A (Jason) Gay Old Time For Kim & Kris

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff has long been an unabashed fan of the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay (evidence here), and his column today is no exception:

A Brooklyn Bash for Kim and Kris?

It’s the most significant NBA transaction of the summer. Or the only NBA transaction of the summer.

This past weekend in the fantasy seascape near Santa Barbara, Calif., New Jersey Nets forward (and aspiring would-be free agent) Kris Humphries married his introverted sweetheart, Kim Kardashian, who is known by millions as the host of “Kim Kardashian’s Berkshires Countryside Quilting Hour” on PBS. (Or something like that.) The couple’s wedding photos, reportedly purchased for $1.5 million, will soon appear in a special commemorative issue of The Economist. (Please double-check that, too.)

But if you missed that shindig, Gay says, don’t worry:

Friends of the couple, including the publisher of Gotham magazine, Jason Binn, have graciously offered to throw Mr. and Mrs. Humphries a downtown wedding reception in New York City on August 31. Your invite, carried by a pair of singing pink doves, should arrive at any moment.

This is a reasonable idea. If you’re going to have the wedding of a lifetime in Southern California, you may as well spike the ball in New York.

But why isn’t this party happening in Brooklyn? As I’ve been telling anyone who will listen for months, Humphries should stay on as a Net, and the Humpdashian Revolution can migrate to Brooklyn.

Where the New Jersey Nets will play (assuming the NBA stops equalling No Basketball Action) a year from now.

Much Brooklynite humor ensues in Gay’s piece.

Well worth the read.

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Let The $4 Billion Rumpus Begin! (Tea Palin Edition)

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Real Clear Politics reports that the Iowa-based Tea Party of America has launched a radio ad campaign to promote a Sept. 3rd rally where Sarah Palin will give the keynote address.

The radio spot says, “It’s time, America. It’s time to take a stand and restore this great nation. Tea Party of America is hosting, on Sept. 3rd, a Restoring America Event . . . Gov. Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker. Tea Party of America will be joining with you to take our nation back . . . ”

Why do so many people on the right sound like Mel Gibson in “Ransom”: Gimme back my Sun(belt)!

Anyway, don’t miss the big Restoration drama next month. Maybe that’s when Palin will announce for president. Especially since she yells “Game on!” at the end of the ad.

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David Carr Gets It Wrong

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

New York Times columnist David Carr writes about Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC today (welcome to the party, DC),  and as usual has some interesting things to say.

Except . . .

He’s got the name of the Super PAC wrong.

It’s Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. Not Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, as he has it in both the dead-tree and web editions.

Not to get technical about it.

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‘Brady Test’ On Child Pornography Fails To Grade Mom’s Judgment

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

In her latest Boston Globe column, the estimable Joan Vennochi posits this:

THE FUROR over the photograph of Tom Brady’s nude son is all about celebrity, not real outrage over child pornography.

For all you splendid readers who’ve been on a Pacific island (or Martha’s Vineyard) recently, the relentlessly juvenile local media outfit Barstool Sports last week posted on its website “[a] picture of 20-month-old Benjamin Brady playing on a beach in Costa Rica without any clothes.”

That led to:

1) Widespread outrage

2) Kneejerk defiance by Barstool Sportstool David Portnoy

3) Widespreader outrage

4) A (likely civil-rights-violating) visit to Mr. Portnoy’s home by the state police, compliments of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley

5) The removal of the photo from the website by Mr. Portnoy

Vennochi quotes local civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate to the effect that Portnoy would likely be subject to criminal prosecution for child pornography.

But, Vennochi writes:

It would not have been in the child’s interest, [Silverglate] argues, to be part of a criminal prosecution destined to turn into a circus because of his famous parents. Win or lose, the case would establish “the Brady test’’ for what constitutes child pornography – a heavy burden for any child, he said.

But, would any child’s sensibilities be factored into such a decision? Or just Tom Brady’s child?

Good question.

