WebProNews

Tag: president obama

  • Congressional Candidate Posts Gun Photo to Facebook, Says “Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama,” Unsurprisingly Lands in Hot Water

    A Republican candidate for U.S. Congress is on the defensive after a Facebook post he made on his campaign page.

    Brad Staats, who is running for Tennessee’s 5th congressional district, posted a photo of a handgun on Facebook page complete with this caption:

    “Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says “cling to their religion and guns.” Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama, where we appreciate our 2nd Amendment rights and the Constitution that was wisely given to us by our founding fathers.”

    Although the post contains no clear threats to the President’s life, the reference to Obama paired with a gun was unsurprisingly enough to trigger a response.

    The Tennessean picked up the story over the weekend, and Staats quickly responded on his Facebook page, saying,

    “So the Tennessean took one of my posts and called it a threat to Barack Obama, which was completely taken out of context. My post from Friday was regarding the fact that the UN Small Arms Treaty, passed last week will undermine our Second Amendment Rights.”

    Here’s the controversial post:

    Brad Staats for Congress4 days ago

    Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says “cling to their religion and guns.” Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama, where we appreciate our 2nd Amendment rights and the Constitution that was wisely given to us by our founding fathers.

    Powered by socialditto  54 likes ·  13 comments

    The post makes no reference to the treaty that Staats used to justify it, but he went on to defend the post in a followup with the Tennessean, When asked if he was threatening the President:

    “Good Lord, no,” he said. “Absolutely not. I’m not one of those that would ever threaten the president. He’s probably got enough of his own stuff to worry about without me,” said Staats.

    But he didn’t back down on the original sentiment of the post, saying this at a campaign event Monday evening:

    “I do want President Obama to know as well as the rest of Congress and everyone else regarding our constitutional, rights don’t tread on America’s constitution. I think that your liberties, your life can be defended by the proper instructed use of a handgun.”

    The post is vague enough to hide Staat’s intentions, and he claims he meant no harm. For their part, the Secret Service doesn’t seem too concerned. “We’re aware of it, and we will conduct any appropriate follow-up if necessary,” said a spokesman. No matter his intentions, people in the public eye must be extra careful with what they say on social media. Context is an easy thing to lose on Facebook and Twitter, and public players must be sure that everything they post is as unambiguous as possible.

  • Samuel L. Jackson’s Obama Ad “Wake The F*ck Up” Hits YouTube

    We knew it was coming, and today it hit the YouTubes. We’re talking of course about Samuel L. Jackson’s profanity-laden pro-Obama advert “Wake the F*ck Up.”

    Sponsored by the liberal Jewish Council for Education and Research, the ad plays like a bedtime rhyme for Obama supporters. It features a little girl, with the help of Jackson, telling people that this election is important and they need to show a little more interest. That interest, of course, comes in the form of re-electing President Obama.

    The ad banks on Jackson’s previous viral success as the profane narrator of the “children’s” bedtime book “Go the Fuck to Sleep.”

    The author of that book, Adam Mansbach, also penned this new ad. Here’s a relevant stanza:

    “Sorry my friend, but there’s no time to snore
    And out-of-touch millionaire’s just declared war
    On schools, the environment, unions, fair pay
    We’re all on our own, if Romney has his way

    And he’s against safety nets – if you fall, tough luck
    So I strongly suggest that you wake the fuck up.”

    Check it out below:

    “The Jewish Council for Education & Research is proud to endorse President Barack Obama for reelection. We believe his administration has made significant progress towards fulfilling the pledges he made during his campaign. To help the President secure these gains, stand up to the Tea Party agenda, and advance new priorities, we will do everything we can to mobilize Jews and others to support his candidacy,” says the JCER.

    I doubt the Obama campaign can actively promote this ad, but I’m sure they’re not upset about the amount of viral play it’s bound to receive.

  • 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:

  • Pizza Guy Who Bear Hugged Obama Finds Support on Facebook

    Who would’ve thought that a simple hug could lead to so much online political posturing?

    The last week has undoubtedly been a rollercoaster ride for Scott Van Duzer, owner of local pizza place Big Apple Pizza in Fort Pierce, Florida. Images and video or Van Duzer lifting and hugging President Obama during a campaign stop went viral, and that attention led to his business’ Yelp page being flooded with negative reviews. Most of those negative comments had nothing to do with his pizza, if you catch my drift.

