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Late Night Political Humor

“Shares of Facebook stock dropped from the opening day price of $38 to around $34 today. They say if it drops any lower, Mitt Romney will swoop in and divide it up into Face and Book.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Facebook is worth $100 billion. Today it was friended by Greece.” – David Letterman

“Andy Warhol said that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Facebook is exactly like that except you’re not really famous and your 15 minutes goes on forever.” – Craig Ferguson

“Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend got married — one day after Facebook raised $16 billion on the stock market. Zuckerberg listed the 10 things he loves about her, while she listed the 16 billion things she loves about him.” – Jimmy Fallon

“That Facebook guy, Mark Zuckerberg, got married over the weekend. His company goes public, and he’s now worth $100 billion. Then he gets married. He may not be as smart as we thought. His wife’s a lovely woman. He stole her from the Winklevoss twins.” – David Letterman

“Mark Zuckerberg got married. Their reception was annoying, though. Right when everyone got used to the seating arrangement, Zuckerberg changed the layout for no reason.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Some people use Facebook to check up on ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends. That just seems creepy to me. I like it the old-fashioned way. If you want to check up on an ex, go through their trash.” – Craig Ferguson

“Al Gore has a new girlfriend. Apparently, it’s getting pretty serious. He’s already been over to bore her parents.” – Jay Leno

“Gore and his girlfriend were spotted taking long walks on the beach, measuring how much the sea is rising.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama gave the commencement speech at Barnard College the other day. He told graduates their future is bright unless they want jobs.” – Jay Leno

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Not intended to be a factual statement


© Mike Luckovich


© Jim Morin

The election is almost upon us. Is everyone ready for the silly season?

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Tightwad Obama!

Forbes magazine is reporting that Barack Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower. Yes, that’s right, under Obama, spending increased less than it did under both Bushes, Nixon, even Reagan.

The article tries to be even handed, even including a link to a Heritage Foundation rebuttal. Even so, the most interesting (and ironic) part are all the comments from right-wing nut jobs who freak out when confronted by stubborn facts.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has a good overview and analysis of the dueling infographics, including the various arguments on both sides. Sullivan’s goes on to point out that by promising to slash taxes while at the same time massively increasing defense spending, Romney is no fiscal conservative.

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Natural History


© Matt Bors

In some cases, even a 500 year attention span is too short.

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Late Night Political Humor

“On the first day of trading, Facebook shares rose less than expected. We were promised that Facebook would take off like a rocket. Apparently it’s a North Korean rocket.” – Jay Leno

“I know why you’re happy. Facebook went public and you’re all billionaires now. It is worth one hundred and four billion dollars. There has got to be a cheaper way to find out if your ex-girlfriend got fat.” – Bill Maher

“Have you heard about Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin? He’s renounced his U.S. citizenship because it’ll save him millions of dollars of taxes — to which Mitt Romney said, ‘That’s what the Cayman Islands are for.'” – Jay Leno

“According to a new poll by the New York Times, Mitt Romney now has a small lead over President Obama. Which proves once and for all that money can’t buy you happiness, but it comes in handy when you’re running for president, doesn’t it?” – Jay Leno

“Mitt Romney and his family have a big two-day weekend plan. They’re going to hike to the top of his money.” – David Letterman

“If I were a Republican I would be a little leery about bringing up Reverend Wright because some shocking information came in today about Romney’s pastor … he’s Mormon. Really weird stuff.” – Bill Maher

“This week Mitt Romney started giving speeches while standing in front of a giant U.S. debt clock. When asked what it was like campaigning with a large electronic object, the debt clock was like, ‘Not bad’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Romney had some bad publicity about that incident when he was a teenager and he and his gang chased down a gay kid and pinned him to the ground and cut his hair against his will. Well, it turned out that affected the polls. This week, Romney lost support from people who dislike bullies, jerks, and prep school assholes. And he picked up the endorsement of George W. Bush.” – Bill Maher

“Speaking of the Mitt Romney, there are reports that he may attend the London Olympics this summer. Romney’s psyched to watch wrestling – cuz it’s the only place where someone changes positions more than he does.” – Jimmy Fallon

