GOP

Viral Video: “Game Change” (Or the Latest Sarah Palin Impersonation)

Kara Swisher in Media on December 26, 2011 at 3:22 am PT

She’s baaaack.

Should the Next Commerce Secretary Be a Tech Exec (or Would It Cause a Schmidtstorm?)

Kara Swisher in News on March 8, 2011 at 6:30 am PT

Yesterday, the Obama administration dribbled out the news that it was going to nominate current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as the next ambassador to China. The move leaves open a post that could get a true turbocharge if it were filled by an exec from the fast-growing and innovative digital arena. Here are BoomTown’s nominations.

Will Secretary of State Clinton's "Internet Freedom Agenda" Finally Get Traction?

Kara Swisher in News on February 16, 2011 at 7:09 am PT

Yesterday, in a major policy speech in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jumped on the Internet bandwagon again, unveiling a $25 million government investment for entrepreneurs to allow dissidents to thwart “thugs, hackers and censors.” Since that’s about the amount a third-string social photo-sharing site gets while walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., from venture capitalists with bags of money to spend, let me just say the money is, well, underwhelming. Clinton’s speech, thankfully, was much better.

No One Is Happy With the FCC Chairman's Speech, Except Broadband Investors

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on December 1, 2010 at 12:52 pm PT

Everyone has something to say about today’s speech by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the subject of net neutrality. Having been blocked in the courts from imposing sanctions on Comcast for throttling users of BitTorrent, the commission has been spinning its wheels trying to find a way to nudge the broadband industry in a direction toward treating all Internet content fairly.

California Not So Golden for Silicon Valley Techie GOP Candidates Whitman and Fiorina

Kara Swisher in News on November 1, 2010 at 10:00 am PT

After all Meg Whitman’s money and all those demon sheep thrown by Carly Fiorina, polls right now are showing that it is unlikely that either of them is going to emerge victorious in tomorrow’s elections in California. And while both candidates drastically oversold their business credentials as just the thing the troubled state needs, it seems the magic of tech in California does not necessarily transfer to voter enthusiasm quite so neatly.

What eBay-Rich Meg Whitman Really Wants to Do Is Direct!

Kara Swisher in News on July 12, 2010 at 2:53 pm PT

It’s worth checking out an article in the New York Times today that points to a very questionable, but–as it turned out–politically savvy angel investment made by former eBay CEO and now Republican candidate for California governor Meg Whitman. The piece alleges that Whitman’s $1 million investment in late 2008 in a Hollywood entertainment company called Tools Down! Productions was done to ease a prominent Republican strategist away from working for her rival for the GOP nod. This kind of thing has happened before, of course. But what’s interesting is to see Silicon Valley’s digitally enabled moneybags step up to the very stained political table and jump right into the game.

Can Two Tech Exec Candidates in California Compute With Voters?

Kara Swisher in News on June 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm PT

While there have been politicians running for office in California before who have worked in the tech sector, there’s no doubt that the prospects for two of Silicon Valley’s more prominent execs–Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina–represent an unusual and interesting situation in the state’s history. With the tech sector a beacon of hope in a very rough economy and a symbol of health compared with a debt-saddled government, it’s no surprise both candidates are touting their time as CEOs of two of California’s better known digital giants–Whitman at eBay and Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard. But will it work, or does it leave both open to a lot more scrutiny than they think?

As Silicon Valley Infighting Gets Ever Nastier, Let's Be Careful Out There

Kara Swisher in News on May 7, 2010 at 8:50 am PT

Last week, BoomTown was in Washington, D.C., my old stomping grounds for 15 years. I miss a lot of things about living there, but most definitely not the poisonous political partisanship that you get sucked into from the minute you arrive. But it’s almost a relief to be there rather than in Silicon Valley, given how increasingly hostile the atmosphere is getting as a range of companies wrestles over a range of issues, both key and trivial.

As Silicon Valley Infighting Gets Ever Nastier, Let’s Be Careful Out There

Kara Swisher in D8 on May 7, 2010 at 8:50 am PT

Last week, BoomTown was in Washington, D.C., my old stomping grounds for 15 years. I miss a lot of things about living there, but most definitely not the poisonous political partisanship that you get sucked into from the minute you arrive. But it’s almost a relief to be there rather than in Silicon Valley, given how increasingly hostile the atmosphere is getting as a range of companies wrestles over a range of issues, both key and trivial.

President Clinton Talks About His Internet Legacy (BTW, He's an iPhone Dude, While the GOP's #41 Is a BlackBerry Teen)

Kara Swisher in News on March 18, 2010 at 12:38 am PT

Here is a video I did of former President Bill Clinton talking at an event related to the 25th anniversary of the first .com registration. Clinton gave a speech first–which was, inexplicably, about health-care legislation and global warming. But after Clintion was done, he sat down with VeriSign CEO Mark McLaughlin to talk about a range of Web-related topics, in a very amusing exchange.