This Is Not Okay

What is it with George Bush and college hand signals that look bad out of context?¹

No, it’s not Photoshopped. There’s really no interpretation of this that does enough to explain it away.

(Tip of the hat to boingboing)

¹ And as much as we might loathe Bush, this site is run by loons.

Anabolic Conservatism

50 thinks the president is “incredible … a gangsta.” “I wanna meet George Bush, just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him,” 50 told GQ.-50 Cent, in better times

Whatever the results of tomorrow’s election, it will mark the end of an era, and even if the Ghost Of Milton Friedman were to swoop down from Heaven and deliver the election to John McCain, the American Right is in for a long-overdue chastening. A Democratic landslide in the House is looking inevitable, and even if they fail to achieve a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, they’ll still be able to tell Joe Lieberman where to stick it.

Regardless of what the new adminstration brings, it will at least put an end to the pseudo-macho posturing that worships power for its own sake. For those with shaky memories, the last eight years have brought us:

• Grover Norquist elaborating on his castration fantasies about Democrats
• The Governator
• The phrase “you’ve been Hannitized,” which sounds like something shouted during a gangbang
• The Chuck Norris-Mike Huckabee axis
• Jose Canseco’s tell-all in which he reveals that he was basically running Tupperware parties for anabolic steroids during the years Bush ran the Texas Rangers (not to mention the prevalence of mullets)¹

Tempting Fate: The Touchdown Dance

Barack Obama is running a different kind of campaign. Different from the confused, desperate, and occasionally frightening campaign his opponent is running. Different from the Rovian, win-at-any-costs school of politics. (Thankfully) different from the tepid campaigns of recent Democratic vintage, which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the desire not to offend anyone.

And a politician who is running such a courageous campaign is going to be above copping the worst moves of our current (88 days left!) President.

That said, within one day of his reelection, Bush delivered the endzone celebration:

Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.

It was not just an unguarded moment. It also signaled to the base that after four years of keeping them in the closet, his lame duck status allowed him to proverbially let it all hang out. And we all see how that turned out.
So if Obama were to win, and were to just maybe do a bit of a Bush-style touchdown dance, just to rub it in a little, what would you want? Ludacris at the inauguaration? “Accidentally” referring to Bill Richardson (who’s probably in line for a cabinet position) as “my good friend Bill Ayers?” Using the word “socialism” in every context he can? He’s got to be allowed a practical joke here and there, right? It’s not like he’s going to nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, or anything. The man’s not a monster.