George Bush's 10 best YouTube moments

Chosen by Time magazine. Seems like there is much funnier material available out there, but these aren't bad.

Top 10 George W. Bush YouTube Moments

Reconciliation - not

Here is a cute poem I found in the comments on Huffington Post:

The Election is Over,
The Talking is Done.
Your Party Lost.
My Party Won.

So Let Us Be Friends,
Let Arguments Pass.
I'll Hug Your Elephant,
You'll Kiss My @ss

Thank the Troops

Even if you don't agree with the war, you can still thank the troops!

David Cook at Do the Wright Thing at the Hard Rock Cafe

Wow - from the video on Youtube this was a great show. Here is Life on the Moon and Light On. David is a great performer! His album which comes out on Tuesday only got 2 1/2 stars from Rolling Stone, but as many have commented, the songs really grow on you after repeated listening. I am really getting to love Barbasol -it reminds me of the way George Pelecanos writes about music in his novels - something essential to a kind of edgy life. And Life on the Moon is terrific.

Here is the video: (there are more, just search David Cook Do the Wright Thing)

David Cook on Soundcheck

The full show of David Cook is now up on Soundcheck. The songs featured are: Light On, Barbasol, Lies, Heroes, and Declaration. There is also an interview. Cook sounds pretty good, Light On and Declaration are great, Barbasol is growing on me, Lies and Heroes are ok. The setting is great, and Cook looks good.

Transparency in the transition

Here is a video from Valerie Jarrett, a long-time friend of Barack Obama, who has been named as a senior White House Advisor (her official title will be: "senior advisor and assistant to the President for Inter-government relations and Public Liaison in the Obama White House." ) Her direct, no-nonsense style seems to mesh well with Obama's. As Jarrett mentions in the video, the Obama Transition Team website is www.change.gov.

Will.i.am It's a New Day

I happened to like the dress, but I bet Michelle didn't realize how often it would appear after the fact. A historic dress for a historic day. Here is Will.i.am's new video - It's a New Day along with Oprah's introduction. And baby, it IS a beautiful new day!!!

More jokes - from Leno, Letterman, Myers, O'Brien, Maher, etc.

As printed in the LA Times:

David Letterman, on ‘Late Show with David Letterman,’ Nov. 5 "At the end of the evening, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama, 148 for McCain. Or, as Fox News says, ‘too close to call.’"

Jay Leno, on ‘ The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’ Nov. 3 "According to recent news reports, Bill Clinton has now become an adviser to Barack Obama. Bill Clinton is giving advice to Barack Obama. Do you know who is really upset about this? Michelle Obama."

Conan O'Brien, on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien,’ Nov. 5 "Last night, [Sarah Palin] denied rumors that she's getting ready to run for president in 2012. Palin said, 'That’s a long time away. I’ll be a great-grandmother by then.'"

Seth Meyers, on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Nov. 1 "At a campaign rally on Thursday, Senator McCain called Joe the plumber up to the stage, only to discover that he was not at the rally. In fairness to Joe the plumber, he did say he'd be there sometime between noon and 6 p.m."

Seth Meyers, on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Nov. 1 "This Sunday, daylight saving time ends. John McCain quickly condemned it as a redistribution of sunlight.”

John McCain, on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Oct. 31 “Look, would I rather be on three major networks? Of course. But I’m a true maverick: a Republican without money."

Bill Maher, on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher,’ Oct. 31 "I think this says it all about the difference between the two parties. McCain is campaigning with Joe the plumber, Obama is down in Florida campaigning with Al Gore. One guy won the Nobel Prize in climate science. The other guy can get a fork out of a garbage disposal."

Jimmy Kimmel, on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Nov. 3 "This is a country that waits 18 hours on line for an iPhone. We'll sit for three days in the rain to get Halo 2. We'll camp out on the sidewalk for a week to get the first ticket to see a 'Star Wars' movie that we know is going to be crap. ... If we can wait in line to see the Jonas brothers, then by God, I say we can wait in line to elect the next president of the United States."

Craig Ferguson, on 'Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,' Oct. 31 " Barack Obama hit back at the charges that he's a socialist by joking that since he shared his toys as a child, he must be a communist. To which John McCain responded, 'You had toys as a child? I had to play with dinosaurs.'"

A joke for Democrats only

Sent to me by my friend Gail:

One sunny day in February 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue , where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'
The Marine looked at the man and said, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' The old man said, 'Okay' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S.. Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush. The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?'

The old man looked at the Marine and said, 'Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.' The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'Yes Sir! See you tomorrow.'

Last of the Culture Warriors

On November 3rd, Washington Post columnist Peter Beinart wrote his monthly column about Sarah Palin called "Last of the Culture Warriors." Beinart writes,

"Palin's brand is culture war, and in America today culture war no longer sells. The struggle that began in the 1960s -- which put questions of racial, sexual and religious identity at the forefront of American politics -- may be ending. Palin is the end of the line. "

The article continues, [emphasis mine]

"Today, according to a recent Newsweek poll, the economy is up to 44 percent and "issues like abortion, guns and same-sex marriage" down to only 6 percent. It's no coincidence that Palin's popularity has plummeted as the financial crisis has taken center stage . . . She's depicting the campaign as a struggle between the culturally familiar and the culturally threatening, the culturally traditional and the culturally exotic. But Obama has dismissed those attacks as irrelevant, and the public, focused nervously on the economic collapse, has largely tuned them out. "

Beinart's premise is at least temporarily belied by the success of state propositions banning same sex marriages, indicating that traditional culture advocates still prevail. But according to Beinart, culture wars wax and wane with generational change. He believes that

"The long-running, internecine baby boomer cultural feud just isn't that relevant to Americans who came of age after the civil rights, gay rights and feminist revolutions. Even many younger evangelicals are broadening their agendas beyond abortion, stem cells, school prayer and gay marriage."

The problem with "culture war" is that it divides us - across the nation, among friends, even among families - based on what we essentially believe in. At issue in the culture war is not which of several similarly plausible economic policies is best, but the core beliefs that lie directly in the center of our being - is it right to abort a fetus, is it right for two people of the same sex to be married, is it right for people to freely be able to purchase assault rifles, is it right to torture and imprison people without trial. These are not win-win scenarios, as solutions that would satisfy both sides are few and far between.

Beinart ends his article with the hope that the Republican party will choose as its leader for the future someone like Mitt Romney or Bobby Jindall; social conservatives, but not likely to "try to substitute identity for policy ." Beinart believes "Sarah Palin may be the last culture warrior on the national ticket for a very long time." With the increasing revelation of internal strife within the McCain/Palin campaign, and tales of "Wasilla hillbilly" shopping sprees, some factions of the party have already begun to discredit Palin. It will be interesting to see what path the Republican Party chooses to follow into the future.