Artist John McNaughton should have beefed up his bandwidth this month.

News of the Nevada-based artist’s new painting, “The Forgotten Man,” went viral over the past few days sparking massive sales and a bit of outrage as well. The painting depicts President Barack Obama standing on the Constitution while previous presidents look on with outrage.

John McNaughton’s “The Forgotten Man” sold in one day “what we would sell in three months.”

The amount of traffic the story generated even crashed his website.

“I hate to think of the sales I lost with the site being down, but I’m pleased that the message got out,” he told CBS Las Vegas.

His webmaster needed to increase the amount of bandwidth for the site four times before it went back up Saturday night.

Naturally, some Obama supporters instantly dubbed the painting racist, charges McNaughton refutes on his web site:

There is no racial meaning or undertone that the FM [Forgotten Man] isn’t black. This is not a racial painting; it is about the vanishing of the American dream.

Oprah Winfrey has more to worry about these days than just her flailing TV network.

The former talk show queen’s self-named magazine is also suffering a significant sales drop, according to The New York Post:

Newsstand sales plunged to 413,363 copies — down 32 percent from the same period a year ago, when she was selling 608,212 copies.

Winfrey’s last syndicated talk show aired in May 2011, so while there has been some softness for the past two years, this marked the first six-month stretch with no broadcast TV exposure at all. The magazine’s total circulation was also down by 5 percent, to 2,380,782.

Combine that with the dismal ratings for OWN, Winfrey’s upstart network, and you have a picture of a media titan in trouble.

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Actress Scarlett Johansson once famously swapped emails with future president Barack Obama.

Now, the curvy star of “We Bought a Zoo” is carrying Obama’s water for his 2012 campaign.

Johansson announced she’s back on Team Obama, reading off the Celebrity Apology script while chatting to The Huffington Post about her return to the Hope and Change Express:

I think people are really in dire straits and they are very reasonably and understandably upset,” she said. “I mean Obama inherited a turkey, he really did, and he’s working to… he’s fighting a kind of uphill battle in a sense and he has these past four years. And he never ran his first term as that — he was always going to be a two-term election in that sense. And change doesn’t happen overnight, you know, we know that.

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Small wonder the White House has tweeted approval of Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl Chrysler commercial. From its calls for America to “be as one,” one wouldn’t know that Eastwood doesn’t approve of the Obama administration.

One also wouldn’t know that Eastwood calls himself a libertarian. For Eastwood’s speech, with its calls for unity and marching together from halftime to what I take to be a touchdown, is precisely the kind of collectivism libertarians shy away from.

This is at odds with Eastwood’s maverick persona. As a consistent Republican voter, he stands apart from the Hollywood liberal herd. When the country was cheerleading for an Iraq invasion, Eastwood opposed it on “practical considerations.” While Hollywood emptied their wallets for Obama, Eastwood criticized him.

Eastwood’s libertarianism has always slipped through via his film canon. With the sheriff bashing unarmed citizens in “Unforgiven,” Eastwood sounded a warning against gun control, then and now. In last year’s “J.Edgar,” Eastwood revealed that there was a decided terrorist threat from leftists in the post-World War I period, while at the same time showing the civil liberty abuses of Hoover.

But now, the actor’s message has moved from the honor of being one against the herd to urging us all to join one.

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***ADDED: Fascinating read on how, contrary to Obama/media spin, the auto bailouts failed and cost the taxpayers billions.

How did Clint Eastwood and the people around him not see the partisan storm coming with this ad? Eastwood’s a smart guy, as a Hollywood survivor and former mayor, he understands how politics works.

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Because Obama’s decided to eliminate moral hazard and socialize losses for anyone who employs the unions who fund his campaigns, Chrysler obviously wrote a thinly veiled thank you in the form of a reelection ad for their benefactor, and convinced a Republican icon to deliver  it.

Reuters:

Before he emerged in a controversial Super Bowl ad as the gravelly voice of Chrysler’s resurgence, Clint Eastwood was a critic of the government bailout that saved the U.S. automaker.

“We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies,” actor, director and Academy Award winner Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times in November 2011. “If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.”

