Two days to go: Send in the clowns

As we wind down the final weekend before THE BIG DAY, I thought I'd share a few humorous moments that I happened across this weekend.

First, in the “we're here to plump... you up” department, Republican presidential candidate John McCain brought a guest campaigner to a rally he held the other day in Columbus, OH – California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzennegger is almost typical of today's Repbublican party – always looking back on past glories rather than the current reality. He'd rather that people remember “The Terminator” rather than the politician that can't control California's crappy economy. He's in a serious predicament back home, where the government is almost bankrupt, hard-right Republicans are trying to get a recall election and Democrats and those on the left still don't trust him.

In keeping with one of McCain's current memes, Schwarzennegger riled up the few people who still admit to supporting McCain by lashing out at Obama for (gasp!) actually spending money on his campaign. Ironic, since Schwarzenegger himself has raked in over $132 million dollars in donations since his first election in 2003. That's more than McCain can even spend in this election.

Oh yeah, and Schwarzy even called Obama a socialist. Nya nya!

But that's not the funny part. He has said in a recent interview that he would be willing to work with Obama when he wins the election (and by his word choices, it appears Schwarzy thinks Obama will win). But in front of the crowd, he sounded a different tone, mocking Obama's slim physique:

"He needs to do something about those skinny legs, make him do some squats and some bicep curls to build up those scrawny little arms."

Uhhh... yeah right.

Schwarzenegger is far from the only Republican acting like a complete moron. This weekend, we found out why McCain operatives are careful about who they give access to their bewildered running mate, Sarah Palin. The only other VP nominee I can even recall not giving media interviews is, um, Dick Cheney, and we all saw what happened there. Sheesh, I can't even recall Palin going on relatively harmless shows like Larry King, “Meet The Press” or even some softball show like Rachel Ray. Hey, at least she's talked to Sean Hannity a few times.

Perhaps the following incident is why her handlers are careful about who she talks to. Maybe her handlers aren't careful enough. Perhaps they actually believed French president Nicholas Sarkozy was indeed calling to talk to Palin. No way could it have been a couple radio pranksters from Quebec.

Two comedians from CKOI in Montreal called Palin, got through to her and kept her on the line for over four minutes, in what was probably the most obvious prank call ever. For a couple French-speaking guys, they didn't even sound French! In the call, “Sarkozy” talked about shooting animals from airplanes, having sex with his hot wife and other ridiculous stuff. “Sarkozy” even got her to drop a hint about a future presidential bid. Palin got punked, and it was pretty embarrassing. When the radio duo fessed up that it was all a ruse, a tongue-tied Palin immediately handed off the phone to her handler, who tersely ended the call.



Here's the download link and the transcript.

And finally, speaking of Cheney, what could be funnier than the hidden Vice President, a more reclusive figure than Howard Hughes in the late 60s, emerging from his bunker to give his heartfelt endorsement of the McCain/Palin ticket. At a time when his slightly less unpopular boss is in hiding. As if the approval of a guy with a 15% favorability rating will actually help the woeful McCain juggernaut. The Obama campaign, fighting hard to control their laughter, immediately came out with an ad trumpeting this much-coveted endorsement. The gift that keeps on giving.