Orrin Hatch - United States senator, or stand-up comedian?

Utah's senior senator played both roles Tuesday, when he spoke at a luncheon sponsored by the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's lobbying arm in Washington, D.C.

According to this account in The Hollywood Reporter, Hatch talked seriously about politics to the assembled audience - which included the heads of most of the major movie studios - about pushing legislation to fight "the pervasive problem of piracy" of intellectual property. Hatch also opined that President Barack Obama's budget and tax policies will hurt industry, including the movie business.

Then Hatch put on his metaphorical clown nose.

Looking at Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook, Hatch said, "Disney, you meet our standards. The rest of you bums, I'll tell you..."

He also recalled filming a 15-minute scene for Steven Soderbergh's movie "Traffic," which was cut to 11 seconds in the movie. "I'm really resentful of you people," Hatch said.

Here, according to The Hollywood Reporter, was Hatch's capper:

Hatch also earned laughs with a list of things he has learned from the movies. It included: Fleeing heroes can always find cover in a St. Patrick's Day parade any day and soldiers survive wars unless making the mistake of showing someone a picture of their sweetheart back home.

Thank you. You've been a great audience. Tip your waiters.

Labels: Barack Obama, movies, Orrin Hatch, politics

Considering the expectations being placed on him, Barack Obama needs all the help he can get - even from superheroes.

The upcoming edition of Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man will feature the president-elect in a story - and on the cover. It hits comics stores on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

In the story, Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker is photographing the inaugural when he sees an old enemy attempting to stop Obama's swearing-in.

Marvel's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, said in a statement, "when we heard that President-Elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics' Marvel Universe."

Labels: Barack Obama

It's not often you can use the words "cool" and "marching band" in the same sentence (and before you start flaming me in the comments section, know that in high school I was a choir geek - which, on the social ladder, is a rung below band geek).

But the idea of the University of Utah's marching band going to Washington, D.C., later this month to play in Barack Obama's inaugural parade is pretty darn cool.

The only problem is, of course, money: The band doesn't have any, and the university is looking for alumni and the community to donate the $150,000 needed to send the band to D.C.

"It is not cheap to send 128 members of a band across the country," Fred Esplin, the U. vice president for institutional advancement, told the Tribune's Brian Maffly. "All the hotels in D.C. are filled. You would have to stay in Baltimore or Philadelphia."

For those wanting to donate to the travel fund, the U. has a web site to help you.

Labels: Barack Obama, University of Utah

Imagine if the mayor of Washington, D.C., decided when Salt Lake City's bars could serve customers. We'd scream bloody murder that politicians outside our city were writing our laws.

If you live in Washington, D.C., you don't have to imagine such a scenario, because the opposite is happening.

The Council of the District of Columbia - the city council of our nation's capital - recently approved an emergency law to allow D.C. bars and nightclubs to stay open all night during the week of Barack Obama's inauguration.

But, according to The Washington Post, two U.S. senators - Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. - have written to the D.C. Council objecting to the plan, saying it "could seriously strain law enforcement resources that need to be focused on the large crowds and security requirements of the Inaugural."

One councilmember, Mary M. Cheh, pooh-poohed such worries - noting that bars in Minneapolis and St. Paul stayed open until 4 a.m. during the Republican National Convention without any major security problems.

"I respect their view, but we should be the best judge of what happens locally," Cheh said.

That's the thing about Washington. Thanks to the 1973 Home Rule Act, Congress - yes, folks from Utah and Maine and Kansas, not the people elected by the citizens of the city - has the final say over D.C. matters.

Labels: Barack Obama, Robert Bennett

So, once again an undefeated, nationally ranked team is knocking on the door of the good-ol'-boys that determine college football's championship - and, again, the door is kept shut.

The 12-0 University of Utah's Utes - ranked No. 6 in the current BCS standings - will get to play one of the big-league teams in a major bowl game. (Probably the Sugar Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl, according to the Salt Lake Tribune's Lya Wodraska.) But a chance to play for the championship? Not gonna happen.

