Elisabeth Hasselbeck talked smack about Michelle Obama, hinting that she must have something to hide.
Hasselbeck compared Cindy McCain, John McCain’s wife who wore a $300,000 outfit at the Republican National Convention to Michelle Obama, Barack Obama’s wife who grew up in the South Side of Chicago:
“Cindy came into our hair and make-up room fresh as can be. And unlike another wife of a political candidate, who shall remain nameless, she didn’t come with a list of topics that we weren’t allowed to touch. Nope. That’s because she has nothing to hide.â€
Thursday afternoon, “Heart” e-mailed out a statement regarding vice-presidential candidate Sarah “Barracuda” Palin‘s use of their similarly monikered song at the Republican National Convention.
“The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.”
But after McCain finished his speech accepting the GOP’s presidential nomination tonight, Palin joined him on stage, and the song was used again: Heart’s “Barracuda” played as balloons fell.
With that elephant in the room, Heart’s Nancy Wilson felt compelled to personally respond. In a phone interview with EW, she said:
“I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented. I feel completely f—ed over.”
She and sister Ann Wilson then e-mailed the following exclusive statement:
“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
The Heart-McCain incident isn’t the only example of music-related controversy on this year’s presidential campaign trail. Click here to read Chris Willman‘s report about Barack Obama’s eyebrow-raising use of Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” after his nomination-acceptance address last week.
source: Heart’s Nancy Wilson responds to McCain campaign’s use of ‘Barracuda’ at Republican convention [hollywood insider]
Until recently, it was the John McCain party that was accusing Barack Obama of “celebrity status“.
Who is the celebrity now? Heidi Montagcan’t believe she’s not John McCain’s running mate. She might as well be.
What others said:
Dlisted says, “Basically, the Palin family has become the Spears family of Alaska. Somebody shake Brit Brit from her Vicodin-Cheeto coma and let her know that this Sarah Palin chick is taking her place!”
Bristol Palin‘s baby daddy has been found! Levi Johnston impregnated Bristol, the daughter of GOP vice presidential pick and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The NY Daily News describes 18-year-old Levi Johnston as a “a superhunky bad-boy ice hockey player from cold country.”
According to his MySpace page (which is offline now), Levi is just a “f#ckin’ redneck” who doesn’t want kids. Levi loves snowboarding, dirt bikes, fishing and “f#ckin’ chillin’.”
Bristol Palin, now a senior, was frequently seen cheering her young beau from the stands. Levi is also a senior.
“They’ve been together quite a while, more than a year,” she said. “I hope everything comes out well. These are local kids.”
They are getting married, because they have to. Gawker has a couple of Levi’s “f#ckin’” MySpace photos– they are just what you expected.
EVERYONE is talking about Bristol and Sarah Palin today – even Lindsay Lohan!
“Political Blog
I’ve been watching the news all morning, like everyone else – and i keep hearing about the issues related to ‘teen pregnancy’- It’s all related to Sarah Palin and her 17 year old unmarried pregnant daughter. Well, I think the real problem comes from the fact that we are taking the focus off of getting to know Sarah Palin and her political views, and what she can do to make our country a less destructive place. Its distracting from the real issues, the real everyday problems that this country experiences.
I am concerned with the fact that Sarah Palin brought the attention to her daughter’s pregnancy, rather than all world issues and what she believes she could possibly do to change them-if elected. I get Sarah Palin’s views against abortion, but i would much prefer to hear more about what she can do for our country rather than how her daughter is going to have a child no matter what.
Maybe focus on delivering some words and policy with stronger impact like Joe Biden. See below for Barack Obama’s thoughts:
Sen. Barack Obama said firmly that families are off-limits in the campaign for president, reacting to news that GOP running mate Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.
“Let me be as clear as possible,” Obama said. “I think people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.”
Obama said reporters should “back off these kinds of stories” and noted that he was born to an 18-year-old mother.
“How a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics, and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that’s off-limits.”
On another note-the last note- i heard a woman say on TODAY on NBC that teens are feeling as if they have to grow up faster.
Really? Because, i think that girls that are CHOOSING to be sexually active and are making a conscious decision to grow up faster….. I think that parents need to recognize how important it is to talk to their children about the things that can result from being sexually active if they aren’t protecting themselves (birth control, condoms, etc.)
So-those are my thoughts for the day. xoxo
What others said:
Dlisted says, “The dude’s name is Levi, he’s a proud redneck and he loves chillin’. I think we’ve found Matthew McConaughey‘s long-lost secret love child!”
After some unsavory rumors that Sarah Palin faking a pregnancy to protect her daughter surfaced, Palin revealed yesterday that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant but scheduled to marry the 18-year-old hockey playing father, Levi Johnston. One hesitates to delve into the story of candidates’ minor children, who are not public figures. Now, though, the focus has turned to where it should: The vetting process that yielded the unexpected selection of the relative unknown Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate.
There had already been reports that McCain and his inner circle decided on Palin outside the normal process set up to ensure that there would be no surprises. This revelation — of what was apparently an open secret in Alaska would seem to vindicate that charge. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell both report that a bunch of GOP lawyers are now heading to Alaska for “a deeper vet.†As Josh Marshall puts it, “Face It: They Didn’t Vet Her.â€
Team McCain insists this is nonsense and that they were fully aware of the situation with Palin’s daughter. AP’s Liz Sidoti reports that,
Sarah Palin’s path to the Republican ticket started with her name on a list — and a team of some 25 people poring through public records searching for trouble spots without her knowledge. Then came the 70-question survey and a nearly three-hour interview.
