Facebook has a history of somewhat erratic search results, particularly for searches on political candidates – a bug last year caused zero results to show up for searches on Ron Paul, for example.
Today a reader notices that searches for “Barack Obama” on Facebook gifts turns up just one result – a pig with lipstick. A similar search for John McCain shows a normal pro-McCain button.
This likely tracks back to Obama’s comments on Palin earlier this year, referring to her indirectly as a “pig with lipstick.”
A search for Sarah Palin shows only one result – a dog with a heart over its mouth.
You gotta love search.
It being election day I feel obligated to point out that In the quote you’re referring to Obama didn’t actually call Palin a pig with lipstick, rather he was referring to the GOP’s platform.
TC is just as sloppy as the MSM! You guys aren’t in the tank for McCain are you??
ok. referred to her indirectly as…how about that?
That’s not true either. That’s what Fox News wants you to think, but you’d be completely stretching to say that.
Let’s look at the quote:
“”"Let’s just list this for a second. John McCain says he’s about change, too. Except — and so I guess his whole angle is, “Watch out, George Bush, except for economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics. We’re really gonna shake things up in Washington.” That’s not change. That’s just calling some — the same thing, something different. But you know, you can — you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.”"”
yeah, except he was talking about Palin.
It’s going to be ok. Just breathe and turn off the news. He’s going to win.
I’ll accept that Mike.
How about a post on which political blogs are going to suffer most after the election? Are HuffPo’s pageviews going to plummet when people don’t need to get apoplectic refuting “Obama is a Muslim” emails?
Obama never called her a pig with lipstick. Why would you say that?!
Obama did not call Sarah Palin a pig with lipstick. If you think he did, watch the clip: http://www.yout...h?v=58FVeYjHpM8 He is clearly talking about McCain’s platform. Palin isn’t mentioned.
Mike comes off as a McCain supporter. Is that right Mike?
Do you really think Obama said that? Please correct your mistake. There is enough propaganda around and it is scary how many people appear to believe anything they read.
Greg is right, he used a very common expression to suggest that McCain is basically a re-branded Bush, and just because he calls himself a Maverick doesn’t mean he’s actually different.
Wow guys, thank you for the Obama talking points…but most of us can think for ourselves. He talks about someone/something being old, and someone/something as being a pig with lipstick. Yet you’re too dumb or too in the tank to realize these are individual slams to McCain’s age and Palin’s “pitbull with lipstick” comments?
Let me guess…you think opposing furloughs for murdering rapists is somehow racist too.
What flavor is the Kool-Aid today?
Thank God Mike supports McCain, we need some balance from you other nut cases jamming up the tubes.
you guys need to calm down. it’s almost over.
Mike – Please correct this mistake. Obama DID NOT refer to Palin as a pig with lipstick. And it is unfortunate that you would indicate or suggest otherwise. This never occurred to me before (I’m a daily TechCrunch reader), but if you will blatantly lie on an issue this obvious (and totally unnecessarily), why should we believe anything else you write?
Everybody is calm mike, they just want you to get your facts straight, there’s a Youtube clip above, please tell me how Sarah Palin comes into it. or do you mean to tell me you’ve never heard of the expression ‘lipstick on a pig’?
This is what he said- “”You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” Don’t be fooled. That is a direct shot at Sarah Palin.
Thanks Michael!
It might seem that way, but it’s a phrase Obama had been using in various campaign speeches long before Palin was selected. It was kind of a dumb move on Obama’s part not to rethink using it once Palin called herself a pitbull with lipstick, but he wasn’t in any way referring to her. Since you clearly haven’t been following the election very closely, I certainly understand why you think he was. But he wasn’t.
Just look it up on Facebook
Mike:
Well, my opinion of Tech Crunch just went WAY down.
You have shown clear bias, and either an unwillingness to admit your mistake, or a complete inability to discern simple facts.
I’m truly very shocked.
My option of Tech Crunch has gone way down as well. Obama was very clearly NOT talking about Palin. Similar ‘pig with lipstick’ comments had been made before, by Dick Cheney, even by John McCain. Were they talking about Sarah Palin? Of course not! Was Obama talking about Sarah Palin? Of course not!
Do you truly believe that simply because Palin had made a joke about lipstick, that any comment about lipstick made afterwards is about her?? That would be like McDonalds suing John McCain because he had a ‘Mc’ in his name…
Likewise. It’s not so much that the post has a partisan slant, but that it took a very low road to do so. It’s obvious that Obama was not referring to Palin as he never even mentions her in the quote, yet he speaks specifically of McCain’s policies. Why does a tech blog need to use this incident to make a political point on a story that really has to do with the snafu of Facebook’s search?
Mike is just reporting this search snafu and the pig lipstick incident. He hardly comes off as a McCain supporter here. (and I am an Obama supporter)
OK the pig on a lipstick comment is BS. You should delete it. He indirectly called her lipstick, if anything, put upon the pig of a McCain platform. This difference is silly, but it matters, and shame on you for not recognizing it.
Hmmm. That is crappy work. We know all about ’subjective but transparent’ Mike, but lies and distortions are, well, lies and distortions.
don’t quotation marks usually mean the person said those words? or are they paraphrasing marks?
Calm down people. And “shame on all of you” for being so damn anal. “Lies and distortions”, are you for reals? Please, it was a sentence said in passing. I think TC has stated who they support, and if they were pro-McCain at this point, it really doesn’t matter. It’s like me saying I’m pro Barry Goldwater. Do you honestly think that anyone was going to go vote for McCain right now because of that sentence? Whether it was about her or not (it is subjective, and a matter of opinion, and how are you experts on this?), who gives a crap. No one. No one but you. It’s crap like this that turns everyone off to politics. That people can make such a big deal of something so trivial. What you should really be appalled about is the Facebook search. Their search is about as good as YouTubes.
