So is the sender.

And his facial expression and posture appears to be expressing quite a bit of doubt about your support.

A body language expert could have a field day with that photo.

From a comedy writer's perspective, I'm beginning to see great possibilities with a Romney presidency. What impressed me most about his recent trip abroad, was his ability to generate comedy material on a daily basis - almost at the 1 to 1 ratio of "open mouth - say something stupid." I see now they have him on a leash, but once you get a glimpse of that kind of talent, a comedy writer begins to dream.

Meanwhile, the 2 emotions President Obama seems to bring out in people are dislike and disappointment. Either way he's getting dissed.

Frankly, at this point, the most attractive part of reelecting President Obama is to make Rush and company even more miserable. There is a great comedy element to it in the sense that they want Obama to lose so badly, and yet they really don't like Mitt, either.

The Republican brain trust has sorted through a list of clowns that included Rick Perry, Newt, and Herman Cain, and come out with a candidate they have to pretend to like - much like the days of Hall of Fame Comedy Genius George W. Bush. I love the dynamic of people supporting someone they're not thrilled with - remember the look on the GOP pundits faces telling us how smart W really was? Oh sure, he was hiding it.

It's more than just Romney's potential here though. I'm tired of writing comedy for people who are disappointed in President Obama. That's a tough emotion to overcome. It just sort of sits there. It's too easy for a politician who disappoints to lead directly to a joke that disappoints.

Mitt would provide a bonanza of comedy. Forget the obvious gaffes on the last trip. What I thought was funniest was the way he shamelessly kissed butt in Israel. He called keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, our "highest national security priority." Gee, I thought the President of the United States would say the defense of the United States was our highest national security priority.

It was a level of shameless groveling that cracked me up. I picture the Israelis saying, "Okay, that's enough. You're embarrassing us." A normal person would need a vat of Chapstick after doing that, but Mitt just sailed along, clearly oblivious to how ridiculous he comes off. The man is ridiculous. He can't help it.

If there is a Romney presidency you can just picture afterwards hearing the GOP pundits saying, "You know we never really liked him, right?" Just like a lot of them do with George W. Bush.

Look, I hated the Bush administration. I hated the war in Iraq. And there is nothing about Romney I like. His wife seems nice but Michelle's great too.

However, there is a time when a comedy writer must think of commerce and not get hung up on what's good for the country. That's why I'm starting to see great possibilities with a clueless bozo like Mitt Romney as president. It could be good for business.

Sadly we're presented with Obama who has been a huge disappointment or Romney. Its the lesser of two evils choice. One is less evil that the other and that would be Obama.

Hi Bill...

You could swap "Obama" for "Romney" and "Islamic world" for "Israel" and it would read correct to my eyes.

Seems like Panetta's comments about Iran this morning were not a lot different in substance...

BTW... Note all of the problems with the ticketing at the Olympics, empty seats and all... was Romney totally wrong with his comment?

There is nothing about Obama I like, not even the fact that he is a corrupt clueless Bozo (even the clown image isnt doing it for me). Hopefully Michelle can start vactioning on her own dime next year.

Yep, Bush was no genius... why are Obama's college records sealed?

You are a great comedy writer though...

Cheers, Mike

With a 2 year campaigns= gauntlet the standard now, we'll never get anyone competent who is brave enough to run for office.

Seems like each day is avoiding ssaying anything that might offend someone, or be interpreted as a "gaffe". It is impossible to make everyone happy.

Obvious observation that elections have degraded to picking the lesser of two evils.

Bill is perhaps right - look for the benefit to the pocketbook. If Bill can make more money off Romney rather than Obama, this is good for the economy - more jokes, more money, and perhaps his spending will improve the job situation all around.

Heck, hope and change worked the last time around, so would you rather have more of the same experience of the last 4 years, or hope that things might be better with a change in the White House?

I'm hoping for that change. Can't get my head around Obama's statement last week that his programs "worked"!

PS My good friends James Carville and Al Gore have been sending me emails warning about the disaster facing us. Not sure if they meant Obama not having enough money to get to November, or that soon Obama will have to debate the opponent and start answering some questions about the last 4 years of his administration.

A graphic design was elected and now there are complaints about hollowness.

Equally predictable and amazing at the same time...

Yeah, we should have gone with Sarah Palin.

Compared to four years ago, it seems awfully hollow.

Some of us saw him as an empty suit 4 years ago too.

It's Mike,
You ask if Romney was totally wrong with his comment about the Olympics, as if he's been proven right by how things have turned out. That misses the point completely - and since his comments had to do with security, and you're talking about tickets - it misses it factually, too. (At least so far, and I think we all hope that doesn't change.) Not even the most fervent Romney supporter can be pulling for a terrorist incident in London to show how right Romney was.

