Semi Truths

Several outlets are buzzing with the news about Stephen Colbert’s Presidential bid. It’s all a big joke, of course, and many are drawing comparisons to Pat Paulsen’s continuing runs for President (in a box somewhere, I’m sure I must still have some “Pat Paulsen for President” pins). Neither, however, were the first comedian to run for U.S. President. In addition to satirical campaigns by Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers, Gracie Allen (of the comic duo Burns and Allen) made quite a splash with her own wildly popular run in 1940, even forming her own “Surprise Party”. A well-written overview can be found here.

I’m not a golfer, but this strikes me as a little extreme…

I love this drawing, a brilliant take-off by Ted Rall on Saul Steinberg’s View of the World from 9th Avenue.

(© 2003 Ted Rall & Universal Press Syndicate and reprinted here completely without permission, so don’t rat on me!)

Lisa Rein keeps a most amazing blog site with, among other things, an incomparable collection of video clips. My favorite is the Daily Show Comedy Clips archive of, naturally, clips from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (regular bedtime viewing in the Semi household).

If you do nothing else today, seek out the Bush vs. Bush clip, immortalizing the contorted turns our “President” has taken from the days he was just “Gov’ner” Bush on the Republican campaign trail.