MEANINGFUL DISTRACTION

MTV ran its first political ad in its 27-year history yesterday. The slightly sexual sounding (my heads in the gutter) “Both Ways Barack,” attack ad is from conservative group Let Freedom Ring and accuses Barack of being on two sides of an issue, which in my humble opion, is much more impressive than being on just one singular side.

When MTV initially made the decision back in June to run political ads, it came suspiciously close to a report in the New York Times that Obama wanted to do an MTV buy.  With all the money the Bam campaign has to spend, MTV wants a piece of the pie and this anti-Obama ad may help push him in that direction. 

Surely the Obama campaign will want to combat against the poisoning of young, influential minds.

Not all of Europe is thrilled that Barack Obama is gracing their continent with his celestial presence this week. France’s paper of record, Le Monde, published a less-than-glowing editorial today about the globe-trotting Democratic nominee for President.

Le Monde hits Obama on multiple fronts, and our good friend Ben Smith has more on the piece HERE.

But I want to highlight one grievance in particular that the French mega-paper has: the lack of time Obama spends this week in France relative to Germany.

Le Monde’s editors write: “A speech in Germany, five little hours in France.”

But when you think about it, from a political standpoint, Obama choosing Germany over France for his major speech should come as a surprise to …let me see … oh that’s right… precisely no one.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like the only news we’ve been hearing about John McCain lately is him whining over Obama and how much the press “loves” his opponent. They’ve even got their little Love video contest going on with a Chris-Matthews-fueled montage of the press’ Bam affection.

Which, while funny, (at least it isn’t a rape joke), as well as an attempt to go viral, is just about the worst PR strategy ever because instead of taking viewers’ attention and focusing it on McCain, he deflects it right back to Obama. And they just keep doing this type of stuff — only their newest “ha ha” joke is even worse.

McCain’s camp issued fake press releases identifying their press corp. as the “JV Squad,” with the caption: “Left Behind to Report in America.” The reverse side features a Frenchman pouring a glass of wine with the same caption en francaise (“Laisse en arriere pour faire un rapport en Amerique”).

So in effect, not only did the McCain people throw the focus back to Obama by satirizing the media attention he’s getting overseas, but McCain also succeeds in disparaging the traveling media corps. that covers him.

Well played, sir.

(Via CBS)

Saint John McCain is having a pretty crappy week since his buddy Barack Obama left for the Middle East and Europe.

Obama’s globe-trotting around the world, shaking hands with heads of state, schmoozing with our troops, and preparing to give a speech tomorrow before a crowd that may grow as large as 1 million people in Germany…

Meanwhile, here in the United States no one is paying attention to John McCain. One reporter showed up to greet his plane in New Hampshire this week. ONE!!!

But the fact that no one cares what McCain does or says right now may end up being a blessing in disguise for the presumptive Republican nominee for president, since he’s been especially prone to completely moronic statements innocent campaign gaffes since Obama left the country.

(1) First, the Master of Foreign Policy can’t stop talking about a country that hasn’t existed in well over a decade (Czechoslovakia).

(2) Then his campaign acts like a bunch of whiny teenagers by releasing an ad about how the media “goes soft on Obama.” But in typical John McCain fashion, hours later he flip flops on the ad and says he’s in fact not complaining about the media coverage of this campaign.

(3) Then he gives an interview with Katie Couric where he gets the most basic historical facts wrong involving a foreign policy decision that he’s choosing to basically hang his campaign on at this point: The Surge in Iraq.

ABC covers up McCain’s embarrassing historical illiteracy on what’s supposed to be his signature issue (National Security) because, after all, they are part of the same media that’s “in the tank” for Obama.

(4) Then his campaign decides to take the lowest road possible and hit Obama for visiting a Holocaust memorial site in — of all places — Israel! Another classy move.

So at this point John McCain’s campaign is so desperate to make headlines of their own that they’ve had to resort to planting false stories with reporters about McCain announcing his VP choice this week just to create a news cycle buzz.

BUT, as shit begets shit, Robert Novak, the reporter who thought he was given McCain’s VP super-scoop, was so angry and frustrated over being used like a piece of prison ass by the McCain campaign that he zoned out and hit a pedestrian while driving his black Corvette this morning.

