<![CDATA[Valleywag: John McCain]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/valleywag.com.png <![CDATA[Valleywag: John McCain]]> http://valleywag.com/tag/john mccain http://valleywag.com/tag/john mccain <![CDATA[ Three's a Trendrr ]]> Dear Trendrr publicist who sent us a data dump on the presidential candidates' social-networking prowess a day after the election: Here's your "hit" on a hot "influencer" site that thinks you're "dumb." Hands up, everyone who still cares how many MySpace friends John McCain has this afternoon. Thought so.

]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:00:00 PST Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5077569&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain's preemptive concession ]]> Big Think, an online-video site backed in part by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, asked Republican candidate John McCain what it would mean if he lost. Here's what he said.

]]> Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:20:00 PST Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5076714&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Party with Peter Thiel, Log Cabin Republican! ]]> "Where have Silicon Valley's Republicans gone?" laments CNET News writer Declan McCullagh. George W. Bush backer Tim Draper has switched to the Obama team. There are a few stalwarts: Former Valley CEOs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have campaigned for McCain. And the two are going to be special guests at an election-night party thrown by Lead21. The group, which describes itself as "an influential political organization formed by entrepreneurial business leaders," is coy about the location of the party.

But we're not. A source told us it's being held at the rented mansion of Facebook board member Peter Thiel, the former PayPal CEO and founder of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund. Thiel backed Ron Paul in the primaries, but what we really want to know is: What is the gay investor's position on California's proposed gay-marriage ban? Festivities start at 6 p.m. Oh, need directions? Thiel is listed in the phone book.

Update: Lead21 chair Sonia Arrison writes:

Just thought I'd let you know that your information source for the location of the Lead21 election party was wrong. It is not at Peter Thiel's home, but it is at a location in the same general area.

If I find out more, I'll let you know.

(Photo by Eric Eldon/VentureBeat)

]]> Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5071944&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain flushes Ted Stevens down the tubes ]]> Alaska Senator Ted Stevens will be remembered for his babbling attempt to explain the Internet on Capitol Hill. Also, for being a crook who used his position to get his house remodeled for free. “Ted Stevens was found guilty of corruption,” says a prepared statement from McCain's team. “This verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation’s capital.” Keating Five! Sorry, Mr. Future President, I just blurted that out. It's the layoffs. (Photo by AP/Gerald Herbert)

]]> Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5069964&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain bad for Internet, says Googler who invented Internet ]]> There are two acceptable political affiliations if you work at Google: Hyperlibertarian Paultard, or reflexively Democratic Obamamaniac. Vint Cerf, one of the guys who actually created the Internet back when it was a Pentagon-sponsored research project, and now works at Google as vice president in charge of being the guy who created the Internet, has put himself in the latter camp by officially endorsing Obama. Since Cerf is such a powerful voice, he might as well be speaking on behalf of Google itself. But the reason he's throwing Google in the Obama camp is painfully shallow and self-serving.

It's all about net neutrality. What's "net neutrality"? As far as we can tell, it's a bunch of rhetoric that amounts to regulations that affirm Google's God-given right to avoid giving Internet service providers a cut of advertising revenues. An Obama presidency would mean Google can save money on lobbying fees. Well, times are tough, and every penny counts. It's good to know that even the saintly Vint Cerf votes on pocketbook issues. He's the father of the Internet, and he approved this message.

]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5064177&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ YouTube tells McCain where to put DMCA ]]> YouTube has told the McCain campaign they will not reconsider the site's standard ten-day ban on clips that draw DMCA complaints from copyright holders. D.C. insider Declan McCullagh has a copy of YouTube's reply to Monday's letter from a McCain lawyer. Recently, both Fox and CBS got YouTube to yank McCain campaign videos that remixed TV news clips. Question for Daily Kos: Why is Fox News clubbing a Republican presidential candidate? For everyone else, here's the 100-word version:

There is a lot of other content on our global site that our users around the world find to be equally important, including, by way of example only, political campaigns from around the globe at all levels of government, human rights movements, and other important voices. We try to be careful not to favor one category of content on our site over others, and to treat all of our users fairly, regardless of whether they are an individual, a large corporation or a candidate for public office.

The real problem here is individuals and entities that abuse the DMCA takedown process. You and our other content uploaders can play a critical role in helping us to address this difficult problem...You can file counter-notifications. You can seek retractions of abusive takedown notices. You can hold abusive claimants publicly accountable for their actions by publicizing their actions...

