and quipped, "Don't you miss the League Of Women Voters?" Huffington Post uploaded a video clip of the audience booing hosts Charles Gibson and a sampling of viewer feedback from the ABC website which as of this posting had over 7,000 comments, almost universally negative. DailyKos noted that "it took 52 minutes to get to a question about Iraq" and posted ABC's phone number if you want to call the network to complain (212-456-7777).

Probably the weirdest question of the night was when George Stephanopolous asked Obama about his alleged relationship with a member of the Weather Underground, a group which hasn't posed a threat to the United States in decades. It turns out Stephanopolous got the question from Sean Hannity when he appeared on his show earlier this week.

Pitiful.

UPDATE: Here's a video of some of the more ridiculous questions.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 17, 2008 5:52 PM | Comments (8)

 

Anonymous sources run amuck

Filed under: Media

As a journalist, I recognize that it's sometimes necessary to use anonymous quotes, but they should be used rarely, and carefully. Which is why I was stunned to read this paragraph in a piece on Obama's foreign policy experience in the new issue of Newsweek:

Even some Dems who'd favor him in any contest against McCain also worry that Obama is overplaying his experience. "I don't know whether he's drinking his own Kool-Aid," says a former senior member of the Clinton administration who is not backing either Democratic candidate but would talk only on condition of anonymity because of his private-sector job. "I'm all for talking to the Cubans, or to the Iranians. I'm just not sure he's the guy to do it. The biggest administrative job he ever had was collecting articles for the Harvard Law Review."

Emphasis added. The idea that this source is "not backing either candidate" even though he worked for Hillary's husband stretches credulity--especially in light of the harshness of the quote. ("I don't know whether he's drinking his own Kool-Aid ... The biggest administrative job he ever had was collecting articles for the Harvard Law Review.").

Let's imagine if the shoe was on the other foot:

"I don't trust Hillary Clinton," said a anonymous source who used to work for Michelle Obama but is not supporting either candidate. "Didn't she just get caught lying about sniper fire?"

The thing is, the anonymous quote about Obama doesn't add anything to the article, except nastiness. It could easily have been excised, and should have been.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 16, 2008 10:59 PM | Comments (0)

 

The hawk's hawk gives McCain two talons up.

Filed under: John McCain

Remember John McCain tacitly receiving the endorsement of George W. Bush on the White House lawn several weeks back? Good gravy that was awkward. It looked like this:

As McCain works tirelessly to win over skeptical and often hostile conservatives, discomfiting alliances are starting to look like the norm. Lately, John Bolton (the patently hawkish and admirably mustached former U.N. ambassador) is shouting McCain's hard line foreign policy credentials from the mountaintop (I'm picturing one of those mountains with the apocalypse bunkers built into it).

Here's what Bolton had to say in a commentary piece by Bloomberg's Albert R. Hunt:

On Iran, McCain "takes a harder line than the Bush administration,'' Bolton says approvingly and expresses confidence that as president he would take a tougher stand against North Korea than what he considers the erratic Bush posture.

On Russia, Bolton -- the hardest of hardliners when he was in the Bush administration -- says McCain "takes an even harder line than I do. He wants to toss them out of the G-8. He is not about to be pushed around by an assertive Putin.''

Some of the so-called Republican foreign policy "realists,'' who reigned during the administration of the president's father, hope this is mostly campaign rhetoric; as president, they argue McCain would revert to a more multilateralist, less-confrontational approach.

Bolton says they're daydreaming. He has no problems with McCain's praise for Henry Kissinger, the quintessential Republican foreign policy figure: "Kissinger is a plus now.''

Kissinger. Yikes. Whoever is driving that Straight Talk bus ought to get a newer map.

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at April 15, 2008 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

 

Don't trust this poll: 20-point Obama swing is proof it was an outlier

Filed under: Barack Obama

Remember a week ago when I linked to a poll showing Obama pulling dead-even with Hillary in Pennsylvania and argued that it must be an outlier? Well, new numbers released today by the same polling company, American Research Group, now show Obama down by 20 points, 57-37.

