A Protest Over a Racist Cartoon

I'm sure you've heard plenty about this cartoon that The New York Post published yesterday.

This is yet another one of those old "African Americans are monkeys" stereotypes that should've died with Jim Crow. But, like the infamous Barak Obama Monkey Doll that someone actually made and sold on the Internet, there are some people out there who still think that equating African Americans with monkeys are totally hysterical.

Here's an online petition that's currently going around the Internet that you can sign if you're totally pissed off at the cartoon and the fact that no one involved with The New York Post has even bothered to apologize yet.

Move Over, Joe the Plumber!

Meet Julio the Fast Food Worker. This man made his mark during one of President Obama's visits to Ft. Myers. His real name is Julio Osegueda and he's been working in McDonald's for four years while he has been majoring in communications in college.

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Joe the Plumber got gigs as an economist, war correspondent, and Republican political consultant as a result of his showing up at an Obama rally last fall and getting noticed by John McCain even though he isn't a licensed plumber and he isn't trained in the other fields that he's worked in. At least Julio Osegueda is actually studying communications and he has gotten internship offers in his major as a result of his question to President Obama. Hopefully he'll turn out better than Joe the Plumber has.

A Bizarre Episode of "The Dr. Phil Show" Featuring Ann Coulter and Alan Colmes

I came home from another round of physical therapy today and I felt tired so I turned on the television to an episode of "The Dr. Phil Show". Dr. Phil was devoting this episode to the inauguration of President Barack Obama (God, how I love to say that) and it started off benignly enough with clips of person on the street interviews with people expressing their hopes for the new administration.

After the commercial break, Dr. Phil announced that he was having two guests debating the political impact of the new administration--one from the left and one from the right. For the right wing, Dr. Phil had Ann Coulter on. Yes, THAT Ann Coulter, the same person who writes all those vile books that say just one thing: If you disagree with her or the previous Bush Administration on any issue or hold a political opinion that's different from Ann Coulter or George W. Bush, you are a traitor, Godless, full of slander, lacking a brain, and you're not worth talking to unless the other person MUST talk to you. (Now that I wrote the previous sentence that provides a synopsis of all of her books, I've just saved you a lot of money and a trip to the bookstore or library. You're welcome.)

For the left wing, Alan Colmes was brought on to represent them. Yes, the same Alan Colmes who, until recently, was a co-anchor of that notorious Fox News show "Hannity & Colmes" (or as Al Franken once called it HANNITY & colmes). Watching Ann Coulter debate Alan Colmes with Dr. Phil moderating is just like watching Snow White taking on the Tasmanian Devil with Yosemite Sam moderating. Yes, it was THAT bad. Yet I couldn't change the channel because, for some strange reason, it was like watching a train wreck.

At one point former White House press secretary Scott McClellen came on and Ann Coulter went after him like he was the anti-Christ. McClellen took it all in stride and showed that he had two things that Ann Coulter clearly lacks--humility and class.

The end of the episode was golden when Dr, Phil took on Ann Coulter for some of her writings. He mentioned that one of her books not only disrespected single mothers for being responsible for many of society's problems but she referred to children of single mothers as "future strippers". Coulter claimed that she was quoting statistics that claimed that many girls who grew up with single mothers ended up becoming strippers. One irony that wasn't mentioned on the show: Barack Obama grew up in the home of a single mother because his father left his mother soon after he was born and Obama only saw his father one other time when he was 10 years old. Look what became of him!

At that point Dr. Phil ran out of time but he invited Ann Coulter back for a future episode debating single mothers and she accepted! He also invited all single mothers and children of single mothers to write in to the show in order to become a guest for that episode. Oh man, I see another train wreck episode in the future.

But, to be honest, given how skinny Ann Coulter looked on television, I think Dr. Phil should've had her on as a guest the next time he does a show on people with anorexia. She looked downright skeletal and scrawny. I know that television tends to add an extra 10 pounds so I shudder to think how skinny she looks in real life.

By the way, you can see today's episode in all of its fuckery right here. You can also check out the message board with tons of heated discussions about Ann Coulter.

Martin Luther King Day

Oh, man the last couple of days have been incredible. Even though I live outside of Washington, DC, I haven't gone inside the city mainly because of the throngs of crowds that have come from faraway places have descended on the city in droves. My local state delegate had a contest where he was giving away two free tickets to tomorrow's inauguration. I entered it but I lost so I'm going to watch it on television instead because there is no way in hell I'm going to step foot inside that city until after it's all over.

