Sarah Palin: I Owe America An Apology For Costing John McCain The Election

Nate Silver Compiles Prop 8 Donations By Staffers At Major Silicon Valley Companies

Using a Los Angeles Times database of donations to the 2008 Proposition 8 campaign, stats guru Nate Silver has compiled a list of how the staffers of major Silicon Valley tech companies weighed in with their wallets.

The list includes Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Cisco Systems, Apple, Google, Sun Microsystems, eBay, Oracle, Yahoo, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Symantec. I limited the search to donors who listed California as their location. In total between these 11 companies, 83 percent of employee donations were in opposition to Proposition 8. So Eich was in a 17 percent minority relative to the top companies in Silicon Valley. However, there was quite a bit of variation from business to business. At Intel, 60 percent of employee donations were in support of Proposition 8. By contrast, at Apple, 94 percent of employee donations were made in opposition to Proposition 8. The opposition was even higher at Google, where 96 percent of employee donations were against it, including $100,000 from co-founder Sergey Brin. There isn’t much data on Mozilla. Only four Proposition 8 donors listed it as their employer: Eich, who donated in support of the measure, and three others who opposed it.

Silver notes that his result does not include those who chose to donate to either side of the campaign without disclosing the name of their employers. About 12% of those in the database did not.

Mozilla CEO Speaks To CNET

Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich has spoken to the tech site CNET in his first interview since controversy erupted over his 2008 donation to the backers of Proposition 8. Eich declined to discuss his personal views or say if he now supports marriage equality, but he repeated last week's expression of sorrow for causing pain to LGBT people. CNET asked Eich if he thinks the furor is an "existential threat" to the company:

I don't know. If it is, the vision of Mozilla will be lost. I don't think anyone else will carry the user-first agenda above all other considerations. I understand big commercial corporations can't do it. They have to ultimately answer to their shareholders. They can have founders with large shares and that can say they're willing to take a hit in order to be long-term thinkers, and I admire that, but in no way can they do what Mozilla does. We bled for the user. We did Firefox when nobody thought the browser was a competitive market or ever would be again. We did Firefox OS when people said there was no need for a mobile OS but there was obviously a gap below the market. And we're doing a user-centric approach to services that involve identity and choice and control of data. Mozilla has to uphold its principles, has to have integrity to advance its mission.

I feel strongly about what's happened, and I feel I'm still the best CEO for the job. I've got lots to contribute and I'll help us turn some corners. The corners that need me as CEO, not just founder or CTO, are a big mobile turn that involves services [and] user identity and agency in the cloud. If we get our message out about inclusiveness and how Mozilla cannot succeed without being truly globally inclusive, then we'll have trouble. I expect I'll be helpful there, too, in the long run. We're in a struggle now, but if we get through it, we'll be stronger for it. That's been true of all our struggles at Mozilla. When we pull everybody together for common mission, that's when we really succeed.

Eich also mentioned that the company is planning to take actions to emphasize its support for the LGBT community, but he gave no specifics.

Sarah Palin: I Predicted Ukraine

"Yes, I could see this one from Alaska. I'm usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did, despite my accurate prediction being derided as 'an extremely far-fetched scenario' by the 'high-brow' Foreign Policy Magazine. Here’s what this 'stupid insipid woman' predicted back in 2008: 'After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next.'" - Sarah Palin, saying that Russia will invade Ukraine because they don't fear Obama, just as she predicted would happen six years ago.

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader Paul)

Hope Poster Creator Turns On Obama

Shepard Fairey, the creator of the iconic poster that came to represent the 2008 Obama campaign, has turned on the president, much to the delight of right wing sites.

A camera crew from TMZ asked Shepard Fairey if he’d use the same word underneath his portrait of then-Sen. Obama, given his track record as president. The 43-year-old Fairey paused for a moment as he and a companion got into a waiting vehicle. “I’d put a few different ones,” Shepard said, adding that some of them may not be fit for print. Then he turned back around to face the crew, thinking of an idea. “How about drones?” Fairey said.

TMZ's report is being gleefully mentioned on World Net Daily, etc.

NBC Announces Mini-Series About Hillary

This weekend NBC announced that it has green-lighted a mini-series about Hillary Clinton which will star Diane Lane.

NBC announced here on Saturday that it was preparing a four-hour mini-series based on the life of Mrs. Clinton and hoped to broadcast it before any possible formal declaration that she was running. That would avoid the possibility of other candidates demanding equal time, said Robert Greenblatt, NBC’s top entertainment executive. Mr. Greenblatt said NBC bought the project even though it had no script yet, though the deal came with a star attached: Diane Lane, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for her leading role in the film “Unfaithful.” The Clinton project will be written and directed by Courtney Hunt, who was nominated for an Oscar for writing the film “Frozen River.” NBC’s release described the project as a mini-series that would “recount Clinton’s life as a wife, politician and cabinet member from 1998 to present.” That would include her run for the presidential nomination in 2008.