So now we come to this afternoon: John McCain had one press avail scheduled for today. Just one.

But realizing that he’s going to be hammered by reporters over the smattering of negative stories circling his campaign right now (see 1-4), he chose to do the honorable thing… and really show Americans why he’s the only man worthy of the title, “Mr. Straight Talk”: he canceled the freakin’ press conference.

Someone should change the new campaign slogan on John McCain’s poster from “PEACE IS BORN OF WISDOM” to “PEACE IS BORN OF…DUCKING THE HARD QUESTIONS.”

Meaningful Distraction says to John McCain: Come back and face the music, cause your shit is WEAK right now!

Note the ethereal glow coming from McCain’s forehead.

“PEACE IS BORN OF WISDOM.” What a load of BS coming from John McCain.  The GOP favors neither Peace nor Wisdom.

Related: NEW JOHN MCCAIN CAMPAIGN POSTER!!

The above left graphic is Barack Obama’s campaign poster which publicizes (in German) the major address he will make tomorrow in Berlin.

Predictably, once the flyers came out looking “different” from what we’re used to seeing, the Republicans started to throw around their new favorite attack word for Obama: “arrogant.”

They love using it — these days Obama can’t brush his teeth in the morning without the Republicans telling us how the flavor of toothpaste he uses somehow reveals how “breathtakingly arrogant” he is.

“Arrogant,” after all, is the new “uppity.”

But here’s what the Republicans and even some moderate voices are missing: this campaign poster isn’t evidence of a “messiah” complex; it pays homage to a pivotal era in graphic design history: the German Bauhaus movement during the early 20th century (see above right for example).

As I’ve noted elsewhere, Obama’s design team is very, very good — they would know the history of German graphic design. Obama’s Berlin poster contains the same bold, diagonal lines and sanserif type which typifies 1920s -era German “industrial design.” Another example here.

So before the pundits and professional GOP douchebags operatives try to point to Obama’s German flyer as evidence of arrogance, they should take a minute to stop and think whether or not his design team sat down before creating yet another elegant image and said: “When in… Germany, do as the Germans do.”

Many Germans will recognize this little tip-of-the-hat, and those that recognize it will appreciate it. This type of move wouldn’t even occur to the McCain campaign, despite the fact that McCain was born around the time when German Bauhaus was all the rage.

Related:

OBAMA’S VIZ MAKES GRAPHIC ARTISTS SWOON

BAM 1 MILLION STRONG IN GERMANY?

EUROPEANS ARE THE NEW GAYS

OBAMA RE-TOOLS PRESIDENTIAL SEAL, SLAPS MCCAIN AROUND

OBAMA GOING TO IRAQ

Always factual (cough) National Enquirer has caught the former presidential hopeful  visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40am at an LA hotel.  Scandal!

And what’s more-His wife Elizabeth is still battling her long fought battle with cancer.  This also isn’t John’s first “alleged” affair.  Last year there was some rumor mongering about filmmaker Rielle Hunter, but nothing was ever proven.

Related:

THE NEW INFIDELITY — TO ALL THE MEN OUT THERE WHO’VE BEEN CHEATED ON

I GUESS THIS IS THE DAY WHERE WE TALK ABOUT CHEATING: SJP & MATTHEW BRODERICK

I can’t wait till the GOP latches on to this one. 

In Mike Allan’s Political Playbook on Politico it states that “With Senator Obama still in Iraq, his staff and press could be seen smoking flavored tobacco in hookahs in their Amman hotel bar, well past midnight local time.”

You know who else smokes hookahs and stays out till midnight?   Terrorists.  Muslim terrorists hell bent on staying out to party and chill to the scent of sweet apple smoke.

Barack Obama and John McCain will soon be immortalized in comic books.

On October 1, a group called IDW Publishing will release two graphic novels called Presidential Material designed to “take advantage of one of the true American art forms, the comic book, to explore the histories of both presumptive nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties.”

