Weekend Cartoons, post-holiday edition

I have so much to get to tonight, so I'll make these quick. It was a pretty eventful weekend in the world of politics since last Friday, and I've got a ton of video and even more wit and wisdom ;) to bring you, so I won't offer too many comments about the cartoons this week.

On to the comics - less than 21 days now - three weeks from this morning we'll go to the polls.

Suddenly, I have a bunch of good Halloween costume ideas, inspired by the cartoon above. Hey, part of the beauty of an economic collapse is keeping one's sense of humor.

Voter fraud is one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the American people by the Right, and ACORN is merely the latest tool by the right to stoke fears of a "stolen election." Pretty ironic, considering it's the Right that's been doing the thieving of elections lately. This reminds me of Tzu's The Art of War, where Tzu theorizes that a principle tactic of warfare (in this case, political warfare) is to present your biggest strength as your biggest weakness to your enemies, and that's precisely what Republicans are doing these days - using bogus claims about voter fraud to distract from the real threat to our elections - the possible hacking of our voting machines, and the GOP's voter suppression tactics. Much more on this in the coming days.

It's beyond outrageous that AIG, after being bailed out by American taxpayers, goes on a jaunt to a California spa, where the company blew over $400k. And this isn't just a rumor - it's a confirmed fact. More on this a bit later.

Lost in the bailout and the merger of all the banks, both investment or otherwise, is the danger that there will be so few banks, they will be "too big to fail," meaning that when these larger, more powerful banks inevitably fail again, who will have to bail them out... again? C'mon, I don't really need to say it, do I?

The above cartoon pretty much says it all, and believe it or not, Bush will be laughing all the way to the bank. Our lying, conniving, thieving, incompetent murderer of a President (and if you think that last adjective is too harsh, why don't you ask the Iraqi people?) will soon ride off into the sunset, having crippled America's economy and standing in the world. And what will he have to show for it? Just a billion dollar library, and speaking fees out the ass. Bonus: He'll certainly pardon the many thieves and profiteers on his way out the door, unless the Democrats stop him. Which, of course, means that he'll get away with it, considering the feckless and pathetic nature of the Democratic "leadership" in Congress.

Remember our budget surplus in 1999-2000? Yea, I don't, either. But, his millionaire backers got their tax cut - thank God. Our unborn children and grandchildren will undoubtedly be eternally grateful, generations from now, for all of the debt that Bush has saddled us with. And those absurd tax cuts? The old McCain (no pun intended) of 2002-2003 was opposed to them because of how they favored the rich. The "new" McCain? He wants to make them permanent. Flip flop much?

I sure as hell hope that the moronic notion of electing someone we want to have a beer with is as dead as the telegraph. Certainly there are much more crucial criteria in selecting a president. Sarah Palin is merely the latest example of this philosophy backfiring. Most people loved her at first blush, but her résumé withstood scrutiny for about as long as a Paris Hilton jail sentence.

This is an important issue, but the political reality is that most Americans care about their own self interests first, and foreign affairs a distant second. (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, anyone?)

So much for the much-ballyhooed global economy and all its benefits.

The right's castigation (and even the McCain campaign, right before the debate) of Gwen Ifil right before the vice presidential debate paid off big time - a widely respected journalist let Palin get away with doing and saying pretty much whatever the hell she wanted during the veep debate. Certainly the right would have cried from the debate until the election if Ifil had actually done her due diligence and asked tough follow-up questions, as any moderator should, of all the candidates during these debates.

The sad, pathetic truth - 159,000 more jobs were lost in September, and over three million manufacturing jobs have been lost during the Bush presidency, an inconvenient fact that Obama should mention repeatedly in the final days of the campaign.

McCain's gaffe will go down in presidential debate history as one of the more stupid, and also indicates the utter contempt he has for Obama as a person.

I included this cartoon because I so vehemently disagree with it. Anyone who thinks that the media is simply fawning over Obama hasn't been following the media closely for the last two years. McCain was given a veritable free ride during much of the Democratic Party primaries when Hillary and Obama were slugging it out. Lest we forget, McCain so famously called the mainstream media "his base."

I will go to my grave firmly believing that the price of gas is plummeting because Big Oil is so desperate to get McCain elected. (And I'm not naïve enough to believe that idea is a groundbreaking idea, but it certainly is based in political fact.)

I hope OJ goes to jail for the rest of his life, and that the homeboys run a train on him. Daily.

I believe that privatizing Social Security is one of the dumbest ideas the Right has ever had, and I'll always oppose it. But, I also know the Right won't rest in fighting for this moronic idea, either.

Because of our addiction to foreign oil, we are funding the likes of Chavez, Putin and the terrorists who rule Saudi Arabia, as well as Iran, etc. The only way to stop it is renewable energy. I find it more than a little ironic (and tragically comedic) that Bush rails against these terrorist states, (sans Saudi Arabia) yet we keep buying their oil and boosting their economies. One of many moronic contradictions of the Bush years.

