John and Cindy McCain on “Saturday Night Live.” Looks like Cindy’s days on TV are over, if her husband has anything to say about it. Photo credit: WENN.
As much of a maverick as former presidential candidate John McCain likes to portray himself as, it’s pretty clear that when it comes to wife Cindy, he wears the pants in the family. He kept her on a very tight leash throughout the campaign, controlling her stump speeches at public appearances to the point that they all sounded the same. And last winter, when Cindy was approached to appear as a contestant on the ABC show “Dancing with the Stars,” the Arizona senator apparently said no way.
SEN. John McCain might regret choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, but an even worse decision will deprive his fellow Americans of what would have been the best season of “Dancing With the Stars” ever. Our impeccably placed source says, “Just before Thanksgiving, Cindy McCain (above) started talks with producers to appear as a dancer on the show. She wanted to do it very badly.” But this week, Sen. McCain “put the kibosh on it.” Reps for the show and McCain didn’t return calls.
Poor Cindy. What else is she supposed do to while John heads back to the senate – go back to being a pill freak with a Botox addiction? If you recall, Cindy was allowed a very quick appearance as herself on one of her husband’s Saturday Night Live appearances, and she was actually pretty funny, even if she didn’t have any lines. There were unsubstantiated rumors of an affair last fall that painted Mrs. McCain as love-starved and lonely, but so far nothing’s been proven. This could have been a fun opportunity for Mrs. McCain, and since it’s unlikely that her husband would run for president again, I don’t see who it would hurt. C’mon, John – let your wife dance!
John McCain is suing the pants off of Jackson Browne. For suing the pants off of McCain. The failed presidential candidate says Browne just sued him to drum up some publicity for his upcoming album. According to McCain it had nothing to do with him using Browne’s song without his permission. Way to make sure you never take the blame for anything dude.
John McCain is returning Jackson Browne’s August lawsuit complaining about McCain using his song “Running on Empty” during his campaign by claiming Browne is just trying drum up publicity for his own album, reports TMZ.
McCain’s lawyers filed a response, saying Jackson complained so he could get press to promote his new album, which came out a month later.
J-Mac also makes the argument he could use the tune whenever and where he wants because he was running for Prez, not trying to make a buck off it. If the court buys this “political speech as public interest” claim, it pretty much means curtains for a bunch of other musicians who were PO’d about their songs being used by the GOP.
The list of other acts mad at McCain for playing their songs includes Van Halen, Heart, Foo Fighters and more.
You know, suing a guy is not the cheapest thing. I’m sure if Browne were trying to drum up publicity he could have found more cost-effective ways to do it. I think that he – like so many other musicians – was just mortified and offended to be associated with the GOP in any way. And he was angrier about it than a lot of others who just sent McCain’s camp cease and desist letters.
The Foo Fighters pointed out how un-American it was for McCain to use artists’ music without their permission, since it showed a total disregard for their intellectual property rights. Hopefully McCain’s lawsuit will be tossed, Browne will win his suit, and the senator can apologize for being suck a jerk. He’s well known for apologizing.
Here’s Jackson Browne performing “Running on Empty” with Bruce Springsteen, another Democratic supporter, in East Rutherford, NJ in 2004.
With the presidential election over and done with, you’d think that John McCain and his circle would be able to enjoy some peace and quiet. But not as long as The National Enquirer is on the case. The tabloid has been pursuing a story regarding the senator’s second wife, Cindy, for quite some time, and now they’re going public with it. According to their sources- which provided grainy photos of Cindy McCain hugging and kissing a man who is definitely not her husband – the affair has been going on since 2006.
The ENQUIRER’s exclusive bombshell expose as Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, is caught with another man!
Not only that but multiple witnesses have caught the pair lip locking on several other occasions.
“I couldn’t believe I was watching Cindy McCain passionately kissing and hugging another man!”
That’s the stunned reaction of an eyewitness who says he watched in shock – and snapped photos – as the former presidential candidate’s wife romantically kissed a long-haired man who resembles “a washed-up ’80s rock musician.”
Sources told The ENQUIRER investigative team the pair have been seen at concerts and sporting events acting very lovey-dovey.
The wealthy blonde heiress and her secret pal have been spotted together around her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona over the past several years, say sources.
