No liberals with a sense of humor? How can you forget Jon Stewart of the Daily Show? He's fantastic! He doesn't do it alone either, his supporting cast are all highly talented as well.

Did you see Stephen Colbert at the White House Press Correspondents dinner? Hilarious. Cutting. The best piece of satire I may have ever seen.

that we would all be a lot better off if George Bush was a flip-flopper rather than a "stay the course" kinda president.

Yeah, they sure know funny.

My impression is that the left has an almost total lock on political humor. Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter? A lot of hate, not so much actual humor. Now, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, there's some funny stuff.

Note: This link leads to an error. Delete the double quotes at the end of the URL Ms. Walsh provides and the link will work.

P.S. If Hillary Clinton votes for that FISA bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecoms, I will simply not vote for her. Like Dianne Feinstein, I will not give Republicans (stealth, or otherwise) my vote. Period.

when made against Republicans is that it contradicts the Rep archetype. The archetype of the Rep is that he's a tough guy with moral clarity and blah, blah, blah. Therefore, claims to the contrary slip off like Teflon. Those same claims stick like VelCro to Dems because they support the Dem archetype, which is that he's nice to poor people but not firm in his grasp of the "real world," among other things.

Reps are, according to the archetype, efficient business people, tough on security issues and crime, but liable to be callous and ignore "the little guy." So claims that support their callousness work, because they agree with the archetype. So Dems should be barking about tax cuts for the wealthy, the growing income gap, SCHIP and health care reform, etc. because they promote the preconceived notion about Reps. People are open to those concepts.

If you think about what claims stick to which candidates and which ones slide off, it's always a matter of which claims contradict archetypes and which ones don't. The Swift Boat claims worked against Kerry because, irrespective of his war exploits, he's a Dem and presumptively a wimp. Clinton passed "welfare reform" that was far more draconian than anything Reagan ever tried. Reagan was trashed for his efforts, but Clinton got a pass. Why? According to the archetype, Dems are friends of the poor and blacks and Reps are their enemies. It's an analysis that, as far as I can see, works every time.

I understand that the archetypes don't comport with factual reality, but people believe them anyway.

IN THE HISTORY OF THE ROMANS, THERE WAS ONE OUTSTANDING, ONE-OF-A-KIND CHARACTER.

HIS NAME WAS CINCINNATUS, A FARMER, WITH FEW AMBITIONS BEYOND WHAT HE WAS, A FARMER.

YET WHEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE GOT ENTANGLED IN SITUATIONS, BEYOND THEIR ABILITY TO CONTEND WITH, THEY TURNED TO CINCINNATUS TO COME IN AND SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM.

WHEN REQUESTED, CINCINNATUS WOULD LEAVE HIS FARM, COME BACK TO THE GOVERNMENT, AND WHEN POSITIVE RESULTS WERE ACHIEVED, RETURN TO HIS FARM.

TODAY'S CINCINNATUS, RON PAUL, WITH A PALTRY RECENT $5 MILLION IN

CONTRIBUTIONS, YET WITH SOME OF THE MOST CLEARHEADED, COMMON SENSE WAYS OF DEALING WITH TODAY'S COMPLICATIONS.

SOMETIMES THE CHEAPEST APPROACH IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE.

WOULDN'T IT BE FUNNY IF.................

There may be some meaning in Romney pulling the "values" pole. A fundie/Mormon alliance would be a serious threat. The right has never faced the demon they have faced before in the person of the she-devil.

While the conventioneers may hoot&holler, they are controlled by very few. Mitt may have strayed, but his church is straight as the proverbial arrow (now that the polygamy problem is under control), and he will owe the church and the fundies if he is elected.

They've seen exactly what the "third party" heresy can do. Somebody needs to interview Dobson on the subject he is friendly too. I'm not laughing yet. It'd be the biggest story in the election so far.

Thanks, conryw. Fixed the link. To Pyrian and calcareous I'd say: Stewart and Colbert are hilarious, and we may be able to count them as liberals -- partly because, as Colbert says, reality has a well-known liberal bias. But they are both entertainers first, and however liberal they seem, they are not at all ideologues, whereas Limbaugh and Coulter are first and formost ideologues who are also (to some people) entertainers. Or so I think, anyway;I really don't have any idea what either of them truly believes.

Actually the "the worst thing about the politically distracting "General Betray Us?" hellstorm" is that 1) it was ineffective, and 2) it forseeably and foolishly alienated many potential converts in the battle of public opinion over the war that we all should be fighting. Not everyone who is against immediate withdrawal is a fool or a knave. Some are genuinely conflicted. Some just don't follow political and war news the way we do. Why do something that will predictably piss of the very people you need to bring over to your side to prevail in what is essentially a public relations campaign. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Major league, fuckin' dumb. (And I'm on your side!)

aka Stephanie "Tappy McWidestance" Miller. Funny. Doesn't take herself too seriously. Goes head to head with the Right wing talking heads.

Last night on Dan Abrams' program on MSNBC, he did as great piece on Rudy and Mitt's flip-flopping to the tune of "Sweet Little Lies".

Ben Sen said of the Mormons, the "church is straight as the proverbial arrow (now that the polygamy problem is under control)..." I recommend he go the full Monty and say "now that the polygamy problem is almost under control".

The meme is now let loose, Moveon's ad was brilliant.

In another Friedman or two, no one will remember the Moveon ad but they will remember "General Betrayus".

Things will not be any better in Iraq or possibly even worse, and the "General Betrayus" meme will be front and foremost in the minds of the people.

Not all strategies have to be short term, long term strategy is necessary also and that is the card that Moveon was playing.