Republican presidential candidate John McCain is making fun of his Democratic opponent Barack Obama’s vast popularity by comparing him to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. In a new television ad for McCain they show shots of the 200,000 people gathered to hear Obama speak in Berlin last week with people shouting “Obama! Obama!” over the footage. The narrator says that Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, but asks if he’s ready to lead. The camera cuts to photos of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the narrator claims that Obama will raise taxes – which isn’t true for most people, and that he’s against offshore drilling.

No one yelled “Obama! Obama!” in Berlin, I was there
I live in Berlin and I was at Obama’s speech that day – you may have noticed because the site wasn’t updated much that afternoon. No one was shouting “Obama! Obama!” at all. I tried to do it, but the Germans didn’t pick it up and just stood and sat there patiently listening to music ahead of the speech.

Obama’s speech in Berlin was too moderate for my taste
I wasn’t entirely happy with Obama’s speech. He focused on security and the need to send troops into Afghanistan and to fight terrorism. (Here’s a transcript of his speech if you missed it) I’m a liberal and I want to see the troops withdrawn from Iraq, something Obama has promised under a 16 month timetable, and the focus put back on domestic and economic issues. I believe that terrorism is best dealt with swiftly behind the scenes. Yes there is a huge problem with terrorism, but we only give the extremist groups the attention they want by acting scared and focusing on them in the media. It gives them power when we talk about them. I wanted to hear what he’s going to do to make sure people can afford to stay in their homes and drive their cars.

I will be voting for Obama because McCain has pretty much stated that we’ll be in Iraq forever and you can bet that it will be four more years of Bush’s policies with that guy. Obama does get too much adoration and I don’t really like the way he seems to be courting the celebrity press. He seemed genuinely surprised that he was criticized for allowing his daughters to be interviewed on camera for Access Hollywood, though, and I think that he’s just flying by the seat of his pants and assuming that all positive press is helpful.

Today I asked JayBird to cover the story about Michelle Obama’s interview with People because I’m kind of burnt out on the guy. I thought he was a liberal and it turns out he’s a lot more moderate. That’s probably what will get him elected, and lefties like me will still vote for him so it’s a win-win.

Obama will lower your taxes compared to McCain if you make less than 112k
McCain’s assertion in this ad that Obama will raise taxes is not correct. If you’re one of the 90% of Americans who makes less than 112k a year, Obama will provide you much more of a tax break than McCain. If you make more than 112k a year, or are a corporation, you save more with taxes under McCain.

Obama has issued a response to McCain’s ad. A spokesman said, “On a day when major news organizations across the country are taking Sen. McCain to task for a steady stream of false, negative attacks, his campaign has launched yet another. Or, as some might say, ‘Oops! He did it again.'” We know which side has a sense of humor along with a better grasp of the media.

Yesterday Angelina Jolie’s dad Jon Voight’s wrote a pretty wild op-ed published in the conservative paper The Washington Times in which he said that Obama is a bad candidate because of his radical minister or teachers or whatever. We’ve heard that argument before and it’s weak. I wonder if Voight’s piece will push his daughter away even further. Angelina has said that she’s not behind a specific candidate and is waiting to see who she likes, but I can’t see her voting for McCain. And I would rather focus on Angelina’s relationship with her dad than McCain vs. Obama. The stakes are so much higher in the Presidential race than some celebrity’s feud with their family, and it can be stressful and a little mind-boggling to consider the ramifications of the election. It’s hard to imagine how the economy could get much worse than it has, but it’s surely possible.

Thanks to US Weekly for this ad and to Kaiser for the tip on Voight’s op-ed.