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politics
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John McCain
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politics
Politics
John McCain using Google to background-check potential vice presidents
At a fundraising lunch in Richmond, Virginia yesterday, John McCain joked, "Basically, I did a Google" when researching possible vice presidential candidates. One would hope a campaign with nine-figure funding would be able to hire people more familiar with Internet technology to do it for him, lest TechCrunch reconsider its endorsement. Just imagine the dirty tricks search-engine optimizers could pull! More »
politics
John McCain advertising alongside Al Jazeera on YouTube
John McCain has joined Barack Obama in lining Google's pockets with cash from his admittedly smaller campaign warchest. But a couple of flubs here could hurt the candidate. First, I seriously doubt his target demographic is watching much Al Jazeera. And he used a jowl-free photo from his youth, not something up to date — which is typical of creepy older men looking to rob the cradle on social networks, not a candidate who's trying to sell himself as a rigorously honest plain-talker. Maybe Pablo Chavez, senior policy counsel at Google who's contributed $3,750 to the McCain campaign, could send a note suggesting some changes in the the ad buy instead of a check next month. (Screenshot by Steve Rhodes)
cleantech
R. James Woolsey and the rise of the greenocons
How to make your cleantech capitalist dreams resonate with the hicks and hawks of Washington, D.C.? In a perfect storm of liberal guilt and heartland pandering, former Secretary of the Navy and CIA director R. James Woolsey has become a domestic-energy sustainability convert. And he's just one of a number of red-blooded Americans who support the war in Iraq and investment in renewable energy, according to Mother Jones. Woolsey joined Henry Kissinger, who hasn't met a long-range bombing platform he didn't like, in endorsing John McCain, whom Woolsey compared to environmental steward Teddy Roosevelt. If cleantech startups want to drink from the fountain of defense spending that has traditionally irrigated the Valley, they need to pay attention. More »
1:20 PM on Thu May 22 2008
By Jackson West
925 views,
4 comments
Latest by Rachel Marsden: @scalawag: He aint worth the sweat off my balls, honey. more »
Obama leads in the widget race
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama traded states again last night, but Obama is only a handful of delegates away from securing the Democratic Party's nomination. The latest Web metric — widgets embedded on social-network pages — puts him firmly in the lead against John McCain. If only widgets counted as much as having a Republican running voting-machine maker Diebold. [ReadWriteWeb] (Photo by Steve Jurvetson)
politics
Former HP CEO on offshoring profits
American corporations that keep profits earned overseas can indefinitely keep that money out of the country in order to avoid paying American taxes. Former HP CEO and current John McCain campaign spokesperson Carly Fiorina says that gives companies an incentive to develop factories and jobs in markets abroad. Rather than close the loophole, Fiorina says it's better to lower the taxes. But then I have to ask, how will we pay for those wars overseas? I mean, besides slashing the social safety net and borrowing more money from China? The clip above is part of a longer interview with This Week with George Stephanopolous that ran yesterday morning. Her comments on McCain's environmental policy mirrored those made by the candidate at a whistle-stop in Oregon today.