The insanity of this system - propped up by the big-money conferences for their own benefit, using polls and computers determine who's on top instead of actions on the field - has gone on too long. Heck, even President-Elect Barack Obama has weighed in on it, and now members of Congress are raising a stink.

An eight-team playoff is the only fair way to determine a champion. Then we can argue about which eight teams make the cut.

Labels: Barack Obama, sports, University of Utah

Most years at the Sundance Film Festival, the celebrities party hard the first weekend, and are all gone by Tuesday.

This year, though, there's an added reason to clear out early: Some of them will be heading to Washington to see Barack Obama's inauguration, on Tuesday, Jan. 20 - right in the middle of Sundance.

E!Online's Leslie Gornstein reports that a gaggle of celebs - Anne Hathaway, Jane Krakowski, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Spike Lee, Kerry Washington and Josh Lucas among them - will likely be jetting from Park City to Washington as part of the Creative Coalition, an organization of Hollywood stars and artists that work on social causes.

Obama's inaugural has affected Hollywood in another way: This year's announcement of Oscar nominations, usually a Tuesday event, will be delayed until Thursday, Jan. 22.

Labels: Barack Obama, Sundance

What Jon Stewart once called "the satirical-industrial complex" is undergoing a shake-up right now.

Out with the jokes about George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. In with jokes about Barack Obama.

But what are the jokes about Barack Obama? How does a comedian satirize a politician whose stock-in-trade is optimism, idealism and - dare we say it? - hope?

That's the question I pose in today's Culture Vulture column in the dead-tree Tribune. Check it out.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

While things went pretty much as expected in Utah on election night - Republicans still run pretty much everything they ran the day before (except for a Salt Lake County Council seat and a Utah House seat held by Speaker Greg Curtis) - the state's citizens did have some influence over votes elsewhere in the country:



- The Udall boys are going to the U.S. Senate - and Utah's own Robert Redford gave each of them a boost.

The Sundance Kid held a fund-raiser in September for Tom Udall, the Democrat running for the Senate in New Mexico. Redford also campaigned heavily for Tom's cousin Mark, the Democrat running in Colorado - even making a campaign stop in Aurora, Colo., last weekend.

Tom Udall is the son of Stewart Udall, who was Interior Secretary for JFK and LBJ. Mark Udall is the son of Mo Udall, longtime Arizona congressman and one-time presidential candidate.

- California's same-sex marriage ban, Prop. 8, was approved with about 54 percent of the vote - after a bitter and emotional campaign that saw members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (many of them in Utah) give a lot of money and time to ensure its passage.

The LDS Church's involvement in the campaign itself became a campaign issue, notably when a group called The Courage Campaign aired this ad depicting two LDS missionaries ransacking a lesbian couple's home and tearing up their marriage certificate. Church officials issued this statement in response:

"The Church has joined a broad-based coalition in defense of traditional marriage. While we feel this is important to all of society, we have always emphasized that respect be given to those who feel differently on this issue. It is unfortunate that some who oppose this proposition have not given the Church this same courtesy."

In other words, the LDS Church jumped into the ring with its boxing gloves on, then got its feelings hurt that somebody else would throw a punch. And considering the vitriol coming from the pro-Prop. 8 side, the criticism of the LDS Church was comparatively tame.

- And, finally, Utah can no longer claim to be reddest of the red states. Though Utah gave 63 percent of its vote to John McCain, both Oklahoma (66 percent) and Wyoming (65 percent) posted higher numbers for the Republican. (Conversely, Hawaii - the state of president-elect Barack Obama's birth - is the bluest state, with 72 percent of the vote for the Democrat. The District of Columbia gave Obama 91 percent of its vote.)

(Photo: Dennis Schroeder/Rocky Mountain News)

Labels: Barack Obama, LDS, politics, Robert Redford

Composer Kurt Bestor has always been a kind of middle-of-the-road guy, both with his music (which is accessible and quite popular in Utah) and his politics.

