Nice. I never could understand why the word 'disillusioned' should have a negative connotation.

Some of us never fell for the illusion to begin with. Do we get any credit?

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

My god!...what have I done?

For me, the first reference that sprang to mind wasn't Talking Heads, but the books of Philip K. Dick, where "reality" is often found to be a construction hiding something very bizarre indeed.

(For a good time, also check out Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress.)

Encapsulated into 9 frames. I heart it.

cloudberry beat me to it:

(For a good time, also check out Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress.)

That's the first thing that came to my mind reading this strip.

One more reason I'm so glad that McCain (with Lieberman and the pharmaceuticals at his side) lost the election.

Why doesn't this cartoon show a disillusioned Tom the Dancing Bug reader realizing that a litany of moans about Bush aren't funny and never really were. That would be perceptive.

"This is not my beautiful house . . . Some of us fell for the illusion to begin with. Do we get any credit?"

I guess that some of the folks living in tent cities right now probably never fell for the Bush years' illusion, but their "beautiful houses" are still made of canvas and plastic tarps right now.

I think we get credit if we made it through the Bush Years in a cave, living on a diet of rocks and badger steaks. But you're right. Some of us didn't buy into the Bush Happy Valley plan, but our country is still in the toilet.

(Always enjoy your posts, by the way.)

Why doesn't this cartoon show a disillusioned Tom the Dancing Bug reader realizing that a litany of moans about Bush aren't funny and never really were. That would be perceptive.

I have two responses to this whiny post:

First, a rather large percentage of Tom the Dancing Bug fans disagree completely with your assessment. Many of us enjoy such cartoons immensely.

Second, those of us who do enjoy these strips wonder why you read this strip that you don't like. No one is forcing you to click on the link.

Or is there someone forcing you to click on the link and read these strips? Is someone getting all Ludovico on you?

I'm pleased for you that the same basic Bush jokes over and over and over for the last 2-3 of the Bush presidency were funny. You must love network TV. To each his own.

I was just thinking about this. From every aspect of society, it was all a fraud.

Investment banks weren't actually increasing wealth, $100mil sports stars were on steroids, people buying plasma screens with home equaity loans on houses who's price was artificially inflated.

The WMD in Iraq; the response to Katrina; 'Mission Accomplished' it was all manufactured or illusory.

But not only for the last 8 years, but really the last 30.

Reagonimics was a joke. The dotcom bubble was, to a large extent, based on illusion. The illusion that you can make money out of nothing. Then it was the illusion that housing prices only go up, even if the rate they're going up is caused by speculation.

So yes, i thinkin we're in for some serious reckoning during the next couple of years.

One, this strip is topical. It is about what is actually happening today. It couldn't have been run two or three years ago.

Two, I don't ever watch TV. Of course, I don't know what that has to do with anything, but you brought it up. Maybe you could bring up something about clothes I don't wear or cars I don't drive.

It's quill and paper for me.

Well, almost anyone ;)

Got it now?

...my portfolio was doing really well, though started to decline in 2006 once nancy and harry took over both houses... Then when I saw the polls going Obama's way, I sold a bunch, and now am able to buy everything that I had sold and more back for significantly less, increasing my holdings and getting some liquidity to boot. I'll be well prepared for the recovery (after 2012 when we throw the bums out, of course).

I'm glad you have enough money so you can call someone who gives a shit.

I agree that the issue encompasses more than the last 8 years. GW would not have been elected had it not been for Reagan's "voodoo economics" and our society's insistence on stealing from our future to buy more crap we didn't need.

I, for one, am optimistic that at some point we will change our society's goals to something more sustainable than the runaway capitalism of the past. It may take years of concerted effort, but what else can we do?

Made me laugh out loud.

... you bought back everything you sold and yet you predict the recession will be lasting until 2012? Wouldn't it have been wiser to buy back in 2012, when the economy begins to improve? Are you saying that you have enough confidence in Obama that you're recent re-purchases will only do better in the next four years?

Or, like not-Joe-not-a-plumber are you too lying your butt off, coming up with some fantasized scenario that you hope will embarrass liberals? Only you would know for sure if you're lying, but the rest of us doubt your veracity and certainly your intelligence.

No one will really remember or care that Bush destroyed us. They will too busy scrambling to survive to care too much about whatever the next Liberal Messiah is telling us. Maybe that's ironic maybe it's not, it's just true.

Yep, it's "morning after in America".

Like Tom The Bug, TV is highly repetitive, with simple jokes anyone can understand

Have you actually read any other TTDB comics? I doubt it.

Of course the Clinton years were that as well to some extent but Bush deserves most of the "credit". And given how much credit he effectively gave to other people, it should be a lot. Last panel is priceless!