This may not be as true as it was last week, but we certainly aren't out of the woods regarding our economy - the fundamentals of our economy are still the same, but the $700 billion BAILOUT (Calling it a Rescue Package is simply a b.s. PR tactic) is merely serving as a deodorant until after the election. Put another way, I firmly believe that the Bushies are merely trying to buy enough time to keep this thing together until after the election, in the hopes that McCain gets elected in 20 days.

Once the roof falls in, Bush will be back at his "Ranch," playing windshield cowboy, laughing with his millions in the bank. He'll have his $1 billion library and his rich speaking fees - disastrous war and wrecked economy be damned. He'll then start his "legacy building" tour, where he'll undoubtedly whitewash any wrongdoing by his administration. Oh, and the pardons! Boy, how there are going to be pardons - Bush is going to make Mark Rich look like Princess Diana by the time he gets down handing out his many pieces of justice-flavored candy in the days before Jan. 20. Bank on it. (But make sure it's a solid bank.)

Weekend Cartoons

Lots and lots of powerful, sage cartoons this week, since it was such an active political week - from the anniversary of 9-11, which topped the news, to the ever-nauseating coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign, which is now getting into full swing.

This one pretty much says it all (as do many of the ones below, in different ways). At the risk of offending a few (and quite frankly, I really don't care) - President George W. Bush is one of the best things to ever happen to Osama bin Laden. Bush has shredded Americans' civil liberties, diverted our attention with a War in Iraq, a country that is unrelated to 9-11. Despite what the official White House line is about Iraq's relation to 9-11 (and Sarah Palin's and John McCain's, for that matter), solid evidence "linking" Iraq to 9-11 doesn't exist, and likely never did. (More on White House Press Secretary Dana Perino's absurd statements about 9-11 a bit later - I've got some video you have to see.)

The ersatz bipartisanship between the McCain and Obama camps didn't strike much of a chord with me - if anything, it's hollow, because every educated American voter knows that really neither candidate means it - it's just for the cameras and media to play over and over, believing that the candidates can make nice and "rise above" the political fighting. I don't buy it, specifically when it comes out of McCain's mouth; he's already broken one big, fat promise that he and his wife made in a very public way just as the campaign got under way - that any mud slinging "would come from the other [Obama's] side.

One of the biggest outrages regarding 9-11 is that no prominent public servant, especially from American's alphabet agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.) was ever fired for arguably the biggest, most massive intelligence failure in American history. In fact, a few were even decorated - most notably George Tenet, who was given the Congressional Medal of Freedom by President Bush, infinitely devaluing the medal for all of the deserving Americans who have received it.

Anyone remember when President Bush swelled out his chest before a joint session of Congress, boastfully and forcefully declaring, "Osama bin Laden wanted - dead or alive"? Yea, I don't either. In a way, I will always believe that not catching bin Laden was more politically beneficial to Bush than catching him would have been. Since he's still out there, he's the boogeyman that Repubes can use to frighten the electorate with. It should be lost on no one (but it is) that Dubya has taken very little blame for 9-11 happening on his watch, too. Hopefully the next president will reintroduce the word credibility to our political lexicon.

Thus far, the Democrats are making a big mistake thinking that they can be victorious in November by making this election about the issues. Statistically speaking (and the polls largely back this up), the Democrats have just about every issue on their side in this election. Yet, McCain continues to surge in the polls - he's now turned this race into a statistical dead heat (and in some polls, he has a small lead). The bottom line - it's because McLame is making the race about personalities, and thus far following his convention, he's succeeded. Obama had better start hitting back, and in a profound way, by hammering McCain on some of his past statements, including his record of siding with Bush an overwhelming majority of the time, up until right before he declared his candidacy for the presidency.

We DO need more boots on the ground in Afghanistan, but the biggest question is, where are they going to come from? Obama has publicly called for more troops in Afghanistan, and some of them should come from Iraq. Repubes have tried to rake him over the coals for it, but Obama should be hitting back with this one - "Okay, if not from Iraq, then where? We have already overextended and stop-lossed the military to excruciating lengths during the past five years, so why don't you explain to me, Senator McCain, where all of the troops are going to come from?"

Change isn't easy, as both candidates are quickly finding out. However, only one candidate in this campaign represents genuine change, the kind that American so desperately needs.

This one is tragically funny - and would it really surprise anyone? Halliburton and its former CEO, Dick Cheney, have both benefited to the tune of billions in taxpayer money as a result of no-bid contracts and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bonus: Halliburton moved its headquarters to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Its Website claims that the company is still "incorporated in the United States," but I'll be my bile duct that anything incriminating regarding the company and its involvement in Iraq has either been destroyed or moved out of the country. And if Obama wins, I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the company moves most of its operations overseas, away from prying eyes. Oh, and about Cheney? The value of his Halliburton holdings, which have been held in a blind trust since he was "elected" vice president in 2000, has swelled to over $1 billion.

Yes, the Democrats could very well blow it - who would be surprised? I know I wouldn't. I some small ways, I've already steeled myself to the fact that McCain could very well win the presidency. Heaven help us all if he does, but on the bright side, he can't possibly be any worse of a president than President Bush, even though that's not saying much. Talk about an excellent example of setting the bar low.

