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By Benny Morris $17.16
by Juan Cole and Nikki Keddie $30.60
$20
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 abcnews.go.com
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You know the drill: It all starts with the seductive glare of the klieg lights and the flashbulbs, followed by the ever-present entourage—stylists, publicists, various hangers-on—and the next thing you know, there’s a sex tape and someone’s career will never be the same ... as a politician, that is.
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Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest cultural satire is upon us—and the host of the “Tonight Show.” Conan O’Brien does his best, but all the lap-dancing and Kugel-staring is just too much for him to bear. [Update: Video fixed]
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 AP photo / Mary Altaffer
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“Fun Steve is dead” was the announcement that Steve Schmidt, the McCain campaign adviser who The New York Times notes “worked closely with Karl Rove” in 2002 and 2004, made to his team at a particularly low moment last summer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of the bombastic tactics Team McCain has since adopted can be traced to the demise of “Fun Steve.”
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Just as John McCain was catching flak for bolstering Paris Hilton’s bafflingly resilient showbiz career, another danger appeared on the horizon in the form of that purebred Hollywood golden retriever Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s turned up in a Democrat-sponsored PSA with an angular bob that could slice deli meat and a get-out-the-vote message for expat American voters.
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In her video response to John McCain’s “celeb” commercial, the heiress unveils her own energy policy and threatens to paint the White House pink. Thanks again, Sen. McCain, for making this campaign about the issues. Or not.
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Right, so we’ve just seen the comparisons to Britney and Paris in John McCain’s “Celeb” commercial, one of several ads from Team McCain’s oeuvre that perhaps unwisely focus almost exclusively on the presumptive Democratic nominee instead of on McCain’s own policies and positions. Now, here’s Charlton Heston’s Moses impersonation to ratchet up the Camp-O-Meter in “The One,” a McCain spot that ends by ... saying Obama “might be The One.” Huh?
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Do you think that when John McCain helped craft the legislation requiring “I approved this message” at the end of political ads he could have envisioned himself attaching his name and approval to this silliness? Behold, McCain’s attempt to elevate the discourse ... by likening his opponent to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
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Several leading Republican strategists, both named and anonymous, were quoted Wednesday as slamming the latest in a string of bold attack ads on Barack Obama, this one overlaying images of the young senator with troubled trollops Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. “McCain ads are just catch as catch can, one wild swing at Obama after another,” one strategist told the Washington Post.
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski strenuously objected to covering Paris Hilton’s legal woes as a lead story, so much so that when her producer (and the teleprompter) refused to budge, she first tried to burn, then tore and shredded the copy. Here she explains her revolt: “I just don’t believe in covering that story, especially not as the lead story in a newscast when you have a day like today.”
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Jon Stewart and Michael Moore dish about healthcare, Paris Hilton as a canary in the coal mine, and the solution to America’s problems: Invade Canada.
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 From defamer.com
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Surprised? Hey, Paris Hilton went from B-list to the cover of Vogue after her sex video made the rounds.
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