Unidentified flying Hillary

Last summer’s dump by WikiLeaks of thousands of emails generated by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign honcho John Podesta turned out badly for the Democrats’ standard bearer, who later blamed her loss partly on the work of Russian hackers. Others questioned Podesta’s work priorities, as revealed by his online doings, especially the extensive communication he maintained with Carlsbad’s Tom DeLonge regarding the rock star’s efforts to make a feature film about unidentified flying objects.

“I am honored to be able to work on this with important Men like yourself,” the former Blink-182 frontman emailed Podesta in January 2016. “Get some sleep out there on that campaign trail, by the way — If I can help I am happy to do it. Hillary’s office called me twice in the past to help her run for the Senate. I met her while I was campaigning for John Kerry. Always loved her. Always wanted a female leader.” Podesta forwarded DeLonge’s offer to a Clinton fundraising aide, saying, “Don’t think the band is still together, but I think he would do stuff.”

The next month, DeLonge emailed Podesta that he was getting good ink in Rolling Stone. “We like Rolling Stone, right?” Then he added, “We are planning on doing the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post. My question is this: Do you know anybody at those institutions that you can put in a good word to consider the story? I think we can do fine on our own, but knowing a good journalist, somebody that would get the hint if you put out an email, we can set up the entire project credibly.”

None of the leaked emails revealed Podesta’s response, but unlike the Clinton effort, DeLonge’s movie campaign appears to be a hit. Last week, the Hollywood Reporter broke the news that DeLonge “is set to direct a sci-fi feature that centers on a rebellious group of San Diego skateboarders who take it upon themselves to investigate extreme paranormal activity around town, only to embark on an adventure that they could have never imagined.” Meanwhile, Podesta has been bemoaning the rise of fake news. “All that stuff exists, [but] you don’t see it, you don’t feel it if you’re largely living in reality in a mainstream media.”