(Photo by AP/Amy Sanchetta)

]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5063977&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain thinks of the children so you don't have to ]]> John McCain's bill to protect the children — Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 (KID SPA!) — has been signed by President Bush. According to an episode of Schoolhouse Rock my boss used to watch, that means it's a law. KIDSPA is based on a half-baked idea by MySpace to create a national database to track registered sexual predators' email addresses. At least now you don't have to wait for version 2.0 for fewer pedophiles. [Wired]

]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:00 PDT Alaska Miller http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5063417&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Fox News makes McCain a fair-use believer ]]> "Overreaching copyright claims have resulted in the removal of noninfringing campaign videos from YouTube." That's the gist of a complaint from the McCain-Palin campaign's general counsel to YouTube management. The letter says YouTube's 10-day review policy hurts America, because "10 days can be a lifetime in a political campaign." It's never been proven that anyone at McCain/Palin headquarters used the DMCA to take down Sarah's swimsuit video. But no doubt being DMCA'd by Fox News for using a news clip in a campaign video has given John McCain a more personal view of how copyright laws can backfire.

]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5063362&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ eBay founder factchecks John McCain ]]> Pierre Omidyar, the one-and-only founder of eBay, didn't much appreciate John McCain's tip of the hat in last night's debate to Meg Whitman, eBay's former CEO. "Meg Whitman was CEO of a company which started with 12 people," McCain said, which rather riled Omidyar. Omidyar started the company by himself in September 1995; Whitman joined in March 1998, when the company already had 30 employees.

]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5060675&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain gives Meg Whitman, eBay debate shoutouts ]]> Asked about possible candidates to serve as his Treasury secretary, John McCain said in Tuesday's presidential-candidate debate that Meg Whitman was a top candidate. His running mate, Sarah Palin, loves to talk about putting the state jet on eBay (even though, as is all too typical for eBay sellers these days, it didn't actually result in a sale). Whitman's record at eBay is mixed; she probably stayed three years too long. But since we're on the topic, why not put all the worthless mortgage securities the government is buying on eBay? The listing fees alone will be a major boon to the Silicon Valley economy.

]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5060399&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain eyes Whitman, Chambers for Treasury ]]> If John McCain gets into the White House, he probably won't ask Treasury secretary Henry Paulson to stay. "I think it would be someone that Americans would recognize that would inspire trust and confidence. There's people like John Chambers, there's people like Meg Whitman, there's people like Warren Buffett," McCain told Reuters. Two of those three might consider the job a step up. (Photos by AP/Dharapak, AP/Paul Sakuma)

]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5059978&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Senators' Wikipedia pages routinely vandalized ]]> The Wikipedia entries of U.S. senators, after having false information or gibberish edited into them by users, typically remained uncorrected for a full 24 hours, according to a study. An assertion that Senator John McCain was born "in Florida in the then American-controlled Panama Canal Zone" was viewed by 93,000 people before it was removed. The study seems to contradict Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's claim that volunteer editors swiftly fix important pages. [The Wikipedia Review]

]]> Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5058322&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ John McCain, defender of Internet children everywhere ]]> Congress has passed a bill compelling registered sex offenders to submit "email addresses, instant message addresses and other identifying Internet information" to law enforcement. The legislation is sponsored by John McCain, who is not uncoincidentally running for president. The bill, which has passed both houses of Congress and is expected to be signed into law by Bush, aims to protect children from sexual advances on social network sites. Facebook, MySpace, and others are meant to cross-check their user databases with the federal list, and, in the parlance of these types of laws, "delete online predators." But these bills are so broken from the start: what's to keep a past sex offender from just using multiple online identities? Oh, and then there's that whole sticky issue of protecting freedom of speech for those who've served their criminal sentences. Courts in Utah — yes, that Utah — have just ruled on that, providing bad news for those who supported the McCain bill.

After a challenge to a similar state law in Utah last week, a federal judge restored a sex offender's right to anonymous speech online. Though the judge stated that this decision should not apply unilaterally to all registered sex offenders, her ruling is the first to question the conventional wisdom: that curbing online speech can curb sex crimes.

Free speech advocates and social network analysts have long been claiming that this approach won't work. First, there's the problem of the expansive definition of "sex crime" — from violent assault to public nudity. On that basis, Flickr has at least one employee who, after bending over bare-assed for his colleagues, could be banned from the Internet. Add to that that state and Federal lawmakers still can't seem to grasp the qualitative difference between a sixteen year old flashing her boycrush and a fifty year old posing as the same sixteen year old. Toss with a little bit of election-year mania about being tough on crime, and you get a botched bill that may only drive sex offenders further from the public eye — the opposite of the safer, happier Internet McCain hoped to create.

