Obama gets one more supporter: a Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani's daughter supports Barack Obama for President.

Or at least the 17-year-old digital version of her does.

Slate.com <a href=http://www.slate.com/id/2171730/>;has a story that says Giuliani's daughter supports Barack Obama.</a>

The writer found this information by doing some digital sleuthing on the popular social networking site Facebook.com. The daughter was a member of a group that is proud to support Obama for president.

After failed attempts to contact Caroline, the daugther, Slate ran with the story. Here's why it's a bad idea:

First, red flags should raise when dealing with anything on the Internet; basic journalistic instruction tells us this. As I was taught, if you find something on the Internet, double-check it with a human, no matter how inane the detail. Bad information in the form of gossip, typos and mostly just people with an axe to grind gets posted on the Internet at every moment of every day.

(If you don't believe me, just take a look at some of the comments attached to stories posted on the Tribune Web site. Whew.)

Second, Caroline Giuliani's name on her Facebook page isn't exactly spelled "Giuliani." It's a variation on that. Now I realize that Caroline is probably doing it to keep people away from trying to "friend" her just because she's Giuliani's daughter, but it's a shadow of doubt that should ring alarm bells in any journalist's head.

Third, do you know how easy it is to fake a page for someone on Facebook.com or MySpace.com? Really easy. As long as you have a valid e-mail address, you can pretend to be Mikhail Gorbachev, huge head birthmark and all, if you wanted to. Some of my friends have made pages for their cats, parts of their bodies or even for dead people.

Fourth, and this is paramount, she's 17! She can't even vote. Who cares who she's backing for president? That's like asking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who he thinks should be president.

If you ask me, she's probably been on the short end of her father's career for her whole life, so it's no wonder she doesn't want to be first daughter of the United States. Plus, one word: Rebellion.

When I was 17, George Bush had already won one presidential election, and guess what? I didn't care. I was so disenchanted (don't you have to be enchanted first to be dis-?) at simply being 17 that my only worries were my aging car, my girlfriend's dog liking me a little too much and if college would be a constant party like I saw on TV.

Something tells me Caroline Giuliani is much the same.

And if not, at least she doesn't have a tough act to follow in the Bush twins.

There's no where to go but up from there.

Ah, who am I kidding? They're lovely girls.