Chris Matthews Show Celebrates Obama Having More Facebook Friends Than Gingrich and Romney

By Noel Sheppard | March 06, 2011 | 15:42

A A

President Obama apparently has 18.5 million Facebook friends which not surprisingly is far more than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

When the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman told his liberal colleagues on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" what a potential advantage this gives the current White House resident, there was much rejoicing (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Welcome back. Howard, tell me something I don't know.

HOWARD FINEMAN, HUFFINGTON POST: Well, the organizational battle is starting not just in the states but in cyberspace. On Facebook, Newt Gingrich has 100,000 Facebook fans. Mitt Romney has 800,000, but most significantly, Barack Obama has 18.5 million and that's an organizational tool that his people are right now figuring out how to update for the 2012 campaign. It’s potentially dynamite.

MATTHEWS: Wow.

NORAH O’DONNELL, NBC: How many friends do you have?

FINEMAN: Not many. Zero.

Notice the huge smile on Katty Kay's face as well as Matthews exclaiming, "Wow."

Journalism at its finest, wouldn't you agree?

*****Update: Facebooker Bill Riley wisely points out that 18.5 million friends is not necessarily all that extraordinary for the most powerful person in the world...

Sorted by Fans

	Name	# of Fans	Daily Growth	Weekly Growth
1.	Texas Hold'em Poker	37,822,397	92,714	582,316
2.	Facebook	34,986,927	59,434	370,643
3.	Eminem	29,697,439	66,240	550,214
4.	Michael Jackson	29,548,132	42,132	275,317
5.	Lady Gaga	29,422,358	65,798	393,190
6.	YouTube	28,054,915	42,676	342,902
7.	Family Guy	26,401,542	42,257	259,182
8.	Rihanna	26,154,076	80,242	526,246
9.	Linkin Park	23,869,308	49,580	346,052
10.	South Park	22,999,534	37,814	271,873
11.	Coca-Cola	22,872,438	19,869	196,126
12.	Shakira	22,751,995	72,541	441,259
13.	Justin Bieber	22,534,905	72,774	474,299
14.	The Simpsons	21,451,175	57,659	373,415
15.	Megan Fox	21,172,809	14,409	98,651
16.	Bob Marley	20,975,490	48,064	476,525
17.	Vin Diesel	20,961,525	11,511	99,393
18.	Cristiano Ronaldo	20,944,994	55,709	344,204
19.	Lil Wayne	20,791,655	40,863	247,485
20.	Katy Perry	19,939,458	76,844	384,286
21.	Starbucks	19,858,654	11,414	93,975
22.	Music	19,692,391	22,760	149,023
23.	Twilight	19,474,512	49,385	311,185
24.	The Twilight Saga	19,448,032	7,941	53,214
25.	House	18,977,990	20,649	123,459
26.	Barack Obama	18,538,596	9,347	56,280

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.

Noel Sheppard's blog
Login to post comments

Comments

I guess if the vote is held

Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 3:48pm.

I guess if the vote is held only on Facebook, Barry's in good standing.

Otherwise, it means nothing.

I don't have a Facebook

Submitted by ricklail on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 3:49pm.

I don't have a Facebook account so I know very little about it. My wife and daughters do.

Wonder why they didn't compare Sarah Palin to Ear Leader?

A well regulated militia being necessary to a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Yeah, I got that. Except I

Submitted by BD on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 3:52pm.

Yeah, I got that.

Except I have been told by family members that SOMEONE out there created a facebook account in my name. Not me.

They say there is nothing in it so far. But plenty of people have "Frended" it for some reason.

He is best who is trained in the severest school." -Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War" (431-404 B.C.)

To quote one of my sober and serious friends

Submitted by neutron on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 9:03pm.

(who has a FB account to track his duaghter) "FB is stupid; too many people just posting stupid stuff (my cat sneezed, fogs are god's art, etc. this BS makes me sick)."

So, what is the polling value of FB? This discussion is like "More people want to have Bill Clinton to their BBQ than George Bush." How does that relate to duhOne knowing anything other than wafling on Qaddafi Duck in Libya? It's okay! duhOne has lots of FB friends! AchMy I'mANutjob is sure to take notice of his prowess!

What ever happened to American strength?

And Rush has 20 million

Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 3:53pm.

And Rush has 20 million listeners. Crissy and his child like mind.

Non, je ne regrette rien. "You aren't angry because I might be a racist, you're angry because you know I'm right".

Such nonsense

Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 3:59pm.

is what one would expect in an elementary school yard. Gee next he's going to say Barry's is bigger too.

What a pathetic lot.

hbnolikeee

Barry Sheen

Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:00pm.

Nice to know Barry is more popular among the tech-savvy, virtual world, elite.

Sooner or later, they'll go to the grocery store, or the gas station, and some of them will quit singing "What A Friend We Have In Barry"

Ha. The real Barry Sheen was

Submitted by Jack Bauer on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:44pm.

Ha. The real Barry Sheen was a famous English motorbike racer -- who ended up with more metal joints in him than Iron Man.

All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.

Oh for cripe's sake...

Submitted by PrairieSky on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:02pm.

This sounds like we're back in grade school, it's Valentine's day, and somebody's keeping track of who's gotten the most valentines...

When will Matthews finally be finished with either his unending adolescence or his early senility? Geez.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan

Excellent!