    One 1-star reviewer wrote “i wouldn’t hug obama nor would i vote for him, now i sure will not oder from your resturant!!” Another 1-star reviewer wrote, “We all have the right to voice our political opinions. However if you use your business or foundation to do so, you should be prepared to accept the consequences. I will get my pizza elsewhere.”

    Another said “Can’t recommend a place that let’s vermin like the POTUS into it’s establishment. At the end of the day do you really want to go to a place whose pizza is so bad and politically charged that the cheese falls to the left?”

    Many of the recent reviews do mention the pizza, but the flood of 1-star reviews in the hours and days after the hug went viral suggests ulterior motives.

    Big Apple’s rating currently sits at four and a half stars, no doubt inflated by supporters who sought to restore the rating after it dipped dramatically due to the many 1-star reviews.

    But Yelp isn’t the only place to sound off online, and Big Apple Pizza’s Facebook page is seeing a flood of support. Out of the 100 most-recent Timeline posts, barely a handful are negative.

    Polticis aside, this serves as a cautionary tale for small business owners. Even the smallest of gestures, or one controversial action can lead to an absolute mess. Ah, the power of anonymity and the internet.

  • 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.

  • Charlotte Man Threatens to Hit Obama with “Lee Harvey Oswald Swag” on Twitter, Promptly Arrested

    Threatening to kill the President of the United States is a serious offense. Threatening to kill the President of the United States on Twitter is outstandingly idiotic.

    Apparently, 21-year-old Donte Jamar Sims thought it would be good idea to announced his plans to assassinate President Obama to his 566 followers on September 3rd. The Charlotte resident tweeted a series of threats during a 15-minute period just one day before the Democratic National Convention kicked off in his city.

    According to court documents, the tweets were spotted by a Secret Service intelligence agent, who went to Sims’ home on Wednesday to interview him about the statements.

    Without further ado, here are the tweets that got Sims in trouble:

    After that tweet, one Twitter follower warned him that he “better stop tweeting that before the Feds come looking for him.” But he continued:

    After that, another user asked if he was serious. “As a heart attack,” said Sims.

    Some of his other tweets in the days following the assassination threats read “Mitt Romney for President,” “#NOBama,” “F*ck Obama,” and “Democrats getting impeached.” He did say that he respects Michelle Obama, however, and that she’s “Sexy as hell.”

    After being apprehended, Sims confessed to the tweets, saying he knew it was wrong but he was high.

    “Sims stated that he published the statements because he hated President Obama,” the Secret Service agent wrote in the affidavit. “Sims asserted that he was high on marijuana when he made the threats but that he understood what he was doing and that it was wrong.”

    If convicted, those few tweets could cost him $250,000 and five years of freedom.

    [via CNN]

  • President Obama’s Speech Sets New Political Tweets Record

    Last night in Charlotte, President Obama accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for a second term. This (and a few other high-profile speeches) made the final night of the DNC the most buzzed-about night across both conventions, in terms of Twitter.

    President Obama’s acceptance speech set a new record for tweets per minute during a political moment. At the conclusion of his speech, Twitter saw 52,756 TPM concerning the President.

    Here are some of the other moments that saw spikes in TPM:

    • 43,646: “I’m no longer just the candidate, I’m the President”
    • 39,002: “I will never turn medicare into a voucher”
    • 38,597: Discussing Medicare
    • 37,694: “We don’t think government can solve all our problems…”
    • 34,572: Quips about the Olympics and “Cold War mind warp”

    By comparison, Mitt Romney only garnered 14,289 TPM at the height of his speech. Before the President spoke, the person that had seen the most Twitter buzz throughout the conventions was First Lady Michelle Obama, who saw 28,003 TPM at the conclusion of her speech.

    Former President Clinton saw 22,087 TPM, and Vice President Joe Biden scored 17,932.

    The Democrats generated more than double the Twitter buzz that the Republicans did over the course of their convention. By the end of the night, the DNC had generated over 9.5 million tweets. The RNC generated just over 4 million last week.

