Paris Hilton, McCain, and Obama

What happened

Paris Hilton has released an Internet video lampooning John McCain’s recent campaign ad, which used images of Hilton and Britney Spears to suggest that Barack Obama is a mere celebrity who is unfit to lead. Hilton says she's running for president, and is "totally ready to lead." (Funny Or Die video link)

What the commentators said

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Don’t mess with Paris Hilton, said Seth Grahame-Smith in The Huffington Post. Her little video generated real excitement and presented a “well-reasoned energy policy”—two things McCain has yet to do. McCain’s camp is trying to laugh it off by saying Hilton has a better energy plan than Obama, but the bottom line is she made McCain look ridiculous in a video that “is spreading faster than a case of Cancun herpes.”

Obama is the one who looks silly, said Allahpundit in a Hot Air blog. After all, she has “nearly as much federal legislative experience as Barry O.” And “if grotesque overexposure and grandiose ego are now prerequisites for the presidency,” maybe she’s as qualified as he is.

It’s hard to say which candidate Hilton’s parody hurts more, said Craig Crawford in CQPolitics’ Trail Mix blog. Most of the video is devoted to poking fun at McCain’s advanced age. “But at the end of the day, Barack Obama is aligned with Paris Hilton.” That can’t help, can it?

Team Obama responded by saying, "Whatever," said Michael Crowley in The New Republic’s The Stump blog. But the Democratic presidential candidate probably “doesn't exactly see" Hilton's "implicit support as a helpful development, however amusing it is.”