Besides, with my recent hip replacement surgery, the only way I could've gone to either the swearing-in ceremony or the parade would be if I could bring one of my portable folding chairs with me. But there are so many security-related restrictions on what you can or cannot bring that I know there is no way in hell I would even be permitted to bring that chair.

How strict are the rules? Well, this page on The Washington Post's site provides the answer. For example, you can bring a camera but not a tripod or a camera bag, you can't bring any bag larger than 8 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches, you can't bring backpacks or strollers, and you can't bring an umbrella with you no matter how bad the weather gets.

Yesterday I saw the concert at the Lincoln Memorial on HBO. I would've loved to have seen it live but the crowds would've been a bit much for me. I later learned that it was just as well because they capped the fenced-in areas off at no more than 400,000 people and anyone who came too late had to deal with watching the thing on one of the many giant screens that were set up further away from the concert area. If I was going to have to watch it on a screen, I was better off with watching it in the comfort of my own home--where it's nice and warm, I'm able to get food and drink anytime I want, and go to the bathroom instead of waiting in line to use a port-a-potty.

The entire concert was awesome to watch from beginning to end. It was star-studded ranging from U2 to Bruce Springsteen to Will.I.Am to Beyonce to John Mellencamp to John Legend. Here is an awesome clip that Bono made after he performed onstage with U2.

Today is Martin Luther King Day and here is an excerpt from The Washington Post's website about Barak Obama's call to make this holiday a day of national service. Here's video from Obama's visit to a homeless shelter for teens.

Here is how I answered Obama's Call to Service. Yesterday I purchased a few bags full of canned goods. Today I sent it over to a local non-profit organization known as SEED (Sowing Empowerment & Economic Development), an organization that helps out low- and moderate-income families and communities by providing education, job training, food, and clothes. I also spent a few hours helping out in the pantry where I sorted the various canned goods that many people had donated today. It was pretty easy work and I felt like I had something more constructive than--let's say--spending the holiday watching television or going shopping where I buy something on impulse that I don't need.

I hope the idea of service on Martin Luther King Day becomes an annual tradition. Heck, I would like to see other days of service throughout the year. For example, I think it would be cool to do something for our men and women in uniform on Veterans Day instead of ceding that holiday to the stores so they would use it as an excuse to run sales.

Tonight my husband and I are going to meet a few friends we've met through the Upsize This.org forum. They are a couple who live in the South Side of Chicago (where Barack Obama began his political career) and they arrived in DC just for the inaugural ceremonies. We're going to pick them up from the Metro station in our area and go to a local bar here in the suburbs. (There is no way in hell we are going to fight the crowds downtown to go to any bars or restaurants there.)

The Train Trip

I was out of town for a few days with my husband. We did a train trip to visit our nephew and his fiance in Groton, Connecticut (he is in the U.S. Navy and they recently moved there because of his new Naval assignment) then we travelled to New York City to visit my husband's father and step-mother. It was a very cold trip (yesterday the temperature reached no higher than 18 degrees Fahrenheit) and it even snowed at times.

We originally scheduled our return to the Washington, DC area so we could outnumber the large number of people who are arriving in droves for next Tuesday's inauguration. While I was still in New York City yesterday, I got an e-mail from one of the many mailing lists that I'm currently on that invited me to see Barack Obama and Joe Biden arrive in Edgewater, Maryland via train the very next day. Then I got a second e-mail announcing that the train carrying Obama and Biden would arrive in Baltimore that very same day.

Needless to say, I had no advance knowledge that there was such a train trip. Had I known a week or two in advance, I would've suggested to my husband that we postponed our own train trip since our return trip was scheduled on the same day and around the same time as the Obama/Biden train trip.

Sure enough, when our Amtrak train reached around Aberdeen, Maryland, the train suddenly stopped and we were informed that we would be staying there a while because of not only the Obama/Biden train but apparently there was a police action involving some people who were hanging around the railroad tracks illegally. The train eventually re-started but it moved very slowly. We were informed again that the train was forced to move slower than usual due to the Obama/Biden train.