    To put it all in perspective and to show just how much Twitter has grown since the 2008 election: those 4 million tweets more than double the amount of tweets sent globally on election day 2008 – about ALL topics.

  • Obama Girl Still Has a Crush on Obama, Although She May Look Different This Year

    Obama Girl Still Has a Crush on Obama, Although She May Look Different This Year

    You remember Obama Girl, right? She was the model who publicly declared her undying love for then-candidate Barack Obama in a now legendary YouTube video.

    Well, she’s likely jumped ship on President Obama. But the real woman behind the “I Got a Crush…on Obama” viral phenomenon is back, and she still loves our 44th President.

    Leah Kauffman provided the vocals on the original YouTube hit, but she didn’t appear in the video. That task fell to Amber Lee Ettinger, an aspiring actress and model who lip-synched the tune. Since the historic 2008 election, Ettinger has made it clear on various talk shows that she doesn’t have the same affinity for Obama, and that her voting options are definitely open in 2012.

    But Kauffman is still a supporter. “I decided to revisit the original “Crush on Obama”. I’ve still got a crush, and he’s got my vote,” she says. And this time, she’s in front of the camera.

    Check out “Still Got a Crush on Obama”:

    She’s not alone. This dude also has a crush on Obama.

    [h/t Mashable]

  • Obama Held Sway Over 30% of Reddit During AMA

    Obama Held Sway Over 30% of Reddit During AMA

    When users logged on and saw the words “I am Barack Obama, President of the United States – AMA” at the top of the front page, they knew that it was an historic occasion for the site. Reddit has been called a driving force of the internet – a social force that not only generates a massive amount of pageviews, but can send a massive amount of them to your site – if you’re lucky enough to get a top link. And amid the cats, trolls, and subreddits devoted to mutilated penises, everyone know that reddit’s heart is pure. This can be seen in the random acts of generosity performed by the site’s members.

    But this was something else. This was the President of the got-damn U-S-of-A…talking to redditors. When the comment total hit 4,000+ within 15 minutes of the AMA post, everyone knew records were bound to be set.

    And according to reddit, they were. Big ones.

    Preliminary pageview and unique visitor stats from reddit users showed that reddit had a banner day due to Obama’s AMA. But here are the official numbers from reddit:

    2,987,307 pageviews on the day. Not on the site. On the single post.

    If you count pageviews on the AMA post from the time of posting until noon today (EST), that number jumps to 5,280,441.

    But here’s the most impressive part:

    At any given time, the front page of reddit (http://www.reddit.com) has around 15-20% of active visitors. An extremely popular submission may have 2-5% of visitors at any given time. In the recorded history of reddit, we’ve never had one single submission get more visitors than the front page at any given time, until the Obama IAMA. The Obama IAMA received over 30% of all visitors to reddit at its peak.

    That’s just insane.

    And remember how Obama took down reddit? For awhile, both the front page and the actual AMA post were slow to load (if they loaded at all). Reddit explains why they had problems with all of the traffic, even though they knew about the AMA well in advance:

    In preparation for the IAMA, we initially added 30 dedicated servers (20%~ increase) just for the comment thread. This turned out not to be enough, so we added another 30 dedicated servers to the mix. At peak, we were transferring 48 MB per second of reddit to the internet. This much traffic overwhelmed our load balancers which caused a lot of the slowness you probably experienced on reddit.

    For the most part, redditors seemed happy with the AMA. Sure, Obama only answered ten questions and only spent around a half an hour participating – but hey, he’s a pretty busy guy. One thing has emerged since the session. One reddit user did some detective work and found that a lengthy question on student loans came from a new account whose creator may be tied to the Department of Justice.

    Press plant? Wouldn’t be the first time a politician has tried to make an interview go more smoothly. It could just be a coincidence, but it is mighty suspicious, Mr. President.

  • Here’s President Obama’s Reddit AMA, Just in Case You Missed It

    Here’s President Obama’s Reddit AMA, Just in Case You Missed It

    Yesterday, around 4pm ET, reddit started to act a little funny. The front page seemed slow to load, individual pages were bringing back the “over capacity” error message. Something was up. And then, out of nowhere, a link shot to the top of the front page – “I am Barack Obama, President of the United States – AMA.”