"I was Switzerland for a long time," Bestor told me Tuesday night at the Utah Democratic Party's victory celebration at the Salt Lake City Radisson. "At a certain point, you've got to stand up and stand for something."

A decade ago, Bestor - who lives in Utah County - was approached by Utah Democratic officials about running for Congress against then one-term incumbent Chris Cannon. He turned them down.

This year, though, Bestor decided to get involved. "I honestly had just grown tired of feeling powerless," Bestor said, adding that state Democratic chairman Wayne Holland urged Bestor "to use that name for more than selling Christmas music. ... I decided I'd be better off to use my name for political things I believe in."

Bestor got involved in a big way this year. He was a poll worker in the primary, and a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Attending the victory party at the Radisson was "kind of the concluding chapter of what I've been in personally," Bestor said. "I had to come here and see it through."

Labels: Barack Obama, Kurt Bestor, politics

Ana Flores-Sahagun, 22, of Salt Lake City, put her Obama love into a form that would have made the "Project Runway" folks proud.

Flores-Sahagun, a communications/advertising major at the U. of U., made the dress out of signs from the Utah Obama headquarters.

Labels: Barack Obama, fashion, politics

You walk into the lavish lobby of the Grand America hotel, and you have to look around to find the party going on.

Of course, the Utah Republican Party doesn't have as much to celebrate as the Democrats a few blocks away.

The Utah Republicans defended their two congressional seats, and got Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and attorney general Mark Shurtleff re-elected. But with Utah going for John McCain, while the majority of the nation went to Barack Obama, there wasn't the same cheering and exuberance that the Democrats were feeling.

There was plenty of hand-shaking, like when Huntsman ran into Utah's newest congressman, Jason Chaffetz. But seldom have a group that have won so much acted like they lost.

The vibe was also less gracious. While the Utah Democrats listened - and largely applauded - McCain's concession speech, the Utah Republicans missed a large chunk of Obama's victory speech a half-hour later. Instead, they heard from Utah's newest congressman, Jason Chaffetz, who prefunctorily acknowledged Obama's victory and then made this promise: "I will fight tooth and nail to reject socialism."

That's reaching across the aisle for you.

Labels: Barack Obama, Jason Chaffetz, John McCain, Jon Huntsman, politics

At 9 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, bedlam erupted in the Salt Lake City Radisson.

Chanting "O-Ba-Ma" and "Yes We Can," Utah Democrats cheers the news - declared by the major networks - that Barack Obama had gone over the top in the delegate count and would become the 44th president of the United States.

People cheered. Others cried.

"I've got goosebumps, man," said Utah composer Kurt Bestor.

The cheering continued for several minutes, between more news from the TV screens and a speech by the Obama campaign's Utah director, Suzanne Gelberman.

More cheering erupted when the networks called Colorado for Obama. Many Utah volunteers drove to Colorado to help campaign for Obama, and Gelberman said the win in Colorado would not have happened without Utah help.

Gelberman encouraged the Utah Democrats to keep fighting. "If a black man with a funny name can be elected president of the United States, I have no doubt you can change politics in Utah," she said.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

The best music playing at the Radisson was in the small room occupied by Young Democrats of Utah, who were celebrating early with club music. (Their communications director, Crystal Young-Otterstrom, above, also had the coolest T-shirt.)

Matt Lyon, YDU's president, and his crew believe they have a lot to celebrate. YDU campaigned hard to find young first-time voters and get them interested in politics.

"Young people don't make the regular voting lists," Lyon said. YDU volunteers identified 4,000 young Democratic voters in Utah, and made 21,000 calls to find them and get them to the polls.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

One of the most popular attractions in the Radisson is this standup photo of Barack Obama, where nearly everybody is getting their photo taken. (Here is Demontray Lockhart, of Salt Lake City by way of Kansas City, Kansas.)

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

In the main room of the Utah Democrats' election-night party, it's fun to play "emotional rollercoaster" with the crowd noise.

When a new batch of electoral-vote projections flashed on the TV monitors, the yeas and the boos alternated.

"Obama wins Iowa" - "YEA!"