Steve Perry at MinMon claims that the swing was caused by Obama's comment that small-town voters cling to God and guns because they're bitter. I disagree. Even if that comment did damage him, there's no way it would be enough to cause a 20-point swing in just one week. Rather, I think this is proof positive that the April 5-6 poll showing the candidates locked at 45 percent was indeed an outlier and not an accurate poll.

The lesson: All polls are not created equal, and it's important to be skeptical and study the fine print before jumping to conclusions about what a poll "means."

Pennsylvania
Likely Democratic Primary Voters
Mar 7-8 / Mar 26-27 / Apr 5-6/ Apr 11-13
Clinton 52% / 51% / 45% / 57%
Obama 41% / 39% / 45% / 37%
Someone else 1% / 2% / 4% / 2%
Undecided 6% / 8% / 6% / 4%

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 14, 2008 11:17 AM | Comments (6)

 

GOP sex scandal of the day: Bruce Barclay

Filed under: Sex

Republican county commissioner Bruce Barclay of Cumberland, Penn., steadfastly denied allegations that he'd raped a 20-year-old man. "This accusation of rape is ludicrous," he said in a statement. "It will be defended forever and is wrong."

Barclay was in the right. He had an iron-clad alibi. The young man was one of the prostitutes with whom Barclay had shared hundreds of sexual encounters over the years -- and he'd videotaped all of them, using high-tech surveillance cameras without their consent.

None of the subjects were aware they were being filmed and no permission had been obtained, Barclay admitted. According to a second warrant issued on April 9th, Barclay also admitted to hiring prostitutes on a weekly basis from the now-defunct website harrisburgfratboys.com.

Barclay admits to taping as many as 500 sexual encounters over the years. I know you're thinking what I'm thinking. Was one of these prostitutes Jeff Gannon?

You've got to wonder why gay Republicans stay closeted. Isn't the tent the party has pitched big enough to accommodate above-boards homosexual sex?

Well, maybe not yet. Swingers like Roger Stone can roam from orgy to orgy and remain high-level Republican operatives. The message: If it's your wife you swap, you stay an op. If it's guys you crave, stay in your cave. Or something.

Not everyone has turned on Barclay. He's got backers among the Mechanicsburg High School drama department, who named their theater after him due to Barclay's generous donations.

Word on whether his donations went to musical theater programs was unavailable at blog time.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at April 14, 2008 7:46 AM | Comments (0)

 

Hillary Clinton laughs when she lies--the Colombia episode

Filed under: Hillary Clinton

You know how Hillary Clinton always laughs to get away from a question she doesn't want to answer? Well, check out the Joker-like performance when she's asked about possible conflicts of interest in her position on Colombia:

I've thought Hillary was lying on this issue ever since she came out opposed to it when her husband Bill is for it. This strikes me as exactly the kind of having-it-both-ways that Obama called her on in Cleveland--you can't get the credit for Bill's presidency if you're not willing to take responsibility for what was wrong with it. This is also why I'm beginning to think it's not inappopriate for Chelsea Clinton to be repeatedly asked about Monica Lewinsky. There are a lot of unresolved issues from the first eight years of Clinton presidency that need to be resolved before we sign up for another four.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 11, 2008 10:03 AM | Comments (10)

 

Alex Keaton, (Republican) America needs you now!

Filed under: National Republicans

"A generation ago," writes David Frum in his latest column, the Republican Party "owned the youth vote." It's an easy thing to forget, but Frum has not:

In 1984 and 1988, first Ronald Reagan and then George H.W. Bush won first-time voters and under-29 voters by big margins: 20 points in 1984. The twentysomethings of the 1980s remain the most Republican cohort in the electorate to this day ... Today's twentysomethings are the most anti-Republican age group in the electorate.