politics
Carly Fiorina doesn't shoot down possible run for vice president
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who currently holds the title of "victory chair" of the Republican National Committee, sat down for an interview with HispanicBusiness magazine. She pretty much spoke to both sides of the H-1B visa question, saying that the country should welcome "smart, hard working people," but that McCain also believes in "retaining workers and revitalizing their ability to compete." More interestingly, when asked directly if she's interested in the position of vice president, she didn't shoot down the idea. "Ultimately, that will be up to John," she demurred. (Photo by AP/Charles Dharapak)
politics
John McCain: There will be an increase in H-1B visas in our time
Is former eBay CEO Meg Whitman impacting John McCain's immigration policy? Currently, the U.S. government refuses to raise the cap on H-1Bs, the visas which allow foreign engineers to work at American companies. This despite the fact that By 2010, Asians will account for 90 percent of the world's engineers. In this clip McCain says he'll fix that problem. Though not without due concern for the terrorists, of course. More »
politics
IT professionals split on Obama vs. McCain question
In a survey that found Obama and McCain in a dead heat among IT professionals, Clinton and Huckabee came in a surprisingly close second for both parties. The methodology seems suspect: Where were the Ron Paul supporters? [PC World]
dirty tricks
How to use the Web to be a race-baiting opportunist, or Swiftboating 2.0
Why are the Republicans hiring, and then suspending, the likes of "consultants" Soren Dayton? Because they're desperate to catch up to the Democrats when it comes to building candidate support online, and will pay anyone armed with buzzwords, apparently. When lovable nutjob Ron Paul can pull a bigger audience of Web supporters than someone who might actually win the ticket, your party has problems. Don't worry, GOP! Valleywag is here to help with a handy guide on how to game social networks for political advantage without getting caught. More »
Soren Dayton supporters form Facebook group
Speechwriter and think-tanker Joshua Treviño has started a group , "Support Soren Dayton!", for the embattled ex-campaign aide to John McCain. [Facebook]
Speechwriter and think-tanker Joshua Treviño has started a group , "Support Soren Dayton!", for the embattled ex-campaign aide to John McCain. [Facebook]
politics
McCain boots campaign aide for posting YouTube link to Twitter
Soren Dayton, an aide to the McCain campaign, posted a link to his Twitter account of an inflammatory YouTube mashup of Barack Obama's recent speech on race, remarking that it's a "Good video on Obama and Wright." The video mingles clips featuring Obama, wife Michelle, controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright, and Malcolm X, the ultimate redneck boogieman. Of course, the post was quickly deleted, followed by the entire Twitter account, and now Dayton's been suspended from the campaign. Way to leverage social media! After the jump, the clip the McCain campaign either wanted you to see or didn't, depending on when you asked: More »
politics
The top ten employers in California congressional District 15 include Cisco, Stanford, HP, Lockheed Martin, IBM, Intel and Google. Here's a hearty congratulations to the 9,388 of you voted for John Edwards. Good job. Too bad he isn't running for president anymore. Absentee voting by mail, a popular option in California, likely explains their votes. Another 8,104 of you voted for a guy — Mike Huckabee — who thinks Noah coaxed a T-Rex on board the Ark. Next time, if you want to participate in civic affairs, why not spend the afternoon editing Wikipedia? Here's how the rest of Santa Clara County voted, according to the Mercury News. More »
9,388 in Santa Clara disappointed to learn Edwards no longer running
The top ten employers in California congressional District 15 include Cisco, Stanford, HP, Lockheed Martin, IBM, Intel and Google. Here's a hearty congratulations to the 9,388 of you voted for John Edwards. Good job. Too bad he isn't running for president anymore. Absentee voting by mail, a popular option in California, likely explains their votes. Another 8,104 of you voted for a guy — Mike Huckabee — who thinks Noah coaxed a T-Rex on board the Ark. Next time, if you want to participate in civic affairs, why not spend the afternoon editing Wikipedia? Here's how the rest of Santa Clara County voted, according to the Mercury News. More »
don't be evil
Goody two-shoes Google bans political "personal attacks"
Google has banned all personal attacks from political ads running on its ad network. "'Crime rates are up under Police Commissioner Gordon 'is okay, but 'Police Commissioner Gordon had an affair' is not,' writes Peter Greenberger on the Google Public Policy blog. Which of course means if Google had its way with the rest of the world, you'd never have heard of John McCain's black baby, Hillary Clinton's cookies or Barack Obama's drug dealing. Boring!
Senator and presidential candidate John McCain stops off in Silicon Valley, is greeted by a half-empty room and interrogation by original Red Herring founder Tony Perkins. "Pretend we're your VCs that have given you some money..."
[San Jose Mercury News]
Add another politician's name to Google's visitor logs. Presidential candidate and YouTube superstar Ron Paul will address Google employees this Friday, following in the footsteps of fellow candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