McCain wins Utah" - "BOO!"

More cheers and boos came with KSL's projections in the Utah races. They cheered for Rep. Jim Matheson in Utah's 2nd District, booed for new Congressman-elect Jason Chaffetz in the Republican-heavy 3rd, more cheers for Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon - and a big cheer when Randy Horiuchi, in a close race for Salt Lake County Council, was declared the winner.

But the biggest and longest cheers came whenever a TV crew started shooting the crowd.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

The ballrooms at the Radisson in Salt Lake City are a rabbits' warren of activity, as the Utah Democrats are celebrating election night.

The local TV and radio (and, ahem, a blogger or two) are ensconced in one of the larger ballrooms, while smaller rooms are housing legislative candidates, Democratic supporters and smaller groups.

Spirits are high, with plenty of food and drink - and people watching any available TV monitor to see how Barack Obama is doing in the electoral count. (ABC has him up 200 to 124 at the moment.) Meanwhile TV crews are catching whatever candidates or partygoers they can find to fill time. For example, here's KUTV reporter Rod Decker interviewing Democratic gubernatorial roadkill, er, candidate Bob Springmeyer:


(Don't worry, Republicans - the Vulture will moseying over to the Grand America, where the GOP is partying, later in the evening.)

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

So much for leaving with dignity.

Utah congressman Chris Cannon has been a lame duck since challenger Jason Chaffetz knocked him out in the Republican primary. While the world went on with the campaign, Cannon apparently has been keeping himself busy promulgating a wingnut conspiracy theory.

According to this story by the Tribune's Thomas Burr, Cannon has been trying to get proof that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's best-selling autobiography Dreams From My Father was ghost-written by (and I'm not making this up, though somebody is) William Ayers, the Chicago professor and one-time Weather Underground member.

Cannon's evidence? A theory pushed by writer Jack Cashill, who says he compared word length and frequency of words used in Obama's book and in Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days.

But the Oxford professor who created the software Cashill used to make his comparison did an examination of his own - and the professor, Peter Millican, said it was highly improbable that Ayers wrote Obama's book.

Cannon, of course, dismisses Millican's analysis, claiming the professor is "miffed" because he didn't get a negotiated $10,000 fee to run the comparison.

Millican, in a column in The Times of London on Sunday, describes receiving "an urgent call from Bob, a man close to a Republican Congressman in the American West [, who] wanted to enlist my services in an effort to prove a scandalous allegation against Barack Obama." Millican then goes on to debunk the Ayers connection, tearing apart Cashill's argument in scholarly detail on his web site.

Cannon - whose most notable accomplishment during his six terms in Congress was his constant presence on Fox News touting Bill Clinton's impeachment - swears he's not trying to smear Obama with this 11th-hour investigation.

"I'm off to the side watching this thinking, 'This is interesting,' " Cannon told Burr.

Yeah, sure. Whatever you say. You're a disinterested observer here.

Good luck in private life, Rep. Cannon. Go pursue your B.S. theories on your own dime.

Labels: Barack Obama, Chris Cannon, politics

My fellow Tribune blogger Glen Warchol makes the case that voters should sometimes pick candidates based on the level of entertainment they bring to the populace, rather than the actual good they might do in office.

Warchol argued this point in support of Utah state Sen. Curt Bramble (R-Provo), who's up for re-election after a year that included crushing ethics reform, his bullying legislative tactics, and an infamous run-in with a pizza-delivery woman. Contradicting the Tribune editorial board's endorsement of Bramble's opponent, Democrat RaDene Hatfield, Warchol asks this question: "It comes down to this — do you want good government on Capitol Hill or rock 'em-sock 'em entertainment?"

In a similar vein, Bill Maher complained about the presidential front-runner on his HBO show Friday: "Barack Obama has to give comedians something to work with. Seriously, here's a guy who's not fat, not cheating on his wife, not stupid, not angry and not a phony. Who needs an a------- like that around for the next four years?"