    The Presidential Ask Me Anything session was a surprise to the majority of redditors, who enthusiastically logged their comments and questions to the tune of 4,000+ in the first 15 minutes. As of this morning, the AMA post has over 22,700 comments.

    The President verified that it was truly him taking redditors questions via Twitter and a photo (seen above). He answered questions for a little over 30 minutes (a timeframe that he was clear about up front), providing responses to 10 redditors.

    If you happened to miss the AMA, here are all of Obama’s responses:

    What are you going to do to end the corrupting influence of money in politics during your second term?

    Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress – to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists. Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.

    What was the most difficult decision that you had to make during this term?

    The decision to surge our forces in afghanistan. Any time you send our brave men and women into battle, you know that not everyone will come home safely, and that necessarily weighs heavily on you. The decision did help us blunt the taliban’s momentum, and is allowing us to transition to afghan lead – so we will have recovered that surge at the end of this month, and will end the war at the end of 2014. But knowing of the heroes that have fallen is something you never forget.

    We know how Republicans feel about protecting Internet Freedom. Is Internet Freedom an issue you’d push to add to the Democratic Party’s 2012 platform?

    Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody – from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business. And although there will be occasional disagreements on the details of various legislative proposals, I won’t stray from that principle – and it will be reflected in the platform.

    What is the first thing you’ll do on November 7th, win or lose?

    Win or lose, I’ll be thanking everybody who is working so hard – especially all the volunteers in field offices all across the country, and the amazing young people in our campaign offices.

    Are you considering increasing funds to the space program?

    Making sure we stay at the forefront of space exploration is a big priority for my administration. The passing of Neil Armstrong this week is a reminder of the inspiration and wonder that our space program has provided in the past; the curiosity probe on mars is a reminder of what remains to be discovered. The key is to make sure that we invest in cutting edge research that can take us to the next level – so even as we continue work with the international space station, we are focused on a potential mission to a asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight.

    I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I’m sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it’s difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life — to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family — is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I’m not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term?

    I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads. You’re right – your long term prospects are great, but that doesn’t help in the short term. Obviously some of the steps we have taken already help young people at the start of their careers. Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent’s plan until you’re twenty six. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs – and that’s why the choice in this election is so important. The other party has two ideas for growth – more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we’ve put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers. These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse. I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year. I don’t promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don’t be discouraged – we didn’t get into this fix overnight, and we won’t get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more.

    How do you balance family life and hobbies with, well, being the POTUS?

    It’s hard – truthfully the main thing other than work is just making sure that I’m spending enough time with michelle and the girls. The big advantage I have is that I live above the store – so I have no commute! So we make sure that when I’m in DC I never miss dinner with them at 6:30 pm – even if I have to go back down to the Oval for work later in the evening. I do work out every morning as well, and try to get a basketball or golf game in on the weekends just to get out of the bubble.

    Who’s your favourite Basketball player?

    Jordan – I’m a Bulls guy.

    What’s the recipe for the White House’s beer?

    It will be out soon! I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty.

    At the end of the AMA, Obama had this to say as he took off:

    “I need to get going so I’m back in DC in time for dinner. But I want to thank everybody at reddit for participating – this is an example of how technology and the internet can empower the sorts of conversations that strengthen our democracy over the long run. AND REMEMBER TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER – if you need to know how to register, go to http://gottaregister.com. By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole reddit experience – NOT BAD!”

    Nice meme reference, Mr. President.

    The campaign is already trying to capitalize on the reddit buzz with a new email sign-up site addressed directly to redditors.

    All in all, a pretty good experience for all involved. Of course, people wish Obama would have stuck around and answered more questions, but he is a pretty busy man. He didn’t come close to touching some of the more hot-button topics like marijuana legalization, Guantanamo, detention, and ACTA – which are always close to the redditor’s heart. But it was a good step from a politician who has made it a point to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to utilizing the internet. Now that everyone is on Twitter and Facebook, Obama tackled a new (unruly) frontier. Mitt, you’re next.

    Plus, someone bought him reddit gold – so I guess it was worth it.