Frum offers up a list of things Republicans can do to win the kids back, ranging from hopping on the "green" bandwagon to pushing a more nuanced anti-Roe v. Wade stance.

In the end he defers his hopes for the party by a few years, imagining an Obama win and betraying a sense that it may be too late for Republicans and their youth vote this time around. "Young people react to the success or failure of the first politicians they know," he writes, adding:

If the inexperienced Barack Obama wins — and then discovers that there is more to being president than giving speeches — we could discover that the next generation of young people reacts to the failures of an Obama presidency by rediscovering the enduring Republican principles of limited government, individual rights, strong national defense and pragmatic effective governance.

And with that, Frum pointed his browser to Youtube, sipped from his coffee, searched Alex Keaton, and smiled.

Wait. That was me...

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at April 9, 2008 3:45 PM | Comments (0)

 

Obama pulling even with Hillary in Pennsylvania?

Filed under: Primary

This poll, showing Obama pulling even with Hillary in Pennsylvania, cannot possibly be correct:

Pennsylvania Democrats

Mar 7-8 / Mar 26-27 / Apr 5-6

Clinton 52% / 51% / 45%

Obama 41% / 39% / 45%

Someone else 1% / 2% / 4%

Undecided 6% / 8% / 6%

While I think the Bosnia lie did significant damage to Hillary's campaign, and Obama wasn't hurt nearly as bad as was initially suspected on the Radical Reverend (thanks in large part to the candidate's widely-hailed race speech), I think this much of a swing is beyond credibility and this poll is likely an outlier. That said, even a single-digit loss in Pennsylvania would be a win for Obama, and he appears to be building up an avalanche of support in North Carolina.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 7, 2008 4:32 PM | Comments (1)

 

McCain shrugs off Secret Service: Bravery or campaign stunt?

Filed under: John McCain

The top political story today is that McCain doesn't have Secret Service protection.

Word comes from Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who told a Congressional committee that the Arizona senator never asked for protection.

"Statutorily, he is not required to take protection," Sullivan said when asked about McCain's security during a hearing on the agency's budget. "As far as an actual request, we have not gotten one. We have no involvement at this point."

A request from McCain seems unlikely anytime soon, however.

The two-time presidential candidate has said he does not want Secret Service protection, fearing it would interfere with his brand of intimate campaigning among voters. McCain also has said he'll try to last as long as he can without it.

"I've never done it. After we won New Hampshire in 2000, they really tried to get us, but we said no," McCain said last November while campaigning in Concord, N.H. "It's an invasion of your ability to have contact with voters."

Now, I'm pretty sure this is meant to evoke toughness. You know, McCain don't need no stinkin' Secret Service. Mofo survived a tiger cage.

But here's what it evokes in me: John McCain is really, really old. So old that he doesn't bother with Secret Service protection cause an agent can't jump in the way of a heart attack. So old that death within the next four years is practically inevitable, assassin or no. So old that the scare of an assassination attempt is as likely to kill him as the bullet.

Do we really want a president that is almost guaranteed to die in office? A president who recklessly disregards his personal safety (and by extension, the country's) by daring an assassin to take a shot at him?

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 4, 2008 10:11 AM | Comments (3)

 

Still 3 a.m.? Somebody pick up the damn phone!

Filed under: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton is out with a new 3 a.m. phone ad ... AND THIS TIME THE CRISIS IS ECONOMIC!

Jeez, you'd think she would have retired this schtick once it was revealed that the young girl in the bed is actually an Obama supporter.

Here's the new 3 a.m. ad:

And here's the original counter-3 a.m. ad by the little girl whose welfare Hillary is supposedly there to protect:

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 2, 2008 5:20 PM | Comments (1)

 

Think Hillary opposed NAFTA? Watch this video and think again.

Filed under: Hillary Clinton

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 1, 2008 8:56 PM | Comments (2)

 

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