Heeerrre’s Jonnnny!

This is Barack Obama’s ventriloquist speechwriter kickin’ back and chilling wit’ his homey after a long day of putting words in his boss’ mouth via TelePrompTer.  Favreau, recently announced to be Chief Official Thought Gatherer and “Um” Remover” for the new administration, was just hangin’ out, feeling up a cardboard cutout of the newly appointed Secretary of State; typical Saturday night wordsmith hijinks.  Too bad this photo appeared on his Facebook page long enough for Al Kamen of the Washington Post to get hold of it:

Question No. 58 in the transition team vetting document for the Obama White House asks that applicants: “Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.)”

Question No. 63 asks that applicants “please provide any other information … that could … be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect.”

For a while there this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama’s immensely talented chief speechwriter, 27-year-old Jon Favreau, might have been pondering how to address that question.

That’s when some interesting photos of a recent party he attended — including one where he’s dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of secretary of state-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and another where he’s placed his hand on the cardboard former first lady’s chest while a friend is offering her lips a beer — popped up on Facebook for about two hours. The photos were quickly taken down — along with every other photo Favreau had of himself on the popular social networking site, save for one profile headshot.

Guess not everybody on the TelePrompter Prince’s staff hates Hillary.  At least Favreau didn’t call her a monster.

NOTE: I changed the title because PUMA Pac has the story up with the same title I had.

This Is A Joke, Right?

President-elect Barack Obama’s aides say he is considering making a major foreign policy speech from an Islamic capital during his first 100 days in office.

Why?

The New York Times article which features that opening sentence never does answer that question.  In fact, it reads like snark.  Basically, the whole thing is just a list of possible venues for this…dare I say it?…pointless flucking speech.  If you set it to music, it would probably sound like “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”

Well, he could speak in Riyadh, Brad

Talk in Kuwait, Kate

Maybe the Maldives, Jeeves

Or even Tashkent

I was going to go on with it and rhyme “Amman” next, but I wasn’t sure if I should use “Dan” or “John” and decided it was just as stupid to continue as it was to read the whole friggin’ stupid-assed NYT piece.  By the way, Helene Cooper, who wrote the thing, and the folks she “consulted” decided this…speech (wtf?!) should take place in Cairo.  Why?  Why the fluck not?

And, if this story isn’t bizarre enough, (why the hell should the new president make a point of going to “an Islamic capitol” in his first 100 days in office, to make a…speech? wtf?) Politico is reporting that The TelePrompTer Messiah has been planning this for a couple of years, and telling people about it.  Claiming to be in possession of an email from a donor who attended a fundraiser in California last year, Ben Smith quotes:

“Obama told the 20 or so of us at breakfast that ‘his first trip as President would be to Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country,’” Leary recalled.

“He then said when he got off [Air Force One], he would say ‘xxxxxxxx’ – which we, of course, didn’t understand,” Leary emailed. “He said that it was Indonesian (which he speaks) for, ‘I am back, dudes.’”

Who knew he spoke “Indonesian?”  When he was going around telling everybody to learn a second language, he never mentioned that little tidbit.

Lord, please tell me this is snark.

Otherwise, knowing that the staunch Christian guy who once called the Muslim call to prayer, “one of the prettiest sounds on earth,” and who once “slipped up” and said, “my Muslim faith,” has been planning to give a shout-out to the Muslim world as soon as he gets in office, might make some people think that this guy’s got some ’splainin’ to do.

Just saying.