Here’s another one:

Why was Benjamin Brady running around in the altogether in the first place? His mother, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, knows she’s being stalked by paparazzi six ways from Sunday. Why would she create a situation where they could do their worst?

David Portnoy’s judgment is clearly flawed. But isn’t Gisele Bundchen’s as well?

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Peggy Noodnik Writes Again (Obama Vacation Edition)

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Peggy Noonan’s latest Wall Street Journal column seems to suggest that Barack Obama’s Excellent Vacation is some kind of White Flag of Discourage:

The market is dispirited. I’m wondering if the president is, too, and if that won’t carry implications for the 2012 race. You can imagine him having lunch with political advisers, hearing some unwanted advice—”Don’t go to Martha’s Vineyard!”—putting his napkin by his plate, pushing back from the table, rising, and saying in a clipped, well-modulated voice: “I’m tired. I’m going. If they want this job so much let them have it.”

Noonan adds that both the Martha’s Vineyard location is wrong (“It’s a playground of the liberal rich: hedge-fund maestros, network producers, Wall Street heavyweights, left-leaning activists. It’s the kind of place that reverberates in the national imagination—that tags you as elitist no matter how many g’s you drop.”) and the timing is wrong:

On the timing, there’s an air of economic crisis hanging over everything, a sense that other shoes may drop. Actually it’s a sense of something impending, with unemployment high, Europe broke and the Mideast reaching full boil. A politician who wanted to impart a sense of leadership in crisis, who passionately wanted to keep the presidency, and who was prudently anxious about his prospects, just might let such a moment change his plans.

Change one phrase to “and passionately wanted to keep his Congressional seat,” and you could ask – as few in the rightwingerati have – why Capitol Hill lawmakers aren’t canceling their vacations.

What’s sauce for the obtuse is sauce for the panderers.

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The Newsvertainment-Industrial Complex (Katie Eastman Edition)

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Know how advertisingandnewsandentertainment sometimes get all mixed up together?

Here’s a State of the Cuisinart example.

Act One

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert establishes a superpac, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. It’s a way for Colbert to both spotlight and mock the whole big-money-special-interest machinery in politics, with the added bonus of getting to swim in the pool himself.

So a week ago the superpac created a couple of TV spots to exert some influence over the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. Here’s one:

Colbert tried to buy airtime for the ad on three network affiliates in Des Moines; he got rejected by one – ABC affiliate WOI.

From Time’s online Newsfeed:

Colbert paid to have his FEC-approved Super PAC commercials air on the three primary Des Moines TV stations in the run-up to Saturday’s straw poll. Two stations ran the ads with no questions asked (presumably because of their pleasant paycheck from the PAC), but WOI decided to review the content, at which point they deemed the ads potentially “confusing to many of our Central Iowa viewers.”In a statement, WOI said they took the “responsible” route by yanking the commercials with an hour to spare.

Act Two

Colbert – surprise! – goes off on WOI (video embedded in the Times piece).

Excerpt:

Now clearly, someone has to get to the bottom of this corruption – someone on the inside. Like intrepid WOI reporter Katie Eastman, who has the courage to tackle the tough issues.

Colbert then ran Eastman’s report on “the longest annual garage sale in Iowa.”

Game on.

Colbert subsequently produced segments on an Eastman report about a Des Moines dog park (“I Smell a Poo-litzer!”) and why Eastman wasn’t working on his story (“Where’s Katie Eastman?”).

[Videos here.]

Act Three

The story turns from Colbert to Katie. She writes a piece for the Boston Herald (where she formerly was an intern), and NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered does a feature on her. (Special Mixmaster bonus: the producer of the piece went to Emerson with Katie.)

At one point in the NPR piece, Katie worries that this whole fiasco might be bad for her career.

Eastman’s pretty excited about her sudden celebrity. “It’s national television. The Colbert Report!” she says — though not without some trepidation for her career.

“I just — I really hope people don’t think I only cover puppies.”

