Tag Archives: barack obama

Politics Schmolitics

Joe Biden Lends the President Some Gaffe Tips

biden.jpgSo you gaffed. Big deal. I do it all the time! I gaffe more before breakfast than most people do all day.

Here’s what you do. I call it the “aw shucks” defense. You just say stuff like, “aw jeez, I’m sorry!” like you’re a big dumb galoot who can’t even control what comes out of his mouth. Works for me all the time! It makes you sympathetic. By the time I’ve done, I got the president of Bolivia apologizing to me, even though I just called his country a hellish sinkhole.

Then again, I guess you have a reputation as a smart man and a skilled orator. I’ve never had that problem. So maybe that strategy won’t work for you.

It was a good idea to gaffe on a Thursday night, though. That way, they roast you on Friday, but the weekend’s about to start. By the time Monday comes all the news outlets are on to the next thing.

Me, I try to save my really big gaffes for Friday afternoons. The newspapers are already knocking off for the day by then. I spit out something really stupid around 3:30, then I can spend Saturday on the links, free of worry.

Also, March Madness–excellent time to gaffe. Nobody’s watching CNN or Fox News right now. Not while they’re keeping track of their brackets. I also find Super Bowl week is a good gaffing time, as is pretty much any day from late June through Labor Day.

Would it help if I made an even bigger gaffe to take the heat off you? I got a speech scheduled for a Mothers Against Drunk Driving event later today. How bout I make some real dumb old-timey Foster Brooks-type jokes about tippling? Or if I accidentally ask a mom to bring her kid on stage, even though I know her son was killed by a drunk driver?

No matter what you do, make sure you apologize. Better late than never, I say. And if you do wait a few days to apologize, you can just say you were doing it on Colored People’s Time.

Oh jeez, I can’t believe I said that! Oh man! I am so sorry!

See? Learn from the master, kid.

Politics Schmolitics

And Now I’ll Reveal the Details of My Diabolical Plan!

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“Ah, Mr. Obama. so nice of you to make it my little party. You have a nasty habit of surviving. But soon you shall see–Washington gridlock shall prevail! Won’t it, Flopsy?”

*mew*

“Yes, Flopsy always agrees. Mr. Obama, we’re not so different, you and I…”

Yeah, I know, The Daily Show and everybody else made the same joke last night. Screw it. I spent too much time Photoshopping a cat into Cheney’s lap!

Baseball, Politics Schmolitics

The Election Gods Bow to Math

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Election Day was great for baseball. And baseball was great for Election Day.

After the Mets collapsed yet again, I took all the emotional/spiritual/perspirational energy I poured into their hopeless cause and channeled it into following the presidential election. I also focused some of that chi into rooting against the Phillies, which didn’t work out nearly as well.

Like any other good lefty, I read Daily Kos, watched Keith Olbermann, and tsked at Fox News ass-hattery. But it’s easy to overdose on Smug when you live in a liberal bastion like New York and only consume media with which you agree. It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you know what your fellow Americans feel and want.

I fooled myself in 2004. I never deluded myself into thinking that John Kerry was a magnificent charismatic agent of change because, duh. But considering the state of the country at the time, and the obvious (to me) evil represented by Bush, I concluded that Kerry would prevail. I told myself there was no way Kerry could lose because…well, he couldn’t, could he?

And then I found myself up at 2 in the morning, watching Ohio go to Bush, sucking down beer and wishing I was drunk enough to pass out and forget any of it had ever happened.

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