BarackBook

Check out Barack Obama's friends on BarackBook!

UPDATE

New York Times… Here’s an entry you would not expect to see on Barack Obama’s official profile on the social networking site Facebook: “Barack Obama is now friends with Antonin ‘Tony’ Rezko.” But that’s the first item on Mr. Obama’s “FriendFeed” on BarackBook.com, a Facebook parody site created by the Republican National Committee that it says will go live on Tuesday. According to the R.N.C, the site is intended to showcase some of Mr. Obama’s “notable associations”… Users of Facebook – the real one – may be able to install an application on their personal page with links to BarackBook. (Falcone, New York Times, 07/28/08)

ABC News… The Republican National Committee has launched a fake Facebook page attacking Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, highlighting some of the more controversial “friends” in his “network”… Under Obama’s picture today, parodying the “what are you doing” conceit of the real Facebook, it reads: “Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November.” (Tapper, ABC News, 07/29/08)

MSNBC… The Republicans are taking aim at Barack Obama with a new parody of the website Facebook. Republican National Committee created BarackBook.com. The RNC says the site is intended to showcase what it calls some of Obama's quote unquote notable associations. One name listed as Obama’s friend is Tony Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer recently convicted of corruption. Rezko was an early Obama donor. (Allen, MSNBC, 10:51 AM, 07/29/08)

FOX News… Some McCain supporters are having a little fun with Barack Obama. Republican National Committee has set up a Facebook parody site. They call it Barackbook.com. The site goes live today. The RNC says it’s designed to highlight some of, what they call, Obama’s more questionable connections, like Weather Underground founder William Ayers. They also talk about Tony Rezko. The RNC says it plans to keep updating that site until the election. (Skinner, FOX News, 12:10 PM, 07/29/08)

USA Today… Facebook fans will recognize the look immediately – the Republican National Committee has created a "BarackBook" website to highlight "some of Barack Obama's notable associations throughout stages of his career." Those "notable associations" include Chicago real estate developer and Democratic fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted on fraud and money laundering charges last month. (Memmott, USA Today, 07/29/08)

Chicago Tribune… You can just picture the meeting in your mind's eye. Staffers at the Republican National Committee must've been sitting around asking themselves: How can we come up with a novel and sort of hip way to remind voters of some of Sen. Barack Obama's more questionable relationships (think Antoin "Tony" Rezko?) How about doing a BarackBook, a FaceBook knockoff filled with the troublesome associations of Obama's we want to highlight?... A clever approach at negative campaigning. (James, Chicago Tribune, 07/29/08)

Politico… The RNC launches a clever Facebook parody, BarackBook, aimed at tarring him through association with various controversial Chicagoans: "William Ayers has updated his profile." BarackBook is also a Facebook application, however, and clearly entering some rather unfriendly waters over there. (Smith, Politico, 07/29/08)

Boston Globe… The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, pokes fun at Barack Obama with a website, a parody of a Facebook site, that highlights Obama's links with not-so-pristine characters such as Tony Rezko, a past fund-raiser who was convicted last month by a federal jury on corruption charges, and William Ayers, a 1960s radical. (Rhee, Boston Globe, 07/29/08)

The Hill… The Republican National Committee has unveiled a mock Facebook page for Barack Obama which highlights his reported ties to former Weather Underground leader William Ayers and convicted real estate developer Tony Rezko. The site, called “BarackBook,” loosely pays homage to the social networking site Facebook's layout. The Illinois senator's status is “Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November.” (Michalakes, The Hill, 07/29/08)

PowerLine… The RNC has now parodied Obama's use of social networking quite cleverly with a page called BarackBook. The site is a useful guide to Obama's friends, with videos and a news feed. What is Barack doing right now? (Facebook users will get the reference.) "Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November." BarackBook is also an application that you can add to your own Facebook page. Well done, RNC! (PowerLine, 07/29/08)