The two-minute Chrysler ad “Halftime in America” won attention for its focus on American resilience, but raised eyebrows for the way critics said it echoed one of the central themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection bid.

Eastwood, a longtime Republican who now describes himself as a libertarian, told Fox News on Monday he was “certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama.”

The ad was meant as a message “about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it,” Eastwood said, according to a transcript on Foxnews.com.

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Acting legend Clint Eastwood has already tried clearing the air regarding any political fallout from his two-minute Chrysler Super Bowl ad.

Now, it’s Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne’s turn.

Marchionne told WJR radio in Detroit this morning “politics had nothing to do” with the instantly controversial clip.

Democrats and the White House embraced the ad narrated by actor Clint Eastwood that said the United States could learn from the Motor City’s economic woes, while a former adviser to President George W. Bush criticized it….

“It has zero political content,” Marchionne said. “It was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us… I wasn’t expressing a view and certainly nobody inside Chrysler was attempting to influence decisions.

Actor Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl ad for Chrysler got a quick and hearty welcome from Obama administration officials who saw it as an unofficial endorsement for the president’s auto bailout.

But the 81-year-old screen icon worked nearly as fast to shut down the notion his ad was meant to be taken that way.

Here’s the erstwhile Dirty Harry setting the record straight to a producer from Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”:

I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.

l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.

I am not supporting any politician at this time.

Chrysler to their credit didn’t even have cars in the ad.

Anything they gave me for it went for charity.

If any Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it.

Judge for yourself:

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The Onion is at it again.

Rather than trying to spoof, mock or even gently tease President Barack Obama–the man who actually holds the highest office in the land–the paper is targeting the administration’s out-of-power critics.

The Onion’s latest Obama humor article taunts those who note how a leader who rails against the rich routinely enjoys the perks that come with his wealth, power and status:

Obama Criticized For Living In Lavish Mansion While Most Americans Struggle To Make Ends Meet

WASHINGTON—Over the past three years, as the sluggish economy has forced many Americans to tighten their belts, President Obama has reportedly enjoyed a lavish personal lifestyle, residing with his family in a 132-room house staffed by a 24-hour security detail, five full-time chefs, and a live-in maid service.

In recent weeks, many of the president’s critics have seized upon the issue, arguing that anyone who sleeps in a sprawling six-level neoclassical mansion covering 18 acres of Washington, D.C.’s most valuable real estate is clearly out of touch with the lives of ordinary citizens.

You see, those silly Obama critics will attack poor Barack on just about any charge. So we should simply ignore them, right?

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***ADDED: Would Dirty Harry ask for a handout?

“The Obama reelection campaign couldn’t buy a better endorsement.”

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THR:

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot — the Chrysler “Halftime in America” commercial — subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, talks of how America has arrived at half-time in its struggle back from the financial precipice with good things to follow in the coming second half.

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Left-wing operatives, like those who run Politico, are intentionally attempting to create their own reality. In the same way the left turned “30 Rock,” a show that ranked 106 in the ratings last season, into some sort of cultural phenom, the idea here is to push the political and social values of something no one watches into our country’s cultural and media narrative as though it’s something it’s not — popular.

Politico loves Stephen Colbert because Stephen Colbert loves Barack Obama and is waging war against the Right and free speech. America, however, is, to be kind, indifferent to Colbert. 1.44 million viewers and only half that among the 18-49 group, does not make you King of anything.

But Colbert knows how to play the game and understands that if he wants these kinds of hollow accolades and the opportunity to push his left-wing agenda and to have history revised in his favor, he must appeal to the right people, and the right people are not THE people; the right people are the left-wing elites who infest our corrupt media.

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Quick note: For the sake of this review it’s important to explain the world in which “In Time” takes place. The film itself provides details but “The Minutes,” a special feature included with the Blu-ray/DVD set, is all about the origins of this society, so some things you read here come from that.

Director Andrew Niccol’s “In Time” opens with  a lot of promise and no small amount of tension, thanks to a terrific premise. Unfortunately, the narrative sputters and misfires in the second-half, but as a political allegory, by design or accident, we are treated to a damning look at what our culture and country might look like should Obama and his fellow leftists continue to prevail.

