Presidential Facebook flub: Giuliani's daughter declares Obama loyalty?
(Credit:
Facebook/Slate)
It's a classroom-warning-video-worthy example of "be careful what you put on your Facebook profile"--or at least that's what it looks like on the surface. Slate columnist Lucy Morrow Campbell was tipped off to the fact that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's daughter, Caroline, had semi-openly declared on the social-networking site that her political views are "liberal" (OK, that'd be more shocking if it were Mitt Romney's kid) and that she's a Barack Obama supporter.
Yes, really.
Giuliani, who is 17 and uses a slight variation on her last name for her Facebook profile, had been a member of the "One Million Strong for Barack" Facebook group, something that was visible to all Facebook members in the "networks" she'd joined (the elite Trinity School in Manhattan, as well as Harvard, which she will enter in the fall). After a Slate inquiry--it appears that someone on staff was also a member of the Harvard network--the younger Giuliani withdrew her membership from the Obama supporters' group.
There's been a lot of press gossip, especially in the New York media, over reports that Rudy Giuliani doesn't get along with his kids (in addition to Caroline, he has a 21-year-old son who attends Duke University). That still doesn't mean the whole thing wasn't a joke in the first place--albeit not a very smart one, considering the levels of online political scrutiny these days.
Either way, Jon Stewart will likely have some fun with it--probably involving the notorious "Obama Girl" YouTube video in one way or another.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
