New York based blog Gawker called "Do you know who Snooki is?" the defining political question of our time yesterday. For someone who is famous for being famous, the Jersey Shore star sure has caused quiet a commotion on America's political scene. It all began this June Snookie revealed her preference for Republican presidential candidate John McCain over President Obama.
"I don't go tanning anymore because Obama put a 10% tax on tanning," Snooki said. "And I feel like he did that intentionally for us. McCain would never put a 10% tax on tanning because he's pale and he'd probably want to be tan."
"@Sn00ki u r right, I would never tax your tanning bed!" McCain posted on Twitter. "Pres Obama's tax/spend policy is quite The Situation. but I do rec wearing sunscreen!"
President Obama apparently took Snooki's public remarks seriously because he vowed to give her and the entire Jersey Shore cast an exemption to the tax provision of the health bill.
"The following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax within this bill: Snooki, JWOWW, The Situation and House minority leader John Boehner," Obama joked at White House Press Correspondents Dinner.
Only two months later however, the president claimed he didn't know who Snooki was during his appearance on The View. This is flip-flopping at its worst.
Last night, Senator John McCain handily defeated former Congressman J.D. Hayworth in Arizona's highly publicized Republican primary election.
In a year full of "anti-establishment" feelings and rhetoric, McCain, who turns 74 on Sunday, was originally seen as vulnerable to Hayworth, 52, who branded himself as a true conservative in comparison to McCain's "mavericky" ways. Hayworth attempts to appeal to Tea Party activists however wasn't enough to overcome McCain's vigorous campaigning.
The former presidential candidate didn't take his reelection for granted, spending $20 million according to the Arizona Republic, unprecedented in an Arizona U.S. Senate race. McCain also got help from his former vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin, Massachusetts Senator and Tea Party poster boy Scott Brown, and former Massachusetts governor and Latter-day Saint Mitt Romney who spoke at an event in Mormon heavy Mesa.
As part of our continuing coverage of rock n roll and its influence on politics (see our last post here), we present the youtube sensation that's sweeping the internet after being posted on Drudge Report:
Sing for Change!
A lot more subtle than "Obama Is Here". I still prefer Will.I.Am's song. At least John McCain has his own theme song now, "Raisin' McCain" by some guy named John Rich.
BREAKING NEWS: Diddy Bothered By McCain, Hates Alaska P. Diddy decided that he needed to do his civic duty and vent about the current state of political affairs. Diddy, who sometimes goes by his "government name" Sean Combs, says he respects McCain, but is bothered by him. Why would you pick someone from Alaska? "What is the reality in Alaska? There’s not even no crack heads in Alaska. There’s not even no black people? There’s not even like no…crime? " Those are really the only reasons he gives why Palin shouldn't have been selected. He mumbles about a few other things but doesn't finish his thoughts. Does spinning around make his argument more valid? It just makes me nauseous.
I vote yes to what Kid Rock has to say about all this. "I truly believe people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight should keep their mouth shut on politics. Because at the end of the day, let me tell you what I'm good at: I'm good at writing songs and singing. What I'm not educated in is the field of political science. And so for me to be sharing my view and influencing people of who I think they should be voting for...I think would be very irresponsible on my part. So I'll just keep my mouth shut on that."
Obama Mia!
The 1992 election saw Democrat Bill Clinton trailing behind Republican George H. W. Bush. It also saw MTV, now over a decade old, trying to find new ways to stay relevant and meet the needs of their audience beyond music videos. The Rock The Vote campaign had begun two years previously with musicians making ads to encourage young people to register and vote. These ads had been given plenty of play time on MTV and coupled with the growth of MTV News, it showed that young people cared about issues other than Paula Abdul's new haircut.
MTV began by assigning a team to cover the election and eventually set up a town hall meeting for the candidates. Both Bush and Perot turned the offer down, but Clinton needed all the help he could get in the polls. Clinton answered serious questions about serious issues but also about his first rock and roll experience (Going nuts over Elvis Presley). Did Clinton's time on MTV make any difference in the campaign? He ended up winning with 43 percent of the vote and young voter turnout was up 20 percent from 1988.
These days, MTV seems to have less 'M', instead of focusing on the worst dating reality shows imaginable and following around celebrities. You can't really blame them however as the internet has forced them to find new programming to keep viewers. Why sit around watching countless videos you don't want to see until your favorites show up when you can view whatever you want whenever you want on YouTube? As music videos have migrated to the internet, so has music's attempts to shape public opinion.
On February 2, 2008, the Black Eyed Pea's Will.I.Am released "Yes We Can", a video based almost exclusivley on a speech given by Barack Obama and directed by Bob Dylan's son, Jesse Dylan. Shot in black and white and featuring 34 musicians, actors, and actresses, it samples Obama's most hope-inducing rhetoric. As of the beginning of August, the video has had nearly 9 million plays on YouTube.
Ludacris recently made a pro-Barack song of his own, "Obama Is Here". His track has caused controversy, bashing on Hillary, Bush, and proclaiming that McCain, "don't belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed". Rather than the optomistic tone of Will.I.Am's video, "Obama Is Here" comes across as militant as Ludacris threatens to "paint the White House black". Obama spokesman Bill Burton commented, "While Ludacris is a talented individual, he should be ashamed of these lyrics," and went on to say that the song is "outrageously offensive".
And what of John McCain? Is anyone going to make a song for him? Unfortunatley, the music industry is predominantly liberal save a few stars. Paris Hilton is one(she recorded a few songs right?). Her family recently donated to the McCain campaign. We can only suppose that Britney Spears is supporting McCain after her comments about trusting President Bush and our involvement in the Iraq War. Loyalties aside, the two tabloid princesses are now being used in a McCain ad portraying Obama as the biggest celebrity in the world; all style but no substance. I guess they won't be making a song for him anytime soon.
So far the only artist to make a YouTube video supporting McCain is Madonna. Who would have thought?
Only time will tell if YouTube can make the same kind of difference in this election that MTV did in the early 90's. The one thing that is for sure is the fact that Obama is the first "YouTube-able" presidential candidate in the history of America. There is no telling how many of his 229,000 videos on the site are music related but it sure beats McCain's 85,900. No matter who you support, rock the vote America.