  • President Obama Taking Your Questions On Reddit At 4:30

    President Obama Taking Your Questions On Reddit At 4:30

    President Obama has proven to be a fairly tech savvy guy during his four years in office. He’s taken to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more. One place I never expected to see the President was on Reddit. You can imagine my surprise today when an AMA featuring the President took the top page on Reddit.

    Before you think that this is some kind of joke, President Obama’s official Twitter feed confirms the AMA.

    The tweet was signed with “bo” which means it’s straight from the man himself. It will be interesting to see if he will be personally answering questions on Reddit as well.

    When Obama starts answering questions on Reddit, he’ll have a lot to go through. The thread has already reached over 4,300 comments in 25 minutes. There will surely be more throughout the day. The initial surge was so strong that we had trouble even accessing the thread.

    A quick preview of the questions include stuff that Redditors would be interested in. One of the top questions is how Obama plans to defend Internet freedom if he’s elected to a second term. The GOP already made their stance clear last night, so it will be interesting to see how and if he responds. Another major topic involves the student loan debt problem that many young Redditors are also facing.

    We’ll continue to monitor the AMA throughout the day to see if anything interesting happens. Many politicians have taken to the AMA stage before, but this is the first time that a major political player – the President – has taken to Reddit. It’s looking to already break all kinds of records.

    UPDATE: Here’s the proof that he’s answering questions on Reddit, or so says the Tweet.

    UPDATE:

    Obama has answered a few questions so far. The most interesting response has been his take on Internet freedom:

    Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody – from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business. And although there will be occasional disagreements on the details of various legislative proposals, I won’t stray from that principle – and it will be reflected in the platform.

    He also commented on the future of NASA and its dwindling budget:

    Making sure we stay at the forefront of space exploration is a big priority for my administration. The passing of Neil Armstrong this week is a reminder of the inspiration and wonder that our space program has provided in the past; the curiosity probe on mars is a reminder of what remains to be discovered. The key is to make sure that we invest in cutting edge research that can take us to the next level – so even as we continue work with the international space station, we are focused on a potential mission to a asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight.

    He also revealed that Michael Jordan is his favorite basketball player.

    UPDATE:

    That’s a wrap. Obama finished his first AMA and only answered 10 questions. Granted, he left very lengthy responses for the questions that he did answer. He confirmed that the beer brewed at the White House will soon be available for all. He also referenced his meme in the last response:

    By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole reddit experience – NOT BAD!

  • Obama & Romney Sign on for Facebook/Univision-Sponsored Hispanic Forums

    Both the Republicans and Democrats still see the Hispanic vote as up for grabs, and you can bet that a lot of money will be spent in the upcoming months on ads that target the key voting block. Of course online, TV, and radio ads aren’t the only way for the candidates to make their case for why they’d be the best President for the Hispanic population – both Obama and Romney need to address the voters regarding specific issues that are important to the community.

    With that in mind, both candidates have officially signed on for two “Meet the Candidates” events sponsored by Spanish language broadcaster Univision and Facebook.

    The two forums (exact times and dates unknown) will mostly focus on “education and the future of the Hispanic community.” They will be moderated by Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, two anchors of Univision’s popular evening news program “Noticiero Univision.”

    Here’s where Facebook comes in to play: In order to make sure the moderators address the topics that Hispanic voters care about the most, Univision will reach out to voters on various Facebook pages prior to the forums. These pages include the Univision Noticias page and the U.S. Politics on Facebook page.

    “These events speak to President Obama and Governor Romney recognizing the important role Hispanic America will play in the elections and in defining the future of our country,” said Univision News President Isaac Lee. “In our role of informing and empowering our audience, and as part of Univision’s 50-year relationship with this community, these conversations are critically important to the community we serve. This important discussion is increasingly taking place on Facebook and we are excited to utilize the world’s largest social network to get people involved with issues that matter most to them.”

    Facebook isn’t the only social media outlet that Univision has tapped for their election coverage. Univision will reach out to voters on Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube’s recently announced Elections Hub.

  • President Obama’s Fake Twitter Followers Outnumber Mitt Romney’s Total Followers 6 to 1

    It’s pretty safe to say that everyone on Twitter is followed by at least a few fake accounts. We always knew that bots ran rampant on the site, but recent studies into the buying and selling of fake Twitter followers has put a spotlight on just how serious the problem really is.

