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Tag: DNC

  • Russian Gov Hackers Were Stealing Info From Dems For Over A Year

    The Washington Post is reporting that Russian government hackers penetrated DNC computers over a year ago and have everything including all email and chat traffic. According to Washington Post sources their main purpose was to steal opposition research about Donald Trump.

    The Post said that Russian spies were also targeting the networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and some GOP political action committees, but it is unknown if breaches were made at this time.

    From the Washington Post:

    The DNC said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers.

    The intrusions are an example of Russia’s interest in the U.S. political system and its desire to understand the policies, strengths and weaknesses of a potential future president — much as American spies gather similar information on foreign candidates and leaders.

    The depth of the penetration reflects the skill and determination of the United States’ top cyber adversary as Russia goes after strategic targets, from the White House and State Department to political campaign organizations.

    Shawn Henry, the president of CrowdStrike and former F.B.I. agent, spoke to MSNBC: “We were able to identify with a very high degree of confidence a group that we have attributed back to the Russian government targeting that D.N.C. network. Foreign intelligence services are constantly interested in political processes.”

    “We were actually called by the DNC through their Counsel when they saw that there were some irregularities,” stated Henry. “They were concerned about a potential breach within their environment. We came in and did our typical incident response, we deployed certain pieces of technology that we use to try to get some visibility into the extent, the depth and breadth of this particular breach. In the course of this working very closely with the staff of the DNC we were able to identify with a very high degree of confidence a group that we have attributed back to the Russian government.”

    Henry added, “We know with certainty, my time in the Bureau, that foreign intelligence services are constantly interested in political processes, their interested in strategies, their interested in foreign policies, ect. The DNC and others have been targeted over the years by this very very sophisticated group with a high degree of capability and some very very sophisticated technology.”

    “Typically on our network we’ve got corporate strategies, email communication, documents, spreadsheets, PDF, calendars, etc.,” commented Henry. “The foreign intelligence services understand and recognize that organizations maintain this information and they’re looking to get any type of advantage as the political process continues to help them better develop their political strategies and to have a deep understanding of candidates. In this particular case, this groups level of sophistication is very very high, very very difficult to detect and they are able to maintain persistence for long periods of time without being uncovered. Because of that ability to remain stealth in the environment they’re able to look at these communications and documents for a protracted period of time.”

  • Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders Seriously Question Weekend Debates

    Democratic presidential hopefuls Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders are seriously questioning the feasibility of debates that are held on weekends. The third Democratic debate is scheduled for tonight, Saturday December 19, and these men know people won’t tune in the way they probably would were it scheduled for a weeknight.

    It’s not just Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders who are questioning these weekend debates. Many have criticized the Democratic National Committee’s scheduling process.

    It seems there’s been much discussion about these weekend debates, with Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders pushing for more opportunities to publicly challenge Hillary Clinton. The DNC scheduled six–three of which are on tap for weekends.

    Of all the Democratic candidates, Martin O’Malley has been the most vocal about this situation. He first complained about tonight’s debate back in August.

    “They’ve scheduled it during shopping season, December 19th,” Mr. he said. “I don’t know why that is. I think it’s out of a false sense that they have to circle the wagons around the inevitable front-runner.”

    Martin O’Malley’s campaign said that by avoiding prime-time debate slots, the DNC is “protecting” Hillary Clinton. A spokesperson for Bernie Sanders’ campaign says they’ve had no input on scheduling debates, but they are hoping for more discussion among the candidates on the issue.

    “We’re playing the hand we were dealt,” Michael Briggs, a Bernie Sanders campaign spokesman, said. “I guess Christmas Eve was booked.”

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment from the New York Times. Are you surprised?

    Does this sound like an attempt on behalf of the Democratic National Committee to hand-pick their candidate for the presidential race?

    It definitely sounds like Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have a legitimate complaint.

    Will you be tuning in tonight to see the Democratic debate, or are there things like Christmas shopping or holiday parties on your Saturday evening schedule instead?

  • Steve Israel: GOP Base Is Unfortunately “Animated by Racism”

    Steve Israel, Democratic congressman of New York and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that “to a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism. And that’s unfortunate.”

