Tim Rutten of the LA Times already panned the upcoming Simon & Schuster book “O: A Presidential Novel”–a fictional rendering of Obama’s upcoming 2012 presidential campaign, written anonymously by a supposed political insider with access to Obama–in a review last week. Done deal, right?

Not good enough, Rutten argues in today’s LA Times. There’s something more sinister going on with this book worth noting in a second piece.

Simon & Schuster’s publisher, Jonathan Karp, has claimed that the book “offers some resonant truths about what President Obama is really thinking.” As I noted in The Times’ wholly unfavorable review of “O” last week, “my reviewers’ copy arrived with an unusual letter from … Karp, informing us that the author of this novel ‘is someone who has been in the room with Barack Obama and knows this world intimately. The author wishes to remain anonymous to avoid being pigeonholed or ignored or scorned on the basis of associations, views or background.’”

The author, Rutten notes, has no access to Obama’s inner thoughts, nor is he anonymous anymore. He’s former John McCain aide and ghostwriter Mark Salter.

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Sadly, we missed the screening of  the Bill Hicks documentary “AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story” when it premiered in LA last September. But we finally got a look at the film last night and found it a refreshing reintroduction to one of America’s greatest comics. We were especially amazing to see how much of Hicks’ material is beyond relevant today, more than a decade later. His bit on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” above should be required viewing for…say, every politician in America. Especially John McCain.

More info on the film here.

Previously on FBLA: The Daily Show to John McCain: It Gets Worse

On Sunday, October 24th, members of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association will gather to decide who is going to receive their 2010 Career Achievement award. As with all matters involving LAFCA, the man at the helm of the proceedings will be President Brent Simon, truly one of the nicest-guy film critics out there.

Because LAFCA has had a history with this award and others of thinking outside the publicist box – past Career kudos for example have gone to editor Dede Allen, cinematographer Conrad Hall, executive John Calley and French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo – they are fairly impervious to the full-court PR press. But that doesn’t mean it won’t get heated this coming weekend.

“We frequently have around two dozen Career candidates,” reveals Simon via e-mail interview with FishbowlLA. “Any member who nominates an individual speaks for a bit about their reasoning, and we typically have at least eight to ten solid candidates who garner the majority of the vote. Sometimes, candidates make strong showings several years in a row before being selected. Other times, they remain perennial bridesmaids.”

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“I’m here to be a voice my generation. Not the generation of the senators who are voting but for the youth of this county,” says Lady Gaga. She also calls John McCain out by name.

About time these celebrities do something useful.

We will file this story under politicians taking care of their own. John Dougherty former Phoenix Times staffer, an investigative journalist who most notably uncovered John McCain‘s involvement in the Keating Five Scandal is trying to firm up his nomination to take on the Senator at the polls.

And if that wasn’t interesting enough to us – part of his campaign promise is to hire out of work journalist when he’s senator to “root out corruption.”

Of course, regardless of Dougherty’s rooting, McCain has been re-elected and re-elected and nominated to run for president – twice. Cynical? Nope. Just true.

Is this like Bob Woodward running for president? We don’t know. All we know is if you’re running on the pandering to laid off journo vote – your campaign is doomed.

Ousted HP exec, former John McCain adviser, Sarah Palin bus throw-her-underer – Carly Fiorina has announced her candidacy for Senate. She’s seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Senator Barbra Boxer next year.

Fiorina now joins former eBay exec Meg Whitman in running for a political office. Whitman is seeking to slum it the governor’s mansion in Sacramento as a Republican.

We spot a trend. It really makes us wonder who is less popular right now – Republicans or CEOs. And if combining the two neutralizes or enhances the stigma. Will a state, home to the county with the highest unemployment rate in the US want to give golden parachute eligible women gigs on the government payroll?

We’re staying tuned.

Previously on FBLA: Gavin Newson Drops Out Of Governor’s Race

Yes, that’s Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong also looking off into the distance, perhaps to Russia.

Sarah Palin‘s new book “Going Rogue,” which sounds kind of like public urination, but sure whatever. The cover for her first book, er a book about her written by someone else, like John McCain‘s books. Not like the books written by and about Barack Obama she criticized during the campaign.

Anyway, Jezebel has what they are calling an artistic analysis of the book jacket:

While we might have expected Palin to choose a bold and unadorned font like Impact (or perhaps Comic Sans), Palin’s team went instead with Linotype Didot. According to Typedia, the Didot family of fonts comes from the Didot family, who lived and worked in Paris in the 19th Century. While Pierre Didot published books and prints, Firmin Didot designed the typefaces. Linotype Didot was added much later, drawn by Adrian Frutiger in 1991. Typedia informs us that this font, with its vertical emphasis and bold strokes, is the “right choice for elegant book and magazine designs, as well as advertising with a classic touch.” However, as Anna notes, for all its elegance, Didot is only one “i” away from idiot. And you’d think that is one association she’d rather avoid.

Read the whole post here.

Seriously? The dude who agreed with a McCain supporter that Obama being president would mean the death of Israel is going to have a JOB reporting news from the Middle East? Seriously?!

The AP story states the following:

The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher says he’ll spend 10 days covering the fighting.

He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants to let Israel’s “‘Average Joes’ share their story.”

There is a word gets thrown around a lot – it really is the best one we can come up with for this…it perfect for when something phony and a cheap attempt at something otherwise decent manifests – the word is – travesty. There are real journalists out of work. Like a lot of them. And the wannabe country western star, media whore and general fabricator gets a gig?!

This is why we’re happy John McCain lost – otherwise Tido the Builder would have become Secretary of the Interior.

By and overwhelming majority our readers guessed that the photo we posted of the USC Politico.com conference panelist’s footwear HAD to be democrats. Of our readers that guessed 47% said that they were democrats. There was a tie at 26% as to whether they were republicans or journalism students.

Nope. Republicans. All three of them. From right to left those are the feet of Adam Mendelsohn former Deputy Chief of Staff for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, GOP strategist Todd Beyer and Michael DuHaime political director of McCain/Palin 2008.

How cute, they dress how their party’s economic policies effect the country!

Yes. It’s a new day in America. There’s change afoot. And it’s happening (ahem) from the ground up.

Fred Dalton Thompson, whom everyone knows as the cantankerous D.A. on “Law and Order,” dropped out of sight to run for President.

That didn’t exactly pan out, so Thompson went to work campaigning for John McCain‘s failed Republican approach. He was setting himself up to become Republican National Committee chairman.

Well, that didn’t work out either.

Now, he’s going back to his only means of major revenue: acting, Associated Press says.

But it doesn’t look as if “Law and Order” will have him back. They’re having ratings troubles of their own.

So he’ll be looking for other opportunities. Maybe he’ll do what all failed or retired actors do: He’ll direct.