The year is 2161 and some years ago, due to fear of over-population, scientists not only discovered a genetic cure for aging, they implanted a clock in the forearm of every newborn that counts down the years, hours, minutes, and seconds you have left before you die. No one ages a day after they turn twenty-five, but once that birthday hits, you’re given a year to live. That is, unless you’re able to earn more time. Where Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives, a working class ghetto called Dayton,  your choices are limited to manual labor, begging, and crime.

Will’s not alone, either. In Dayton, the average person won’t survive the day unless they can earn more time. Here, a cup of coffee costs you four minutes, a bus ride two hours, and the rent a couple of weeks. Time is this nation’s currency, and with the cost of living always going up, it’s a hand-to-mouth existence for the half-million or so residents who live with their mortality constantly hanging over them and in the knowledge that something as mundane as missing a bus can mean you count down to zero and die on the spot.

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Guess those “Desperate Housewives” checks go a long way.

The Obama administration released a list of its top money bundlers yesterday, and while the list featured the usual political suspects it also contained some familiar Hollywood power brokers.

Top fundraisers include movie producers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Harvey Weinstein, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Actress Eva Longoria was in the second highest tier, bundling $200,000 to $500,000 for Obama’s re-election.

The biggest surprise for celebrity watchers was the inclusion of Longoria. She’s hardly the most outspoken actress on the Hollywood circuit, but the svelte star clearly wants to fatten up Obama’s re-election campaign coffers.

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American culture allows comedians of color to say things white comedians can’t.

That helped propel Richard Pryor into the comedy stratosphere and made Chris Rock one of the most incisive commentators on modern living during the early 2000s.

Enter “Key & Peele,” the new Comedy Central series debuting at 10:30 p.m. EST tonight. Biracial comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele share their mixed race ancestry in the show’s opening monologue, the kind of refreshing banter that’s immediately open and funny. The exchange doesn’t feel cobbled together by a team of writers trying way too hard to be casual.

It’s one of the best features of the new show, a program which proves both Key and Peele belong in the sketch comedy trenches – each already paid their dues on both “MADtv” and the short-lived “Chocolate News.” They’re naturals on screen, relaxed and compelling even when they’re just swapping stories.

“On a daily basis we have to adjust our blackness,”  Key says before Peele finishes, “to terrify white people.”

Normally, the pair “sound whiter than Mitt Romney in a snow storm,” Peele adds.

The premiere episode mixes the kind of material you might find on any other sketch show with bits given an edge by their heritage. That edge vanishes when the duo take on the first black president.

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The price those the left label as apostates pay is always a high one. Their very identity is questioned, and these attacks are always ignored by the same MSM that labels facts, such as the record number of food stamp recipients under President FailureTeleprompter, as racist. Moreover, heaven help a comedian who aims a little satire at the gay community, but once again, openly sexist, racially-charged attacks against leftist apostates are always met with the media’s approval in the form of complicit silence.

Crystal Wright is an accomplished commentator and writer who holds a  Masters from Georgetown. But she just happens to be black and female and Republican, so therefore …. this gets fired out to nearly a quarter of a million people:

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Ms. Wright wrote about what happened at Freedoms Journal:

What’s curious is no other race, White, Hispanic or Asian, gives over 90% of their vote to one party but blacks. In exchange for this block vote, Democrats, including President Obama, our first black president, take the black vote for granted each election cycle because they don’t have to work for it.

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Will Ferrell should still be apologizing for “Land of the Lost.”

Instead, he’s making excuses for President Barack Obama’s first term.

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The increasingly political “Saturday Night Live” alum is co-chairing a Feb. 15 fundraiser for the president’s re-election campaign. But you have to be a one percenter to afford the entrance fee – $35,800 each. Let’s hope that includes Ferrell wearing his cheerleader outfit for some high-energy kicks and jumps.

The bigger issue is getting Obama re-elected, and Ferrell argues the president’s case with a little fuzzy math.

