President Obama Raises $15 Million

@Liberal1 (objectivity): Who raised the most in 2008 for his war chest? Obama or McCain?

I was just reading an article regarding how VP Biden’s comment on MtP regarding “Will & Grace” wasn’t the first time he brought up the program- but did so at a private function 2 weeks prior:

The show’s co-creator Max Mutchnick said Biden had mentioned Will & Grace in a similar context several weeks before his endorsement.

“My husband and I were at a private function two weeks prior to the Meet the Press airing,” Mutchnick said Thursday on CBS This Morning. “Vice President Biden was talking to a small group and he made the reference to Will and Grace in that room and called me out at that moment.”

Mutchnick went on to speculate that Biden and President Barack Obama’s unveiling of their support for gay marriage had been “very choreographed,” noting the White House had recorded Biden’s remarks at the earlier event.

It made me remember that he also apparently held me up in traffic! Obama twice and Biden once!

I was dropping someone off after work in the evening and got onto the 10W on-ramp at Crenshaw, only to have a motorcycle cop ahead of me getting on as well, swerving across all lanes with his lights flashing until he finally got the traffic to come to a dead stop. For about 5-10 minutes, he just kept doing figure 8s, sometimes wandering way ahead. And many of us shut off our engines after a while. Eventually, when we started moving, up ahead a procession of vehicles including a paramedic truck surrounded by police cars and cycles had entered the freeway. The police would not let any of us catch up let alone pass as they kept swerving across all lanes; and all on-ramps were blocked by police motorcycles until the cavalcade passed.

Even when the VP train was entering the 405 interchange (toward LAX I imagine) the cops would not let us pass down the 10 until they were completely off the 10 (I mentioned to the mom of the person I dropped off about my freeway incident and she mentioned Biden was in town).

Anyway, regarding Biden’s Will & Grace comment on MtP:

Biden suggested the country was on a course for change, pointing out that such a shift begins “when the social culture changes. … I think Will & Grace did more to educate the American public more than almost anything anybody has done so far. People fear that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand.”

I’ve never seen the show and don’t even know the premise of what it’s about. But I found Brent Bozell’s comments regarding its influence of interest:

So let’s get this straight. Network executives and TV critics and their public-policy defenders have insisted for decades that raunchy TV shows have zero effect on the audience (including young children) and that complainers are paranoid to accuse the networks of promoting a social or sexual agenda. Then, when the president “evolves” to support “gay marriage,” the politicians send thank you cards to Tinseltown for “opening the minds” of the masses.

What does he think NBC is? “Masterpiece Theatre”? They began airing “Will and Grace” in 1998 at 9:30 p.m., then moved it into the family hour. These excerpts are examples of the kind of sexual raunch they promoted as comedy and which our vice president presumably considered “educational” for families.

— The most outrageously gay character Jack announced he needed “a new pair of shoes, preferably with a six-foot, gorgeous hunk of man in them.” Later, he took Will and Grace’s dog for a walk in the park, where he said the dog “checked out butts and I checked out butts.”

— Jack joked: “I get a little funny in the tummy around the Washington Monument.”

— Jack said he and a boyfriend had agreed to attend the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. “We had a whole Biblical thing planned,” Jack explained to Will. “We were gonna go as Adam and Steve.” Later, as Jack left for the parade, Will lectured, “Don’t put anything in your mouth that isn’t wrapped.”

On the day Obama proclaimed his change of heart, The New York Times published a promotional front-page article headlined “Gay on TV: It’s All In the Family.” Readers were treated to “Modern Family” co-creator Christopher Lloyd asserting “What this is about, really, is how far America has come, not how far television has come.”

Inside the paper were large pictures of two marrying women on “Grey’s Anatomy” and two gay men with their adopted toddler on “Modern Family.” In large text, the Times proclaimed, “An implicit recasting of the American family is welcomed by viewers.” They claimed complaints “barely ever bubble to the surface.”

How desperately did the Times want to hide the traditionalist view? Reporter Brian Stelter claimed “Mitt Romney is known to be a fan of ‘Modern Family,’ and a Catholic group gave it a media award this month.”