It's not what he said, but why say it? I'm talking about bozo moves here. This trip was designed to show Romney as a world leader. How was ticking off England on the eve of the Olympics smart?

I know it left conservative pundits like Charles Krauthammer mystified: ""It's unbelievable, it's beyond human understanding, it's incomprehensible. I'm out of adjectives. All Romney has to do, say nothing. It’s like a guy in the 100-meter dash. All he has to do is to finish, he doesn’t have to win. And instead, he tackles the guy in the lane next to him and ends up disqualified. I don’t get it."

Did you read the blowback from those comments from England? They said Romney was worse than Sarah Palin.

Is that the comparison Romney was looking for on this trip? Even Dick Cheney calls Sarah Palin as the VP candidate a mistake.

You know that's quite an irony. Maybe Sarah Palin made the difference in Obama getting elected.

That's it. The Obama Presidency is Sarah Palin's fault.

Does a day go by when he doesn't ask you for money? I have several friends that took him up on his offer to send ideas to the government to make things better, circa 2008. None of the ideas got any response and all he ended up with is a daily barrage of emails seeking donations to the Obama campaign.

Obama, despite his difficulties in following through on his promises,

Are you serious?

Take a look at Hugh's list.
http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com/2009/10/table-of-contents.html

On the above link, also a Bush list.

Then a comparison comment on:
http://my.firedoglake.com/edwardteller/tag/hughs-list/

Yeah, we should have gone with Sarah Palin.

Nice try. Try comparing O to McCain.

Compare Obama to McCain? Okay, McCain chose Sarah Palin and Obama didn't.

It's similar to Romney's comment about the Olympics. Why do something that can hurt you when you can just play it safe and be okay? Joe Biden was a safe pick compared to Miss Wassila, and it could have made the difference.

Especially after the freelance comedy writers of America - in a very short time window - managed to convey the truth about Sarah Palin. She had no business being on that ticket.

So in a very substantial way, the comedy writers of America saved the country from Sarah Palin.

You're welcome.

Okay, McCain chose Sarah Palin and Obama didn't.

Yeah, he picked Biden.

Joe. Biden.

You really aren't arguing from a position of strength.

Bill...

Romney's words (hate to do the full quote, but so many Obama supporters insist that conservatives are tone deaf to context):
"There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging. Because there are three parts that makes Games successful.

"Number one, of course, are the athletes. That's what overwhelmingly the Games are about. Number two are the volunteers. And they'll have great volunteers here. But number three are the people of the country. Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment? And that's something which we only find out once the Games actually begin."

BOTH things he referenced were news items in the 5 days prior to the opening of the games... in fact, the call-off of strike by immigration and custom officials was only about 72 hours before the opening ceremony. The security staffing had to be fixed by pulling in military and other police resources... (and i dont see it as a private sector failure except for the fact that the private security firm should have sounded the bell earlier that they were having trouble filling available positions). Even Piers Morgan agreed that Romney's comments were pretty much spot-on.

BTW, a comedy writer would find some amusement in London mayor Boris Johnson's little zipline snafu today...

I've always said, since the 2008 election, that it was decided by these 5 factors:
White Guilt
Black Racialism (note the word, i didnt say racism...)
Compliant media unwilling to investigate anything about Obama (even HRC's supporters were on this in the beginning)
Unattractive GOP candidate at the top of the ticket who could not articulate why he should have the job (he actually sounded like John Kerry 4 years earlier)
Unqualified VP choice (if Romney had been chosen as the running mate, i dont think it would have turned out any different though... because of the other 4 factors)

At least i can sit outside and enjoy the beautiful day while i write this...

Cheers, Mike

I agree with Thor. Anyone who thinks Joe Biden is better than Palin or Romney hasn't been paying attention. That guy puts his foot in his mouth almost weekly!

It's Mike,
Here's what he should have said:

"Look, putting on the Olympic Games is quite a challenge. I know from my experience in Salt Lake City. We were very successful but it wasn't easy. However I'm confident that our British allies will be all over this, and I wish them nothing but the best. I'm excited like the rest of the world to see what they come up with, and I can't wait to thank them personally for the incredible amount of time and expense they've poured into this."

He went out of his way to talk himself out of a PR payoff here. And he does it a lot, because ultimately he has no gift for this stuff.

Look, you're arguing against a fact. The fact is this was perceived as a PR disaster - so it was one - and that's why Mitt was scrambling with his comment about Winston Churchill's bust in the Oval Office. Even he would agree that you're wrong.