(Photo by soggydan)

]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:40:00 PDT Melissa Gira Grant http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5057623&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Twitter debate traffic says Iraq, Iran, Russia are top issues ]]> Twitter cofounder Biz Stone posted a chart showing the frequency of political keywords during Friday night's McCain/Obama debate. "Iraq" hit the highest rate of tweeting at a given moment during the event, followed by "tax" and then "Korean" after John McCain deemed North Korea "a huge gulag" that stunts its citizens' growth by three inches. But the trick to reading a chart like this is to look not at the height of the lines, but the surface area under them — that's how you measure the total number of tweets for that keyword. Iraq and taxes look to be the biggest. But Stone's chart shows Iran and Russia, not Koreans, are what everyone's tweeting about.

]]> Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5056681&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Sarah Palin swimsuit video inevitably returns to YouTube ]]> Everyone knows that Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, was once Sarah Heath, beauty pageant contestant, right? Someone in Alaska claims that a clip posted to YouTube is a legitimate video of the vice presidential candidate's appearance in the 1984 Miss Alaska show. (She was runner-up.) Versions of the same clip have been posted on YouTube, only to get yanked down in a game of whack-a-mole. How long did you think it took the McCain campaign to find a pageant organizer who can file a copyright claim to get the video taken offline? Paul Boutin says they should keep it on the site: "This video is of vital importance to national security — why else would all our media-hipster friends in New York be reloading it over and over again?"

]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5055561&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain ad announces debate win ]]> The Washington Post grabbed a screenshot of a campaign ad, running on the Wall Street Journal's website, which prematurely declared a win for McCain in tonight's debate. Silicon Alley Insider called it a "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment, alluding to a newspaper headline which incorrectly called the 1948 presidential election.

]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5055520&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain campaign site still promises debate ]]> Were John McCain's web team pulled away from their desks yesterday to throw their shoulders into the Wall Street bailout? The Popeye-like Senator's site still promises a debate with Barack Obama on Friday, and several more next week. I haven't been this stumped by a candidate's behavior since Ross Perot flipped out in October 1992.

]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5054878&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Google's Internet security and safety guide for retirees ]]> Just in time for noted Internet newbie John McCain's visit to the American Association of Retired People's annual event, Life at 50 Plus, Google and the AARP produced a series of videos explaining basic Internet security tips intended for old folks. Frankly, with college students downloading malware from pop-ups and McCain's running mate and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin's getting her email hacked, there's more than a few nonretirees who could stand to watch the whole series.

]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5054639&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The keywords John McCain and Barack Obama are buying on Google ]]> Google is the modern American voter's oracle, able to provide an answer to almost any question. Which is why the McCain and Obama teams pay to put their websites on its pages. Hitwise, a Web research firm, helped us dig up the search terms which the campaigns' have selected to show their ads against over the last 12 weeks.The terms reveal what the politicians' Web-savvy advertisers believe is on the public's mind — such deep issues as "sarah palin vogue," "raising mccain lyrics," "obama birth certificate," and "obama as a muslim." The entire list:

McCain's paid search terms:

  • john mccain
  • mccain
  • sarah palin
  • sarah palin biography
  • palin
  • mccain for president
  • mcain
  • johnmccain.com
  • mccain.com
  • mccain campaign
  • mc cain
  • john mccain.com
  • mccain palin
  • cindy mccain
  • john mc cain
  • sara palin
  • mccain vp
  • mccain campaign website
  • sarah palin vice president
  • price of oil per barrel today
  • cindy mccain biography
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  • palin for vp
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  • obama
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  • sarah palin bio
  • sarah palin images
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  • johnmccain.com win
  • sarah palin alaska
  • mccain's running mate
  • gov. sarah palin
  • sarah palin pictures
  • sara palin vice president
  • mccain john
  • john rich
  • john mcain
  • current price of a barrel of crude oil
  • john mcclain
  • sarah palin t shirts
  • cindy mccain bio
  • john mccain poster duty honor country
  • joe biden
  • mccain/palin
  • mccain official website
  • veterans for mccain
  • email sarah palin
  • www.johnmccain.com
  • mccain economic plan
  • john mccain campaign
  • "cindy mccain"
  • mccaine
  • sarah palin vogue
  • john mccain on education
  • johnmcain
  • presidential election campaign jobs in ny city
  • mccain president
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  • john mccain ideology
  • mccains opinion on energy
  • mccain children
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  • palin history
  • obama campaign
  • www.mccain for president.com
  • john mccain health care policy
  • sarah palin and bristol palin photos
  • "senator john mccain vietnam war hero"
  • alaska governor sarah palin
  • cost of iraq war 10 billion
  • john rich "raising mccain"
  • republican party hopkins county texas
  • campaign issues
  • register to vote republican
  • johnmccaine.com
  • mccain & obama similar on poverty issues
  • mccain and obama views on capital gains
  • mccain headquaters in mower county mn
  • who's ahead in the election
  • how much does a barrel of oil cost
  • macain
  • joe biden picture
  • sara palin picture
  • what is the reason for high gas prices
  • minnesota replulican party office
  • john mccain volunteer work
  • official mccain website
  • mccain office address in des moines ia
  • oil price per barrel
  • joe biden beliefs
  • mccain republican headquarters indiana
  • obama for president
  • contribute to john mccain
  • iraq war costs
  • mccaine campaign
  • mccain for president.com
  • mccain oregon coos
  • kimberly mauck mccain
  • va.johnmccain.com
  • mrs john mccain
  • mccain palin campaign
  • jhon mccain
  • current price of oil
  • how do i send an email to palin
  • www.realistate laws
  • obama.com
  • how to contact john mccain
  • mccain's vp
  • palin sarah
  • johnmccain.org
  • sara palin pictures
  • the 2008 election leading results
  • john mccain and sarah palin at john knox village
  • republican campaign buttons
  • mccane for president
  • raising macaine
  • www.palin.com
  • www.aclj.org
  • sarah palin t-shirts/purses
  • mccain campaign email
  • gov. palin
  • john mccain t-shirt
  • mccain-palin08
  • gop website
  • mccain photo
  • mccaine.com
  • jolhn mccain.com
  • palen
  • when will gas prices go down
  • free mccain buttons
  • raising mccain lyrics
  • against global warming
  • elect john mccain
  • vets for mccain
  • john mccain issues
  • mccain campaign headquarters
  • john mccain wiki
  • e-mail john mccain
  • photo's of vietnam protesters
  • mccain stickers
  • mccain's policies on war
  • mccain's speech on energy
  • mccain-palin stickers
  • www.drudge.com

Obama's paid search terms:

  • barack obama
  • obama
  • barak obama
  • obama.com
  • barack obama website
  • obama for president
  • obama biden
  • barrack obama
  • obama birth certificate
  • obama campaign
  • obama vp
  • www.barackobama.com
  • obama website
  • obama vice president
  • obama running mate
  • barackobama.com
  • joe biden
  • barack obama campaign
  • barack obama.com
  • barackobama
  • obama acceptance speech
  • official obama website
  • obama campaign headquarters
  • barach obama
  • obama.com issues
  • obama/biden
  • obama speech
  • barack obama birth certificate
  • obama home page
  • senator obama
  • borack obama
  • barack obama biography
  • www.barack obama.com
  • barakobama.com
  • obama biden 08
  • www.barakobama.com
  • brock oboma
  • barack obama official site
  • barack obama website official
  • obama .com
  • barack obama for president
  • barack obama web site
  • obama.org
  • oboma
  • barakobama
  • barack obama.com'
  • obama 08
  • obama t shirt
  • obama platform
  • biden
  • +be the first to know barack obama's vice president
  • obama biden website
  • obama bumper stickers
  • obama homepage
  • obama's speech
  • barack obama 08
  • www.obama.com
  • obama tax plan
  • obama official webpage
  • where was barack obama born?
  • barack obama official website
  • michelle obama's speech
  • official barack obama website
  • vice president for obama
  • barrack obama accomplishments
  • "obama"
  • michelle obama
  • barack obama store
  • when is barack obama speaking at the convention in denver?
  • senator joseph biden
  • barack obama experiences
  • barack obama's dnc 2008 speech
  • barrack oboma
  • obama free pictures
  • volunteers for obama
  • obama websites
  • barack obama volunteers
  • where was obama born and where raised/?
  • obama acorn
  • obama president
  • obama schedule
  • obama running mate text
  • maryland democratic party headquarters in annapolis
  • www.barocoboma.com
  • barrack for president
  • obama web site
  • barak obama for president
  • obama campaign volunteers
  • email barack obama
  • obamas speech
  • where are the offices of obama in milwaukee
  • obama headquarters tampa florida
  • obama speech online
  • how to get on barack obama's text list
  • barrack obama dnc speech
  • obama campaign page
  • obama democratic convention speech
  • obama tampa fl.
  • obama's schedule
  • barack obama major event
  • list of views obama stands for
  • why is barack obama running for president of the united states
  • baqrrack obama speach
  • obama resume
  • obama websit
  • obama-biden bumper stickers
  • obama acceptace speech
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  • obama!fecom
  • speech of barack
  • obama campaign web page
  • obama campain for persident web site
  • o'bama tee shirt
  • obama's views
  • obama campaign mail address
  • dnc
  • obama's official website
  • montana barack obama headquarters
  • obama's experience
  • obama picks vp
  • www.obama.org
  • obama vp choice
  • barack obama fan club
  • obama campaign headquarters pennsylvania
  • barackobama.co m
  • obama campaign commercials
  • how to get signed up for obama's vp text
  • biden trivia
  • barack obama's acceptance speech
  • barock
  • oboma website
  • when did barak obama com to iowa
  • biden acceptance speech
  • brack obama 2008 website
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  • obama taxes
  • volunteering for obama
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  • obama apparel
  • obama's democratic convention speech
  • obama-biden
  • barack.obama
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  • obama campaign jobs
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  • barack obama text message
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  • new orleans barack obama headquarters
  • info on borock obama
  • obama for america
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  • obama campaign contributions
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  • "where was obama born?"
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  • obama schedule sept 2008
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  • vp
  • if obama becomes president what are the changes he will do? to help this country
  • joe biden college degree
  • nbc.com michelle obama speech
  • obama beliefs
  • obama camgpain woodland hills ca
  • barack obama's official website
  • obaama offical site
  • obak obama
]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5052002&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Carly Fiorina disappeared from media by McCain campaign? ]]> Looks like we might not be hearing from Republican Party apparatchik Carly Fiorina about how awesome the party's presidential ticket is any time soon. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO was asked by a St. Louis radio host if she felt vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had the experience to run a major company like HP, and Fiorina replied "No, I don't. But you know what? That's not what she's running for." When she was later asked about that statement, she replied that presidential nominee John McCain wasn't capable of running a large company, either — but then neither is Democratic nominee Barack Obama or his running mate Joe Biden, in Fiorina's opinion. I, for one, appreciate Fiorina's optimistic assessment, since the current president promised to run the nation like a company back in 2000, and we all know how that turned out.

