Tale of Two Trophies: Obama’s Nobel & My Youth Basketball Award

As the recipient of the Ronald Reagan Academic Achievement Award, I know what it is like to have to live up to the pressures and expectations of a prestigious honor.
President Obama should have politely turned down the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and should have given it to one of those ballsy human rights activists rotting [...]

Cuddling with Obama won’t score you Inauguration tix

Way back when Barack Obama was just a regular rock star, only filling high school gymnasiums instead of NFL stadiums, my daughter got to cuddle with him twice.
Nothing scandalous, mind you, Dahlia was a five-month-old baby at the time. But her combined 90 seconds with the future president made her a New York Daily News [...]

What Me Worry? Barack Obama finds MADdening common ground with George W. Bush

In an odd political pairing, Obama and George W. Bush have both been redefined by the MAD magazine’s mascot. Astoundingly, Obama compared his protruding ears to those of Alfred E. Neuman’s at the annual Al Smith political dinner in Manhattan. Bush as been hammered as a guy who’s way too lackadaisical in a [...]

Political Button of the Day: Obama Prays for Victory

Gearing up for Election Day, I will occasionally share a favorite button from my modest-but-quirky political memorabilia collection.

Imagine a fortune cookie made with 2,000 pound slabs of Jerusalem stone and crumbling on one of the holiest sites in both Judaism and Islam. It’s a tradition to cram a note to God in the Western Wall [...]

Political Button of the Day: How “Reagan Hood” Spreads the Wealth

Gearing up for Election Day, I will occasionally share a favorite button from my modest-but-quirky political memorabilia collection.

As the proud recipient of the Ronald Reagan Academic Fitness Award, this political button pulled at my heartstrings when I spied it at a Democratic National Convention souvenir booth. But sentimentality wasn’t enough for me to shell out [...]

Political Button of the Day: Dick Gregory Plays the Retro Race Card

Gearing up for Election Day, I will occasionally share a favorite button from my modest-but-quirky political memorabilia collection.

1960s comedy and activist icon Dick Gregory, also well known for his “Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat,” has been back in the public eye recently as a political commentator on the Don Imus radio show.
Gregory has never [...]

No stomach for drinking games? Try presidential debate BINGO!

Courtesy of the Detroit Free Press:

Given the debate is on a Wednesday night, this is a much smarter recreational choice than the political drinking games. A much smarter choice for those of us who work for a living, i.e. Republicans.
Kidding! — I’ve voted for both parties and truly believe neither one has a monopoly on [...]

An open letter to John McCain: Send Jennifer Garner to Pakistan!

Dear Sen. McCain:
Barack Obama obviously doesn’t have your military experience. And he’s not dumb enough to pose for pictures in a tank. But why do you continue to mock his warnings to Pakistan about harboring al-Qaeda terrorists?
You say that a leader shouldn’t “telegraph” their intentions, that he or she should keep it a secret. [...]

Why vintage Paul Newman only improved with age (Postscript)

I just read a phenomenal tribute to Paul Newman in Slate Magazine — passionately making the case that he was the rare Hollywood icon who didn’t do charity work for the publicity.
Dahlia Lithwick’s account of his Hole in the Wall Gang summer camp (for chronically ill children) will inspire you to slurp a jar of [...]

What is proper journalistic etiquette for friendly castration banter?

Ah, another asinine comment from Jesse Jackson.
When he says that Obama is “talking down to blacks,” is he angry that the Democratic nominee doesn’t use enough rhymes or alliteration?
Here’s what Jesse really means: “THAT SHOULD BE ME UP THERE — I SHOULD BE THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS JUST A SECOND-RATE VERSION OF [...]