“New Rule: Now that Rick Santorum has endorsed Mitt Romney in the 13th paragraph of a late-night email, and George W. Bush one-upped him by endorsing him through the closing doors of an elevator, Ron Paul must top them all by scrawling the word “Mitt” on a Post-it and slipping it to reporters under a bathroom stall while taking a dump.” – Bill Maher

“Ron Paul did not endorse Mitt Romney, and this happens to a lot of people. They say his hatred for Romney comes from a phenomenon called ‘meeting him.'” – Bill Maher

“They teach that the Earth is 5,000 years old, and dinosaur fossils washed up in Noah’s flood. This is a school you flunk out of when you get the answers right.” –Bill Maher (on Mitt Romney’s speech at Liberty University)

“When you confuse a church with a school it mixes up the things you believe – religion – with the things we know – education. Then you start thinking that creationism is science, and gay aversion is psychology, and praying away hurricanes is meteorology.” – Bill Maher

‎”Conservatives often say that gay marriage cheapens their marriage. Well, I think a diploma from Liberty cheapens my degree from a real school.” – Bill Maher

“Our good friend Chris Matthews on MSNBC was on ‘Jeopardy’ the other day and get got his butt killed. He was so embarrassed. The good news? He got so many facts wrong today he was offered a job at Fox News.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama was on ‘The View.’ An awkward moment back stage when Elizabeth Hasselback shot him in self-defense.” – Bill Maher

“Did you see this? A spokesperson for President Obama’s campaign says that a new Republican attack ad is quote ‘B.S.’ Then Biden was like, ‘Ugh…I hate when you spell words so I can’t understand you’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The defense has rested in the John Edwards trial. The jury can now find Edwards guilty of misusing campaign funds, which is a felony, or just find him guilty of the lesser charge of misdemeanor douchebaggery.” – Jay Leno

“For the first time in our history, more minority children were born in America than white children. And today the Octomom said, ‘I’m on it.'” – Bill Maher

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Toothless


© Matt Wuerker

Actually, I think the bankers own the dogs. After all, they own the rest of the government.

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Will the Real Anarchists Please Blow Up?


© John Backderf

Anarchists want to destroy government. Republicans want to destroy government. Or at least drown it in a bathtub. What’s the difference?

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Grecian Formula

© Jim Morin

The GOP solution of “starve the beast” and tax cuts for the rich didn’t work for Greece. Heck, it didn’t work for us just a few short years ago. In fact, it has never worked. So why do voters keep believing them?

I realize the following numbers only reflect which party controlled the presidency, and don’t take into account who controlled Congress, but they are still significant:

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Late Night Political Humor

“JPMorgan lost $3 billion in their first quarter and today they lost yet another $1 billion. Turns out they bet on the Lakers. I don’t know what JPMorgan is doing. They announced today they are moving their entire headquarters to Greece.” – Jay Leno

“Cher sent out a tweet that got some attention. She said if Mitt Romney gets elected, she doesn’t know if she can breathe the same air as him. In the event that Romney does get elected, I want to offer Cher a place to live. It’s the Cher biodome, complete with a year supply of air and Rice-A-Roni where Cher can live, be happy, and have peace.” – Conan O’Brien

“If you didn’t for any reason laugh at the Cher biodome joke, it’s probably for two reasons. One, it’s not that funny. And two, if you’re a younger viewer, you have no idea who Cher is.” – Conan O’Brien

“During a speech in Ohio, Joe Biden criticized Republicans for not understanding the middle class. In response, Mitt Romney was like, ‘That’s ridiculous. Some of my best friends’ gardeners are middle class.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Newsweek magazine has President Obama on the cover this week, calling him the first gay president. Actually, that’s not true. Historians say that James Buchanan was probably our first gay president. He was a bachelor, he lived for 15 years with an Alabama senator, and he was briefly married to Liza Minnelli.” – Jay Leno

“According to a new report from NASA, at this very moment there are about 4,700 asteroids that are big enough and close enough to pose a threat to life on earth, which is where we live. I wish Arnold Schwarzenegger was still governor. He would know what to do.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Scientists at NASA say the asteroids are dangerously aligned with the earth’s orbit and are large enough to enter our atmosphere without breaking apart. But they also say we shouldn’t panic. You know, if you didn’t want us to panic, maybe you shouldn’t have put out a press release saying there were 4,700 asteroids hurtling toward the earth.” – Jimmy Kimmel