So we had about an extra two-hour commute added to that trip. When we arrived at the BWI Airport stop, we saw a lot of policemen milling about along with plenty of yellow "CAUTION! DO NOT CROSS!" tape streamed about. We also saw quite a few people with cameras waiting by the train track but the police officers outnumbered the photographers.

As we were leaving the parking garage at the Amtrak station, we saw traffic cones blocking all access to the upper levels of the parking lot (probably to discourage any would-be snipers). While we were driving away, we saw all roads near the railroad tracks loaded with police vehicles parked on the shoulder of the roads. The overpass that went over the railroad tracks even had cop cars parked there. The unfriendly combination of the bitter cold weather and the multitude of law enforcement officers just seemed to discourage average people from just turning out to see a soon-to-be president and vice president and wishing them well. I know the law enforcement people were there to prevent any assassinations or other types of terror attacks but that whole array of cops were just plain too intimidating to fully enjoy this historic travel.

So I ended up with reading about the train trip on the Internet, such as this one from BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/obama_inauguration/7835253.stm

US President-elect Barack Obama has retraced the steps of Abraham Lincoln by travelling from Philadelphia to Washington ahead of his inauguration.

His day-long train trip took him through towns and stations packed with cheering supporters.

Mr Obama told a crowd in Baltimore that America was facing very serious times.

In Washington, he is due to take part in celebrations leading up to his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday.

Delaware pick-up

The journey began at Philadelphia's 30th Street station, where Mr Obama, a security detail and a media pack boarded the 80-year-old train.

Speaking just before he boarded the train for the 137-mile (220 km) journey, Mr Obama said he would be carrying the hopes of ordinary Americans with him on his journey to Washington.

"Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but just the beginning," he said. "Let's seek a better world in our time."

The train made a stop in Wilmington, Delaware, to pick up Vice-President-elect Joe Biden and his family.

In Baltimore, Mr Obama recalled the troops at Maryland's Fort McHenry, who had defeated the British during the War of 1812. He said it was "time to take up the cause for which they gave so much".

He added: "The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right."

Late on Saturday the train rolled into Washington's Union Station - only a short walk from the platform where Mr Obama will take the oath of office.

A Video to Put Me in the Mood for Next Tuesday

Anybody remember The Mr. Bill Show from the late 1970's? Well, here's a video starring the Play Doh guy named "Mr. Bill Goes to Washington".

Here's hoping that Barack Obama has an easier time as President than Mr. Bill did!

Barack Obama and Rick Warren

I was kind of disappointed when Barack Obama picked Rick Warren to give the invocation for his inauguration. I know that on some things Rick Warren is slightly more progressive than other evangelicals like Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell. Unlike those guys, Rick Warren has spoken out on why evangelicals should be concerned about global warming and he has also focused his ministry on dealing with the AIDS crisis in Africa.

Yet this was the same guy who was very vocal in his support for California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage and puts all the gay marriages that were legally performed before that proposition passed in a legal limbo. He has also likened legalizing gay marriage to legalizing pedophilia, as if sex between two consenting adults of the same gender is the same as sex between an adult and a minor who's not legally able to provide consent are one and the same.

I know that Barack Obama wants to reach out to people beyond the stereotypical secular liberal and, in some ways, he should be commended on this. That's because over the past eight years there have been way too much of divisive politics that has been the during the Bush Administration. I get that he wants to reach out to evangelical Christians in an effort to reassure them that they shouldn't feel threatened by his upcoming presidency. But Rick Warren?!? Just because someone writes a bestseller book doesn't mean that he should be qualified to give the invocation as a representative of evangelical Christians.

Besides, if Obama wanted to pick an evangelical Christian, there are plenty of progressive evangelical Christians he could've chosen--such as Jim Wallis--who doesn't have the same anti-gay taint that Rick Warren has.

Here is what John Aravosis has to say about this on his AmericaBlog:

Okay, I'm game. So we know being a gay-basher doesn't disqualify you from a seat at the Obama table - in fact, it seems to be an outright qualification for proving Obama's post-partisanship. If Obama prides himself on reaching out to all sides of every debate, then why is it that Obama has never sat down with, or promoted at his events, an avowed racist or anti-Semite?

The most surreal thing about this on a personal level is that last night I saw someone I knew who was interviewed on Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC on this very issue. His name is Rob Boston and he is with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. His wife, Carol, and their two children are actively involved in my church. I see Rob at church every now and then but not quite as much as Carol. Well, here is a video of his appearance as he discusses Rick Warren.

