Philadelphia sketch comedy group Secret Pants collected a number of quotes from the 1960's series Batman and a number of quotes from Dubya and challenged people on the street to guess which quotes were from whom.

A thread making it way through the news cycle lately has been the lack of meaningful comedy about Barack Obama on the late night comedy shows and other comedy venues in our usual laugh a minute culture. It seems comedians, at least those that are considered main stream media, are having trepidations about navigating potential Obama comedy through the mine fields of racism and political correctness. I think this gives John McCain an unfair advantage over Obama as he gets the most name exposure in these all important comedian monologues that open these world wide broadly viewed media comedy-talk American television network franchises.

Comedy is a way to acknowledge foibles, potential weaknesses or otherwise perceived human flaws in not just political leaders but also in our own friends, relatives and perhaps most important, ourselves. Comedy gives a release and can bring problems out in the open and can often lead the butt of the joke to a path of self improvement in some area of their life. So what is funny about Barack Obama?

Maybe I should have forwarded this to Bill in Portland, Maine, but he hasn't posted for a while, and someone has to do something before the comedy molecules have dissipated into thin air.

Barack Obama, it turns out may not be pursuing as gentle a foreign policy as we had hoped. In fact, he may have outdone big W in the belligerent category.

I'm taking a short break from my usual erudite, hyper-serious, educational diaries about Natural Rights, Economics and cute dog stories.

Instead, here is a piece of 100% pure goofiness and stone-cold genius.

I saw excerpts of this video from JibJab on the news and laughed my ass off.  Absolutely no one is spared.  For those who haven't seen it yet I offer this post for your viewing enjoyment!  Cheers!

That's the best the late night comedians have been able to come up with as a joke about Obama so far.

In the wake of The New Yorker cover (has that been diaried enough times yet?) comes an article in today's New York Times about the trouble late night comedians are having finding a good joke about Senator Obama.

As we all now know Purity DEMANDS that we shoot ourselves, our country, and the Progressive Movement in the foot by not voting for one of the most viable Progressive Political leaders in the last forty years because... you know he is Pure on every political issue. Okay, so we'll be giving the country over to a much worse Republican buffoon who will keep us in Iraq 100 years and turn a bad recession into a Great Depression, but we can all feel smugly self-righteous about our choice to remain political pure on the soup kitchen line.

So if you are a little hesitant in sitting on your hands in the name of Purity I've compiled a list of reasons you can cite to everyone who will listen (all two of them) as reasons you are not voting for Barack Obama.

Wexler going back to Colbert, despite previous controversy

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Trend-setter and teacher Congressman Robert Wexler may have mentored many a freshmen class of Representatives.  Well into the future, the newest Congressmen and women will study the mistakes that might define an earlier Wexler performance.  Certainly, Robert Wexler did.  Upon reflection, his trials helped him to acquire great knowledge.  The Democrat from Boca Raton, Florida learned his lessons well.  He illustrates why, as retired Major League Pitcher Vernon Law attests, "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."  

This video is the rage among the Global Warming denial sect, as they pass it around and post it with great glee following Carlin's death. Their RIP is a celebration that George was one of theirs.

You got people around you.

The country's full of them right now, people walking around all day long, every minute of the day, worried about everything ...

the greatest arrogance of them all, Save the Planet.  ...

I'm getting tired of this shit.

Celebrate George "Global Warming Denier" Carlin!

...

Hold on a second ...

I think George Carlin would be amused that even following his death the mainstream media can’t bring itself to cover the truth about what he had to say. In the majority of the coverage about Carlin I’ve seen, the talking heads simply speak about his "seven words you can’t say on television" or his desire to "push the limits." They don’t want to discuss the dirty details of the truth and social commentary Carlin brilliantly vocalized. That’s what made Carlin a legend, not merely his desire to say "Fuck" on the radio.

Carlin said the media was a joke, and in remembering him, they’ve proven him right. How many networks have shown some of his most groundbreaking social commentary such as the following:

-Religion is the biggest load of bullshit ever sold.
-The U.S. loves to bomb countries filled with little brown people.
-Both political parties are owned and operated by corporations.
-Instead of putting drug dealers in jail, we should execute the bankers who launder the drug money.
-Golf is an elitist, pretentious sport and homeless people should be given the golf courses to live on.