]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:00:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5051026&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain helped invent the BlackBerry, says clueless pal ]]> "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create," said McCainiac economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, waving a shiny iPhone-like device at reporters. His premise was that McCain's work on the Senate Commerce Committee helped paved the way for breakthroughs in telecommunications. But really, what was he thinking? The AP, pouncing on the obvious comparison to Al Gore's Internet boast, had Holtz-Eakin's quote out on the wires faster than you could thumb-type OMG NO DOUG NO. (Image by Research in Motion)

]]> Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5050556&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ John McCain actually does read blogs, sorta ]]> He can't type because of his war injuries. But he reads Drudge Report, Politico and sometimes RealClearPolitics. Oh, and he does use a BlackBerry, but not for email. Before you misinterpret Obama's latest ad to mean that the Arizona geezer running to replace Bush doesn't look at the Internet, here's some clarifying reportage from the liberal elites at the Boston Globe and New York Times:

From a 2000 Boston Globe article:

McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

From a July New York Times interview:

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics, sometimes. [NOTE: He means RealClearPolitics.]

(Mrs. McCain and Ms. Buchanan both interject: “Meagan’s blog!”)

Mr. McCain: Excuse me, Meagan’s blog. And we also look at the blogs from Michael and from you that may not be in the newspaper, that are just part of your blog.

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.

Q: Do you use a blackberry or email?

Mr. McCain: No

Mark Salter: He uses a BlackBerry, just ours.

Mr. McCain: I use the Blackberry, but I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail. I read e-mails all the time, but the communications that I have with my friends and staff are oral and done with my cell phone. I have the luxury of being in contact with them literally all the time. We now have a phone on the plane that is usable on the plane, so I just never really felt a need to do it. But I do – could I just say, really – I understand the impact of blogs on American politics today and political campaigns. I understand that. And I understand that something appears on one blog, can ricochet all around and get into the evening news, the front page of The New York Times. So, I do pay attention to the blogs. And I am not in any way unappreciative of the impact that they have on entire campaigns and world opinion.

Q: You read newspapers then.

Mr. McCain: I read them most all every day.

(Photo by AP/Mary Altaffer)

]]> Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:40:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5049350&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Barack Obama rickrolls John McCain and the Republican National Convention ]]> With its joke-killing April Fool's prank, YouTube took all the fun out of rickrolling forever. But someone has successfully revived the gag, where you trick someone into clicking on a link to Rick Astley's '80s one-hit wonder, "Never Gonna Give You Up." YouTube users Hugh Atkin and Alastair Corrigall edited together excerpts from old Obama speeches to create the illusion that he's actually singing Astley's song to John McCain and the delegates at the Republican National Convention. Rickrolling has always been a dumb, easy prank. Atkin and Corrigall turned it into a smart one. Watch the clip:

]]> Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5048936&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ New Obama ad calls McCain an old man who can't use a computer ]]> Hoping to stop us all from talking about the Palin-McCain ticket anymore, Barack Obama's campaign today released an ad attacking John McCain as an Old who admits he doesn't know how to use a computer or send an email. A campaign official told Politico the commercial is designed to "underscore that John McCain can’t bring about change when he is completely out of touch with the lives of regular Americans." Of course, all of us real 'mericans know computers are just for "glib, articulate, fancy, dancey, prancey" liberal elites.