    Israel has not been the only high ranking Democrat to call out the Republican Party on racism. “I think race has something to do with the fact that they’re not bringing up an immigration bill,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told ABC News, “I’ve heard them say to the Irish, if it were just you, this would be easy.”

    Republican Greg Walden was quick to deny the accusations, calling them “both wrong and unfortunate,” according to the Associated Press.

    Despite Walden’s denial, racism remains an ugly topic for GOP lawmakers. Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast pointed out how many Fox News articles are plagued with racist comments made in the support of Republican policy. “Now I don’t know if the people making these comments and the larger group they represent constitute 5 percent of this base or 15 or 50. It depends in part on how you define ‘base,’” Tomasky wrote, “But look at the matter this way. Say you were a Republican political consultant. Would you ever in a jillion years suggest that your candidate take on racism within the GOP as a speech topic? You most certainly would not. Your candidate would be dead immediately.”

    One use of race in Democrats’ rhetoric may be due to anticipation of midterm elections this fall. “Very risky to accuse the GOP of outright, overt racism,” an anonymous Democratic strategist told the Washington Post, “midterms are about motivating your base, so perhaps that is what’s going on. I think more Democrats should take their cues from President Obama, who to my knowledge has never accused his opponents of being racially motivated.”

    According to the Washington Post, Democrats face an uphill battle in the polls. They speculated that a house changeover would be unlikely and asserted that several senate seats held by Democrats remain vulnerable.

    “There are still deep elements of racism in this country, and that element has indeed energized the GOP rank-and-file base,” wrote Susan Mulligan of US News & World Report, “Most Republicans in Congress oppose Obamacare, and it’s not because they have some racial issue with it; it’s because they believe it’s unwarranted and unwise federal government involvement with health care. But [racists] will vote for the GOP candidate for senator because the Democrat voted for the African-American president’s signature law.”

    Image via CNN, YouTube

  • This Autotuned Video Game-Inspired Mashup Is the Best Breakdown of the Political Conventions You’re Likely to See

    When you boil it down, American politics kind of resemble an 8-bit video game, right? And whoever can mention Neil Armstrong the most receives space man power-ups, which can pave the way to victory. And don’t forget about spousal elitist deflections.

    That doesn’t really make sense, I know that. But if you watch this amazing musical wrap up of the 2012 political conventions courtesy of The Gregory Brothers, you’ll get it. Sure, Mitt Romney and President Obama differ on many core issues. But when it comes to buttering up the country during primetime, there really is no difference. The play is the same from both candidates.

    “Sometimes these stringent scorekeeping rules result in eerily similar speeches from both sides of the political arena. It can be tough to tell who loves America the most. To help the novice political spectator more easily follow the score of Obama vs. Romney, we’ve tracked it for you in this video Op-Doc, using state-of-the-art video gaming technology. And music. Though we can’t yet know who will win in November, we hope this Op-Doc provides you with some insight into how the game is played,” they say.

    Check out the best breakdown of the RNC and DNC you’re likely to see:

  • President Obama’s Speech Dominated Facebook, Too

    Today, the folks over at Twitter gave us some big news concerning President Obama’s nomination acceptance speech at the closing night of the Democratic National Convention: he broke a record. In terms of politically-themed tweets, Obama set a tweets per minute record at 52,756 as his speech came to a close. Overall, the DNC saw over 9.5 million tweets over the course of the week.

    Now, the U.S. Politics and Government team over at Facebook have some stats of their own, and they show that it wasn’t just Twitter that saw Obama dominate the conversation.

    Not only did Obama dominate the conversation last night, but his mentions beat those of former President Bill Clinton by 40% on the night he delivered his impassioned speech.

    He also generated more Facebook buzz than Romney on the night of his speech.

    Here’s the post from Facebook’s U.S. Politics page:

    U.S. Politics on Facebook9 hours ago

    Fresh insights on the heels of President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight: –
    “Obama” was the top trending term overall across U.S. Facebook users tonight.
    – Obama mentions tonight were 40% higher than President Bill Clinton mentions from last night.
    – Obama mentions tonight were almost 200% higher (192%) than Romney mentions from the night of his speech.
    – While mentions of Obama have remained steady (and high) throughout the convention, his speech led to an increase of almost 800% in mentions of “Obama.” Powered by socialditto  69 likes ·  23 comments

    Of course, dominating the conversation on Twitter or Facebook doesn’t necessarily signal anything positive for the campaign. Mentions on either site could be postive or negative – all we know is that the President generated buzz with his speech. A whole hell of a lot of it.