I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

I was at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival in 2001, at the end of a great week meeting 100's of comedians, we had a big banquet diner. They gave awards to the best comedians of the week. I get up to get a drink and onto the stage strides George Carlin. The room with 500 comedians EXPLODES!

MR. GEOGRE CARLIN tells us the story about how he had gotten banned for a while, for saying the word "shit". He paused and said, "But look at me now motherfuckers...., look at me now!"
He walks off the stage towards me and I get a chance to look him in the eyes and shake his hand. He didn't say shit, I didn't say shit, cause I figured, " If the pope says nothing to you, you can't say shit to the pope." Plus he was in between shows and who the fuck would I be to slow down the MASTER!

My parents had a huge & bizarre LP collection. Nat King Cole next to Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin with Waylon Jennings, Richard Burton reading Shakespeare next to K-Tel’s "Goofy Greats." This diversity shaped my truly strange aesthetic tastes.

But one album stands out today with the passing of the great George Carlin, Class Clown.

The din of speculation has been overwhelming since Barack's clinch of the Democratic nomination.  I see the same networks rehashing the same list of candidates using the same arguments for and against.  And here at Kos, I see diary after diary, each kossack trying to name some ultra obscure pseudo-candidate as the perfect dark horse for Obama to select with reasons as silly as the suggestions themselves. Which is why I'm going to sort through the noise and clear this up as only yours truly can.

Wow, I wish I recorded the conversation I just had with a Liese Howarth, a lawyer from Connecticut who basically has been threatening me over the past couple of days regarding a story I did on my site about Paula Abeles and the whole Monticello Association debacle she was involved with.

Thanks to a commenter here at Kos we now know that this Lawyer is in fact Paula Abeles sister (hat tip to Blue Intrigue)

http://query.nytimes.com/...

We hope you enjoy this, an f-you to those too squeamish to discuss an incident speaking directly to the temperament and character of a guy who'd like to be President.  

McCain's freaky-mean '92 outburst is a well-sourced story found in Cliff Schecter's book "The Real McCain."  Due to the particularly profane nature of the offense it would probably be useless to wait for the press to give it the full-on, endlessly repeating, 24-7 Reverend Wright treatment.  So we'd love to help.

For weeks now, I have read the liberal rantings of the leftwing propagandists who infest this site trying to diminish the sheer political genius that is...John McCain.  And for weeks I have waited for some anonymous patriot, some knight clad in red, white and blue to come to the defense of such a great and brilliant man.  But alas, none came.  So I will arise to the duty called, wield the torch that will light the way and help guide you all to the sacred yet seemingly undiscovered truth.

Touching, funny, progressive, arousing -- all apply to next Friday's show.

Banish War:
Music and Comedy for Peace
with Tom "Atom" English

Progressive songwriter and comedian Tom "Atom" English will premiere his one-man show, Banish War: Music and Comedy for Peace at the Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill St., Santa Monica; Fri., June 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Songs from Atom’s new CD Banish War are intertwined with the story of his path to Conscientious Objector status during the Vietnam war, act as commentary on the futility of conflict ("When You Kill the Hater, You Multiply the Hate") and offer up examples of the politics that can lead to warfare ("Democrats are Stupid When They Don’t Vote, Republicans are Stupid When They Do.")

I usually love "The Daily Show", but I was taken aback last night by a long segment about the accommodations at Guantanamo. Did I miss the satirical point? Or was this in really poor taste?

I have a great appreciation for the skilled use of humor to make a political point. But I didn't see what they were getting at when they made fun of the man who is trying, in some small way, to get U.S. citizens to connect to what the inmates at Guatanamo face every day. It's one thing if you think his efforts are meaningless or hapless. It could be argued that people aren't really going to get much just from seeing the little cubicle he carts around, but it would be simply mean to be interviewing this man in order to ridicule his work. So, there must have been a bigger message, right? Let's see....