Since Lark and me get enough entertainment from the real-life events of this campaign, Meaningful Distraction will take a pass on buying the comics. But I must say, in terms of cover art alone, John McCain won out big time here — just look at the difference between the two men’s hands alone!

Leaving aside the fact that everyone knows Obama has much bigger hands than McCain, without question the illustrator took some creative liberties with the diminutive Republican nominee: he slimmed down McCain’s stomach, filled him out with a bulging chest and arms, and gave him Barack’s signature Colgate Smile — which everyone knowns McCain doesn’t possess.

Meanwhile Obama looks small and angry (dare I say bitter?) in a deceptively misleading cover that does nothing to showcase his enormous height advantage over McCain, which you’ll see in the upcoming debates stands at nearly a full foot.

(Presidential Material)

John McCain’s campaign released this compilation video to show how “in love” the media is with Barack Obama. I suppose the video would be more effective if 90 percent of the clips weren’t of Chris Matthews — someone we’ve all determined by now is a complete and utter tool.

But I think the larger point is: the McCain people are acting like a bunch of whiners right now. And it’s sad.

They’re having to fight for attention because exactly no one is excited about the prospect of a McCain Administration and they’re bitter over it. They resent their situation; they resent the fact that McCain doesn’t attract ratings and can’t get it up even with the Republican base.

Well, MD has a message for the McCain campaign: “boo-fucking-hoo.“

Read the rest of this entry »

This new flick, set to be released Sept. 1 from conservative outfit Citizens United Productions, purports to expose the “truth” about Barack Obama.  For more info, click here.

Conservative host of Savage Nation, Michael Savage is a major moron in general, but his latest antics of idiocy are aimed at children suffering from a terrible and debilitating disease and they are inexcusable.

Above is the clip of Savage calling kids afflicted with autism “fakers” who are merely acting out like “fools,” and blaming parents for not raising them “correctly.”

This obviously riled many people and yesterday protesters rallied outside of his office calling for him to be fired.  But instead of backing down and apologizing, Savage defended his remarks saying:

“My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as ‘autistic.’ Many children are being victimized by being diagnosed with an “illness” which may not exist in all cases. … Let the truly autistic be treated. Let the falsely diagnosed be free.”

How about we let him be free instead, by firing his cruel and ignorant ass.  Sign petitions against him, here.

So this weekend in a state of Jack Daniels hang-over I found myself watching the Brooke Hogan show. 

First off-she is in no way, twenty years old.  She looks at least thirty.  At least.

Secondly, she by no means “knows best.”  When interviewing new roomates in a segment that was obviously taped before Hillary dropped out, Brooke states:

“You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it’s kinda crazy that a woman is running, because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I’m so moody all the time, I know I couldn’t be able to run a country, ‘cause I’d be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, ya know?”

If she’s really too fraught with PMS and emotions and other “lady stuff,” then she shouldn’t have a show either, or a singing “career.”  Boycott!

Barack Obama is in the Middle East today ahead of his trip through England, France and Germany. To give you a sense of what may be in store for Obama once he arrives, officials in Berlin, Germany, are preparing for a crowd of up to one million to show up to hear Barack Obama speak in a few days. A staggering prospect.

But remember how the politics of this will play out here at home: the bigger the crowds Obama draws overseas, the more John McCain’s campaign will tell us that Europeans hate America. That way, by their tortured logic, Barack Obama also hates America. See how neatly that works out!

Related:

EUROPEANS ARE THE NEW GAYS

OBAMA GOING TO IRAQ

A SUNDAY MORNING HANGOVER MEANS YOU GET SUNDAY MORNING BLURBS

UPDATE: Ben Smith, Radar and Gawker join the chorus.

New Rule: From now on whenever I hear a statement dripping with incoherence, or one that’s clearly motivated by a compulsion to overcompensate for artistic impotence… I’m going to call it an “Apollo Braun.”

I gave this dial tone what I thought would be his one and only post here on Meaningful yesterday, and under normal circumstances I have a hard and fast rule in blogging: “don’t feed the beast douche.” But my girlfriend’s reaction last night to Braun’s “OBAMA IS MY SLAVE” shirt has changed that.