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Blaming the Volcker Rule Before it is Born

The Senate Banking committee started hearings on the recent problems at JP Morgan (which even Mornan’s chairman said were “sloppy” and “stupid” and would increase the pressure for additional regulation). But thanks to generous donations of campaign cash, the hearing got turned into a circus. Committee members weren’t about to actually, you know, investigate any possible problems at JP Morgan. Instead, they were more interested in blaming government regulations for the problems, especially the recent Dodd-Frank bill.

Richard Shelby (R-AL) grilled the regulators, mocking them repeatedly for not knowing in advance what was going on at JP Morgan. (JP Morgan contributed $72,950 to Senator Shelby, making them his second largest source of campaign money).

Bob Corker (R-TN) predicted “the American people are going to wake up” and realize “this Dodd-Frank bill really doesn’t address real-time issues.” (Corker received $61,000, making JP Morgan his largest source of money).

Mike Johanns (R-NE) complained that “regulations become more and more onerous.”

Pat Toomey (R-PA) declared that “we’ve gone down the wrong road” with Dodd-Frank.

There’s just one problem with these statements. The part of Dodd-Frank that would have prevented what happened at JP Morgan is the “Volcker rule“, which attempts to separate speculation and monetary gambling from their government-backed deposits, similarly to the Glass-Steagall law that was repealed in 1999. And the Volcker rule hasn’t been implemented yet, mainly because of Republican efforts to water it down through exemptions and by defunding it.

So the Republicans are trying to abort the Volcker rule before it is even implemented, by blaming it instead of the bankers who actually caused the problem. And even though SEC chairman Mary Schapiro testified that JP Morgan would have been more easily monitored “if the Dodd-Frank rules had been in place.”

But the most ironic thing was Toomey’s solution to the problem. He wants to “let the people in the marketplace make the decisions they will make.”

Yeah, that’s what caused the great recession in 2008. I guess the Republicans like to think of that as the good old days.

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The Bald-Faced Truth


© John Breneman

So, is there any way to reduce gridlock and excessive partisanship in our government? I hope so.

Oh, and check out John Breneman’s blog “Humor Gazette“.

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Late Night Political Humor

“A Republican official says that Mitt Romney should pick ‘an incredibly boring white guy as running mate.’ When he heard that, Joe Biden said, ‘Thanks, I’ve already got a gig.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Today Herman Cain endorsed Mitt Romney. This is possibly very important because as goes Herman Cain, so go the other two black Republicans in America.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A new poll found that Mitt Romney is actually ahead of President Obama among female voters. That explains Obama’s new slogan, ‘I’m Barack Obama, and I loved ’50 Shades of Grey.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Barack Obama supports same-sex marriage. Mitt Romney doesn’t even support same-sex car pools.” – David Letterman

“President Obama released his financial disclosure statement today. It turns out he is now worth over $10 million. So at least somebody is doing well in this economy.” – Jay Leno

“Ron Paul has announced he’s no longer campaigning. He’s dropped out of the race. Can you tell the difference?” – David Letterman

“Ron Paul made an announcement on Monday, saying he’s dropping out of the race for president. This was his third race for president. He ran in 2008 against John McCain and against Lincoln in 1860.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Ron Paul announced to supporters that he was discontinuing his campaign by email. There were two emails he sent out. The first one was blank and then he had to send out the other one.” – David Letterman

“The Justice Department has launched a probe into JPMorgan’s $2.3 billion loss. I believe it’s called ‘Operation wink, nod, and look the other way.'” – Jay Leno

“President Obama is calling for more government reform after JPMorgan’s $2 billion loss. Really, is that what we need — the government stepping in? You know what’s going to happen? The government’s going to teach them how to lose $2 billion a DAY!” – Jay Leno

“Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg turned 28 this week. He got a watch from his girlfriend, a sweater from his parents, and from the rest of us, all of our credit card numbers.” – Conan O’Brien

“Here in New York City, they have a law now that if you’re a police officer and you see somebody who looks suspicious, you can stop them and frisk them. And I thought, ‘Well, now wait a minute, in New York City, everybody looks suspicious!'” – David Letterman