]]> Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:20:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5049021&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Sarah Palin's typo-ridden LinkedIn profile ]]> A tipster discovered Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's LinkedIn profile, typos and all. LinkedIn says it's legitimate — we just wonder which unlucky intern got the chore of typing it in. Surprised anyone bothered to find it? Don't be. According to Google Trends, Sarah Palin gets more search queries than either of the two men at the top of the tickets. Probably doesn't hurt that Google counts what Hitwise says are the very numerous searches for "Sarah Palin Vogue Magazine," "Sarah Palin Photos," "Sarah Palin Bikini Photos," "Sarah Palin Nude," and "Sarah Palin Naked." John McCain was a handsome man in his bomber-pilot youth, but not many of us feel the need to see him naked now. The Internet's obsession for Sarah Palin, according to the Google Trends chart below, knows no bounds.

]]> Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:20:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5047978&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Watch RNC delegates trying to ignore Meg Whitman's speech ]]> When she was CEO at eBay, Meg Whitman was known for her speeches. Or at least, she was known for her love of them. Her talent for them, not so much. What happened when she addressed a crowd of people who weren't drawing a paycheck from her? Speaking before prime time during the Republican National Convention last night, Whitman dutifully stuck to the McCain campaign's talking points in a 10-minute-long — long, long, long — speech on prosperity through lowered taxes and offshore drilling. Cameras showed the crowd ignoring her 5 minutes in. From that point on, Whitman was little more than background noise for conversations with other delegates. Now we know why Whitman only made McCain's list of 20 finalists for the VP job he eventually gave to Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who brought down the house with her own flinty partisan jabs later that night.

]]> Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045327&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ MSNBC.com catches rare footage of dancing Republicans ]]> While waiting for former HP CEO Carly Fiorina to follow former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's speech with her own, MSNBC's Internet-only live video feed of the Republican National Convention caught this footage of Republican square-staters grooving to 1982's rockabilly hit, "Rock This Town," by The Stray Cats. The clip has a cautionary message for Obama's Facebook-generation supporters: When their candidate says he's "postpartisan," potential voters closing in on AARP membership clearly hear "postboomers."

]]> Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045187&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Howard Dean's Net strategist warns "Don't LOL" at Sarah Palin ]]> The Internet campaign strategist who made Howard Dean a frontrunner in 2004 says Democrats who write off Palin as a crazy Bible-thumping prom queen will be in for a surprise: John McCain's presumptive running mate will be the centerpiece of an attack on Barack Obama's record as a change agent. "She isn't Dan Quayle," Joe Trippi writes, "and besides, Dan Quayle was elected vice president." Most of Trippi's opinion piece for CBS rehashes stuff you know, so I've excerpted his talking points:

I have seen a lot of commentary on why John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a cynical and transparent ploy to bring disaffected women who supported Hillary Clinton to his cause.

But I don’t think John McCain and the people around him are that stupid.

The McCain campaign plans on making an assault on Barack Obama’s strength as a change agent. And challenge, what the McCain campaign will describe as, Obama’s weak or non-existent attacks on corruption within the Democratic Party and other institutions throughout his career.

To make this assault, McCain picked in Palin someone who has taken on the corruption in the GOP in Alaska, turned against her own party’s establishment, and fought for reform.

Palin could thrive and strongly help McCain make his case, or she could crumble and damage his candidacy. My first impression is that she is not going to crumble.

She isn’t Dan Quayle, and besides, Dan Quayle was elected vice president.

Don’t LOL. Take the McCain/Palin ticket seriously.

(Photo of Joe Trippi by Wake Up Wal-mart, Sarah Palin by AP/Stephan Savoia)

]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045111&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina to speak at convention tonight ]]> A consolation prize for raising millions of dollars from their Fortune 500 rolodexes: Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina will speak at the Republican National Convention tonight. Both also made Republican presidential candidate John McCain's list of 20 potential vice presidential candidates, aides told the New York Times. Like McCain's real first choice, Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, neither Whitman nor Fiorina would have satisfied the conservative Christian base quite like McCain's eventual choice, the pro-life, pro-guns governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Also, neither looks quite so much like the adorable Liz Lemon, am I right? Fiorina has already gone on TV to attack Obama for attacking Palin, but Whitman kind of sounds less jazzed by the Palin pick. "John McCain made the choice that's right for him,'' Whitman told reporters Tuesday.