The shirt was offensive enough on its own she said — but what really boiled her blood was the fact that she feels (as a Jew) like Braun’s financial exploitation of historical rifts between the Black and Jewish communities makes him even more detestable than your standard issue no talent opportunist. And she’s right.

So I decided to do a little digging and discovered a few things about Apollo Braun:

(1) much like a whore, Braun will do or say anything if the end result is he gets paid,

(2) he has the intellectual acquisitiveness common to a pistachio nut (see below), and

(3) judging by his work (which I refuse to link to), the guy doesn’t even have a pulse when it comes to artistic ability

Below is Braun talking about what inspired his “Obama = Hitler” shirt.

Normally I’d choose to wipe my ass with rants like this before posting them on Meaningful (and don’t think for a second that I’m not conflicted about giving this guy any more blog ink) but my compelling interest here is: if Apollo Braun ever makes the news again I want our readers to know just how small and sad this man really is.

Braun:

“I have an incredible imagination, you can call it a Jewish imagination if you want and it is what it is, Obama reminds me of Hitler in more ways than I can explain…

Read the rest of this entry »

Lately, non-news has been discussing just what a pain in the ass Obama is for late night jokesters and other comedic types, because he’s impossible to make fun of. 

But not so fast-LA Times’ Joel Stein comes up with some pointers and they even include remarks about race.  For instance, Simpson’s writer Matt Selman’s joke is comic gold:  “A lot of people are worried about Obama being assassinated because he’s black. The solution to that is a much blacker vice president. I’m thinking Flavor Flav.”

Ha ha ha.  See that’s funny.  It can be done.  Click here to read and laugh.

Related:

OBAMA IS INVINCIBLE AGAINST LATE NIGHT JOKESTERS

Calling out Michelle for her “proud of America,” quote has been going on since May and now there is this new ad from the Washington State GOP. 

But c’mon already.  Isn’t it time for them to get a new tactic?  Like perhaps, the issues or even focusing on the positive aspects of McCain’s record that voters would be interested in.  Just a suggestion.

Related:

FIGHT BACK AGAINST FOX’S MICHELLE OBAMA SLANDERS

KEEPING AN EYE OUT FOR MICHELLE

FOX NEWS: MICHELLE OBAMA = BARACK’S “BABY MAMA”

FISTBUMPGATE: ED HILL GETS BUMPED!

WHAT IS IT: A FIST BUMP, POUND… “TERRORIST FIST JAB?”

THE ONLY FIGHT LEFT WORTH FOLLOWING IS MICHELLE v CINDY

DUELING FIRST LADIES, THE WIVES ON THEIR POTENTIAL ROLES

DUELING POTENTIAL FIRST LADIES: TIM GUNN ON TEAM MICHELLE

I can’t find an embeddable video, but you have gotta click this.  It’s the best.  During a tee ball game in Kentucky on Weds., little Emily has a chance to meet George Bush.  As she is being led up to the President, she does what anyone with the IQ of a child her age would do and high tails it Forest Gump-style out of the ball park and just keeps on going.

My faith in the future has been re-invigorated.

Before Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President few people had heard the term “State Senator,” much less were familiar with what a person in that position does. One of the lesser talked about consequences of Obama’s rise to superstardom is the spotlight that’s been placed on state legislators — who they are and what type of experience they’re able to gain from that role.

All this talk has invigorated State office holders across the nation, including here in New York, where some have begun to chart the local talent’s growth potential on something called “The Obameter.”

The Obameter rates up-and-comers in three main areas: Style, Substance and Savvy, with a panel of consultants and experts assessing state politicians’ strengths and weaknesses on a scale seen below.

The Obameter is mainly for fun; a cute talking point that politicians can send to their pro-Obama consitituents. But Obama broke the traditional mold in terms of how someone gets to be a major party standard-bearer, so it’s highly likely that we’ll see more state office holders at least try to make bold moves using Barack Obama’s campaign as a historical precedent.

If not, you better act fast. Investors, fund-raisers and arty-types are snapping up the pieces at warp speed. Already, posters that sold for $45 are running for thousands on Ebay, reports the WSJ.

