• by October 21, 2004

Okay online people, listen up. Here's an entertaining morsel for some of The Minute's critics.

I was listening to a pitch today by the guys from WebSideStory, a Web analytics firm, and casual conversation led somewhat inadvertently to politics and a Web site called "JohnKerryIsADoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway." No kidding. Take a look. The blog-like site was created by a 21-year-old college student who attends Texas A&M University right in the heart of Bush country. He says he's a registered Independent. The dude says the mission of the site is, "to convince people who may find John Kerry to be a not-so-desirable candidate to vote for him anyway. In many of his public appearances and especially in news coverage, Kerry often comes across as stiff, disconnected and devoid of charisma. My goal is to put some perspective on these glimpses of the candidate and, more importantly, emphasize the importance of removing Bush from office."

The site features commentary like "Instances of Doucheitude and Why it Doesn't Matter," citing Kerry rumbling into the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on a Harley-Davidson; instances of flip-flops on issues; and weirdness like voting against Kevlar jackets for U.S. soldiers.

The site mentions a gaffe this spring when Kerry allegedly said he had the support of foreign leaders. "In an ironic, almost bafflingly hypocritical attack, Bush demanded that Kerry show proof of this foreign support by providing a list of names. 'I think if you're gonna make an accusation in the course of a presidential campaign, you ought to back it up with facts,'" the President allegedly retorted.

Now, on a completely unrelated and decidedly non-political matter, Google reports its first earnings as a public company today. Go Goog! What can we expect from the ambitious search giant? Analysts seem to be all over the map, though Google apparently told the Street that it anticipates posting a third-quarter net loss because of expenses related to a patent dispute with Yahoo! and stock warrant issues, also with Yahoo!

Yahoo! last week beat its own expectations by showing strong search-related ad revenues. And for its part, eBay yesterday reported that third-quarter net income nearly doubled and revenue rose 52 percent on the strength of the online auctioneer's back-to-school and international auctions business. Revenues from the international business increased 82 percent to $282.3 million, while revenues from the U.S. business increased 29 percent to $330.6 million.

In offering fairly rosy results, eBay projects total 2004 revenues to reach $3.25 billion -- that's $65 million more than it previously projected.

Nothing douchebag-like about that.