There's plenty of ways to state the case that President Obama does not deserve a second term, but trying to pretend that Romney didn't make a mistake here is a non-starter.

Oh, and saying, "But he was reacting to stories in the newspaper and even Piers Morgan thinks Mitt was right" is lame.

If "Not Getting It" was an Olympic event, you'd be looking at a gold medal.

P.S. My argument was lame too when I set myself up for the shots about Joe Biden. I deserve a Gold Medal in "Needs to Rethink This Approach".

How's that hopey changey thing working out fer ya? (Picture of Bush 43 here)

McCain's mistake was Palin.
Obama's was Biden.
It's a draw.

So what about all the other mistakes made by Obama?
Would McCain have done better? No doubt about it.

If the polls are accurate, I don't think most people care much for anything beyond the economy. On that issue, most of us are screwed by either candidate and by both parties in Congress.

Never before has there been a greater need for a middle class party.

So what about all the other mistakes made by Obama?
Would McCain have done better? No doubt about it.

Not sure who would have been worse. You shouldn't elect senators, they don't run things and don't have executive branch experience.

Oh yeah ... Joe Biden is so much better than Sarah Palin would have been.

Top 5 Joe Biden Gaffes

1- A real blast from the past: “A man I’m proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States – Barack America!” Biden comment during his first campaign rally after joining the ticket during the ’08 election.

2- On the economy: “The number one job facing the middle class and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word – J-O-B-S, jobs.” Biden comment during a campaign event in Athens, Ohio in 2008.

3- On the Vice Presidency: “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.” Biden stated during a New Hampshire town hall meeting in 2008.

4- Private Comment: “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” Biden to an Indian-American man during a hot mic moment in 2006 caught by C-SPAN.

5- On Barack Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook man.” Biden during the early months of the 2007 Democratic primary in 2007.

Maybe Sarah Palin made the difference in Obama getting elected.

Yeah, she proved what an idiot she is by supporting Cruz in Texas. Oh, wait - he won in a come-from-behind race.

I get that you're a hater. You can't stand Palin. Fine. But unless you can move elections with the occasional good joke - which nobody has yet seen - maybe you should ease off and go back to bashing Dwight Jaynes.

Max,
Sarah Palin believes in hunting wolves from helicopters. Would you be okay with that and your beloved elephants?

This has to be the best sequence of comments I've read in a long time. Very entertaining, guys!

There are two questions there:

1- are you ok hunting wolves?

2- if so, are you ok using helicopters as a tool for hunting?

For me, if they are no longer protected by the ESA, due to plenty of wolves in a certain population and area, then yes, I'm ok. But I'm not sure if there are any places like that. Does Alaska have an overpopulation? If so, the my answer to #1 is yes for that area of Alaska.

Re: #2, if helicopters are a humane way to harvest excess units of species, then yes, use all humane tools available. Better than letting the excess population starve, or wander into populated (by humans) areas where they will certainly be killed by cars or cops.

Bill,

Are wolves endangered species?

I'm not sure why you employ the term, "beloved elephants". For some time, I did work with them. Also rhino, hippo, various primates, deer, bear, cattle, chickens, horses, canids, felids, owls, hawks, vultures, ducks, swans, otters, raccoons, rats, mice, bees, seals, cichlids, bats, pandas, parrots, gazelle....

Yeah, Bill - I've worked with animals for over 50 years. Farms, circus consultation, zoos. As far as I know, I'm the only guy ever invited to give at talk about animal training at an international conference of marine animal trainers - who wasn't a member of the organization.

I was invited during a trip to Thailand to visit the King's Palace - driven there by his veterinarian. Turned out to involve several hours of discussion once there. You know what? That's not your general tourist destination. It's surrounded by a moat, and armed guards are stationed every fifty feet around the perimeter.

So here's the deal, Bill: for most of my life, I've worked with hundreds of species - including insects and amphibians - in a variety of contexts.

Now, Palin thinks it's okay to hunt wolves from helicopters.

Let's go back a bit - you're old enough to remember the ruckus that environmeddlists raised about the construction of the Aleyska Pipeline. Damn! It was gonna kill off the caribou!

What happened?

The pipeline is heated to facilitate transfer of oil. Caribou loved it. They calved next to the heated line. Their numbers exploded. And so did the numbers of wolves.

Is it wrong to shoot wolves from a helicopter? Is it wrong to hunt cougar (whose numbers have also exploded here) with dogs? Well, that method of hunting cougar was outlawed here - so now we pay tax dollars for ODFW to pay contracted hunters to shoot them - using dogs.