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

I received an e-mail when I got back from vacation, informing me that Harvey Jackson Unga - father of Harvey Unga, the star running back for Brigham Young University's Cougar football team (pictured) - is endorsing Republican candidate Jason Chaffetz (himself the Cougars' starting place-kicker in the late '80s) for Utah's 3rd congressional district.

"There is no question that Jason Chaffetz has the potential for great things," said the elder Unga in a statement, sent by a publicist. "He is the right choice for our society and community. He is an athlete. He is well known amongst the BYU athletes and by BYU."

Is Unga's endorsement going to influence your vote? Is the opinion of a famous athlete's father - or a rock star (like Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, who played at a Barack Obama fund-raiser last week) - important in helping you decide for whom you should cast your ballot?

How about the considered opinion of the editorial board of your local newspaper?

The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial board this weekend issued its endorsement in the presidential race. The headline sums it up: "A simple choice: The nation needs Barack Obama in the White House."

After pointing out that the Tribune endorsed Obama's opponent, Hillary Clinton, in Utah's Democratic primary this spring, the editorial acknowledges that the board has come around:

"Under the most intense scrutiny and attacks from both parties, Obama has shown the temperament, judgment, intellect and political acumen that are essential in a president that would lead the United States out of the crises created by President Bush, a complicit Congress and our own apathy."

Surely the Tribune's endorsement - along with endorsements from dozens of other newspapers (including that of the Chicago Tribune, making the favorite son Obama the first Democrat that paper has endorsed in its 161-year history) - will give conservatives grist for their usual "liberal media bias" gripes. And just as surely it will give relief to that tenacious breed known as Utah liberals, many of whom accused the Tribune editorial writers of knuckling under to a publisher's decree when the paper endorsed George W. Bush four years ago.

But will the Tribune's endorsement move Utah from the red column to the blue? Will it have any more effect on Utah voters than the number of lawn signs each candidate has (Obama is well ahead in that count in Utah) or how many 7-Eleven coffee cups were sold with each candidates' names on them (Obama came out ahead there, too)?

Probably not, but that's not the point. Endorsements serve as helpful guides to the candidates' positions and barometers of the candidates' temperament. They are written by people who have studied the candidates, and they urge you - the voter - to study them, too.

Labels: Barack Obama, Brigham Young University, politics

- The second presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, from Nashville, Tenn., starts at 7 on all the major channels. The Salt Lake chapter of Drinking Liberally will gather starting at 6 at Saints and Sinners, 3040 S. State, South Salt Lake City (must be 21 or older). (If you know of a rockin' Republican viewing party, e-mail the Vulture and I'll post it here.)

- Weezer brings its jukebox of offbeat hits - including "Buddy Holly," "Island in the Sun," "Hash Pipe" and "Beverly Hills" - to the E Center, 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City. Angels & Airwaves (fronted by Blink 182's Tom DeLonge), Tokyo Police Club and local band Tolchock Trio will open the show. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $39.50 to $42.50, at Ticketmaster.

- Christian rock trio BarlowGirl headlines the "Million Voices" tour, along with Jimmy Needham and Brooke Barrettsmith, starting at 7 at Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake, 480 W. Century Drive (4500 South). Tickets range from $14.50 (groups of 10 or more) to $24.50, by calling 801-814-4645 or 801-264-9999.

- This week's cool band name: A Place to Bury Strangers. They play at the Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, Salt Lake City. Sian Alice Group and Laserfang are also on the bill. Show starts at 9. Tickets are $10, at 24Tix.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics, Tonight's schedule

- Finnish power-metal rockers Children of Bodom plays at Saltair, 12408 W. Salt Air Drive, Magna. Also on the bill: Black Dahlia Murder, Between the Buried and Me. Show starts at 6:30. Tickets are $18, at Ktix or at the door.

- A day before the first McCain/Obama debate (presuming there still is one), get your taste of musical political satire with The Capitol Steps, at 7 at the Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South. Tickets are $35, at ArtTix.

- The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company's newly reconstructed version of Alwin Nikolais' work "Tower" begins a three-night run, at 7:30 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets are $30, or $15 for students at seniors, at ArtTix.