    Plus, there was that whole thing about Mitt Romney’s follower count making a suspicious 100K+ jump overnight.

    But in terms of sheer volume, President Obama dwarfs the presumptive Republican nominee in fake followers. A new tool from Status People allows anyone to look at the breakdown of followers of any Twitter users to see how many are “fake,” “inactive,” and “good.” And using that tool, we can see that 31% of President Obama’s followers are deemed fake. Since Obama has around 18.8 million followers, we can calculate that just shy of 6 million of them are fake.

    Mitt Romney, on the other hand, only has 900,000 followers total. Only 16% of those are fake, according to the tool. That amounts to around 144,000 phantom followers.

    And these figures don’t even take into account the “inactive” percentages, which total 39% for the President and 31% for Romney. Any number of those “Inactive” users could be fake.

    Really, it all comes down to how many followers you have. The more you have, the bigger the percentage of fakes you have as well. We recently crunched the numbers and found that, on average, over 27% of the top ten Twitter accounts’ followers are fake. That means that although Mitt Romney was in the news recently due to speculation that his campaign had bought over a hundred thousand followers overnight, he’s far from the only Twitter user to have a fake follower problem.

  • Bill Clinton: Obama Can Get Us Back To “Full Employment”

    Bill Clinton will appear in a new television ad for President Obama’s campaign to back him up where job creation is concerned, saying he’s the candidate most likely to make it happen.

    The economy has been the biggest sticking point in this election year, with voters demanding to know what each man will do about unemployment once they’re in office. Clinton says that, for him, the election is strictly about which candidate is more likely to return America to full employment.

    “President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up. Investing in innovation, education and job training. It only works if there is a strong middle class. That’s what happened when I was president. We need to go with his plan,” Clinton says in the ad.

    He also takes aim at the Republican party for their plan to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation, saying “that’s what got us into trouble in the first place”.

    Clinton supported Obama’s tax cuts plan a while back, appearing at a press conference with him regarding the plan.

    “I just had a terrific meeting with former president Bill Clinton, and we just happened to have this as a topic of conversation, and I thought that given the fact that he presided over as good an economy as we’ve seen in our lifetimes, that it might be useful for him to share some of his thoughts,” Obama said before turning the podium over to Clinton.

    During the conference, Clinton said he still spends about an hour a day trying to figure out the economy problem, even though he’s not running for any office. He also stated that even though he is in the income bracket which would benefit from the Republican’s plan, he didn’t think it was the best fit for the U.S.

  • Twitter Launches Political Index as a Daily Public Opinion Meter

    “Election Day 2008’s tweet volume represents only about six minutes of Tweets today.”

    If you read that and said “Wow,” join the club. If people thought that 2008 was the big “social media election” based on Barack Obama’s reliance of Facebook and Twitter to mobilize support – they obviously have no idea how huge of a role it’s playing in 2012. The top social networks have grown exponentially in the last four years, as has the resources political candidates have to use in promoting and maintaing a strong presence.

    And there are simply a massive amount of tweets going out everyday. Twitter says that more tweets are sent every two days than all of the tweets before 2008 combined. And with that in mind, Twitter has decided to use that massive source of real-time data to build their own public opinion meter.

    With the help of analytics company Topsy and polling firms Mellman Group & North Star Opinion Research, Twitter has unveiled the Twitter Political Index.

    The Index judges the sentiment in tweets that mention Romney or Obama, and gives each candidate a number based on how positive their mentions are in relation to 400 million other tweets across the network.

    From the Twitter blog:

    Each day, the Index evaluates and weighs the sentiment of Tweets mentioning Obama or Romney relative to the more than 400 million Tweets sent on all other topics. For example, a score of 73 for a candidate indicates that Tweets containing their name or account name are on average more positive than 73 percent of all Tweets.

    The Index is located at election.Twitter.com. Here’s what today’s index looks like:

    Twitter Political Index

    As you can see, the Index also shows the +/- change from the previous day. The Twitter Political Index updates every day after 8 pm EST, in order to properly reflect all of the conversation across Twitter for the day.