The amazing spy photos were snapped April 1, 2006 when Cindy and her companion attended the Tempe Music Festival says the person who took them. The photos are somewhat grainy, but the insider says they depict Senator John McCain’s wife, who was greeted by pals at the event as “Cindy.”
“To my amazement, Cindy had her hand on his shoulder and was kissing him passionately on his lips,” the photog told THE ENQUIRER.
A second witness spotted Cindy and her “mystery man” at a Moody Blues concert “passionately kissing and hugging.”
“I couldn’t believe it. I remember thinking, ‘Go get a room!’
“They kissed and cuddled. While other concertgoers stood up to cheer and sing, Cindy and the guy remained entwined in their seats,” the eyewitness said.
While a McCain spokesperson declined comment, for the record, there’s a simple matter of math – an 18-year age difference between John McCain, 72 and Cindy, 54.
And while she appeared faithfully by his side at countless campaign rallies, insiders wonder whether she has always been standing by her man.
I’m really hoping this is fabricated. But The Enquirer has an uncanny way of exposing these stories before the mainstream press does – they were hot on the trail of former candidate John Edwards and his mistress for months before he confessed to an affair. They even swiped a diaper belonging to Edwards’ mistress’ baby from the trash, hoping to prove he’s the father. And don’t forget that it was the Enquirer who first published a story about Gary Hart before “legit” newspaper the New York Times “broke” the story. More recently, the mag claimed that Sarah Palin had an affair with her friend’s husband – that one has yet to be proven or disproven. Are they correct this time, or is it a whole lot of nothing?
Cindy McCain is shown on the campaign trail with her husband in April 2008. Photo credits: WENN. Front page image is Cindy McCain in the audience of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. Photo credit: Fame.
Newsweek has some pretty juicy insider gossip in the gratefully now over contentious US Presidential election. The Huffington Post and US Weekly focus on Sarah Palin’s indiscretions, and they’re pretty damning. There are some minor tidbits on the Democrat’s side too.
Newsweek claims Palin was like a kid in a candy store when the GOP started buying her clothing. She supposedly spent way more than just the $150,000 that was reported earlier, and even had her staffers buying stuff for her and her family on their credit cards. They also describe an incident in which she supposedly greeted male staffers while wearing just a towel after she had stepped out of the shower. It sounds seductive to hear it that way, but it could have been an innocent mistake in which she had to walk from the bathroom to another room and they just happened to be in the middle. McCain is described as a much more sympathetic figure who tried to tone down the attacks on Obama, only to be overridden by Palin. Do you think the GOP is trying to get the word out about her now that the election is over? They have to blame someone.
On Palin’s shopping spree – she went overboard and party officials kept it from McCain
NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin’s shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent “tens of thousands” more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,” and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.
A Palin aide said: “Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin.”
McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.
This isn’t surprising and Palin and McCain seemed to have little or no camaraderie when they were interviewed together. Maybe he was annoyed with how she took advantage of the situation at that point and was blaming her for the failures in their campaign. She was generally considered a liability in the later stages, and was said to be ignoring direction and going off topic while talking to the press.
On Palin greeting male staffers while wearing only a towel
At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys’ club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. “I’ll be just a minute,” she said.
Palin’s attack on Obama associating with a “domestic terrorist” was her own idea and was not signed off on
Palin launched her attack on Obama’s association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain’s advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
McCain and his aids stepped back from some of harsher attacks on Obama
McCain also was reluctant to use Obama’s incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a “celebrity” ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).
The gossip on the other side is not as incriminating, but it’s still pretty interesting. Newsweek’s reporters on the campaign trail must have dug up a lot of insider information. They have details about Hillary Clinton chatting with McCain after she dropped out of the race, and about Obama getting annoyed by the questions posed to him in the debates.
There are many more highlights on Newsweek’s website, and the segment online is just part of a larger article that will come out in the magazine. I’m interested to read it, because the part they’ve leaked is full of gossipy details.
More details of Palin’s bad behavior are leaking from other reporters. Fox News’ political correspondent told Bill O’Reilly on air that Palin was really mean to her staff, refused to prepare for interviews, and didn’t even know that Africa was a continent:
However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,” in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”
Palin was apparently a nightmare for her campaign staff to deal with. She refused preparation help for her interview with Katie Couric and then blamed her staff, specifically Nicole Wallace, when the interview was panned as a disaster. After the Couric interview, Fox News reported, Palin turned nasty with her staff and began to accuse them of mishandling her. Palin would view press clippings of herself in the morning and throw “tantrums” over the negative coverage. There were times when she would be so nasty and angry that her staff was reduced to tears.