Seriously, kiddo? This is likely the biggest break you’ll ever get. So make the most of it. Because a whole lot of others are making the most of you.

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Have You Met Connor Ratliff, 35-Year-Old Candidate For President?

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

New York comedian Connor Ratliff launched a presidential campaign two weeks ago.

Why?

Because he’s 35 years old:

 

Mediaite said “[that] may just be the greatest presidential campaign ad since Lyndon Johnson blew up a nuclear bomb in a little girl’s eye.”

Also from Mediaite’s post:

Ratliff’s campaign has created an official Twitter account which is promising cabinet positions to anyone who follows it.

(Sorry – that window of opportunity has closed.)

Ratliff now has 169 followers on Twitter – no, make that 170 with the addition of the hardworking staff. Only he knows how many will be cabinet members or ambassadors.

Meanwhile, Ratliff has also released videos on the history of his campaign, and what the Founding Fathers would say about it.

This week he unveiled his campaign’s Official Hand Gesture:

 

Hey – he seems at least as qualified as Herman Cain. Don’t write him off just yet.

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Hulubaloo Over Online Tracking

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

The Wall Street Journal, which has been on the issue of computer privacy like Brown on Williamson, has revealed the next level of online tracking:

Latest in Web Tracking: Stealthy ‘Supercookies’

Major websites such as MSN.com and Hulu.com have been tracking people’s online activities using powerful new methods that are almost impossible for computer users to detect, new research shows.

The new techniques, which are legal, reach beyond the traditional “cookie,” a small file that websites routinely install on users’ computers to help track their activities online. Hulu and MSN were installing files known as “supercookies,” which are capable of re-creating users’ profiles after people deleted regular cookies, according to researchers at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley.

The Journal helpfully provides this graphic:

The supercookie bakers gave the standard response they resort to in these situations: we had no idea, but we’ll stop the tracking now that you’ve detected it.  (At least until the tracking geeks come up with something else we’re unaware of.)

This is serious business for marketers since, as the Journal reports, “nearly 80% of online display ads are based on tracking data.”

And it’s just going to get worse, not better. Most privacy legislation seems stalled on Capitol Hill, and the online-ad industry’s self-policing gives marketers a lot of wiggle room.

Supercookies and milking your data. Just dessert in a wired world, eh?

Originally posted on Sneak ADtack. And don’t forget to vote in our excellent poll there.

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Let The Rick Perry-And-Thrust Begin! (Texas Mistress Edition)

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Compliments of Mediaite, here’s the full-page ad Ron Paul supporter Robert Murrow just ran in the Austin Chronicle:

Check out the fine print at the bottom:

Offer not valid for enabling wives wearing Hillary Clinton boots.

Note to gay people: If you know the truth about Rick, please QUIT covering for him.

So it’s possible Rick Perry is a serial stripper shtupper and gay too?

Sweet!

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‘Shaq: Obama hurt Rajon Rondo’s feelings’

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Who knew?

Politico – always on top of the big Beltway stories – posted this excerpt from Shaquille O’Neal’s upcoming book Shaq Uncut, written with (by?) ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan:

In early March some of the guys went to the museum of Fine Arts for a fund-raiser and got to hang with President Barack Obama. Everyone was a little bit in awe. The President turns to Ray, points at Rondo, and says, “Hey, Ray, why don’t you teach this kid how to shoot?” Everyone starts laughing.
…

KG told me he saw the look on Rondo’s face and the kid was devastated, embarrassed. Dissed by the President, even though I’m sure Obama didn’t mean any harm. Rondo smiled and went along with all of it, but KG told me he could see it in his eyes. It bothered Rondo. It killed him.

The next day Rondo shot the ball horribly. He stopped taking shots after that. He’s so sensitive. I think it was a real jolt to hear the outside perception of a basketball fan who happens to be the President of the United States. It messed with his mind. I’m sure of it.

Of course, Shaq (a.k.a. The Big Nada) had plenty of time to observe the drama around him, since he was never actually part of the action.

I’m sure of it.

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