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Back to Work for Blago

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6442798&page=1

CHICAGO – With lawmakers nationwide calling for his immediate resignation, embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich cruised in to work Thursday morning like it was just any other normal day.

"He is at the office today working on state business - state budget issues, foreclosure issues," his spokesman Lucio Guerrero told ABC News.

Yesterday Blagojevich spent his 52nd birthday at work. Today it was more of the same.

In front of the dozens of reporters that have been staked out in front of his Chicago house for the past 48 hours, Blagojevich emerged from his residence this morning, kissed his wife, and got into his car to make the short trip to his downtown office…where, of course, more media members awaited him outside. Following Blagojevich's arrest Tuesday on charges that he had attempted to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat, calls for the governor to step down have come from far and wide.

---

Also Wednesday, the state's lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn, reiterated his demand for Blagojevich to resign and questioned the governor's mental health. "Gov. Blagojevich, I think in his heart, knows that he has to resign. It's better to have that than to go through the ordeal of impeachment," Quinn told reporters outside the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.

Quinn also called into question Blagojevich's mental state.

"Something happened as he became governor and as the governorship went on that he became more and more isolated," he recalled. "And I think that that wasn't healthy."

But through it all, the governor seems unfazed, simply heading to work at his downtown office for the second straight day since his arrest.

Rod Blagojevich is a gift that keeps on giving--just like a sexually transmitted disease. The fallout from the Blago scandal has roped in Jesse Jackson, Jr., who had been considered a front-runner to Barack Obama's now-vacated Senate seat but probably won't get the job now despite giving this brief press conference where he denies corruption link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7776609.stm

Here is a video on what Barack Obama has to say about Blago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7778214.stm

What Blago Has Wrought

With the way Blagojevich behaved during his taped phone conversations regarding filling Barack Obama's old Senate seat, he might as well had sold it for the highest bidder on eBay.

Personally I say that he'll be out of office by the end of the year.

A Scandal Before Obama Even Gets Sworn In

Unbelievable! There's already a scandal regarding Barack Obama's recently abandoned Senate seat before Obama has made the transition over to becoming president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/10Illinois.html?_r=2&hp

CHICAGO — Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday morning on corruption charges, including an allegation that he conspired to effectively sell President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the United States Senate to the highest bidder.

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, called his sole authority to name Mr. Obama’s successor “golden,” and he sought to parlay it into a job as an ambassador or secretary of health and human services, or a high-paying position at a nonprofit or an organization connected to labor unions, prosecutors said in a 76-page affidavit by the United States Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois.

He also suggested, the affidavit said, that in exchange for the Senate appointment, his wife could be placed on corporate boards where she might earn as much as $150,000 a year, and he tried to gain promises of money for his campaign fund.

If Mr. Blagojevich could not secure a deal to his liking, prosecutors said, he was willing to appoint himself.

“If I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself,” the governor said in recorded conversation, prosecutors said.

Federal authorities recorded Mr. Blagojevich speaking with advisers, fundraisers, a spokesman and a deputy governor, using listening devices placed in his office, home telephone, and a conference room at the offices of a friend, the affidavit said. In its detail, it paints a vivid picture of influence peddling and bare-knuckle politics inside the Blagojevich administration, evoking the heyday of Chicago’s political machine.

At an appearance to address climate change, Mr. Obama said he had not had any contact with Mr. Blagojevich (pronounced bluh-GOY-uh-vich) or his office, and did not know about any machinations involving the Senate seat. He said it was a “sad day” for Illinois, but declined to comment further.

The charges against Mr. Blagojevich are part of a five-year investigation into public corruption and allegations of “pay to play” deals in the clubby world of Illinois politics. In addition to the charges related to Mr. Obama’s Senate seat, they include accusations that the governor worked to gain benefits for himself, his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions.

God I only hope this doesn't result in a repeat of the Clinton Administration where certain right-wing Republicans did whatever they could to take down President Clinton--starting with the suicide of White House aide Vincent Foster, which the right-wingers kept on claiming that he was actually murdered and continued with investigations concerning Whitewater (a real estate venture that the Clintons lost money on). In the end they were only able to get him for receiving a blow job from Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office but even they failed to remove him from office over it.