Submitted by GregE on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 10:55pm.

"...This sounds like we're back in grade school, it's Valentine's day, and somebody's keeping track of who's gotten the most valentines..."

Had to laugh on that one!

Thanks...

Submitted by PrairieSky on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 11:22pm.

That's the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this...Matthews and Co. are such a bunch of infants!

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan

Most significantly?

Submitted by Model850 on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:04pm.

Howard Fineman: ... but most significantly....

Have things gotten this bad (or pathetic) that having a large number of Facebook "fans" is a significant accomplishment?

Sheesh.

Most significantly....

Submitted by Blonde on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:35pm.

B. Hussein Obama has fewer Facebook Friends than two other black men, who both are dead! To wit: Michael Jackson and Bob Marley.

There's some irony to this situation, don't you think?

Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)

Pathetic comparison

Submitted by jon_torlin on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:06pm.

What a pathetic comparison, it's got no basis of reality in any way shape or form. Might as well be that South Park episode that touched on this facebook nonsense recently.

I call it nonsense because of how some people are using it as a guide in some things socially related as if it were some sort of standard. I do know people who use it and that's fine, more power to them/ I don't use it nor do I want to use it. It's an option on my smartphone and one I keep turned off. It's also on some apps that I use and I keep those settings off while using the apps.

But I don't use it like Chrissy does as some sort of status thing. It's not realistic at all.

-Jon

They can't be. . .

Submitted by rickbren on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:07pm.

serious. . . How many Facebookers can vote?

Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment.

That they are pointing to facebook friends,

Submitted by Ashrak on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:08pm.

which is a worldwide forum, trying to demonstrate support for Obama tells us all one simple thing, if we think it through.

This is how far they have to dig to keep up the Illusion the journ0listers created in the first place.

That an individual right exists requires that some policy positions be removed from the table of debate.

It's a pathetic throwback...

Submitted by PrairieSky on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:19pm.

to who was the most popular kid in high school...Lord, when will these cretins grow up??

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan

I wonder . . . .

Submitted by Bourbeau on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:11pm.

If the president has more followers then Charlie Sheehan. Wow, we've come a long way baby when one's importance is driven by followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Yeah, and Charlie Sheen is a

Submitted by Smartypants on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:11pm.

Yeah, and Charlie Sheen is a soulless, porn loving, cocaine addict with about as much common sense as an onion, and he got a million Twitter followers in one day. So exactly what does it mean to have a lot of "friends" or followers on the internet, especially when most of them will never find their way to a voting booth (thank God)?

→ Smartypants

Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:15pm.

There's a difference. As of yet, there is no indication Obama loves porn. So there is that small distinction between Sheen and Obama.

Obama's Facecrook friends

Submitted by Jack Bauer on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:12pm.

The problem is half Obama's Facecrook friends are foreign nationals...

Just like his CAMPAIGN DONORS.

All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.

That was my first thought

Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 7:33pm.

I wonder if we checked the names on the page if it would be the donor list; Dallas Cowboys, Disney characters, Sesame Streeters....

President Obama is a Muslim (from his own lips), Kenyan (read it from his publicist) a homosexual (read it on a news magazine cover) and a Socialist (I'm alive and can see it for myself)

facebook has more views than google...

Submitted by upcountrywater on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:16pm.

Facebook a place where ones own opinion trumps facts.

Most of the folk out there fiddeling with their phones are updating their facebook accounts.

facebooking....where everyone is a star.

You Didn't Build That.

And Lady Gaga has 30 million

Submitted by VBaxter on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:16pm.

And Lady Gaga has 30 million fans. Doesn't make her a better singer. I laugh at these comparisons. By that comparison specifically, Obama should have won the last presidential election 95% to 5%.

If you added up that whole panel's IQ you would get somewhere between 21-29. Depending if they took their lib-meds or not.

Minimum Government, Maximum Freedom.
Ron Paul 2012

Anyone know how many friends

Submitted by Boudin on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:18pm.

Mrs. Palin has?

Seek Truth, Defend Liberty

Boudin...Based on what I could find out...

Submitted by PrairieSky on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:25pm.

almost 3 million.

http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin

Her page says that there are 2,769,642 people as of right now that "like" her page, and I think that is also the number of "friends" she has.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan

What's the population of the Gaza Strip?

Submitted by OxyCon on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:40pm.

You can bet alot of HAMAS terrorists friended Obama on Facebook. That's something Howard Fineman, of the lowly Huffington Post won't tell you, is the number of foreign, anti-American people friended Obama and even sent him campaign contributions.

Make believe friends*

Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:43pm.

Obama is a phony made up persona like all his FB friends

Cajun, you are a cold hearted orb,

Submitted by SickofLibs on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:55pm.

removing the colors from their sight like that.

;)

→ No kidding, SOL

Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 4:58pm.

Red is gray, and yellow, white.

But WE decide

Submitted by Joe W. on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 8:50pm.

which is right....and which IS an illusion............

One would think with

Submitted by Miss_Me_Yet on Sun, 03/06/2011 - 5:42pm.

One would think with supposedly 1.6 billion muslims in the world Barack should easily be in the top 10, no ? Or maybe he's got a second Facebook account using his Islamic ( real ) name & language he spoke as a boy in his native land.

Liberals ... we can't live with them, they couldn't survive without us ...