That’s ripe coming from a woman who attacked Obama for being well educated. You have to wonder what’s next for Palin. She’ll be going back to Alaska to go be governor for two more years, but she probably has designs on some sort of Washington career. Now that the Democrats have a solid majority and the Republicans know how hard she is to work with it seems like her options are much more limited.
Sarah Palin is shown at a rally on 10/21/08 in Henderson, NV. Credit: PRPhotos
People are turning out in record numbers for the 2008 US Election. In some districts the turnout is 90% and more of registered voters and people are waiting in line for a few hours to exercise their right to vote.
What was your voting experience like? Did you wait at all and were your sure your vote went through?
I sent in my absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago to my last district in the US. It’s times like these (and Halloween) that I really miss home.
Please send links to your voting pictures and share stories about your experiences. I may be going to bed soon as it’s 6 hours later than EST here in Berlin and I plan to wake up early like a kid at Christmas time to see what happened. I’ll update this post with your photos in a few hours once I wake up. JayBird will let you know if there is a clear winner by 12am EST.
Photo below credit Dan Carlson. It was taken in Sherman Oaks, California at about 10:30 am and Carlson said it took him around a half hour to vote. Header image credit David in Chicago.
Update: Here are more photos of people voting in Brooklyn’s 26th district, where there was over a two hour wait. Credit: WENN. There is also a photo sent in by user T-Money:
This video is almost comically long and the commentators on The Today Show tell us not to get discouraged to vote
Barack Obama cast his vote this morning before 8am at an elementary school in his Chicago neighborhood. He voted along with his wife, Michelle, and brought his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. When he was done filling out his paper ballot, Obama was met with applause and said “I voted.”
Obama was in Virginia last night speaking to a crowd of 90,000 people. He will head to Indiana tonight for another rally and back to Chicago to wait for the results. Obama will play basketball as he waits, which is a little superstition he has while he’s waiting for election results.
Obama’s running mate Joe Biden voted in Delaware (link has automatic video) this morning at 9 am EST with his wife, daughter and mother. He presumably voted for himself twice – for Vice President and for the Senate.
John McCain will vote tonight at 11:00 pm Eastern time in Phoenix, Arizona. Sarah Palin will vote in Alaska and fly back to Phoenix to join McCain.
Obama maintains a comfortable lead in the polls and is largely expected to win. As they mention in the video above of Obama voting, no matter who becomes President it will be historic. Obama would be America’s first African American President and McCain would bring the first female Vice President to the White House.
There are long lines at many polling places throughout the country as people wait to get a chance to vote in this important election. It’s an exciting time in America. You don’t need a gossip blogger telling you this – but don’t forget to vote and hang in there if you have to wait. It’s worth it.
Sarah Palin made a surprise appearance on the Saturday Night Live primetime special Political Bash Monday night on NBC. There was no advertising or leak on her or Senator McCain’s appearance on the special so no one was expecting it.
Sitting in a leather chair alone on a stage, Governor Palin addressed the audience and was met with applause to begin with. However, after launching into her written speech, the reception decidedly cooled.
Palin delivered a speech that must have been intended to be tongue in cheek and funny, but it just was not delivered as such. It was actually rather sinister sounding and Palin herself barely cracked anything more than a sarcastic smile during the whole thing.
Palin said that when she first heard about Saturday Night Live was making fun of her, she was annoyed. But, after awhile, she understood that this was a long standing tradition with SNL and political figures. Palin attempted a joke about not knowing Saturday Night Live was still on the air and there was a smattering of laughter. It felt like the audience was trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Was Sarah Palin joking or not?
Then, with nary a smile, Palin then announced that on January 20th, after she is sworn into office, the parody is to end. Now, obviously, the sketch was written as a joke, and meant to be delivered as such, but it came across as more of a command than a joke. Sarah, in another joke that she just could not make work, said that if SNL didn’t stop making fun of her after she was Vice President, she would see to it that NBC had their broadcast license revoked. Followed by another joke about how no one would know, because no one watches NBC. She concluded with what felt like some sort of mob threat, saying that in Alaska “we play for keeps, it’s called The Palin Doctorine.”