Remembering the 2008 Elections

Best Attempt to Comfort a Conservative's Fears of an Obama Administration

Jon Stewart tries to mollify Bill O'Reilly's fears of an Obama Administration with hot cocoa and a stuffed teddy bear that Bill O'Reilly keeps on calling a "panda bear".

Best Graphics of the Elections

Shepard Fairey designed the now-iconic Obama "Hope" picture.

...which inspired this parody.

When John McCain first selected the much younger Sarah Palin as his running mate, this McCain/Palin parody graphic featuring the late Anna Nicole Smith and her ninety-something second husband J. Howard Marshall began making its rounds throughout the Internet.

A Simpsons-inspired take on the same theme started to circulate.

When Sarah Palin made the following quote in an interview, this graphic also made its rounds through the Internet: "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."

Remembering the 2008 Elections

Best Parodies (Saturday Night Live Edition)

Saturday Night Live hit its stride this election season with frequent skewering of the politicians. Its new creative peak started off during the primary campaign season when the Obama Girl parlayed her Internet fame into an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Then Amy Poehler as HIllary Clinton appears alongside the real Hillary Clinton.

When Sarah Palin first came on the national scene, many people felt that she resembled Tina Fey, who had recently left the cast of Saturday Night Live. Well, in a genius stroke of casting, Tina Fey was allowed to return to the show playing only one character: Sarah Palin. Thanks to her, the writers, and the election itself (which provided plenty of fodder for satire) the show had its best ratings in years.

Tina Fey's first appearance as Palin came when she appeared alongside Amy Pohler as Hillary Clinton in this hilarious sketch.

The following week Fey and Pohler teamed up again to provide this scathing parody of Sarah Palin's disasterous interview with CBS' Katie Couric. Ironically, Tina Fey basically recited word-by-word Palin's actual words in that interview while doing the occasional over-the-top comic punctuation.

Queen Latifah makes a special guest appearance as moderator Gwen Ifill in this parody of the vice president debate.

President Bush endorses John McCain and Sarah Palin.

The real Sarah Palin meets her doppelganger...

...then makes an appearance on "Weekend Update".

The real John McCain also makes an appearance on the show with Tina Fey portraying his running mate.

Like his running mate before him, John McCain also makes an appearance on "Weekend Update".

The real Sarah Palin makes a return appearance on Saturday Night Live where she talks about what she will do to NBC when she gets sworn in as Vice President.

John McCain also makes a return appearance.

Not to be overlooked, Barack Obama also makes an appearance on the show as he attends the Clintons' Halloween party.

Then there is the scathing parody of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (played by Ben Affleck) who starts off by trying to portray George W. Bush as a Nazi and ends the sketch by making a special comment against the New York co-op who denied his application on the basis of his cat, Miss Precious Perfect.

Remembering the 2008 Elections

The Obama Supporters That Gave the Barack Obama Campaign a Bad Name

In the name of fairness, here is the only two incidents that I can find involving a few Obama supporters that were just as bad as the actions of some of McCain's supporters. First there was a Daily Kos blogger who made this post claiming that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is really the biological mother of Sarah's infant son, Trig. The original entry has since been deleted but a YouTube video about the rumor still remains.

Most of the evidence supporting this rumor was circumstantial at best and it seemed so unseemly to be gossiping about two minors (a 17-year-old and an infant) who aren't child stars and who didn't choose to be in the public spotlight. It seemed like it was unfair ganging up on two minors because of who their mother is. Things really went crazy when Sarah Palin issued a public statement that not only denied the rumor but added the information that Bristol is pregnant and she plans on having her baby and marrying her baby's 18-year-old father.

The Obama supporters pretty much left Bristol Palin alone after Barack Obama issued a statement saying that he had no intention of making an issue out of Bristol's pregnancy. However, that hasn't stopped gossip websites from trying to learn anything new about Bristol Palin, whose baby is due sometime this winter.

There is one other ugly incident involving an Obama supporter that I could find that comes close to rivaling the excesses of some of John McCain supporters. Wait until Keith Olbermann gets to the #1 Worst Person in the World to see the story of Chad Michael Morrisette, a guy whose Halloween decorations included a Sarah Palin dummy being hung by a noose and a John McCain dummy that looks like he's on fire in the chimney.

Remembering the 2008 Elections

The McCain Supporters That Gave John McCain's Campaign a Bad Name

McCain supporters act like a bunch of right-wing war-loving racist rednecks during a rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on October 8, 2008.