Technically, Whitman and Fiorina's speeches tonight will focus on "prosperity" and McCain's economic plans for the country. But really, each is auditioning for her next job. Fiorina is said to be eying a cabinet post. Whitman may want to run for California governor in 2010. The Mercury News reports Whitman has already hired Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign strategist and a former adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger,. (Photo by AP/Dharapak)

]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5044853&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Real Levi Johnston blogs as Fake Levi Johnston ]]> There's already a fake blog for Levi Johnston, the young Alaskan man who impregnated his girlfriend, Bristol Palin, and as a result will soon be the son-in-law of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. The twist: levijohnston.com wasn't registered by an opportunistic domain-name speculator or a political troublemaker. The site previously hosted the real blog of Levi Johnston, a developer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. The kicker: He says he's voting for Ron Paul.

]]> Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5044356&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ "Googling Sarah Palin" ]]> Sure, Harvard grads have to go through more interviews to get a job in Google customer service than Alaska governor Sarah Palin did to become Republican John McCain's nominee for vice president. But an aide says that doesn't mean the McCain campaign didn't properly vet the candidate as a story in today's New York Times alleges. They totally Googled her, okay?

Aides told the paper that before deciding to choose Palin as his running mate just moments after meeting her for the first time last Thursday, McCain knew Palin's 17-year-old daughter was 5 months pregnant and betrothed to be married to another teenager. Also, McCain knew Palin is currently under an ethics investigation for allegedly improperly firing a state employee who wouldn't do her bidding — all it took to find that out was a quick Google search.

“It was obviously something that anybody Googling Sarah Palin knew was in the news and there was a very thorough vetting done on that and also on the daughter,” the aid told the Times. Good to know McCain has — or at least his people have — finally figured "the Google" out after some initial confusion typical of Republicans in the White House and aiming for it.

]]> Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5044188&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page scrubbed ]]> NPR reports that someone edited Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page Friday just before the word got out that she was John McCain's pick for a running mate. The edits were obviously made to make Palin look good. There were about 30 of them, made by one person. I'll spell out what NPR is dying to say: That one person was Sarah Palin.

Had this happened to Joe Biden's entry, it wouldn't be deemed a story for National Public Radio. Still, I like this All Things Considered writeup, because it pretty much admits in the first sentence that NPR's army of anti-GOP reporters missed the scoop that Palin was McCain's pick. None of them thought to set a watch on her Wikipedia page.

If you happened to check Sarah Palin's Wikipedia entry Thursday, you might have had a good tip about Friday's announcement.

Someone — and apparently it was just one person — felt like the existing biography wasn't appropriate for a vice-presidential candidate.On Friday, 15 minutes before the rumor that John McCain had picked Palin as his running mate, a Wikipedia editor discovered 30 mostly favorable changes had been made to the Alaska governor's profile.

She was called "a politician of eye-popping integrity" and sections on her participation in a beauty pageant and her alleged use of influence to get her former brother-in-law fired were diminished.

Wikipedia is now restricting who can alter Palin's page.

(Photo by AP/Al Grillo)

]]> Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:50:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043886&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The hottest photo of Alaska's governor on the Internet ]]> (Update: Yes, it's a Photoshop job from a contest at Hollywood Newsroom.) There are no naked pix of the Republican vice-presidential candidate to be found — yet — but this one will hold me over. Click it for full size. Thanks to GOP hottie hunter Rachel Marsden.

]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:10:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043755&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Obama promises to cut startup taxes ]]> Buried in Barack Obama's nomination-acceptance speech:
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

It's a brilliant riposte to McCain's tax-cuts-for-everyone strategy. And it's delightfully cynical. Since 90 percent of all startups fail, they don't generate any capital gains worth taxing. For those companies which do manage to go public, it means more money for the entrepreneurs, and less for public shareholders, who will still have to pay taxes if they buy and sell company shares at a profit. It's a pro-Jerry Yang, anti-Carl Icahn move. Valley entrepreneurs, already predisposed to like Obama for reasons they can't articulate, can now safely back him without getting in trouble with board members.

]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:20:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043654&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ VPILF.com is already live ]]> The Internet can agree on this much: John McCain's new running mate, former Miss Alaska runner-up Sarah Palin, sure is purty, as documented on freshly launched website VPILF.com. If you don't get what the "ILF" after "VP" stands for, go watch American Pie again. And only the most inbred of partisan donkeys would refuse to laugh at Palin's snappy response a week ago to a reporter who asked her if she'd be McCain's vice president: "What is it exactly that the VP does, every day?" If she keeps this up, she could do for the Republican Party what Bob Lutz did for Cadillac.