It was eerily silent and uncomfortable during her delivery. I almost felt bad for her if it weren’t for the fact that she herself barely cracked a smile. She was very charismatic during her scheduled cameo on SNL a couple weeks ago, so it was surprising to see her so much the opposite on Monday. I sat here stunned during the whole thing, actually hoping that she would pull off a great zinger at the end and get a good laugh at it all, but it never came.
The audience was kind enough to applaud when she signed off, but that was about the extent of a reaction. It was odd and uncomfortable and I’m very surprised they put her on with it. She had to have done something more encouraging in rehearsals.
John McCain opened the show and was charming and funny, sitting in the same chair, delivering his pre-written speech with a smile and a sense of humor. Whether you agree with his politics or not, there’s no denying he comes across as a decent guy with a sense of humor when he does Saturday Night Live. Although, I’ve got to say, he’s pretty much turned into the “celebrity” he lambasted Obama for being now that he’s basically become a cast member on Saturday Night Live this week.
Truly, it’s all for naught, most people have already voted, either early or by mail, and on the eve of the election, the undecideds should be few and far between. Maybe Sarah Palin thought she had nothing to lose so she would show that she was a serious contender in the last minutes, on a political satire show.
McCain’s first skit on SNL, which was a hit. His second skit, below, wasn’t quite as effective
After a serious ten straight minutes of political commercials, Saturday Night Live finally kicked off with John McCain and Sarah Palin. The real McCain, but not the real Sarah Palin. Tina Fey was back with what will be, if she sticks to her word, her final performance on the Saturday show as the Alaska Governor.
McCain and “Palin” were on QVC on the skit, in rebuttal to Obama’s Wednesday night 30-minute ad, because the time came cheap as long as they would hawk a few products. As Tina-as-Palin explained as she stroked her lovely, designer jacket, running a Presidential campaign is expensive.
Senator McCain announced the pair’s first product, a 10-piece collector’s set representing the ten town hall meetings the Senators McCain and Obama had. He stepped over to reveal ten blank, white plates, because, as he explained, Obama refused to do town hall meetings.
The second product was presented by Palin, a complete set of Joe action figures, plumber, six pack, and Biden. Her favorite being the Biden doll, whose string you could pull and he would talk for 45-minutes straight.
McCain then took the opportunity to talk about the crossroads in American history we all find ourselves in this election year… until Palin interrupted to announce that there were only two minutes left to order the Washington Outsider jewelry!
Which brought McCain to his “Fine Gold” line of jewelry, presented by Cindy McCain. That joke wrote itself. The next one had to reach a bit further, Sarah Palin’s Ayers Freshners, to plug in when “sumthin’ doesn’t quite smell right.” Plus, as Tina said, it keeps on reminding you of William Ayers!
The final official product was John McCain Pork Knives, to “cut the pork out.”
Then Tina’s Palin goes rogue, taking the camera to the side with “PALIN in 2012″ t-shirts, “just wait til after Tuesday to wear them.” Whether they win or not, she says, Palin isn’t going anywhere, she’s either going to be in the White House or be White Oprah.
From off camera, McCain asks, “What’s going on over there, Sarah?”
“Oh, just talkin’ ’bout taxes.”
Before the Senator delivers the obligatory line for opening Saturday Night Live, he tells the QVC audience that he is a true Maverick, a Republican without money, so had no choice but to go on QVC. And unlike Barack Obama, he doesn’t have Hollywood connections, his only showbiz supporters are John Voight and Heidi from the Hills.
He closed with, “When you go to the polls remember “Country First”, and as a reminder, all undergarments are unrefundable.”
John McCain was as willing and funny as I knew he would be. He really seems to have a sense of humor, it’s just been markedly missing, or strangely askew, for the past couple weeks. He got plenty of laughs and alot of applause. He seemed to be a hit.
But then he came on Weekend Update. There was actual booing when he was introduced. Senator McCain delivered an interesting array of “last minute strategies.” The “Reverse Maverick”: where he does whatever anybody tells him. The “Double Maverick”: going totally berserker and freak everybody out. The “Sad Grandpa”: Obama has a lot of time left to run for president, voters should give him a chance. People laughed at his bad ideas, but not in the good way. When Seth Myers asked which he was going to use, McCain got serious for a minute and said he was going to stick with his basic strategy… connect with the voters, stand by his record, etc. And if that doesn’t work, probably the Double Maverick.