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Just like four years ago, another group of legendary Obama 1 percent supporters have stepped forward to lend a creative hand to help the President raise money for his 2012 bid for reelection. Last time around it was “Runway to Change.” This time the design-for-Obama group effort has been dubbed “Runway to Win.”

Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor that hosted Obama’s supporters in her New York townhouse and who recently co-hosted a $35,000 per person fundraiser at Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s home, is heading up the venture. In the past, Wintour’s tony political functions were attended by the likes of Alicia Keys and $70,000 dinner power couple Coldplay singer Chris Martin and his actress wife, the “suddenly everywhere” Miramax “muse,” Gwyneth Paltrow.

So with Wintour now raising reelection funds, you can just forget the $5 raffle tickets for a hot dog dinner with Barry and Shelley. Instead, the campaign will be hawking designer duds to people who, last time around, were in such dire straits they hoped the new president would fill their gas tank and pay their mortgage.

For her latest effort, Anna Wintour has recruited Hollywood notables, designers, pop and hip-hop artists, and other all-around really rich people to raise money for Barack 2012 by designing overpriced T-shirts, tank tops, scarves, wristlets, and bags to sell at inflated prices to people who, in the midst of an Obama recession, really can’t afford them.

Thus, “Runway to Win” is yet another example that Barack Obama and his helpful circle of elite Hollywood friends and Seventh Avenue designer devotees are all pretty much insulated from reality, out of touch, and oblivious to the plight of the common man.

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The upcoming Comedy Central series “Key & Peele” got some viral video love earlier this month with a sketch reminding us just how cool, tough and awesome President Obama is.

Just ignore those pesky economic statistics, the flotilla of broken campaign promises and the roiling state of the world. Last night, the show’s co-hosts took to Twitter to ramp up their Obama defense during the State of the Union speech.

Caution: the language is pretty salty, although, to be fair, some of the Tweets are funny. Here’s just a short sample of what the pair fired off last night during Obama’s speech:

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What’s a liberal comic to do when it becomes harder every day to defend President Barack Obama?

Why, play the race card – even when it’s not even in the deck.

Comedienne Wanda Sykes, who refused to lay a humorous glove on Obama during her short-lived talk show, is now slamming Gov. Rick Perry for something he hasn’t done.

Sykes appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” last night and tore into the GOP presidential field. Why bother speak truth to actual power – the president – when you can taunt your ideological foes?

But even by liberal standards Sykes’ shtick was out of line regarding Perry, who withdrew from the presidential field this week.

You know, he had to drop out,” she added, “because I’m pretty sure he was one more debate away from saying the N-word. He really was. Oh, he was right on the edge. He was like ‘Oh, I can’t speak in public anymore like that. One more debate, I’m just, it’s gonna fly out.’ He knew it.

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THR:

In his opening remarks, Obama recalled how he took Michelle to see Lee’s movie Do the Right Thing on their first date, according to the pool report.

Lee quipped: “Good thing you didn’t choose Driving Miss Daisy.” …

Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon are among the 45 guests at the $35,800-per-ticket dinner in NYC.

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All of President Barack Obama’s desperate outreach to Hollywood may end up going for naught.

Obama, who in recent days has sent out a wish list of celebrity surrogates he hopes will push his re-election campaign and assigned a special envoy to curry favor with Tinsel Town, now finds himself cut off from some of the fattest wallets in the industry.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that some major movie moguls are refusing to cut the Obama campaign any more gaudy checks due to the administration’s refusal to back the MPAA’s online piracy legislation.

The blowup came after President Obama on Saturday dashed moguls’ hopes that he would remain on the sidelines in the dispute over the U.S. House Of Representatives’ Stop Online Piracy Act and the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act. In a posting on the White House web site, three of the Obama administration’s top officials for Internet and intellectual property matters said that they share many of the concerns that the Internet community has about the Hollywood-supported bills.

The trio said that they “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and Special Assistant to the President Howard Schmidt tried to soften the blow to Hollywood by acknowledging that that online piracy is “a serious problem that requires a  serious legislative response.” They added that they plan to host an online event “to get more input” on the matter….

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