[...]
Stoking the notion of a rushed examination, a timeline issued by the campaign indicated that McCain initially met Palin in February, then held one phone conversation with her last week before inviting her to Arizona, where he met with her a second time and offered her the job.
[...]
[Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., the lawyer who conducted the review] said Palin’s review, like others, began with a team of two dozen people culling information from public sources. The team reviewed speeches, financial records, tax information, litigation, investigations, ethical charges, marriages and divorces, for a number of potential running mates.
For Palin specifically, the team studied online archives of the state’s largest newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News, but didn’t request paper archives for Palin’s hometown newspaper for fear the secret review would become public. Among the findings: Palin had once received a citation for fishing without a license.
[...]
Culvahouse then conducted a nearly three-hour interview. He said the first thing Palin volunteered was that her daughter was pregnant, and she also quickly disclosed her husband’s two-decade-old DUI arrest. The public search also unearthed details of the Legislature’s investigation into the dismissal of Alaska’s public safety commissioner, allegedly because he would not fire Palin’s former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
It sounds like, at a minimum, Team McCain valued maximum surprise and buzz from the announcement more than thorough vetting. Similarly, they seemed determined to avoid further annoying social conservatives, given that pro-choicers Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were clearly McCain’s preferred running mates.
Drawing comparisons with George McGovern’s disastrous choice of Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, Jeralyn Merritt has started a pool: “What Day Will Sarah Palin Drop Out?†Given Palin’s popularity with the party’s conservative base and McCain’s own combativeness, I doubt it’ll come to that.
One wonders, though, why they chose Palin even with this story out there. ABC’s Jake Tapper asks the not unreasonable question, “What would the response be if Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and his wife Michelle had a pregnant unmarried teenage daughter?â€
Surrounded by an enormous, adoring crowd, Barack Obama promised a clean break from the “broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush” Thursday night as he embarked on the final lap of his audacious bid to become the nation’s first black president.
“America, now is not the time for small plans,” the 47-year-old Democratic Illinois senator told an estimated 84,000 people packed into Invesco Field, a huge football stadium at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
He vowed to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America’s dependence on Mideast oil within a decade. By contrast, he said, “John McCain has voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time,” a scathing indictment of his Republican rival — on health care, education, the economy and more.
Polls indicate a close race between Obama and McCain, the Arizona senator who stands between him and a place in history. On a night 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a Dream Speech,” Obama made no overt mention of his own race.
“I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree” of a presidential candidate was as close as he came to the long-smoldering issue that may well determine the outcome of the election.
Fireworks lit the night sky as Obama, his speech concluded, accepted the cheers of supporters. His wife, Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha joined him as the country music anthem “Only in America” filled the stadium. Vice presidential running mate Joseph Biden and his wife, Jill, joined them onstage.
Depicted by McCain as too young and inexperienced to sit in the Oval Office, Obama responded with an oblique reference to his rival’s temper.
“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have,” he said.
John McCain has utilized almost every television commercial in his campaign as a means of slamming Obama Barack — even calling him a “celebrity“. Meanwhile, Barack has mostly focused on his own merits.
Well, Barack is finally on attack. This election is going to be extremely fun to watch. Can you imagine how dirty things will get by November?
As you all know, John McCain has already started hitting below the belt, calling Barack Obama “the world’s biggest celebrity”.
McCain even went as far as comparing Barack to Paris Hilton.
Well… she’s pissed.
UPDATE (James):
For those unable to watch the video, ABC News’ Tahman Bradley has the rundown:
Sitting on a lawn chair in a bathing suit, Ms. Hilton says to camera, “Hey America, I’m Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity too. Only I’m not from the olden days and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot.”
She continues, “But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means that I’m running for president.”
And so, since Hilton has interpreted the comparison to Sen. Obama, D-Ill., as meaning that she too is qualified to be leader of the free world, Hilton, jokingly, lays out her campaign platform.
The video has some more tough words for the “wrinkly white-haired” Arizona Senator: “He’s the oldest celebrity it the world, like super old. Old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket,” a narrator says, with a picture of Larry King and then Yoda to drive home the age point.
In the unkindest cut of all, McCain’s spokesperson Tucker Bounds tells TMZ that on the subject of energy, Paris is deeper than Barack. He says, “Sounds like Paris is taking the ‘All of the Above’ energy approach that John McCain has advocated — both alternatives and drilling. Perhaps the reality is that Paris has a more substantive energy plan than Barack Obama.”
Naturally, all of this has resulted in some enlightening discussion on the issues that matter most to Americans.
After a couple months in Utah getting rid of the addiction demons, Lindsay Lohan has landed in L.A. She was spotted disguising herself in a hoody and sunglasses outside a Beverly Hills restaurant yesterday afternoon, with no Riley Giles (the new boyfriend) in sight.
I’m setting the over-under for being seen at a club at 4 days. Place your bets.
Now that’s funny. Though out of print, you can find a used copy of “Cooking With Pooh” for just under $2. Every $5 office elephant gift exchange should include this.
Source: “IN ODDER NEWS: Goes Great With Honey” [Best Week Ever]
“The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.”
Bristol Palin, now a senior, was frequently seen cheering her young beau from the stands. Levi is also a senior. 