  • Caroline Kennedy: Obama And JFK Are A Lot Alike

    Caroline Kennedy spoke up on behalf of President Obama on Thursday at the DNC, following up on her support of his campaign four years ago by saying he has something her own father admired: courage.

    Kennedy made it clear that one of the things she appreciates most about Obama is his stance on women’s rights, not just economically, but health-wise. She thinks he has what it takes to make the tough decisions which might not win him favor in the short-term, but which will ensure a long-term plan to ensure that what was begun when John F. Kennedy was in office will be carried out, not reversed.

    “He has the quality my father most admired in public life — courage,” she said. “Despite critics who said it wasn’t good politics, President Obama listened to my Uncle Teddy, and staked his presidency on making healthcare accessible to all Americans. As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women’s access to reproductive healthcare. That’s not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters. Now isn’t the time to roll back the rights we were winning when my father was president.”

    For Kennedy, the upcoming election is just as important as the one her father won, and she implored voters to draw those same comparisons.

    “Over the past four years, we have had a president who has committed himself and his administration to the values that made America great — economic fairness, equal opportunity, and the belief that if each of us gives back to this country we love, all of us work together, there is no challenge we cannot overcome,” Kennedy said. “Those are the ideals my father and my uncles fought for. Those are the ideals I believe in. And this election is about whether we will advance those ideals or let them be swept away.”

  • Natalie Portman: Five Things You Didn’t Know

    Natalie Portman is one of those actresses you might have a love/hate relationship with. She’s talented, gorgeous, funny, and she has an affinity for nerds, which has won her favor in the past few years. It’s hard to like someone who seems to have everything, but you can’t help but like her. She’s charming, she’s witty, she conveys a sweet nature. Also, she’s done some incredible movies over the years. And, even if you’re a fan, there are a few things you might not know about her.

    1. She’s got beauty and brains

    While in high school, Portman wrote a paper titled “A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar”, which was ultimately entered into the Intel Science Talent Search. She also contributed to a study on memory which was related to her degree while at Harvard, which was later published. She graduated from Harvard in 2003 with a degree in Psychology.

    2. She’s been acting longer than you might think

    Although she was a dancer and appeared in several Broadway shows as a child, she didn’t make her film debut until “Leon: The Professional” in 1994.

    3. She didn’t live in the U.S. until she was three years old

    She was born in Jerusalem.

    4. She loves animals

    In 2007 she launched her own line of vegan footwear.

    (image)

    5. She’s friendly with a Beatle

    She has appeared in two of Paul Mccartney’s videos, “Dance Tonight” and “My Valentine”.

  • Sandra Fluke: Future Under Romney Humiliating To Women

    Sandra Fluke, the former Georgetown Law student who found herself in the national spotlight when Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” for her stance on birth control coverage under health care laws, took the stage last night at the Democratic National Convention to support President Obama.

    Fluke made it clear that she thinks a future under Mitt Romney’s reign would be like taking a step backwards where females are concerned, referencing his failure to speak up on her behalf when Limbaugh blasted her on his radio show.

    “Our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters — not his delegates or donors — and stands with all women,” she said. “And strangers come together, reach out and lift her up. And then, instead of trying to silence her, you invite me here — and give me a microphone — to amplify our voice. That’s the difference.”

    A well-known feminist, Fluke has championed causes such as free contraceptives and rights pertaining to women’s health care–including emergency abortions–and pointed out that Romney and his party don’t believe in running a country which holds women’s rights as important.

    According to Fluke, the country under Romney’s charge would be “an America in which states humiliate women by forcing us to endure invasive ultrasounds we don’t want and our doctors say we don’t need. An America in which access to birth control is controlled by people who will never use it; in which politicians redefine rape so survivors are victimized all over again; in which someone decides which domestic violence victims deserve help, and which don’t.”