The supporters at a Sarah Palin rally in Richmond, Virginia are simiarly scary.

A supporter yells "Obama bin Ladin" at a rally while Sarah Palin kept on speaking about Barack Obama.

Then there is the supporter who yell out the "N" word while Sarah Palin kept on speaking and said nothing about it.

Supporters yell out "Terrorist!" and "Kill Him!" when John McCain speaks about Barack Obama

The frequent emphasis of the campaign that there is a "real" America located in the rural areas of the so-called Red States that are majority white has led to some supporters to spread this idea that there is only one "real" America and make their own YouTube videos like this one.

Rev. Arnold Conrad, a pastor at a McCain rally, prays that God must ensure a McCain win because other people are praying to their God and if McCain loses then God's reputation will be ruined and someone else's God will prevail.

On top of all that is Ashley Todd, a John McCain campaign volunteer who claimed that a big black male Barack Obama supporter attacked her at an ATM machine in an attempted robbery and branded a letter "B" on her face when her attacker saw a John McCain bumpersticker on her car. The big problems with her story are that the letter "B" was written backwards (which suggested that Todd wrote the "B" herself while facing a mirror) and the camera at the ATM machine where she said she was attacked didn't show any images of her taken on the night that she said she was attacked. Ashley Todd finally admitted that she made the whole story up and she also said that she has a history of mental problems.

But the McCain supporter who really takes the grand prize of "The Worst Supporter Who Gave the McCain Campaign a Bad Name" is Shirley Nagel, who, on Halloween night, refused to hand out candy to any trick or treaters whose parents supported Barack Obama. That's right, she took out her disdain of Obama on innocent children, some of whom were way too young to understand anything about the presidential election or even current events.

Remembering the 2008 Elections

John McCain's Greatest Missteps

John McCain sings The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" using the lyrics "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran".

John McCain couldn't remember how many houses he owns.

During the last presidential debate, John McCain kept on bringing up Joe the Plumber, a man who encountered Barack Obama during one of his campaign stops expressing his concern that Barack Obama's plan for taxing people making over $250,000 a year would hinder his efforts to purchase the company where he currently worked as a plumber.

McCain's frequent references made Joe Wurzelbacher into an instant celebrity until the media did some digging and found that Wurzelbacher didn't have a plumbing license, was nowhere near purchasing any plumbing business, may not have paid some of his taxes, and he may have even spent some time on welfare in the past despite the fact that he said that he didn't like the government providing money to people without working for it.

Remembering the 2008 Elections

Best Response to a Negative Campaign Ad

Barack Obama was pretty sharp in responding quickly to the negative campaign ads directed against him compared with John Kerry doing very little to respond to the attack ads against him that were put out by the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth" in 2004. But a certain celebrity who is usually depicted in the media as an airhead is the one who had the best response to one of John McCain's negative campaign ads. Here is the infamous negative campaign ad, which spliced in images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to imply that Barack Obama is just another vacuous celebrity.

That ad inflamed Paris Hilton's parents, Kathy and Rick, because, ironically, they made a donation to the McCain campaign a few weeks before the ad was made. But it was Paris Hilton who got the last laugh, as shown in this video.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Remembering the 2008 Elections

Worst Consumer Product Spin-Off Based on the Spouse of a Politician Running in a Presidential Campaign

The BIll Clinton corkscrew. Need I say more?

Worst Consumer Product Spin-Off (Primary Elections Category)

The Hillary Clinton nutcracker. Yes, you actually place the nut between her legs. All you need is the Bill Clinton corkscrew and you'll have the complete tacky set.

Worst Consumer Product Spin-Off (General Elections Category)

The Barack Obama Monkey Doll. This tradition of portraying African-Americans as monkeys should have died out with Jim Crow.

Check Out This URL

This is the URL of the official website for The Office of the President-Elect:

http://change.gov/

I'm Hooked on This Video Game!!!

If you've ever wondered "What if someone did a mash-up of Barack Obama and Super Mario Bros.?" well, you don't have to wonder anymore. Check out Super Obama World, where the first level starts in Alaska and Super Obama has to battle lipstick-wearing pigs and rich millionaires. Only the first level has been released so far but the site promises that more levels will be released over the next few weeks where Super Obama has to battle evil in places like Arizona, Illinois, and DC.

The Celebration in Obama, Japan