At a fundraiser thrown by Russell Simmons the lead auction item will be Shepard Fairey’s Hope portrait and is set to start at $60,000 and there are plenty of other examples of Bam art going for exorbitant prices. There is even an Obama Art Report online blog that is tracking the sales.

As for McCain-related art items, they are not fairing so well on the market. Only six McCain pieces averaging around $57 were sold on Ebay in the past 60 days, compared with 889 Obama-related with the average price of $127.

Related:

ABRAHAM OBAMA? …NOT SO FAST

THE OBAMA COVERS

OBAMA’S VIZ MAKES GRAPHIC ARTISTS SWOON

OBAMA “HOPE,” MEET OBAMA “DOPE”…MEET OBAMA “NOPE”

TVNewser ran Jesse Jackson’s unaired comments yesterday, exposing that the Rev. did say the n-word though it was not aimed at Barack.   ”Barack…he’s talking down to black people…telling n—s how to behave.”

Today the ladies of the View sat down to discuss the controversy over the n-word.  It’s great TV with lots of emotions and n-word dropping from Whoopi and is capped off by tears from Elizabeth.

For those who don’t want to watch (but should), here’s the recap:

Whoopi thinks it’s okay for black people to use that word which rhymes with migger, while Elisabeth thinks it is never appropriate under any circumstances.

Related:

AN EXTRAORDINARY NUTSACK? NUT SNACK?

SHOULD FOX AIR JESSE JACKSONS FULL COMMENTS?

PLEASE SIR, TELL ME MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU’D LIKE TO DO TO OBAMA’S TESTICLES

BARACK OBAMA’S NUTS SAFE FROM JESSE JACKSON

Heidi and McCain’s daughter Meghan are hanging out and Meaningful Distraction encourages network execs to jump on this and take the next logical step:  The Capitol Hills. 

Here’s our suggestion for the (fake) real plot line of the faux reality show: 

After hearing all the buzz about political parties, Heidi and Spencer move to DC to get in on all the happening events.  After realizing her mistake, Heidi finds solace in a friendship with Meghan.

Heidi eventually ends up as a Senators aide, has an affair with him and is exploited via Meghan’s blog  McCainBlogette.com.   It causes a major riff and the two can never show up at the same red carpets again.

In the end, Heidi reaps the PR benefits of the scandal to get a record deal.  She breaks up with Spencer, who isn’t troubled having found out that his personality is perfectly suited for politics.

UPDATE I: See also, “APOLLO BRAUN” IS A NO TALENT BITCH

UPDATE II: Gawker is reporting that the editor of Metro (the free daily that broke this “story”) has been fired, ostensibly for shoddy journalism.

An Israeli-born t-shirt “designer” named Apollo Braun (pictured above) is being sued by a woman who bought a shirt of his that reads “OBAMA IS MY SLAVE.”

The woman, a 25 year old Manhattan graduate student, was assaulted Tuesday night when a group of four teenage girls saw her wearing the shirt and took offense. According to Metro, the girls cursed at her, pushed her, then followed her around Union Square as one of the girls pulled the earphones out of her ears and another spit in her face.

Now the woman is suing the designer, not the four teens (!), for in his words, “all he’s got.”

Braun, real name Doron Braunshtein, claims that what allegedly happened to this woman is not his fault, and that the offensive design doesn’t reflects his views but “those of ordinary WASPs.” He says, “For a lot of people, when they see Obama, they see a slave. People think America is not ready for a black president.”

Read the rest of this entry »

A recent poll conducted by Match.com and Happen Magazine, asks people which candidate they would rather lock lips with. Unsurprisingly, 77% of people think Barack would be a better kisser than cyrogenic wonder McCain.

Match wants everyone to know that “Neither Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain nor any babies were polled as part of this survey.” Ha ha.

Also-McCain is old and not sexy.  Ha ha ha, again.

Let’s take this further with another pointless, basically predetermined poll: Who would you rather sleep with?

I can’t decide which visual I like best: the prissy, unicorn-riding Barack Obama or the swollen-faced, bikini chasing Bill Clinton; one thing’s for certain though — this video is the most we’ve seen of Hillary Clinton in weeks.

(JibJab)