So, again: are wolves and cougar endangered?

Answer: no.

Is it wrong to shoot wolves in Alaska from the air? Have you ever been to Alaska? I have. I say that given the explosion in population, no, it isn't.

Is it wrong for ODFW to hire people to tree cougars with dogs, then shoot them? Yes. Hunters would pay to do that. Why waste tax dollars to accomplish the same task?

I find it rather bizarre that you attempt to berate my animal experience as some sort of justification for your apparent deep-seated hatred of Palin. So far as I know, I've never mocked you for writing the occasional good joke (and profiting by so doing). In fact, I applaud your talent in that rarified area. At the same time, it seems appalling that you resort to tactics geared toward belittlement, minimizing a lifetime of work with many species, simply to "score" a political point.

While my work has been global in nature, and while your chosen work has been more parochial, I see no particular benefit to your approach on this topic (unless it leads you to a joke you can sell).

Poor President Obama:

If he gets re-elected, look at the mess he will inherit.

LOL - He's only the worst president in the history of the country.

Max,
So I've gone from a hater who can't stand Sarah Palin and now I have an apparent deep-seated hatred of Sarah Palin.

I've seen this strategy dozens of times. It's not that Sarah Palin is a mean, dumb dingbat. No, that could never be true. So if I feel that way, it must be because I'm being blinded by my deep-seated hatred of her, and it's preventing me from seeing how great she really is.

Okay. Well, if she's so great why don't you come right out here now and support her for Romney's VP pick? Bring her back for a second time until Americans finally see how qualified she really is. She could even promise to serve her full term and not quit halfway through.

That brings up a good question:

Where is the outcry demanding Sarah be on the ticket? She's vetted now and has more experience with the gotcha journalists who asked her those tough questions like, "How do you feel about the Bush Doctrine?" (Long silence when it's obvious that Sarah has no idea what the Bush Doctrine is...)

Bring her back. Sarah Palin was great for the comedy business. Naa, we better not risk it. I don't know about hatred, but I think she's a disaster. A mean phony with beauty pageant morals and no intellectual curiosity.

Oh, and I think hunting wolves from helicopters is sick. And I do think it's germane because it shows what a nasty little personality Sarah really has behind the cutsie-wutsie "you betcha" facade.

I used to spearfish in the coral heads of the Persian Gulf, but we would free dive. Using tanks to go down and shoot fish in their holes would have been too easy.

Imagine a wolf trying to run from a helicopter. It is sick and disgusting to treat an animal like that in the wild.

You know what I wish the Republican Party could do? Go back to the morning after John McCain won the New Hampshire primary over George W. Bush. You know, before Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove went so negative in South Carolina to try and save W's sorry campaign.

If we could have come out of the Clinton Years and never experienced Bush, McCain could have been a much better president. And he certainly wouldn't have had to try a desperate attempt like this last time around, by picking Miss Wasilla, the Caribou Barbie.

And when I say the comedy writers of America had something to do with her defeat, I'm including Tina Fey, even though Tina said she didn't have to write much. Just quoting the inane statements Sarah Palin made before they started hiding her from the media, was all the comedy anyone could ever need.

"The worst president in the history of the country" ?? What a short memory. Obama's predecessor got us into a useless war that cost thousands of American lives and billions of dollars. He gave us the Patriot Act allowing the government to destroy your privacy to the extent of tracking what books you check out of the library. Nominated his personal lawyer as a justice on the Supreme Court. Took the budget from one of surplus to a huge deficit for the sole purpose of giving the 1% the largest tax reduction in history. Failed to properly monitor the banking industry which led to the most severe recession since the Great Depression. Advocated changing Social Security into a casino game. And the list goes on............

Bankerman:And the list goes on............

It sure does. Did you see the Hugh's List on both Obama and Bush that I posted earlier today?

Have hope: Mitt would make the left wish for four more years of George W.
Obama has to win to save us from that.
However one possible scenario is that Romney will win, follow the Ryan budget plan, and destroy Republican chances for 50 years. Even Ron and Rand Paul will have to hush themselves.

Bill - Palin was a bad choice. Was Biden a bad choice?

Heard a great on liner the other day.

"If Obama is reelected it would be like backing up the Titanic and hitting the iceberg a second time."

This was not penned by Bill McDonald.

Richard - regardless of your politics, that is clever.

Hey niceoldguy -
Obama has already made me wish for four more years of George W.

Carter use to be the worst president that we've ever had, but Obama made him look like a junior screwup. Nope, we voted in Obama and moved up to major screwup.

Clinamen: "Did you see the Hugh's List on both Obama and Bush that I posted earlier today?"