“The Dalai Lama is saying that China trained a woman to assassinate him by putting poison in her hair. Luckily, the Dalai Lama had recently just stopped eating hair ” – Conan O’Brien

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Free, as in Market


© Tom Tomorrow

I think the problem is exactly what Tom Tomorrow points out in the first panel. The “invisible” hand of the free market should be invisible. Instead we see armies of lobbyists, tax break after tax break, an obscenely tilted playing field, investors throwing their excess money at bubble after bubble, rampant insider trading, and a vanishing middle class caused by a widening gap between the 1% and everyone else. Does anyone actually believe we have any free markets any more?

I guess we still have freedom in this country, as long as “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”.

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Late Night Political Humor

“The new Newsweek has President Obama on the cover with a headline, “The First Gay President.” Apparently, the new Newsweek editor is a 3rd grade bully.” – Conan O’Brien

“The new issue of Newsweek has President Obama on the cover with the caption ‘The First Gay President.’ … Can you believe that? They’re still publishing Newsweek? Really?” – Jay Leno

“Same-sex marriage would have men married to men and women married to women. Well, who complains about the credit card bill and who says, “Well, you want me to look nice, don’t you?” And who writes the thank-you notes and who just signs their name?” – David Letterman

“Earlier today President Obama went on ‘The View.’ He went on ‘The View’ because they’re the only group of women the president trusts his Secret Service agents to be around.” – Conan O’Brien

“President Obama raised $1 million at a fundraiser hosted by Ricky Martin. Obama thanked Martin for his contribution to the campaign, while Joe Biden thanked him for his contribution to Menudo.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Ron Paul is out of the race, ladies and gentlemen. It’s not surprising that Ron Paul quit. Who could keep going at that white-hot pace?” – David Letterman

“The average college graduate now leaves school $27,000 in debt. But the good news is that now it means they are more than qualified to work as financial advisers at JP Morgan.” – Jay Leno

“As of Friday you’ll all be able to buy shares of Facebook. This is perfect for anyone who’s ever logged on, looked at pictures of their friend eating a sandwich, and thought, ‘Now there’s a sound investment.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Police in California just burned 34,000 marijuana plants that were growing in a state park. The police were very angry about finding all that weed until the wind changed direction.” – Jimmy Fallon

“I just read about a new 24-hour day care that’s opening in India. Yeah, it’s pretty cute, instead of playing telephone, the kids just play tech support.” – Jimmy Fallon

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The Filibuster is Unconstitutional

Emmet Bondurant is one of the best business lawyers in the country, but now he’s suing to change the country. Bondurant is convinced that the filibuster is unconstitutional, and along with Common Cause, he wants the Supreme Court to abolish it.

In fact, the filibuster was a mistake that has grown like a cancer. Proof that it was a mistake comes from the fact that the founders debated whether to require a supermajority to pass legislation in Congress, but explicitly rejected that idea. Alexander Hamilton savaged the idea, saying “its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government and to substitute the pleasure, caprice or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent or corrupt junta, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority.” Sound familiar? James Madison of requiring a supermajority that “the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed.”

The Constitution clearly states 6 (and only six) instances when a supermajority is required: impeaching the president, expelling members, overriding a presidential veto, ratifying treaties, and amending the Constitution. It also provides for the Vice President to break ties, clearly indicating that 51% should be the number for passing legislation. But today, a supermajority is required to pass virtually anything. How did that happen?

In 1806 the Senate was cleaning up their rule book, which had grown complicated and redundant, and they eliminated a rule that was used to end debate. Aaron Burr recommended getting rid of the rule because it was almost never used, and besides, senators were gentlemen who knew when to stop talking.

Not any more I guess.

Even after the rule was eliminated, the first filibuster didn’t happen for another 30 years. In the 60 years after that one, it was only used 16 times. But the number of filibusters skyrocketed starting in the 1970s, as partisanship heated up. The figure shows the number of times motions were filed to end a filibuster:

While both parties are guilty of using excessive filibusters, the GOP has clearly taken it to insane levels, in their campaign (as Hamilton put it) to “embarrass the administration”.

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