- Outlaw country singer David Allen Coe - the guy who wrote Johnny Paycheck's hit "Take This Job and Shove It" (a song we occasionally hear hummed wistfully in the restrooms at the Tribune) - plays at Bar Deluxe, 666 S. State St., Salt Lake City. Michael Dean Damron is the opening act. Show starts at 8. Tickets are $25, at SmithsTix.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics, Tonight's schedule

TMZ.com, the bottom-feeders of tabloid TV, ambushed Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch at the Republican National Convention, asking if there should be a comparison between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and celebrity mom Lynne Spears - because they both have had to deal with their teen-age daughters' pregnancies.

Hatch brushed off the TMZ guy politely but firmly, as this video shows.

TMZ is late to the party, anyway. Most everyone - from Barack Obama to Lindsay Lohan (no, seriously, Lindsay Lohan has weighed in on this, and quite intelligently, too) - has declared Palin's daughter Bristol off-limits.

It's not about the politician's family, it's about the politician's policies.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, Orrin Hatch, politics, Sarah Palin

- Young Democrats of Utah and the Salt Lake County Democrats are sponsoring a convention-watching party, to see Barack Obama deliver his nomination-acceptance speech from Denver. The party starts at 5 at Brewvies Cinema Pub, 667 S. 200 West, Salt Lake City. Admission is free if you participate in a Youth Vote Barackathon; get there after 6 and pay $5 to get in. Must be 21 or older to enter, since Brewvies serves that beer stuff.

- If you want to watch Obama and you have kids with you, there is also a convention-watching party from 6 to 10 at Canyon Rim Park, 3100 E. 3100 South, Salt Lake City.

- The Twilight Concert Series closes out its summer run with singer Neko Case and the band Crooked Fingers, starting at 7 at the Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Free.

- Banjo master Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers performs, with opening act the Puddle Mountain Ramblers, starting at 9 at Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, Salt Lake City. Tickets are $8, at SmithsTix.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics, Tonight's schedule

Since the Olympics are over, and August otherwise is so bereft of news that New York magazine declared it "National Slow News Day Month," our only shared cultural event this week is the Democratic National Convention in Denver. (Next week, it will be the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn.)

If you're looking for some insight that's a little different than the saturation coverage on CNN and MSNBC, here are a few sites to check out:

• For blow-by-blow details of what the Utah delegation is up to, check out the Utah Amicus blog. It's a great reminder that there actually are Democrats in Utah. (Here's hoping the Utah Highway Patrol will let them back into the state when they try to cross back over the Colorado state line.)
• The Salt Lake Tribune's sister paper, The Denver Post, is covering the living hell out of the convention in their backyard. They're keeping an exceptionally good eye on the social scene and the celebrities in town (such as this roundup).
• The funniest and freshest post-game analysis of the convention is the "DNC Vlog Except That We Hate The Word Vlog" on The Huffington Post. Two of the Post's bloggers, Rachel Sklar and Glynnis MacNicol, are rooming with Time.com writer (and Wonkette founder) Ana Marie Cox - and the three of them give from-the-hip, pre-morning-coffee takes on the previous night's action.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

Hollywood is out in force in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Some are there to support Barack Obama. Others are there to push causes and issues important to them. Some are there because they want exposure for themselves or their careers, and they can smell a camera lens from a thousand miles away.

The Huffington Post has photos of some of the celebs who hit Denver early (such as Anne Hathaway, at right, snapped at the Denver airport looking like she slept during the flight).

Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times hooked up with Richard Schiff, formerly of TV's "The West Wing" and a longtime supporter of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, now Barack Obama's vice-presidential pick.

In today's dead-tree Salt Lake Tribune, I devoted my Culture Vulture column to the phenomenon of celebrities latching onto politicians (and vice versa), and why some people - like Republicans - needlessly get worked up about it.

(Photo: The Huffington Post)

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

If you believe, as I do, in Nick Hornby's maxim from High Fidelity, "what really matters is what you like, not what you are like," you will be interested in these twin interviews in Entertainment Weekly with presumptive presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama.