    The speech earned her quite a bit of praise, but of course the topics she addressed are ever-controversial and raised some eyebrows in the Republican camp, where she was blasted once again.

    Image credit: Amy Gardner/The Washington Post

  • Bill Clinton Impresses, But First Lady Still Tops in Twitter Buzz [DNC]

    At the bottom of the 10 o’clock hour last night, former president Bill Clinton began what was supposed to be around a half-hour speech. What he ended up giving was a 48 minute masterclass in politicking, a speech that was heavy on the policy yet still engaging. Say what you want about his politics, but it’s hard to deny the political skills of the Democratic Party’s elder statesman.

    If you were on Twitter during the speech, it felt like President Clinton broke it, right? Not only was “Bill Clinton” trending nationwide, but so was #SlickWillie, “Big Dog,” “Bubba,” and even “Arithmetic” (a nod to one of his more popular lines of the night).

    And yes, Clinton saw a huge spike in tweets per minute – 22,087 near the end. But that falls short of the buzz generated by the First Lady on Tuesday night. Michelle Obama garned a spike of 28,003 tweets per minute at the close of her weel-received speech.

    For some context, Mitt Romney’s biggest spike during his speech was 14.289 TPM.

    According to Twitter, here are some of President Clinton’s biggest moments from his speech:

    • Discussing Obama’s job record: 16,115 TPM
    • Urging the audience to vote for Obama: 15,266 TPM
    • “All in this together” statement: 15,111 TPM
    • Discussing Hillary Clinton’s role, and “blood sport” line: 14,538 TPM
    • “Takes some brass” quip: 14,393 TPM

    During the entire week of the Republican National Convention, Twitter logged a little over 4 million related tweets. The DNC has already seen 5.5 million in its first two nights.

    If you missed the speech, here it is in its entirety. Settle in, it’s a long one:

  • Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman To Follow Foo Fighters At DNC?

    Despite a whole lot of people clamoring for Betty White to make an appearance at the Democratic National Convention, rumor has it that three very different actresses will be taking the job instead.

    According to CNN, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Kerry Washington have been “secretly scheduled” to speak tonight at the DNC, to appear before a performance by The Foo Fighters. Though nothing has been confirmed by DNC officials, many think this could be just what the Dems need to follow Clint Eastwood’s much-maligned appearance last week at the Republican convention; namely, because the support of three young, female, high-profile supporters can only help President Obama in the longrun.

    However, despite the favor their appearance could win with the young voting crowd, it’s likely they wouldn’t be taken seriously by everyone, as evidenced by a few of the tweets below.

  • Michelle Obama’s Speech Nearly Doubles Mitt Romney’s in Terms of Twitter Buzz

    Ever since the kickoff of the Republican National Convention last week, Twitter’s @Gov team has been hard at work monitoring tweet buzz – mostly in the form of total tweets and spikes in tweets per minute.

    For instance, last week they told us that there were over 4 million RNC-related tweets over the course of the week – 2 million of them coming on the final night (Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, and Clint Eastwood generated quite a bit of buzz). In fact, the 2012 RNC generated more tweets before the first keynote speaker stepped up to podium than the 2008 RNC did during the entire convention.

    Now, Twitter’s saying that the first night of the Democratic National Convention has already generated over 3 million tweets.

    And it’s not just the DNC in general that’s besting the RNC in terms of Twitter buzz. Last night, Michelle Obama saw a spike of 28,003 tweets per minute at the conclusion of her speech. Mitt Romney’s biggest TPM spike during his speech was 14,289 – just barely over half of the First Lady’s.

    Other speakers last night included Mayor Julian Castro and Governor Deval Patrick, who scored TPM spikes of 11,5093 and 6,909, respectively. Last week, Senator Marco Rubio saw 8,937 TPM and Ann Romney saw 6,195.

    Why so much more buzz for the Democrats than the Republicans? One reason could be that the Democrats tend to be more enthusiastic about social media – especially when it comes to politics. A recent Pew study showed that Democrats are much more likely to use sites like Facebook and Twitter for political purposes, and liberals are more likely to use social networks in general.

