Conservative Kevin James gets OWNED by Chris Matthews on Hard Ball

Why can't people on Hardball ever just have rational discussions?

George Bush and John McCain Engage in Weirdest Hug of All Time

McCain loves him. Look at that face. 

via OddOrama

How to Make a Caricature

The Washington Post has a really interesting series of videos featuring artist John Kascht talking about his process of making caricatures for the various political candidates. He really spends a lot of time analyzing these people and his thoughts on the subject are very interesting.

For example, here he is on Mitt Romney:

"Mitt Romney is both the easiest and the hardest of the candidates to caricature. ... He seems less like an individual person than a 'type' of person. He's what central casting might come up with for the game show host type or the Ward Cleaverish 50's dad type. ... Because of the heavy ridge of his brow and his deep-set eyes, it's tough to even see his eyes, much less find a twinkle in them. But his hair sparkles. That's what we end up making eye contact with. It's off-putting rather than inviting."

Via Daily Kos

Michael Showalter Presidential Candidate Mash Ups

Michael Showalter is weird. And he has a website where he posts weird things. Like badly photoshopped pics of various presidential candidates if they were combined into one person.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee, Governor Mitt Romney’s Hair, Dennis Kucinich’s nose:
Fred Thompson (actor) and former Senator John Edwards:

How Bush turns Republicans into Democrats

Check out a great post over at Daily Kos on the 6 steps Republicans are taking that turn them into democrats.

According to Gallup:

In the second quarter of this year, 29% of Americans identified as Republicans, 37% as independents, and 33% as Democrats.
...
The current Republican percentages are at the low point of the entire Bush presidency.

There's the evidence!

Card's Dishonorary Degree

On Fri, May 25, Andrew Card received an honorary degree in public policy from UMass Amherst. Before he could open his mouth to speak, however, he was drowned out by the boos of hundreds of graduates and faculty, many of whom held up signs and huge banners denouncing Card as a war criminal for his role in orchestrating the Iraq War. Card never had a chance to speak.

Thanks to Daily Kos for linking to the following video:

Of course many disagree with how this protest was run and think it tainted an academic service. On the other hand, maybe UMass officials should have taken more consideration before awarding a public policy degree to someone who is responsible for one of the least popular policies ever mandated by this country.

Barack is a brawler

Here's Barack at his best:





He pretty much says it all. Here's what he's talking about:



Incidentally, this pic is scarce. Probably not the best publicity shot out there.

Boehner bawls

Here it is--Boehner's finest moment, amped up with a snarky youtuber's comments:



There's nothing quite like a powerful kind of moronic grown man crying for the world to see...

Democrats are Wussies

You know what I absolutely can't stand? When conservative pundits on FOX News are right. The Dems are weak and they proved that today when they pulled the troop withdrawal deadline from the Iraq bill. Do they not understand why they obtained the majority in the mid-term elections? The GOP was doing a fine job of blindly following Bush.

The Brits seem to think it's not the Dems fault. As reported in the London Times:

The Democrat capitulation was a reminder that despite their takeover of Congress
after the November mid-term elections, which many in the party saw as a popular
call to end the war, their slim majorities in the lower house and Senate still
leave them powerless to override a presidential veto.

Oh ok. I feel better. They're powerless because they only have a slim majority. Wait--isn't a slim majority still a majority??? You know what's slim? Popular support for the Iraq war! God forbid the Dems get critized by Bush and have Republicans hurl talking points at them. Just do what you were elected to do!

Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) summed up the attitude of some Democrats in the Washington Post:

"I cannot vote ... to stop funding for our troops who are in harm's way," said
Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I simply cannot and I
will not do that. It is not the proper way that we can bring this war to an
end."

This confuses to me to no end. The Dems seem to think that if they don't offer a bill to the President that he will sign, then they will be responsible for delaying funding to the troops. But it's Bush who already vetoed a bill that was chock full of money for the army. Bush denied them that money and a chance for soldiers to go home to their families where they should be. And yet it's Democrats who are scared to look like they're not supporting the troops.

What no one is talking about at all is the fact that money or no money the bigger issue at hand seems to the fact that what we're doing in Iraq is not working.

They should get Rambo over there. Conservative estimate: One Rambo = 10,000 trained American soldiers.

I find it a little mind boggling that Congress wastes so much time throwing around rhetoric and so little time trying to find a viable solution to the Iraqi crisis that doesn't involve our troops driving around in Humvees trying not to blow up. Because that makes John Boehner cry.

Rationality in politics must come with a sense of humor...

So this is the first blog entry. Hooray! I'm just going to get right into because I have no readership yet and there's nothing more annoying than an awkward self-reflective first blog entry about what it means to start a blog than an awkward self-reflective first blog entry that no one is going to read.

Moving on...

Dan Rather was on Bill Maher recently (not sure how recently as the show I watched was on demand) and he said that the role of a good journalist is to speak truth to power. Selflessly including himself in a critique of modern media, he went on to say that this is not happening enough anymore. Too often , after being wined and dined by the politicians they should be criticizing and exposing, the media feel compelled to go soft on them. As Rather put it, it's hard to call a guy out after he invited you over for a scotch. Rather also said that a shift has occurred and now it's comics like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart who are the ones speaking truth to power and I would have to agree. While both Maher and Stewart are funny (Maher arguably so) they also seem to be the only ones you can count on to consistently call out the administration on their bullshit and take a stab at breaking down the talking points.

Maher is kind of a prick but he generally has worthwhile things to say. Stewart, however, has taken on the role the voice of all those who are dissatisfied with how our country is being run. He claims to be a comedian first and so has no responsibility to "report" on specific topics or ask tough questions. He made this clear back on crossfire a few years ago. And he's right. He's on comedy central--the same network that airs Reno 911 and Crankyankers. But Jon's a smart guy and this came out in a surprisingly serious interview with Bill Moyers on PBS. Jon admitted that his show provides a context for all absurd political goings on and provides a point of view that many share. This is true. But he does even more than that. How often have you seen The Daily Show use old news clips to catch George Bush or one of his cronies in a lie? You would never see the news networks do this even though its their footage! As he's getting older, he's becoming a tougher interviewer. His most recent sit down with McCain is pretty intense and what they are talking about is legitimate and important.

And yet he's a comedian. And for all the important and candid points he makes about mistakes the administration has made, criticisms of religion, or pointing out that France is really not that bad; for every person he fires up or inspire with his honesty, he can always be dismissed by any politician or "real" journalist because he's really just an entertainer.

Well, now for your moment of zen: hope it makes you smile.