I'm pretty sure he recycled the punchline from a Bloom County he did in the late '80s.

Soundtrack for this strip: Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?"

Big deal if it's a recycled punchline. It's still relevant AND funny.

Republicans are swooning over Fred "Hollywood" Thompson as the second coming of Reagan, forgetting George W. Bush was really the second coming except not as smart and on steroids.

Voters keep looking for the ideal. They keep getting the real. Only actors can give us the Gary Cooper in "High Noon" kind of guy that some people want. And people who play actors by dressing up in flight suits. We need a Rambo kind of guy. One who isn't afraid to take out a lot of people.

Needless to say, no woman need apply since any paunchy old guy is closer to that ideal. After all, Grace Kelly only fired one shot.

Best take-down of Thompson ever.

Not outstanding, but not cringe-inducing. And agreed: Ain't nothin' new under the sun, so who gives a fig if the kicker is recycled.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sPhPmjVKm8I

NSFW

Opus is back.

I still laugh out loud when I think about his flossing accident back in the 80's, or when he was leaning over Steve Dallas's hospital bed, "Steve, why did you put that highly flammable mascara on your chest hair for the Tess Turbo video shoot?"

Dallas: "Looked...fuh-fluffier..."

Oh, I guess we tune in to Chris Matthews for that. Enough said.

Recycling a concept that's still relevant 20 years later isn't laziness -- its demonstrative of genius.

More relevant.

The shot at Fred ("I'm not Ronald Reagan, but I sort of played someone just like him on TV") Thompson is dead on, but the commentary on what has happened to our ideals, and our idealism, in the last 20 years is even more on target.

Idealists are fruitcakes or idiots - ask any Republican or hard core liberal, and they'll tell you. For a country that was founded by the greatest idealists in history, and built on the highest of ideals, that is the saddest commentary of all.

Thank you, George Bush.

...Berk can take on that slug Ron Paul and his fanbois.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heights_of_United_States_presidential_candidates

Let's see: manly man! LOL! How would he help improve America environmentally? Carter put up solar panels. Reagan took them down. How would he improve education or support our police officers and firemen? He took away earned Social Security benefits leaving our public servants to starve under inadequate retirement systems. How would he improve the economy? Took Clinton nearly six years to dismantle his trickle down economics and get us into a surplus again. Has taken W less than two to further enrich the wealthy while the middle classes and working poor struggle even more to pay bills and make ends meet. How would he increase our standing in the world and make the USA a well-respected world leader again? By calling other countries evil? Hasn't worked for W either. How about bringing integrity back to the White House? Iran-Contra anyone?

I just try to imagine his wife as our first lady.

Yes, Linney, pipe dreams are still under the bed. And it's still funny after all of these years.

Ummm. I think it's called irony, Totaliteez.

This is so no worth a week waiting for.

somebody called attention to this. When Thompson shows up on Law & Order the episode comes to a screeching halt. He looks like an old shoe and talks like a bullfrog farting underwater.

The Republican media's attempt to turn this creature into a sex symbol is a performance an order of magnitude more riveting than anything Thompson has ever delivered.

Yes. A recycled punchline. Which only makes it better - dumba$%! But know - you have to show off your superior brain power. Wow!! I am impressed. Better get back to your jeopardy watching.

The Republican media's attempt to turn this creature into a sex symbol is a performance an order of magnitude more riveting than anything Thompson has ever delivered.

His wife's hot and quarter century younger than him, so he is a sex symbol to somebody.

That or she is milking him in typical female fashion.

Where genuinely talentless hacks get their own forum. Though I found parts of his Salon interview insufferable, Breathed is still one of the best cultural commentator cartoonists alive. He's brilliant, and those of you criticizing him need to pull your heads out of your asses.

point me to the first-run of this recycled punhline? I'm feeling notalgic.

What's wrong with Fred Thompson. Hey... he's a successful actor on a series that glorifies the most aggressive and repressive criminal system in the western world, he's been a lobbiest for all sorts of causes, most of them bad... for whomever would pay the most money....he was a spy for Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation, even though Nixon thought he was a fucking idiot. Why... if that's not presidential material.. what is?

It's certainly not worse then the last Republican presidential candidate who was a thrice arrested, alcoholic, draft dodging failed businessman with mediocre grades who used to be a cheerleader....

The only thing that amazes me, is that the Republican party even exists.

I have to say, this is a welcome edition to salon.com. I love this comic strip, and it is right on target politically. Keep up the great work.

Thanks,

Erin O'Hanlon

Maybe Breathed has been reading Glenn Greenwald on the "Manly Man" topic, or more likely he is just tuned in to what our MSM bloviators are saying. Unfortunately though, it's not just Chris Matthews who wants his daddy, plenty of voters do too.

YEP! Punchline straight from Bloom County circa 1985. Since I remember that, I kind of appreciate this. Really, though, Breathed recycles himself more than a family curcus cartoon (this, 'tinkling in the tub'). Its almost a crime he can get paid over and over for the same work. Or is that called syndication?