Yes, and what a ridicules list (and that goes for his list for Bush). Many items not even controllable by the Prez - i.e., Supreme Court rulings. However, Hugh did leave one item off the list "caught going up the down staircase"

Wow. Great word-smithing there, Bill.

I think everybody gets that you hate Palin; personally, I don't see why there's a need to direct so much at anybody - much less someone who garnered an 86% approval rate during her truncated term as governor of Alaska.

And why demand that I come right out here now and support her for Romney's VP pick?

She's already said that she doesn't need to go through that again. Would you? She seems content at present to support candidates such as Cruz in Texas - who was given no odds at all on winning, but did.

Have you ever hiked around Alaska? Are you aware of how many miles of paved road is in their capital city? Can you even name the capital city without Googling it? Okay, you probably can.... So you think that shooting surplus wolves from the air is the same as hunting rockfish in their holes.

No disrespect intended, here, Bill, but it doesn't appear to me as though you've ever spent much time in the state, and so you really can't know what you're ranting about. If you did, you'd see that your comparison is meaningless. But since you can't see that, it's another weapon to throw at a non-candidate that you really, viscerally, despise. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But let's just be honest.

Has there ever been a Republican, whether holding office or not, that you have not despised? Maybe there has been one, and I missed it. We're all only human, so hey.

By contrast, I can think of a number of folks - both Democrat and Republican - that seemed okay. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Granted, a lot of folks hated Reagan because he was, in the words of the unions, "a union-busting son of a bitch". Well, if the air traffic controllers hadn't violated the law by going on strike....

Clinton was by and large pretty good too, aside from the disbarment thing and a few other issues. By the way, esteemed Portland grad Monica had her 39th birthday last week.

They grow up so fast, don't they? Why, it seems like only yesterday that she was crawling around on the Oval Office floor, putting things in her mouth....

I didn't like the peanut farmer - and I met him. He just seemed incompetent. Though Obama seems to be doing his best to elevate the former President. Still, you don't see me calling either of them names, as do you with your Miss Wasilla, the Caribou Barbie and other flames.

Why is that? What is it that motivates Leftists to do stuff like that? Is it supposed to enhance their credibility?

I think Bush Sr. should have stopped at the Kuwait border. I think Dubya's "compassionate conservatism" could have been reduced to the middle three letters of the first word. On the other hand, unlike Barry, he at least got permission from Congress before going to war.

You think hunting wolves from helicopters is sick, Bill - you said so. How about hunting American citizens with drone-mounted Predator missiles? Barry says he has every right to do that - and he's done it three times (that we know of).

As you've made clear, you hate Palin, in part because she has no problem with aerial hunting of wolves in her state.

So, what do you think of Barry's aerial hunting program?

Nothing wrong with Sarah Palin, and many things are right about her. She is just not presidential or vice-presidential material. McCain did us the favor of putting her on the stage as a persuasive figure of the right, but did us the terrible disservice of sticking us with Obama as a result.

I was shocked by Palin's performance in her television interviews, and discomfited by the idea that a parent of both a four month old disabled infant, and of a pregnant teenager, would somehow be considered, or consider herself for the role she was offered. So uncomfortable that I would never, ever, have voted for her. Even recently I believed I would vote for Obama in November, over Palin, in a hypothetical match-up. Thinking about that question right now, I cannot imagine she could do any worse than Obama.

This is the level we have come to. Makes me want to stay in bed for a week.

'Thinking about that question right now, I cannot imagine she could do any worse than Obama.'

So true.

But Allan and Bill would I'm sure disagree.

To some Obama is messiah, still.

And Palin is evil, always.

Religion comes in many forms. Even for atheists.

I have thought about the dilemma, not really having a choice for a better direction for our country.

Romney as President - Many more watchful eyes and critical on his every move.

Obama as President - He would be given a benefit of a doubt by many more, as the Democratic Party and public more likely to give him a pass for the very same that they would not allow if Romney brought about the policies.

As far as our Democratic Congress, not much faith left in them either way, but am disappointed that the local D's are supportive. As others have also mentioned, whatever happened to the conventions we used to have where platforms were discussed and hammered out and then a candidate was selected?

I lament that it has come down to "that the other would be so much worse" as our country is going in a downward spiral. Having the same situation in our local scene is pathetic.

I was shocked by Palin's performance in her television interviews, and discomfited by the idea that a parent of both a four month old disabled infant, and of a pregnant teenager, would somehow be considered, or consider herself for the role she was offered.

Yeah it is discomforting - those disabled infants and all that stuff. Shocking and discomforting.

Discomforting like that Saudi gal who was in the Olympics.