Obama gets his 'Daily Show' moment of zen - USA Today

By David Jackson and Lindsay Deutsch, USA TODAYWASHINGTON — President Obama stayed mostly serious during Wednesday's appearance on The Daily Show, defending his record as the host Jon Stewart poked him about the promises of "change" he made during the 2008 campaign.Less than a week before Tuesday's elections, Obama said his team prevented an economic depression, revived private sector job growth and passed a historic health care plan. "We have done an awful lot that we talked about in the campaign, and we are going to do more," Obama said.

At one point, Stewart said Obama ran for the presidency with "audacity," but some of his legislation felt "timid." Obama somewhat testily replied, "Jon, I love your show, but this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you ... this notion that health care was timid."

When Obama said his administration has done things people don't know about, Stewart said: "What have you done that people don't know about? Are you planning a surprise party for us?"

Discussing complaints by supporters, Obama said his actions are discounted because the "assumption is we didn't get 100% of what we wanted, we only get 90% of what we wanted, so let's focus on the 10% we didn't get."

The interview took place in a playhouse in downtown Washington about 10 blocks from the White House. Stewart, normally based in New York City, is broadcasting this week in Washington before hosting a "Rally to Restore Sanity" with fellow Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert here on Saturday.

"Obviously you've got a constituency of younger voters that watch that show, and it's a good place to go and reach them," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Naomi Seligman was in the audience with her fiancé, Andrew Gumbel. The couple from Santa Monica are getting married in Washington on Saturday.

Seligman said she thought the talk was "smooth and funny."

Obama's appearance was "a great vehicle for people who don't usually care about politics," she said. "The prism they know it through is Jon Stewart. ... This makes you feel like you're sitting with him having a beer."

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Ex-Paul campaign volunteer wants apology - The Associated Press

Ex-Paul campaign volunteer wants apology(AP) – 3 hours ago

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former campaign worker for U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul wants an apology from the liberal activist he reportedly roughed up, but he won't be getting his campaign donation back from the Paul campaign that dropped him after the incident.

Paul's campaign has tried to distance itself from Tim Profitt, the supporter caught on video stepping on the head of a MoveOn.org activist outside a debate Monday night between the Republican nominee and Democrat Jack Conway.

Profitt, who contributed some $1,900 to Paul's campaign, acknowledged his role in the altercation. But he insisted Wednesday that he had been wronged by the activist, 23-year-old Lauren Valle.

"I would like for her to apologize to me, to be honest with you," Profitt told WKYT-TV in an interview in which he would not allow the television station to show his face.

Neither Profitt nor Valle returned telephone calls Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Following Monday's incident in Lexington, the Paul campaign promptly dropped Profitt as campaign coordinator in Bourbon County in central Kentucky and banned him from future events.

However, Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said the tea party-backed campaign won't return Profitt's contributions.

Conway said Wednesday during a campaign stop in Shepherdsville that the skirmish was "horrifying," and called on the Paul campaign to identify all its supporters who were involved.

"These are the people that carry around the signs that say, 'Don't Tread on Me,'" he said. "Sounds to me like they've got it backwards."

Benton defended the Paul campaign's response, and accused Conway of trying to exploit it.

"The Paul campaign condemned the incident far before Conway's camp ever addressed it and decisively severed all ties with the supporter in question," Benton said in an e-mail.

The scuffle broke out while scores of vocal supporters for both candidates rallied outside the studios of Kentucky Educational Television in Lexington, where Paul and Conway held the final debate of their highly contentious race.

Profitt told the AP on Tuesday that the scuffle wasn't as bad as it looked on video and blamed police for not intervening.

Valle was roughed up as she tried to give Paul a fake "employee of the month" award. She told police she was assaulted while trying to take a picture of Paul.

She said her face was swollen and her neck and shoulder were sore after she was wrestled to the ground by Paul supporters.

Lexington police have said officers would deliver a summons to Profitt to appear in court. A judge will determine whether to proceed with an assault case.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Conway spokesman John Collins criticized Paul's campaign for a "tepid" response that has "evolved." Conway's campaign also distributed a photo that it said shows Profitt with an arm on the shoulder of a smiling Paul.

The Kentucky Senate race, one of the nation's most closely watched, turned personal when Conway aired an explosive ad this month that asked why Paul was a member in college of a secret campus society that mocked Christians.

The ad also revisited accusations that Paul, while a student at Baylor University, participated in a prank in which he tied up a woman and told her to worship an idol, and that he told the woman his god was "Aqua Buddha." Those claims by a woman who requested anonymity were made in articles this year in GQ Magazine and The Washington Post.

Paul has denied being involved in any kidnapping and has called the ad false.

Associated Press writer Brett Barrouquere and Janet Cappiello Blake in Louisville contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Sony exec sees value in a PlayStation phone - CNN

The technology blog Engadget has posted photos of a PlayStation phone -- strong evidence of its existence.A Sony executive declined to address rumors about the PlayStation Phone
He indicated that the PlayStation Portable system could be due for a change
Specifically, only connecting to the internet via Wi-Fi can be limiting, he said

San Francisco, California (CNN) -- Stopping short of directly addressing intensifying speculation about a PlayStation phone, Sony's Peter Dille acknowledged that its portable game system could be due for a change soon.

Dille, the senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, was asked about the so-called PlayStation Phone, which was first reported by Engadget, in a fireside chat Wednesday at a conference in San Francisco.

Refusing to confirm or deny rumors, Dille did say the lack of a cellular data connection could be holding back Sony's PlayStation Portable game system.

"The PSP is a Wi-Fi device," he said. "People are used to having always-connected devices."

Sony's home game consoles have had life spans of 10 years each, and the PlayStation 3 will continue to be supported for at least that long, Dille said.

But "the portable market moves so fast," he said. At six years, the PSP may be looking dry. Indeed, Sony has had to reverse its marketing strategy to target younger gamers for that system, Dille said.

Now, the PSP is having to compete with more fully featured hand-held game systems that can also make calls, send text messages and provide a window to thousands of games and apps.

Apple chief Steve Jobs has boasted in news conferences, saying the iPod Touch and iPhone have become the hand-held gaming leaders. The company recently launched a social networking hub called Game Center.

However, Dille said Sony has competitors, like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, beat for the attention of serious gamers. PSP's focus is on long, immersive entertainment, not five-minute battles between meetings.

"These are largely time-killers," Dille said of smartphone games. "Gamers aren't satisfied with that."

Whether Sony sees Android's gaming marketplace as a competitor or potential partner, Dille declined to comment. Engadget reported that Android could power the rumored PlayStation Phone.

A spokeswoman present during a CNN interview with Dille after the onstage chat said, "We have relationships with Google."

The PSP can already do more than just gaming, Dille said. It has applications for watching movies, making calls over Skype and limited Web browsing.

But many of those functions are limited by whether you have Wi-Fi access. Plus, it's not a phone, so you need to carry multiple gadgets. But that could be a selling point, said Dille.

"Consumers like different boxes," he said.

Sony's goal for the PlayStation Network -- the online component for gaming and downloading video of which Dille is also the senior vice president -- is to be an entertainment centerpiece and be always accessible. The current PSP doesn't quite fulfill that vision.

"I don't think we fully realize that vision with a Wi-Fi device," Dille told CNN. "If it's not connected [to a cell network] then it does sort of limit people."

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