]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043661&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Some wonky stats for McCain's new VP pick ]]> Alaska governor Sarah Palin: Good looking, relatively inexperienced. Do you think McCain's team finally decided that's not such a bad combo? I'll let Democrats cringe at the nightmare series of events that could install Palin as our Cutest President Ever. I'm more interested in her gung-ho enthusiasm to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It would be a resource bonanza for her state, which Palin feels is too reliant on federal handouts and big oil companies. But would the extra oil make a difference? Here's a bite-sized summary of stats from the Energy Information Administration, which provides that Bush guy you hate with official numbers:

  • Estimated recoverable oil and gas in the ANWR is about 10 billion barrels. The rest of the United States has another 120 billion barrels. Worldwide reserves? Just over 1 trillion barrels. ANWR has about 1 percent of the world's oil.
  • If the U.S. moves forward on drilling now, there still won't be any ANWR oil for another ten years. That's 2018.
  • Price is what matters, right? ANWR oil will — according to the Bush administration's own stats — lower prices by less than a dollar a barrel. In 2026.

So yeah, ANWR drilling would be great for Alaska, but the global oil market is, as one EIA analyst put it to me, like a giant bathtub. Producers pour oil in at the top, buyers take it out at the bottom, but it's hard for a single supplier to have much of an effect on prices.

Valleywag's advice for Palin: Back off on the drilling and get some Tina Fey eyeglasses — they'd look great on you!

]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043588&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Meg Whitman's big day? Nope ]]> Republican presidential candidate John McCain is set to announce his VP today and the New York Times says he's ruled out former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Alaska governor Sarah Palin as possible running mates. (Update: McCain ended up picking Palin after all.) Does that mean McCain will go with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, whom he recently described as one of the three wisest people he knows? A Democratic member of Congress thinks so, according to the Atlantic Monthly.

Of course there are many Democratic and Republican whackjobs in Congress who know nothing about anything. I'm more inclined to believe McCain will pick Republican-in-Democrat's-clothing senator Joe Lieberman than an executive from a stumbling company whose position on things like abortion won't help McCain with the right-wing Republicans he needs to turn out in November. Still, Whitman wouldn't be a bad pick, would she? (Photo by AP/Dharapak)

]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043430&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Revamped McCainSpace is hours of fun -- for Obama fans ]]> Ow, stop! The candidate's awkward, reading-my-lines intro clip. The front and center posts by a guy whose icon reads "STR8T." His angry typo, "Will Obama ascend from the heavens and bless us all?" Just when we'd forgotten about McCainSpace, they went and revamped it. The effort would've been better spent on more YouTube clips, the one place on the Internet where the White Tornado is beating Barack. Here's McCain's awkward video hello, and a sampler of the senator's supporter-generated videos:


]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043247&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain pulls further ahead on YouTube ]]> Need proof that the media's "biased, in-the-tank support for Obama" isn't something Lou Dobbs made up? Find me a publication bigger than Silicon Alley Insider that's owned up to John McCain's comeback from way, way behind to surpass Obama's views on YouTube by 38 percent this month. McCain's official videos have outpulled Obama's, 6.8 million to 4.9 million.

I've no plans to vote for McCain, but I'm all too aware that if the numbers were the other way around, I could collect a couple thousand bucks this afternoon in MSM assignments on Barack's "YouTube victory" and how it changes politics forever. As is, I'm reduced to pitching The Weekly Standard.

]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043197&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ McCain buys top Google ad spot for "Joe Biden" ]]> In an online parallel to big TV ads, John McCain's campaign has outbid Barack Obama's for the top ad slot — and I do mean the one up top, above the results — on searches for Barack's VP canidate Joe Biden. McCain's people have also bought "housing crisis" and "us economy" ads, according to sleuthy reporters at the Wall Street Journal. Is this some sort of genius move by Obama? Online marketers say: No.

In recent days, [McCain's campaign] has bought search ads tied to key terms such as "U.S. economy" and "housing crisis," which take visitors to Web sites outlining Sen. McCain's plan on those issues.

Meanwhile, the Obama camp largely has yet to advertise around these terms, missing a key opportunity, according to experts, to communicate his message to undecided voters.

"The big downfall is that Obama's not reaching the undecided voters," says Janel Landis, senior director of search development and strategy at SendTec, a search-marketing firm that has been tracking the candidates' techniques since June. "He's not bidding on issues or his competitor's name."

]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5043010&view=rss&microfeed=true