    [Lead image: President Obama and the first kids watching Michelle Obama’s speech]

  • DNC Livestream on YouTube Blocked, Marked Private [UPDATED]

    DNC Livestream on YouTube Blocked, Marked Private [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: Videos from the convention are appearing on the DNC’s official channel. YouTube says that there was no copyright violation and that it was simply an incorrect error message that users saw on Tuesday night. Here’s their statement:

    “After Tuesday’s live stream ended, YouTube briefly showed an incorrect error message on the page hosting the completed live stream instead of the standard “This event is complete” message. There was no copyright violation on the video and neither the live stream nor any of the channel’s videos were affected.”

    YouTube has made a big deal out of the fact that they are one of the best places to go this year for campaign coverage. Whether that be behind-the-scenes videos, news reports, short features, debate coverage, or live streaming of the conventions – YouTube’s new Elections Hub has the American voters covered.

    Well, except when things fail to go according to plan.

    Viewers who attempted to access YouTube’s livestream of the Democratic National Convention late last night were unable to do so. Shortly after First Lady Michelle Obama completed her speech, the archived recording of the event went black.

    Actually, here’s the message that users received:

    This video contains content from WMG, SME, Associated Press (AP), UMG, Dow Jones, New York Times Digital, The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), Warner Chappell, UMPG Publishing and EMI Music Publishing, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

    Blocked for copyright purposes. Say what?

    YouTube told GigaOM that it wasn’t their fault.

    “After tonight’s live stream ended, YouTube briefly showed an incorrect error message. Neither the live stream nor any of the channel’s videos were affected,” they said.

    But many took to Twitter to lament the blocked video. Now, when you try to access the video it is marked as private. If this really isn’t a copyright problem and simply an error, it shouldn’t take those responsible very long to fix this and make the video public again.

  • Democratic National Convention Streaming Live on YouTube

    Democratic National Convention Streaming Live on YouTube

    Last week, the Republicans had their chance to showcase what they have to offer the American voters. Some of the highlights included Ann Romney’s well-received speech, Paul Ryan’s controversial speech, Clint Eastwood’s much-discussed speech, and finally Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. Those interested in the 2012 election were able to watch all of those speeches live, streaming on YouTube.

    And YouTube isn’t playing partisan favorites. Starting today, they will be streaming the DNC speeches to millions of people on their dedicated DemConvention2012 channel (in English and Spanish).

    “Starting September 4, we’ll give you an all-access pass to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Once again, every night during prime-time, you’ll be able to turn to YouTube to see all of the speeches like President Obama’s live address from Bank of America Stadium on September 6,” said YouTube in a blog post.

    Before either of the conventions kicked off, YouTube unveiled a new Elections Hub that features reporting and videos from the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Al Jazeera, Univision, and BuzzFeed. The convention live streams are just an arm of this expanded political coverage, and you can check out the main Elections Hub for tons of campaign 2012-related videos while you wait for the DNC to kick off.

    The conventions aren’t the only things that YouTube will be streaming this election season. They’ve also committed to bringing users the Presidential debates, starting in October.

  • Betty White Going Up Against Eastwood At DNC?

    Betty White is one of the most beloved actors people of our generation; she’s funny, she’s brash, she’s graced our televisions since before most of us were born, and, at 90-years old, she’s a part of our history, yet she manages to never take anything too seriously. Also, she has friends in high places.

    White hasn’t made it a secret that she favors President Obama, and now Change.org is hosting an online petition to get her to introduce him at the Democratic National Convention. After Clint Eastwood’s speech at the RNC–which didn’t go over so well–the Dems are looking for someone unassuming yet whip-smart, funny yet kind, with a good reputation in the celebrity world. Betty White fits that bill perfectly.

    The petition states:

    Clint Eastwood, the Republican’s “mystery guest” at the RNC, gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere with his absurd and awkward-to-watch introduction of Governor Romney.

    You know what?

    Governor Romney can have Clint Eastwood and his improvisational skills because President Obama has the one and only Betty White!

    Take action today if you want to see a real [old] Hollywood icon get a political introduction right!

    With almost 6,000 signatures, the site just needs about 1,500 more. And as some of you may remember, White was drafted to host “Saturday Night Live” in 2010 because of a petition very similar to this one. The power of the web.