I'm not an economist and I'll never pretend to me, but it doesn't take an economist to observe that it's quite troubling what the Bush administration has done lately - taking over and/or bailing out failing corporations - Bear Sterns, Freddie & Fannie, Countrywide, and now the Big Three in Detroit are next. The domestic automakers have been nearly criminally mismanaged for years, and it's only a matter of time before they arrive in Washington with their hands out. Mark this one down now, especially if McCain wins - they will be pleading poverty not long after he takes office, and more corporate bailouts at taxpayer expense will continue, unabated, all couched as moves that are "in the public interest." I wonder what will happen when companies like Countrywide return to profitability - can anyone honestly believe that the taxpayers will be repaid? If you think that, you need a political reality check, at best.

This is one of the most under-reported stories relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - since those conflicts have begun, over 400 GIs have killed themselves. This tragic trend is no coincidence - certainly it's not a stretch to say that stop-loss, extension of tours of duty, and reduced time between tours have strained the military to its limits.

No word yet on how Repubes will spin the latest wrath suffered at the hands of Mother Nature, Hurricane Ike, but any suggestion that global warming could be at least connected to it will no doubt incur the wrath of the detestable Sen. Jim Inhofe, quite possibly the most vile, anti-scientist senator to ever serve in Congress. (To add insult to injury, he's going to cruise to reelection this fall. Yay.)

Two of the biggest political grenades that Bush is handing off to the next president - Iraq and Afghanistan. It must be nice to start two wars, drain the treasury of trillions, killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands, and then not have to see it through until the end. However, thank God for the 22nd Amendment, which at least prevents Bush from stealing a third election.

This one explains itself.

People who believe that McCain won't be in bed with the oil lobby if he wins the election are out of their minds.

This one says it all, and is one of my favorites I've seen so far in this campaign.

Dramatic and borderline offensive, but true. John McCain supports torture by our intelligence agencies and military, which the Bush administration has terms Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, so it cuts both ways, doesn't it? It's a fair question.

I've said it before and it bears repeating - Palin was a master-stroke choice by McCain - style of substance often wins with voters, without question. However, there hasn't been a more blatant choice of a running mate along this line of reasoning since Dan Quayle - another insulting choice to women, without question. I'm old enough to remember when it leaked out that H.W. Bush chose him to try and appeal to women voters. McCain has done the same thing, except that she's getting much more play than Quayle did in the summer and fall of '88 - after all, our media is much more corporate controlled now, and certainly in the bed of the big business dominated right wing.

It's little wonder that McCain has offered up Palin for very, very few interviews since he chose her as his running mate - publicly speaking, she's a complete disaster. (More on Palin's first extensive interview with Charlie Gibson in a bit - it's an understatement to say that it didn't go well.

The hilarity of Obama being accused of being a rock star is only more pronounced now that Palin is being treated with adoration by our corporate media. I find it sickening that the right has tried to castigate our media as "lib-rul" for asking her what it considers "tough questions," when in fact she has been asked very few. I can't remember any candidate in recent memory who has been asked fewer tough questions, and who has been this unavailable to the press. Clearly, the McCain camp didn't want to make her available at all, but cries and complaints from the media necessitated they make her available for at least a few. And really, Charlie Gibson was a soft choice, and even THAT was a disaster. Don't hold your breath for many more Palin interviews. And by interviews I mean no appearance on Faux News, where any appearance by McCain or Palin will be a verbal tongue bath.

Palin's religious fundamentalism is more than troubling, and her religious beliefs alone would disqualify me from voting for her. For that matter, I'm not even all that happy with the extent of Obama's involvement in his church, but he's not nearly to the level that Palin is. More on this in a bit.

Palin's executive experience is beyond pathetic, and what's more I think it's being highly overblown in the media. She was mayor of a small town of about 7,000 people, and was governor of Alaska - hardly a legislative tour de force. For instance, the legislature in Alaska meets for 60 days per year, nearly as pathetic as Bush's governorship of Texas, a state which has a legislature that meets every other year. But, I digress.

The pitbull vs. pig lipstick pseudo story this past week was beyond stupid - it's as if our election is now some sort of stupid reality show or something - the media coverage is bordering on the surreal. It's as if the candidates are part of MTV's The Real World or something. I'll have more on this totally fabricated "story" in a bit, too, complete with video. Stay tuned.

This one speaks for itself, too. She's about as qualified to lead this country based on her foreign policy experience as my house cat. "We're doing God's worth in Iraq"?!? That's as scary as it is stupid. Sure, Obama doesn't have a wealth of "experience," either, but he at least has the knowledge - he has a degree in political science, concentrated in foreign relations. Translation: Obama has more foreign policy knowledge in his big toe than Palin has. And it simultaneously enrages and amuses me that the right continually castigates him for being an intellectual. Well, considering the candidates the right is running right now, it stands to reason. McCain finished fifth from the bottom at the Naval Academy, and Palin can't even answer basic questions about foreign policy, as Charlie Gibson proved this past week. And during a Yale commencement address in 2001, President Bush very publicly took pride in his lack of academic achievement.

Whoops - introducing facts about the candidates is a no-no during this campaign.