    The Index page also include an interactive graph of changes in the Political Index over time:

    Political junkies who want to follow public opinion on the two candidates until November can just visit the Index page. Or they can follow @gov for occasional updates. Twitter says that USA Today will be integrating their Twitter Political Index into their coverage of the campaign as well.

  • Michael Moore Praises, Criticizes Obama’s Stance on Gun Control

    Michael Moore, documentary filmmaker and a lightning rod for controversy, is never one to shy away from expressing his opinion, even when it’s grossly unpopular. His 2002 film “Bowling for Columbine” explored America’s history of gun violence, culminating with a tense showdown with NRA president and spokesperson Charlton Heston. Not surprisingly, the recent shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater has hit close to home for the director.

    Regarding Obama’s stance on the issue, Moore feels the President is the leader on gun control issues, and even praised his speech following James Holmes’ shooting spree. However, during his recent appearance on “Piers Morgan Tonight”, Moore attempted to turn the tables on the President, asking him what, precisely, he would have done if it were his daughters who had been shot during the midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises”.

    “And yet when he brought his own children into it, when he said, ‘You know, my two daughters go to the movies and what if it were them,’ well, I guess if President Obama is watching right now, and I say this with all due respect: What if it were them?” Moore said during the program.

    He also added, “What if it were them last Thursday night? Would you stand at the microphone the next day and say I feel your pain and, you know, the existing gun laws, that’s what he said, the existing laws are enough. Is that really what you’d say, Mr. President? I don’t think so.”

    Moore also expressed his displeasure with coming onto various television programs to discuss these horrific events, stating that he refuses to “live in a country like this”, and urged others to stand up and declare the same thing.

    “I’m not leaving, so therefore what am I going to do? It’s got to change,” he stated.

  • Obama Punching Bag Now Available at Various Online Retailers

    Obama Punching Bag Now Available at Various Online Retailers

    Do a quick Google image search for President Barack Obama and you’re likely to encounter a number of questionable items, including Obama as Bob Marley, Obama as Yoda, and Obama as Baraka from Mortal Kombat. Some of them are amusing, while others are downright offense. Although you can dress Obama up as Sarah Palin without stirring much controversy in the process, apparently you can’t put the President’s likeness on a punching bag. According to a handful of patrons at an Indiana fair, that’s going one step too far.

    Delaware County GOP spokesman Tom Bennington, who expressed that the punching bag was “mildly offensive”, added, “I’m retired military and I respect the commander in chief. From that perspective it was offensive and we asked to take it down and it was taken down.”

    The offending punching bag features a cartoon version of the President wearing shorts and boxing gloves, as well as sporting a black eye. Bennington said the inflatable toy was supposed to illustrate Republicans “beating” Obama in the upcoming election, though, at the end of the day, fair officials seemed to understand that the object was more than a little disrespectful.

    However, just because folks at an Indiana fair think it’s in poor taste to display such an item, that doesn’t mean you can’t go online an purchase one of your very own. A quick search online reveals the Obama punching bag is available from a number of different retailers, including Amazon, eBay, and Prank Place. If you currently have twenty bucks (plus shipping) burning a hole in the pocket of your skinny jeans, then, by all means, knock yourselves out. Just don’t be surprised if someone is offended by your brand new lawn decoration.

  • Colorado Shooting Suspect Will Feel “Full Force” Of Justice System

    In the wake of last week’s horrific, tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the victims and families of the deceased can take away one sure thing: President Obama won’t take this lying down.

    The POTUS met with those families on Sunday for over two hours, allowing them to share their stories before giving a televised address to the nation about moving forward.

    “They assure us that out of this darkness a brighter day is going to come,” Obama said. “Although the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple of days, that attention will fade away. And in the end, after he has felt the full force of our justice system, what will be remembered are the good people who were impacted by this tragedy.”

    A mass memorial was held for the victims over the weekend at the city’s municipal center; across town, a large grouping of crosses, flowers, and handwritten notes commemorate the dead on a hill near the theater. The city of Aurora is struggling with its grief, evident in the way the governor spoke about the madman who took 12 lives early Friday morning.