A spokesperson for Clinton declined to comment on the series, saying he had been unaware of its development. Get ready for the right-wing to issue its usual rants about the mainstream media colluding with Democrats.

Sarah Palin: GOP "Brainiacs" Stopped Me From Telling Truth About Obama In 2008

If they censored her, why did her "palling around with terrorists" schtick become such a meme in the final weeks of the campaign?

McCain On 2008: I Picked Palin Because She Was Better Than Romney

John McCain got rather pissy yesterday when reporters asked if he'd passed over Mitt Romney as a 2008 running mate due to his still unreleased tax returns.

"Oh come on, because we thought that Sarah Palin was the better candidate. Why did we not take [Tim] Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn’t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others. ... Come on, why? That’s a stupid question." Steve Schmidt, McCain's top campaign adviser in 2008, told the Huffington Post that the contents of the tax returns were not viewed as a problem for their campaign. But Romney's vast wealth was seen as a political liability that McCain could ill afford, he said.

Open Thread: HBO's Game Change

No point in a "spoiler alert." We know how it ended.

What Has Obama Accomplished?

Click here for the answer.

Mugshot

John Edwards: I Didn't Break The Law

Edwards pleaded not guilty today to charges that he diverted campaign funds to cover up his affair.

John Edwards Faces Federal Charges

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is facing federal prosecution for diverting campaign donations to support his mistress (and mother of his love child.)

Edwards has been the focus of a lengthy federal investigation focusing on hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly provided by two wealthy supporters. The government will contend those were illegal donations that ultimately went to support and seclude his mistress, Rielle Hunter. Hunter was a campaign videographer with whom Edwards had a lengthy affair that resulted in a daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, now three years old. If the case were to proceed to trial, legal experts said, the government would have to prove that the intent of the donations was to cover-up the affair so that Edwards could continue his pursuit of the 2008 Democratic nomination for president.

An indictment is expected shortly.

Julianne Moore As Sarah Palin

From the coming HBO movie about the 2008 campaign.

Game Change stars Moore as Palin, Ed Harris as John McCain, Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt, McCain’s senior campaign strategist; Ron Livingston as Mark Wallace, another top McCain advisor; and Melissa Farman as Dancing with the Stars contestant Bristol Palin.

Sarah Palin: I Would Have Won In 2008 If I'd Been The Top Of The Ticket

Yup, she said it.

Sarah Palin was in New Delhi, India March 19 for the annual India Today conclave, where she gave a speech on “My Vision for America.” The theme for this years conclave was “The Changing Balance of Power.” After her speech, Palin sat down for a Q and A session with India Today Editor-in-Chief and Session Chairman Aroon Purie, during which she blamed McCain for losing 2008, among other mildly amusing indications that she is running for President in 2012. When asked why she lost 2008, Palin snapped, “I wasn’t the top of the ticket!” Palin’s speech, by the way, was nothing new: Palin bashed green energy, called for more oil drilling, and made sure to blame Obama again for high gas prices (I suspect they know about the global market in India and might not be as prone to buying this jingle as Americans are). I have no idea how they translated her word salad; I couldn’t follow it in English.

(Via - Pam's House Blend)

Elizabeth Edwards Leaves Nothing To John

The late Elizabeth Edwards completely cut her philandering husband John out of her will.

The will Elizabeth Edwards signed days before her death last month makes no mention of her estranged husband and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday that Elizabeth Edwards left all her possessions to her three surviving children. Her last will and testament names as the executor of her estate her eldest child, lawyer Cate Edwards.

The will was filed six days before her death.

Olbermann: Would Hillary Clinton Have Been That Much Different?

Elizabeth Edwards Dies At Age 61

CNN has announced that Elizabeth Edwards, the popular estranged wife of 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, has succumbed to cancer. A family spokesperson has issued a statement requesting donations to her cancer foundation in lieu of flowers. Edwards was an ardent supporter of the LGBT community and often advocated on our behalf. Good As You reminds us of the below speech.

Report: John Edwards To Be Indicted Over Campaign Funds Misuse

Disgraced 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is about to be indicted for campaign funds misuse, according to the National Enquirer. Via Huffington Post:

A federal grand jury is about to indict John Edwards, sources tell the National Enquirer. The grand jury has been investigating the former presidential candidate since April 2009 for possible misuse of campaign funds -- Edwards had mistress Rielle Hunter on his payroll -- and indictment is now imminent. The Enquirer talked to one friend who revealed that John was "terrified":

"While he believes he's done nothing illegal in trying to hide his extramarital affair with Rielle and their daughter, he thinks the Feds are going to make an example of him."

It hasn't been a great winter for the former presidential candidate. On the one hand, there has been Andrew Young, former Edwards aide and admitted accomplice in concealing the affair, stepping forward with a tell-all memoir of campaign trail debauchery and details of an Edwards-Hunter sex tape. On the other, recently-separated-from wife Elizabeth has threatened to sue Young for "alienation of affection," while friends told the Enquirer that Edwards beat her in a marriage-ending fight.

It was the National Enquirer that first broke the story of Edwards' affair and love child.