In the interviews, the candidates are asked about their personal pop-culture habits. Let us compare and contrast tastes:

Favorite sitcom - McCain: "Seinfeld"; Obama: "M*A*S*H"

Favorite movie or TV president - McCain: David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), "24"; Obama: Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges), "The Contender"

Last movie seen in a theater: McCain: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"; Obama: "Shrek 3"

First movie seen as a kid: McCain: "Bambi"; Obama: Can't recall specifically, but one of the first was "Born Free."

If you could be any superhero: McCain: Batman; Obama: Spider-Man or Batman.

Musical tastes: McCain: ABBA, Roy Orbison, Linda Ronstadt, Usher; Obama: On his iPod include Jay-Z, Frank Sinatra, Sheryl Crow, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Javanese flute music, African dance music, a lot of R&B.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

OK, here's the lesson for John McCain: When you start attacking your opponent by comparing him to air-headed blonde celebrities, remember that the air-headed blondes also have access to cameras.

And their writers are funnier than yours.

And they might not be as dumb as you (or, indeed, America) thought they were.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

This is how slippery the slope is for John McCain: He has ceded the moral high ground to Paris Hilton's mom.

Kathy Hilton, mother of the oft-photographed socialite, issued a statement to the left-leaning blog The Huffington Post on Sunday, offering her first reaction to the McCain campaign's ad that knocks his Democratic opponent Barack Obama - using images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears - for his celebrity status:

It is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.

An AP story mentions that Kathy Hilton and her husband Rick donated $4,600 to the McCain campaign earlier this year.

McCain's increasingly negative and snarky campaign ads - like an online ad that suggests Obama is comparing himself to Moses - were all the buzz on the Sunday talk shows.

Mike Murphy, McCain's 2000 campaign manager, called the Spears/Hilton ad "clumsy, juvenile, and a mistake" on NBC's "Meet the Press." And David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, was particularly stinging on ABC's "This Week":

I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it, but it's the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that. There are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'he's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a southern background. We all understand that.

One thing about McCain's attacks on Obama: According to the latest polls, they're working.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

So now the Republicans are playing the celebrity card.

A recent attack ad by presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain attacks his Democratic opponent Barack Obama for being - gasp - popular. The ad juxtaposes images of Obama's recent European tour with red-carpet footage of such celebrity airheads as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

I think calling the ad racist, as some have - because it juxtaposes the African-American candidate with two blond white women - is a bit of a stretch. But it does reveal an intellectual vacuum in the McCain campaign, and some hypocrisy for the Republicans' celebrity bashing.

The point of the ad - vote against Obama because he's being treated like a rock star - is vacuous, and betrays a little envy on the GOP side. As Obama himself said in response to the ad, "Is that the best you can come up with?"

Republicans are adept at bashing celebrities who get political active - note the "Shut up and Sing!" mantra aimed at the Dixie Chicks when Natalie Maines spoke ill of President Bush. But this is the same party that more successfully pushes movie stars as candidates (Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson, Arnold Schwarzenegger) and get all gushy when somebody like Chuck Norris get campaigning.

Folks in Hollywood, according to this Los Angeles Times article, look at McCain's tactics as desperate. And marketing expert Robert Kozinets says the "anti-celebrity de-endorsement" is likely to boomerang on McCain as it gets run through the Internet.

(Cartoon by Pat Bagley/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

Yesterday I noted that Utah resident and world citizen Robert Redford had written an e-mail endorsement for Colorado Democrat Mark Udall, who's running for the U.S. Senate.

How much is such a celebrity endorsement worth? Depends on who you ask.

Stephen Baldwin - who qualifies, barely, for the title "celebrity" because he was on "Celebrity Apprentice" - opined Monday on Fox News that "what is freaky to me is the media and Hollywood is so convinced that Middle America and mainstream America cares what it thinks."