But when the Times linked to evidence that Romney loves “Modern Family,” their own story only claimed that young Romney aide Garrett Jackson recommended the show to him, and Romney got Jackson hooked on “Friday Night Lights,” the canceled high school football drama.

As for the “Catholic” group awarding a pro-gay show, this same “Catholic In Media Associates” (for entertainment industry insiders) had previously honored both “Glee” and “Ugly Betty,” two other educational shows promoting homosexuality. If that’s a Catholic Church group, then Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are Catholics in good standing, and Kathleen Sebelius hasn’t been excommunicated.

The Times writer did not explain one of the reasons gay characters could be portrayed as “welcomed by viewers” is that any audience of any size can be generalized into a groundswell of mainstream support if the press wants it so. Just how much of a blockbuster, how popular, is Fox’s “Glee,” the current rage of Hollywood? Well, it’s drawing six million viewers. What we are to believe is an avalanche. But in a nation of 311 million, that means 98 percent of Americans aren’t watching.

Obviously, Hollywood has played a part in eroding America’s moral character on “gay marriage.” It’s about time somebody admitted that Hollywood isn’t just persuading people into buying Wrigley’s Gum or McDonald’s burgers. In between the commercials, they’re selling a radical devolution in moral standards.

@Hard Right: Gee…I thought the president was against bullying.

Great rant from LATimes columnist Steve Lopez:

They say tonight’s soiree for President Obama at George Clooney’s house in Studio City is supposed to gross $15 million, and the operative word is “gross.”

Yeah, pardon me for being such a party pooper, but isn’t it a little offensive that 150 of L.A.’s high rollers would shell out $40,000 to kiss Clooney’s ring and get maybe 10 seconds of face time with Obama?

And what about the thousands of saps who pumped an average of $23 into Obama’s campaign coffers for the chance to be one of the two peons chosen to break bread with the VIPs?

I’d rather watch the Lakers game from a bar stool, which in fact is what I may do.

I haven’t seen Clooney’s guest list, but I’d bet $2 -– and not a penny more –- that his house will be full of that particularly unctuous strain of liberals who live for events like this that make them feel good about themselves but don’t really give a toss for their own community. Los Angeles could end up declaring bankruptcy and these posers will be telling friends about their big night at George’s house.

Fifteen million dollars -– a third of it raised by the local big shots -– is peanuts to Obama, really. Another drop in a bucket the size of Santa Monica Bay. And isn’t money the root of all evil in politics, whether it’s from out-of-control “super PACs” or wanna-be-seen moguls who might be expecting something in return for ponying up?

Los Angeles is shutting school libraries, laying off teachers and shutting down fire houses. And VIPs are paying $40,000 for a Wolfgang Puck hors d’oeuvre and a silly photo with a president who only now has come to think it might be OK for gay people to have the same rights as straight people.

Open your eyes, Hollywood hypocrites!

If there’s any justice, the traffic jam on Ventura Boulevard will be so horrific that you’ll miss the party and end up crying over a Du-par’s short stack.

[Updated at 5:26 p.m. Oh come on, give me a break, all you defenders of obscene excess.

The problem is money and the way in which it undercuts democracy.
Money from the right. Money from the left.

Money, money, money.

Yeah, sure, Obama’s got to raise all he can to fend off Mitt Romney and hold onto his seat. But is that a race to the top or a race to the bottom?

If money buys victory and access, what about the masses who can’t afford a $40 fundraiser let alone a $40,000 party?

When do they get the president’s ear?

I suspect some of the self-congratulatory high-rollers at Clooney’s house are paying more for two hours with the President than they pay their nannies, housekeepers and gardeners in a year.

I’m sure George Clooney and some of his pals are good people who want to save the world and even toss a crumb to a local charity now and again. But if they’re so desperate to celebrate their wonderful ways and important causes, why not a Hollywood fundraising party to save the libraries, rec centers or the parks. Or better yet, might Wolfgang Puck and all the beautiful people be available to stage a fundraiser for campaign finance reform?]