Oh, I though Obama was a pig with lipstick because he’s a fascist who hates civil liberties and loves the police state, imperialism, military adventurism, forced service to The State, the war on drugs, and economic warfare by the banking interests, and yet he’s billed as a man of the people.
For those of you who insist Obama was speaking about Palin, I have a question. If he was indeed referring to her, what is it you think he was saying about her?
I guess that’s the part that makes it hard for me to believe. The only conclusion I’d make is that the comment would be a crack about her appearance, “lipstick” making it about her and not McCain because it’s a woman’s cosmetic, and “pig” being the insult. Is that the common belief about the comment?
In context, I don’t think that makes sense. I guess I just want to understand the opposing viewpoint.
Please show me one comment where someone insists Palin was being referred to? It is just a series of obama whiners, with the occasional mccain retard interjecting some sort of odd political rhetoric.
You all are a bunch of windbags Who the hell cares?
Michael Arrington @ 10:59 am PST- “yeah, except he was talking about Palin.”
I think both sides can say what they want about the comment. Palin used the phrase Pitbull with lipstick and then Obama or Biden used the phrase Lipstick on a Pig. While it may be perceived as a subtle jab at Palin, the republicans can certainly perceive it that way. To non-republicans it can be common saying that McCain has also used before. But politics is about jumping on the gaffe and winning the daily news cycle in an attempt to fundraise and look for that “macaca” moment that can turn the tide against the opponent and in the Pig with lipstick phrase was a direct attempt to energize women voters against Obama by labeling sexist.
Please Vote today…
Wow! Aren’t ALL of you folks supposed to be out voting today?
Well I am an Obama supporter but I have to admit that with such passion on both sides it clearly points to either too much 24-hour news cycle hype or we all just need to take a break.
I do understand the **drive-by Hannity** that Mike just hit Obama with. I have to admit it did cause me to raise an eyebrow when I read it. Mike’s not dumb – he knew **exactly** what he was doing and he knew he’d get a rise out of ya’ll (pretty good move Mike – I have to admit).
In closing I’d like to share a bit of age old wisdom to my fellow Obama supporters. When it comes to Barack there are 3 types of people out there:
1. Those that share you passion for either Barack or what you feel he represents.
2. Those that no matter what you say, will always believe that Barack Obama is:
a. a communist
b. a socialist
c. a terrorist
d. a radical
e. an arab (how else do you explain his name??)
e. a redistributing wealth spreader
f. a black liberation theology zealot with latent “The Spook who sat by the door” aspirations.
e. the anti-Christ
f. all of the above
3. Then there are folks that carefully weigh their opinions of Barack (and McCain for that matter) based on what they actually *see* him do and *hear* him say – not what someone *said* he did or *translated/reinterpreted* what he said.
These are the folks that are turned off by Keith Oberman **and** Sean Hannity – because in the end they figured out that both are actually **making lots of money** touting their fringe quasi political views. It’s all part of the “bread and circus” continuum. It’s Jerry Springer and Cheaters wrapped in broadcast/cable journalistic programming!! If it weren’t so recklessly stupid – it would be brilliantly hilarious.
Again – kudos to Michael for *peeping* the game and with pimp-like precision! While I’m not impressed, I must admit; well done!!
abitv
I would argue that the majority of McCain supporters fall into category 3, and the majority of Obama supporters fall into category 1. Granted, there are fringe elements that fit into category 2, but those are fringe elements.
In my experience, I have only met 1 Obama supporter who could actually explain her support for Obama without using the words “hope”, “change”, or “inspire”. Whenever I have asked an Obama supporter to tell me something specific that he or she likes about Obama (besides hope, change, or “he inspires me”), I find it hard to get an answer. Most of the time, it’s just silence followed by “He inspires me.”
Can you imagine, if just for one day, today, Google returned search results as accurate as facebook’s search!? Wolf Blitzer would be reporting about a pig with lipstick for 16 hours! Rick Sanchez would be posting pig-related twitter comments and peta would be enraged. I love facebook search.
Tommy
http://www.TheV...ionBoardKit.com
Mike,
You got it wrong. You should correct your mistake. Nothing wrong with that.
Murali
To find a polling place and where you are registered to vote, visit:
http://www.atel...thout-the-fluff
Fahreinheit 911
Politics is boring. you people are all pawns.
mike i have nothing to do with your political views, you can support whoever you like.
techcrunch readers: if you are so fickle that a last minute post from a tech blogger sways your political leaning, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
MIKE, your blog is good and i read it everyday. but that doesn’t mean sometimes i worry about your sanity. the comments on this article made by you are mostly very absurd and it makes me a little concerned. i have seen a few other threads in the preceding months too, when you have been put in a position to defend yourself, and you have gone all absurd writing weird things in reply.
perhaps its best to stick to what you are good at/ can defend if a public outcry breaks out. otherwise, at least get some sleep buddy. and take care of yourself, get a damn girlfriend if you have to. personal relationships are even more important than tech entrepreneurship you know. stay healthy, i think the IT community the world over cares about you. don’t go nuts on us.
thanks!
Reading this post and Michael Arrington’s following comment: “Politics is boring. you people are all pawns” leads me to conclude that TechCrunch is neither progressive nor as in touch as I once believed. I’ll be going to GigaOM for my tech news.