    “I refuse to say his name. In my house we’re just going to call him Suspect A,” John Hickenlooper said.

    The shooter, James Holmes, is being held in an isolated prison cell until his arraignment, which is scheduled for this morning. We will keep you updated on any breaking news.

  • Morgan Freeman Donates $1 Million to Obama Super PAC: Twitter Reacts

    Morgan Freeman, an actor who probably needs no introduction at this point, recently made a donation of $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a so-called “super” political action committee devoted to backing President Obama. Freeman’s contribution to the group will be reported in their federal disclosures on Friday. If everything goes according to plan, both sides will spend over $1 billion on campaign advertisements in various markets.

    Thus far, Priorities USA Action has raised $20.4 million, which is eclipsed by the Romney-friendly Restore Our Future, which has raked in over $81.5 million from Republican donators. Just last month, Priorities managed to snag $6.1 million in contributions, whereas Restore enjoyed $20 million in donations. Of course, Obama’s official campaign has raised more cash than Romney’s, so everything will probably balance out when all is said and done.

    Freeman, of course, is of the belief that Obama has done a fantastic job during his four years as president. He added, “In return, he is the target of hundreds of millions of dollars from right-wing sources. I am proud to lend my voice – and support – to those who defend him.”

    The “Dark Knight Rises” actor is sure to ruffle some Republican feathers with his contribution. As you can tell from the Twitter reactions embedded below, some are downright irritated by his actions. You can sample some of their responses to this story by venturing below.

  • Secret Service Scandal: Criminal Charges Will Not Be Filed

    The Secret Service scandal in Colombia earlier this year exposed a history of misconduct on behalf of the President’s personal protection force, which, as once can imagine, does not reflect well on the country or it’s military. Although seven Army soldiers and two Marines have received administrative punishment for their contributions to the incident, none of them will face criminal charges for their actions. Additionally, one member of the Air Force was also punished as a result of the scandal, while two Navy sailors are currently awaiting their fate.

    These individuals were assigned to support the Secret Service during President Obama’s trip to Cartagena, where he was to appear at a Latin American summit. Before the President’s scheduled arrival, several men partook in the some questionable activity, which, apparently, has happened more than once in the past. However, when one of the agents got into a dispute over money with a hooker, the whole sordid affair quickly came to light.

    As a result, over a dozen Secret Service officers, including several agents and supervisors, were implicated in the ensuing scandal. Following an investigation into the matter, eight individuals lost their jobs, while three were cleared of any wrongdoings. According to Fox News, a few former employees are currently attempting to get their jobs back.

    The U.S. military rarely discloses details of administrative punishments. Officials spoke to the news organization in the condition of anonymity since results of this investigation have not been made public. Congress is expected to speak with military officials regarding the scandal shortly.

  • Michelle Obama Threat Comes from an Unlikely Individual

    The Michelle Obama death threat didn’t come from some wild-eyed maniacal shut-in or political terrorist with a violent agenda. No, a recent threat directed towards the First Lady comes from a Washington, D.C. police officer, one who apparently served as a motorcade escort for Mrs. Obama at one point in time. Personally, this is far scarier than if it came from some random wacko on the street, as this individual actually has access to Obama and her family. The fact that the office in-question was temporarily assigned to a desk job as opposed to being suspended pending an investigation is a little baffling, not to mention extremely unsettling.

    Although the specifics of the threat have yet to be made public, the folks over at The Inquisitor have pieced together what went down. According to reports, members of the Special Operations Division were discussing the various threats that have been made towards the President and his family. During this conversation, one of the officers alleged explained how he intended to shoot Michelle Obama, going as far as to show his co-workers the weapon he would use if given the opportunity. These statements were reported to the brass, as well as the Secret Service.

    “We received an allegation that inappropriate comments were made. We are currently investigating the nature of those comments,” said a Washington, D.C. police department spokeswoman. Although making threats against the President and his family is considered a felony punishable by a lengthy prison sentence and a hefty fine, the offending officer has been placed on administrative duty until things can be property sorted out.

    An investigation into the matter is currently underway. Although I personally think criminal charges should be filed if these threats were indeed serious, it’s unclear whether or not legal action will be taken against the officer.