One sketch too many, Senator.
Ben Affleck was not as good as I’d hoped he’d be. He had a couple of funny moments, but more than not, he was disappointing. Singer David Cook, on the other hand was excellent.
Update by Celebitchy: Here’s Ben Affleck as Keith Olbermann, and as Alec Baldwin stopping by The View. (Thanks daisy424!)
John McCain will be returning to Saturday Night Live, the McCain campaign has confirmed. McCain was the featured host in 2002, and this will be the Senator’s second cameo appearance this year. It couldn’t come at a better time, for him, either. The November 1st show is airing just three days before election day and SNL has been a great way to get a little push in popularity this election.
Aides to the Republican presidential candidate said Friday that McCain will make a detour from battleground states to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” the late-night show that has been a must-watch for many during the political season.
McCain last appeared on “Saturday Night Live” in May, after clinching the nomination and while the Democratic primary continued. The 72-year-old Arizona senator joked about his age, saying: “I ask you, what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old.”
When McCain hosted “SNL” in 2002, he mocked singer Barbra Streisand’s political advocacy by performing a medley of her songs.
John McCain was funny and likeable in his previous appearances. His turn on Barbra Streisand by getting into her repertoire of songs the way she gets into politics was priceless. His sense of humor has waned a little bit in these final weeks of the election but I’m sure the SNL writers will come up with something, possibly even to joke on his recent irritability, and I’m betting McCain will be enough of a sport to go along with it.
About a month ago, rumor had been that Barack Obama was going to be on this weekend’s show, but that rumor subsequently dissipated. Lorne Michaels, the man behind SNL, said that the show doesn’t confirm a guest star until they’re in the building and no one was in the building yet, so he’s not even confirming McCain at this point. He did say Obama was tentatively scheduled to be on last week’s show but was unable to make it after having gone to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother. I was honestly still expecting him to show up on Saturday, until I heard McCain had been scheduled.
McCain will have another Democrat to face, though. Ben Affleck, an outspoken Democrat and Obama supporter is the host this week, and that has been confirmed. Affleck has been hinting at getting into politics for awhile now. Maybe McCain will provide the same opportunity for him that Joe the Plumber was given, I hear he’s thinking of running for office, too.
Here is a link to a clip from 2002 of John McCain as a creepy husband.
John McCain and his wife Cindy are shown campaigning in Sarasota, FL on 10/23/08. Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures
While it might seem silly to try and predict pop music tastes based on who is president, trends over the last thirty years show a pattern of what kinds of music become popular based on which party controls the white house. Based on these trends, let’s first see how a McCain presidency might influence pop music.
Heavy rock music with a dark, emotional subtext usually does better during Republican presidencies. Going back to the Nixon years, trends have shown that heavy, theatrical rock music does well when a Republican is in the White House. Heavy metal pioneers, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper first became popular during GOP administrations in the early 70′s. Critics attribute this first rise of heavy metal as a reaction to the hippy music of the 60′s, as well as a commentary on the conservative political climate.
The Reagan years saw a re-emergence of heavy metal. Bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, and Twisted Sister became hugely popular during Reagan’s time in the oval office. Big hair, makeup, flashy costumes, loud guitar solos, and wild stage shows became the mainstream at the same time Nancy Reagan was telling the youth of America to “just say no to drugs.” So oddly, metal fans and Republicans alike look back fondly to the eighties as a kind of golden age- but for entirely different reasons.
Similarly, the presidency of George W. Bush has coincided with a new-found popularity of an emerging type of theatrical heavy music. Emo bands like Aiden, Fallout Boy, Taking Back Sunday, and Hawthorne Heights combined heavy rock sounds, emotionally deep lyrics, and a new sense of fashion to create a musical trend that achieved huge popularity in the new century.
Given these trends, a McCain presidency would likely bring about a re-emergence of heavy rock rooted in both the emo and heavy metal. This new style would likely feature a dark, androgynous fashion sense, a combo of the emo-goth style and the glam rock style of the 80′s hair metal bands. The music would re-focus on the guitar mastery of earlier heavy bands like Van Halen. Lyric content would likely steer away from the emotional introspection of Emo and back to fantasy-inspired topics like the band Iron Maiden uses. So if McCain is the victor on November 5th, pull the hairspray and leather jacket out of the closet and get ready to ROCK!
