Gallup has conducted it’s annual “Most Admired” poll, and the numbers shake out in very interesting ways. They poll Americans, but not everyone who makes the list is American. By far, the most admired man by Americans is president-elect Barack Obama. By far, the most admired woman by Americans is current NY senator and soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Here’s the breakdown of the lists, with the percentages of votes.

Most Admired Men:

1. Barack Obama – 32%

2. George W. Bush – 5%

3. John McCain – 3%

4. (tie) Pope Benedict XVI – 2%

5. (tie) Rev. Billy Graham – 2%

6. (tie) Bill Clinton – 2%

7. Colin Powell – 2%

8. Nelson Mandela – 1%

9. Bill Gates – 1%

10. The Dalai Lama – 1%

Most Admired Women:

1. Hillary Clinton – 20%

2. Sarah Palin – 11%

3. Oprah Winfrey – 8%

4. Condoleezza Rice – 7%

5. Michelle Obama – 3%

6. Margaret Thatcher – 2%

7. (tie) Laura Bush – 2%

8. (tie) Angelina Jolie – 2%

9. Barbara Bush – 1%

10. (tie) Madeline Albright – 1% & Ellen Degeneres – 1%

[From Gallup]

There were several surprises on the lists – President Bill Clinton is admired by the same percentage of Americans as Billy Graham and the Pope? Why does Nelson Mandela only get one percent? Is Oprah more powerful and respected then current Secretary of State Conoleezza Rice? What’s up with Margaret Thatcher? Are Angelina Jolie and Laura Bush really equally admired?

I think the women’s list is just more interesting. There’s a bigger spread in the numbers, as if Americans had an embarrassment of riches for admirable women. Still, I expected to see our future first lady Michelle Obama higher up in the list, but maybe that will happen when more Americans get to know her. Gallop pollsters break down the numbers even further, pointing out the consistency of Hillary Clinton’s popularity, as well as the resiliency of first ladies in general.

This is the seventh consecutive year that Hillary Clinton has secured top billing as Americans’ Most Admired Woman — and the 13th year she has made the top ten since her first appearance on the list in 1993. The 20% naming Clinton this year is comparable to what she received in 2007 (18%), but falls short of the 28% naming her in 1998.

Palin, McCain’s 2008 vice presidential pick and the first woman ever to run on a Republican presidential ticket, makes a strong second place debut, named by 11% of Americans. Her entrance on the list crowds Oprah Winfrey out of second place, a position she held each year from 2002 through 2007. Winfrey now ranks third, mentioned by 8% of Americans (down from 16%) a year ago.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ranks fourth, with 7%, followed by a variety of other political figures and entertainment stars. First lady Laura Bush has topped the list only once since her husband took office in 2001. First ladies are much less likely than presidents to win a top spot on Most Admired Woman, although Clinton did it six times in Bill Clinton’s two terms as president, Nancy Reagan three times in Ronald Reagan’s two terms, and Barbara Bush twice in her husband’s one term. Even Rosalyn Carter, whose husband suffered from low approval ratings for much of his last two years in office, achieved the top spot three out of her four years in the White House.

[From Gallup]

I always find it amazing that celebrities and entertainers like Oprah, Angelina Jolie and Ellen Degeneres are included on these lists. But there are several politicians on the list who are genuine celebrities in their own right – namely, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Palin is even considered more “admired” then her former running-mate, John McCain. Will this admiration lead to – oh, I don’t know – a run for the presidency in 2012?

Here are a bunch of photos of Obama golfing at the Mid-Pacific Country Club in Kailua, Hawaii yesterday. Credit: Bauergriffinonline. Obama and Hillary Clinton are shown in the header on 7/10/08. Credit: Janet Mayer/PRPhotos

In a high profile example of what not to post on Facebook, Obama’s chief speechwriter, a 27 year-old guy destined for even more greatness, was photographed grabbing the boob of a life size Hillary Clinton cardboard cutout while his friend shoves a beer up her nose. As The Washington Post points out, Obama’s team must have anticipated this type of problem as they ask applicants to list all their social networking websites. The photo was only up for a couple of hours on Facebook, but it’s now all over the Internet and the damage is done. The boob grabbing writer has apologized to the future Secretary of State, whose spokesperson hilariously notes that she is reviewing his job application now. They make it sound like Clinton can reject his application, but he’s already been appointed Director of Speechwriting for the future President.

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.

Asked about the photos, Favreau, who was recently appointed director of speechwriting for the White House, declined comment. A transition official said that Favreau had “reached out to Senator Clinton to offer an apology.”

Favreau is not the first campaign aide whose online presence has proved awkward. Last March, John McCain aide Soren Dayton forwarded an anti-Obama YouTube video to his private Twitter feed linking Obama with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, leading to his suspension from the campaign. And in 2007, two bloggers hired by former North Carolina senator John Edwards stepped down after blog posts they had written before he hired them became a subject of controversy.

Favreau’s case seems unlikely to be so dire; Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines cast the photos as evidence of increased bonhomie between the formerly rival camps.

“Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application,” he said in an e-mail.

[From Washingtonpost via Huffington Post]

You have to be careful what you post on your social networking sites – even if you think they’re hard to find. Tell your friends not to tag you in compromising positions either.

Activist and Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, 61, isn’t a fan of the way Hillary Clinton ran her failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She claims that Hillary played the gender card too often and calls her “a blamer and whiner.” Sarandon is also not interested in a hypothetical role playing the Democratic Senator due to her poor opinion of her:

You’ve played quite a few real-life people now. Would you like to play Hillary Clinton in the movie of her life?
No. I’ve been around her and don’t find her… At this point, to say after what’s happened to her campaign and how they squandered all that money and all the different reasons her campaign fell apart, to blame it on sexism, I find so destructive to every young girl who dreams about making a difference through government. Instead of saying, “Look how far I’ve gotten and you can do it too,” and all the positive things she could have done, she’s turned into such a blamer and whiner, as if that was the reason, when clearly she wouldn’t have been in the position she was in if she hadn’t been a woman.

If she hadn’t been married to that man and hadn’t had the Democratic machine behind her. To now turn around and say it was sexism I find so dishonorable and really destructive to women all over, young women all over. So I don’t really respect her enough to want to play her, and I find it sad and disappointing.

[From The Advocate as found on Defamer]

Sarandon may be turned off by the way Hillary Clinton handled her campaign, but she’s not adverse to playing another politically polarizing woman on screen. Sarandon has expressed interested in portraying peace activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a son slain in Iraq who received widespread coverage for camping out in front of Bush’s Texas ranch in 2005. Sarandon knows Sheehan personally and has attended anti-war protests with her. As far as I can find there is no film project in the works.

An article in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair is set to expose former President Bill Clinton’s lurid sexual past – as if we didn’t already know about most of it. The article, written by Todd Purdum, who is married to former Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers – attacks Clinton, saying that his affairs and general Clintonian behavior have wrecked Hillary’s chances at the presidency.

One of the interesting revelations is that Clinton supposedly had an affair with actress Gina Gershon.

Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California. There has been talk of a female friend in Chappaqua, a woman in a bar at a meeting of the Aspen Institute, and a public sighting of Clinton, Bing, and a ravishing entourage in a New York elevator that, a former Clinton aide told me, led a business leader who saw them to say: I don’t know what the guy was doing, but it was so clear that it was just no good.

[From Vanity Fair via Gossip Rocks]

I don’t think it’s any news that Bill’s a player. So much was made of the Clinton’s marriage during the Lewinsky sex scandal that there really isn’t much to say about it anymore. I don’t think many people believe they have a marriage of love, at least in the traditional romantic sense. It seems more that it’s a partnership, and Bill at least gets his love somewhere else. Who knows. But it seems like plenty of people have been able to support the former president politically while decided that his personal proclivities are his own affair. So to speak.

Clinton’s office issued an angry, 2,476 word rebuttal to Vanity Fair’s article, pointing out many of its holes. They also point out that the article fails to mention any of the good Clinton has done since leaving office through the William J. Clinton Foundation – which has been prolific. While they defend nearly every single accusation in Vanity Fair’s article, the only seemingly-important issue they don’t address is that of Clinton’s sexual dalliances. Considering the depth they went into, leaving something like that out says more than anything they could have said.

Clinton called writer Purdum “Sleazy” “Slimy” and a “Scumbag” when asked by Huffington Post reporter Mayhill Fowler if the Vanity Fair article was “weighing on his mind.” He pointed out that Purdum used fifty anonymous sources.

“Anytime you read a story that slimes a public figure with anonymous quotes, it oughta make the bells go off in your head. Because anytime somebody uses those things– he wrote the story in his head in advance, and he just goes around and tries to find some coward to say whatever they want to say, hoping to get some benefit out of it. It didn’t bother me. It shouldn’t bother you.”

[From the Huffington Post]

Clinton’s spokesman had to apologize on his behalf for the sleazy/slimy/scumbag comments. I don’t really blame him – so many anonymous sources is something you’d expect of some magazines, but certainly not Vanity Fair. It will be interesting to see if the article does significant damage to Hillary Clinton’s campaign – though several websites are claiming she’ll be dropping out of the race any day now, regardless of the article.

Header of Gina Gershon at the Icons Of Music II auction in New York City on May 31st and Bill Clinton leaving his hotel the way to a benefit fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Dublin on November 17th. Images thanks to WENN.

Tom Hanks says that he endorses Barack Obama because of his integrity, honesty and ability to get the job done. He recorded a YouTube statement that is full of historical references and clear reasons why he supports Senator Obama’s bid for the presidency. He says that Obama took the high road and is someone who has the characteristics we look for in a president with personal qualities that are found in great leaders of the past like FDR and John F. Kennedy. Hanks says that Obama can turn the country around, and he quipped that of course we’ve made up our mind after hearing his endorsement.

For those of you who say that Obama is all impressive rhetoric but is unclear about his policies, read his Blueprint for Change on his website, which very clearly outlines his plan. He does have a very good health plan that is not free but affordable, and includes measures to make it available to all. He has specific plans to cut taxes, revive the economy and jobs, and stop predatory lending by credit cards and banks. He also proposes to make all government transactions and spending public and searchable, and will strive to stop the influence of lobbyists in Washington.

Obama just won the North Carolina primary, with 57% of the popular vote. In preliminary results, Clinton won Indiana by less than two percentage points. Indiana has only 72 delegates as compared to North Carolina’s 115, which means that Obama is still ahead and that things look desperate for Hillary. There are just 6 primaries remaining.

Barack Obama is shown below on 4/1/08 in a Town Hall meeting at the Dumore Community Centre in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, thanks to WENN.

A new report from the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston reveals that both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are tied to two political candidates by blood. Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie is a distant cousin of Hillary Clinton.

This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain…

Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.

“It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Child said.

Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

Obama often jokes about his cousin Cheney at campaign appearances.

“His kinships are across the political spectrum,” Child said.

Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates’ genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, “Ancestors of American Presidents”…

Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.

Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declined to comment on the senator’s ancestry.

Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.

[From Yahoo! News]

If this proves anything, it’s that the gene pool on this planet is getting way too close for comfort. No wonder the new generation is so stupid– they’re all cousins! I have never been curious about my ancestors, and with reports like this coming out, I want to know where I came from even less. With my luck, I’d turn out to be related to Hitler or Jack the Ripper or something. Who needs that kind of pressure? It’s bad enough that my immediate ancestors had a history of cancer, mental illness and heart disease!

Note by Celebitchy: I didn’t see what the big deal was here, except to highlight that we’re all related somehow through genealogy.

Hillary Clinton is back in the game, but just barely. Prior to the yesterday’s primaries Clinton was trailing Obama based on her performance in earlier primaries. Clinton won yesterday’s primaries in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. Obama won in Vermont. The race between the two is still very close and hard to call, with the front runner seeming to change every week. While they’re both still insisting that they are the very best candidate and can beat Republic John McCain, Clinton is hinting that there may be a possibility of a Clinton-Obama ticket – with her as the presidential candidate.

Asked on CBS’s “The Early Show” whether she and Obama should be on the same ticket, Clinton said:

“That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me.”

Obama, who had hoped to knock Clinton out of the race on Tuesday, said he would prevail despite facing a tenacious candidate who “just keeps on ticking.” Clinton acknowledged the race was close and said it would come down to her credentials on national security and the economy.

[From Yahoo! News]

Obama still came away with a lot of delegate votes, and said that his lead was still “insurmountable.” Clinton and Obama are so close that neither has enough delegates to secure the nomination. Whoever gets it will have to get the support of the almost 800 party and elected officials, or so-called “superdelegates .”

“New questions are being raised, new challenges are being put to my opponent,” she said. “Superdelegates are supposed to take all that information on board and they are supposed to be exercising the judgment that people would have exercised if this information and challenges had been available several months ago.”

She said voters are being drawn to her argument that she would be the better commander in chief, the best steward of the economy and that she can better confront McCain in the general election.

[From Yahoo! News]

Obama attacked Clinton for voting for the war in Iraq along with her foreign policy skills. Yesterday Clinton picked up a minimum of 115 delegates and Obama picked up at least 88. Results are still pending for the remaining 170 votes. That leaves Obama with a total of 1,477 delegates, including superdelegates. Clinton now has 1,391 delegates. To get the democratic nomination, the winner will have to secure 2,025 votes. At this point, it’s still way too close to call.

Clinton is shown on 1/18/08 at a rally in Henderson, Nevada. Obama is shown at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas on 1/11/08. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Hillary Clinton appeared on Saturday Night Live this weekend after their introductory skit parodying the latest Democratic debate. It featured SNL cast members Amy Poehler as Clinton and Fred Armisen as Obama. Vincent D’Onofrio of Law & Order: Criminal Intent made a cameo to interrogate Poehler.

The skit tried to portray how the press softballs Obama while giving Clinton a hard time. It wasn’t hysterically funny, but I found it pretty amusing.

Clinton came on after the skit, and was introduced as “An Editorial Response.” She said:
“The scene you just saw was a re-enactment, sort of, of last Tuesday’s debate, and not an endorsement of one candidate over another. I can say this confidently, because when I asked if I could take it as an endorsement, I was told ‘absolutely not,’ but I still enjoyed that sketch a great deal, because I simply adore Amy’s impression of me.”

At that point Poehler entered wearing the same outfit as Senator Clinton, saying “My ears are ringing.”

Clinton and Poehler complimented each other’s outfits, with Clinton telling Poehler “I want the earrings back.” Poehler laughed hysterically and Clinton asked “Do I really laugh like that?”

Poehler asked “How’s the campaign going?” Clinton said “The campaign is going very well. Very very well. Why what did you hear?”

She then said she was just going to relax and didn’t want to talk politics, but then made a joking reference to the upcoming primaries saying “I would like to take this opportunity to say to all Americans, be they from the great state of Ohio or Texas, Rhode Island or Vermont, Pennsylvania or any of the other states, ‘Live from New York it’s Saturday Night!’”

Here’s the full skit followed by Clinton’s appearance.

And here’s just Clinton’s appearance.

Senator Clinton told her supporters last Monday to watch Saturday Night Live to see a skit they did last weekend about how the press gives her a hard time while fawning over Obama. She used it as an example of how the media tide was turning in her favor.

The state primaries determine by popular vote which Democratic party delegates representing a state will vote for a candidate at the National Convention in August. These are called “pledged delegates,” because they have pledged to vote according to the popular vote in the primary election. Clinton trails Obama in total Democratic delegate votes based on primaries held in January and February. Upcoming primary elections in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont on Tuesday are very close and hard to call.

There are more superdelegates, or upper-level Democratic party delegates, who are thought to support Clinton, and their votes can nullify the popular vote of party members. Unlike most other delegates, who are pledged, they are not required to vote according to the popular vote in their respective states. Clinton has drawn criticism for urging the superdelegates to disregard the popular vote and support her candidacy in place of Obama. It is thought that this strategy may backfire on her, and that her chances at securing the Democratic nomination are dwindling as Obama’s star rises.

The primaries on Tuesday have been described as “make-or-break” for Clinton, which can explain why she made an appearance on Saturday Night Live. She came across as good-natured and willing to poke fun at herself, but it may be too little too late for Clinton. We’ll have to see how she fares on Tuesday.

Clinton is shown on 1/18/08 at a rally in Henderson, Nevada thanks to PRPhotos.

Who knew that Alec Baldwin cared about childhood obesity further than calling his young daughter a “vile little pig”? Turns out it’s an issue near and dear to Alec’s heart, and as a result he’s written a public letter to presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, urging her to vote no on the massive $10 billion farm bill which is now before the senate. The bill subsidizes farmers who provide unhealthy foods to schools.

The “30 Rock” star wants the Democratic White House hopeful to vote “no” on the $10 billion farm bill, now before the Senate, that would give subsidies to farmers who provide cheese, sugar and other fattening foods to schools.

“As you are well aware, the epidemic of childhood obesity is worsening day by day, leading to higher risks of diabetes, heart disease and several forms of cancer,” the actor wrote Monday in a personal letter to Clinton and each of her fellow senators. “I know that you share my concern about this crucial issue. As a parent, I see firsthand the challenges of keeping children focused on healthful foods. These challenges are made all the more difficult by federal policies that keep high-cholesterol, high-sugar foods all too plentiful in schools. .. There has never been a more urgent time to take action.

[From the New York Daily News]

Alec Baldwin isn’t exactly someone I’d call in great shape. He’s not disgusting by any means, but I am a little surprised that he’s interested in this issue. It’s kind of like when Dr. Phil talks about his “Ultimate Weight Solution,” and you’re sitting there wondering why he hasn’t read his own book. Alec Baldwin’s situation isn’t to the same extent as Dr. Phil’s, but something tells me he’s been on the business end of a block of cheese on more than one occasion recently.

Baldwin has teamed up with the Committee for Responsible Medicine to encourage senators to vote no on the farm bill. When asked how he thought Hillary Clinton would vote, Kyle Ash, a spokesperson for the Physicians Committee said:

“I think she’s vacillating. I do think she’d like to vote for something healthier for kids, but the last time we met with her staff, they told us she was concerned about dairy farmers. Dairy is a big industry in New York. Clinton’s spokesman Philippe Reines told us: “Sen. Clinton has a strong and long record of promoting healthy foods for children, and has worked to strengthen programs that promote fruits and vegetables.”

[From the New York Daily News]

Dairy may be a big important industry for New York, but childhood obesity is at epidemic proportions there. I’d never seen so many chubby little kids until I moved to Brooklyn. And I don’t say that in a mean way; I was always the chubby kid in class (but I was also 5 feet tall on the first day of third grade, you know how kids’ bodies fluctuate). It’s just startling and worrisome to look around and see what appears to be a quarter of the kids on the subway sporting huge round bellies. I’m not sure that voting against the farm bill will make a big difference though. It seems like there’s a lot of issues that need to be tackled, starting with better nutrition and exercise at home, and getting rid of vending machines in schools. I really don’t think too much cheese is the issue. Though I find it kind of bizarre that Alec Baldwin has thrown his weight around (so to speak) on this issue, if it helps get some needed attention, more power to them all.