Baldwin then went on to endorse John McCain for president, and promised that he would leave the country if Barack Obama becomes president - a riff on brother Alec's promise, on which he reneged, to leave the country in 2004 if John Kerry lost. (This brings up two questions: 1. Isn't Stephen Baldwin leaving if Obama's elected what we would call a "win-win"? 2. What's Thanksgiving dinner like at the Baldwin house?)

Obviously, the answer to the question of "What's a celebrity's endorsement worth?" is "The same as anyone else's endorsement is worth." But not all celebrity endorsements are created equal.

Some celebrities - like Redford or Warren Beatty - carry more weight because they have reputations for thoughtful political involvement. Others (for example, Barbra Streisand) help bring in fundraising dollars. Republicans seem to like to be surrounded by action-movie stars (like Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he became a politician himself, or Chuck Norris) to give their candidates an air of toughness. Obama got serious traction from the endorsement of Oprah Winfrey.

People may listen to these celebrities' opinions - just as they listen to the opinions of their elected officials, their clergy, their relatives or their barber. How much weight each of those carries is up to the individual voter to decide.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics, Robert Redford

A breathless world waits to know: What's on Barack Obama's iPod?

According to Rolling Stone (which has the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on its cover again this coming week), Obama is a big Stevie Wonder fan - but also has a lot of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Jay-Z in rotation, as well as "everything from Howlin’ Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow."

As someone who believes that there is no line between politics and pop culture - that, as Nick Hornby said in High Fidelity, "what really matters is what you like, not what you are like" - I should be the last one saying this, but how shallow has our political discourse become if we're asking what a candidate listens to on his iPod?

Of course, this isn't the lowest level of trivialization - and neither was the "boxers or briefs" question asked of Bill Clinton in 1992. After all, nobody actually based their vote on that answer. (Whether he kept his boxers or briefs on at crucial moments of his life was another issue.)

The low point was in 2004, when people looked at George W. Bush and John Kerry, and voted for Bush because he was "someone I could sit and have a beer with." Since the odds that you will ever get to sit and have a beer with your president are pretty low (unless you're a lobbyist who donated vast sums to his campaign fund), shouldn't you be more worried that your president (whether Republican or Democrat) stay sober and concentrated on the world's problems - so you and your friends can relax and have a few beers?

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

The letters to the editor keep coming in regarding "The Sock Obama," the offensive doll being marketed by a West Jordan, Utah, couple that equates a presidential candidate Barack Obama - an African-American - to a monkey.

A typical argument, expressed in one letter, says that "the Obama sock toy is not any more offensive than Pat Bagley's Salt Lake Tribune cartoons depicting President Bush as a monkey. The only difference is that Obama is black and Bush is white."

No, it's not the same thing. When you depict George W. Bush as a monkey, you are criticizing Bush as an individual, not making a statement about all white people. Depicting Obama as a monkey, because of its historical and cultural precedent, is making a comment about all black people as inferior.

Some historical examples:

• The 19th-century physician Josiah Clark Nott, in his book Types of Mankind, theorized that the human race was actually several species -- and its illustrations misleadingly suggested that “Negroes” were a class between Europeans and chimpanzees.
• In 1983, sportscaster Howard Cosell was criticized for saying "look at that little monkey go" during a run by Washington Redskins receiver Alvin Garrett, who is black. Cosell said his intent was not racist -- and, in fact, he had used the "monkey" remark to refer to white athletes on occasion.
• One of the Los Angeles police officers tried in the 1991 beating of Rodney King sent a computer text message referring to a domestic disturbance in an African-American family as ''right out of 'Gorillas in the Mist.' ''

Some have defended the Lawsons, the marketers of "The Sock Obama," by saying they didn't know the monkey comparison is racist. If they didn't, that's surprising but not impossible. But now they do know - and if they keep pursuing their plans (as the Tribune has reported), they cannot hide behind ignorance as a defense.

Others say the Lawsons are protected under the First Amendment. True enough. They can say any bigoted thing they choose - but they shouldn't be shocked if the exercise of their free-speech rights doesn't leave them as societal outcasts.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics