Here are several brilliant editorial cartoons from today's Pookie collection.



Is that dirt? Or another byproduct of Hillary's campaign?



Is that dirt? Or another byproduct of Hillary's campaign?

Drudge still has the story. But it begs the question: what the heck is going on?
I warned them and warned them and warned them.
Who?
Every one of 'em. I told them what would happen if they got close in Iowa.
What?
That they could expect the worst.
What's the worst?
For, lo, ignorant one. It has been foretold by the brothers Rodham and writ in stone by the forty-second King. It has been anointed with the blood of Hsu and Paul, then sealed and glazed in the fire of the satanic Hillraisers. Those who arise to throw off my yolk and who seek to stop my ascent to the throne shall themselves be destroyed. THEY WILL DROWN IN A SEA OF THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS! THE RED STATES WILL BLEED BLUE BLOOD AND ALL WHO OPPOSE ME SHALL BE MADE TO SUFFER FOR ALL ETERNITY!
Why are you shouting? And why did the sky just turn red for a moment?
Oh, er, uhm, I'm not sure.
Anyhow, I take it that's how you rationalized releasing publicity of Obama's drug use and Edwards' secret love child?
You've got it, Sparky.
This solution is designed to win bipartisan support because it will contain the earmarks for pork barrel spending back home dearly desired on both sides of the aisle. It became clear a week ago that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was in negotiation with Majority Leader Harry Reid for a bill to finance multiple new earmarks by means of across-the-board reduction in government programs. What's more, a little rules chicanery will hide an estimated 12,000 new earmarks, including pork that previously had not been passed by any chamber and is "airdropped" into the bill. The wily legislators have found a way to get around new ethics rules that require disclosure of all such spending.

Since taking office in 2001, Clinton has delivered $500 million worth of earmarks that have specifically benefited 59 corporations. About 64% of those corporations provided funds to her campaigns through donations made by employees, executives, board members or lobbyists, a review by the Los Angeles Times shows...
All told, Clinton has earmarked more than $2.3 billion in federal appropriations for projects in her state since her election to the Senate... Clinton does significantly more earmarking than most others with her relatively low level of seniority...
Her record stands in contrast with others in the Senate seeking the presidency, particularly John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). McCain, who has long opposed earmarks, does not write them... Among other Democratic presidential candidates who serve in the Senate, there is a correlation between donations and earmarks for private entities, though none of the contenders have been as consistent as Clinton...
...let's play a little game of wild conspiracy theory - as the wingnuts do on the left. Let's say the Saudis did intend to buy off Clinton. Let's say they wanted to appease the Wahabbists in their country who had grown strong after the gulf war. Let's assume a wave of radical Islam was washing over the kingdom and the royal family decided the only way to survive was to ally with Bin Laden's forces.
Ok, everything up until that last part about partnering with Bin Laden is actually true! Sorry, I was supposed to be wildly speculating not repeating known facts. Old habits hard to break.Let's assume Bill Clinton and the Democrats also realized the damage from his Impeachment were going to give the GOP control of all three elected centers of power in DC (Congress, Senate, White House). Let's say they were sufficiently concerned with being locked out of power for years to come they were willing to leave the GOP President all sorts of messes to clean up. Some of it would be simple vandalism of the White House. But other options might include bungling of the hand over of the levers of government.
OK, Ok,… I am doing it again! All that happened. Let me see if I can get it right this time.So a desperate Democrat Leadership, out to cripple the incoming Bush administration, allies with Saudi leaders who had promised to release the pressure on Bin Laden and give him some more room to operate. The Saudis donate huge amounts of money to the Clinton library, Clinton starts fumbling the effort to track down Bin Laden. The Saudis promise Bin Laden his minions more access to America and they get special permission from Clinton's administration to set up a visa program that blinds US intelligence to who is getting access. Clinton only makes one request, don't do anything why he is President, then his team fails to alert the incoming Bush team of the threat from Bin Laden and his group.
OK, that seems much better - no facts, simple speculation. Let's see what else we can do here?Everyone assumed Bush would be overwhelmed by the attack and the country will turn to Gore or the Dems in 2004 when he did fumble. It did not happen. And then the whole thing almost fell apart. For those who knew, it was not surprising that National Security Advisor Sandy Berger had to go in and destroy some evidence that was accidentally left behind (all the rest had been destroyed years ago - as evidenced by deletion of all the Able Danger data) during the nation's investigation of the events leading up to 9-11. It was a close call, the entire Clinton-Saudi deal had almost been exposed.
Democrats knew they would have to support Bush initially, but there was always the back up plan in case he did not falter. That plan included the leaking of fake stories about fake forged intelligence to the media, claiming Bush lied to America to support his strategic decisions. It also included the exposure of our national security tools like the NSA and SWIFT program so that Bin Laden's minions could plan how to get around them and succeeding in a second attack. Because a second successful attack would allow the Dems to paint Bush as incompetent, no matter how many attacks he diverted.
Mmmm, I seem to be drifting back into fact based reality again. Let me see if I can make a huge leap here and get this conspiracy theory really moving.When no more attacks happened the Democrats had only one more option left - they needed to make sure America lost the war in Iraq. If that happened then they could still stick with their plan to show Bush as incompetent and convince the nation new leadership would be required. Now the deal they made with the Saudis to remove the pressure in Bin Laden had faded into the dark past. There was no hope anyone would know of their collusion to take power by allowing the US to be attacked on their opponent's watch.
So they did what they could to lose Iraq, calling for reduction of troops, pushing useless and impossible milestones on the Iraqi government. And they saw their plans finally start to pay off. Iraq became a violent disaster in the making and they were able to take over Congress. All they needed to do was seal the fate of the GOP was make sure al-Qaeda could win. They even sent their top leader to Syria to meet with President Assad to discuss how to play the game once Bush was out of office and the Islamists and Democrats would stage cease-fire as part of their power sharing agreement.
Then something truly bad happened - Iraqis rose up and joined the American forces to defeat al-Qaeda. Bush was succeeding and heading to victory. And there had not been an attack on the country despite their attempts to disable our defenses. The Democrats had less than a year to make something happen so they could blame Bush and the GOP. Then the Clinton machine came up with their most devious and risky plan yet…..
Boy, coming up with wild conspiracy theories is pretty interesting, but I think I prefer to stick with reality.

Frank Rich: Mrs. Clinton’s shrill campaign continues to cast her as Nixon to Mr. Obama's Kennedy.
Don Surber and Jammie Wearing Fool have more.
The Washington Post is reporting that more than 10% of the funds raised for the Clinton Presidential Library came from foreign sources. And the royal family of Saudi Arabia provided about $10 million of that sum.The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has for months faced questions about the source of the money for her husband's presidential library. During a September debate, moderator Tim Russert asked the senator whether her husband would release a donor list. Clinton said she was sure her husband would "be happy to consider that," though the former president later declined to provide a list of donors.
Former president Bill Clinton said Thursday that he will not reveal the names of donors to the Clinton Presidential Library unless he is required to by law... the issue of contributions to the Clinton library has gotten fresh attention [with the scandal concerning] disgraced Clinton fund-raiser Norman Hsu... Clinton aides have declined to say whether Hsu has given any money to the foundation that funds the Clinton Presidential Library, or whether such funds have been returned...
"It's not that she's a woman. It's that she's that woman." --Me. Just now.
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift blames Bill:Hillary was doing pretty well on her own until Bill [compared] his declaration that he was against the Iraq war from the beginning. That little bit of revisionist history landed like a live grenade in the middle of Hillary's campaign, exploding a year's worth of positioning to put the Iraq war vote behind her.
Dick Morris blames Hillary: ...the more voters come to know Hillary Clinton the less they like her and the more they get to know Barack Obama the more they like him...
Hillary is trapped by her own do-it-yourself feminist ethos. She should have surrogates out there pounding away at Obama [Ed: Huh?] [Bill's] circle is beginning to complain, loudly, about how Hillary is running her campaign. That kind of circular firing squad chatter is the first sign of a campaign headed into oblivion.
Barack Obama claims that panic is a likely cause: Obama said Clinton's former staffer's comment smacked of desperation.
...Her campaign has been hobbled by several serious missteps, including an ill-advised effort to portray Obama as a power-seeker who has coveted the White House since kindergarten....
New Hampshire voters say that Obama's newcomer status helps: Informal interviews with voters yesterday in Concord turned up several leaning toward Obama. Those voters described Obama in much the same way the Illinois senator describes himself: as an agent of change, a new face in Washington... [he] "offers sort of a fresh start, more of a clean slate, less baggage..."
[She] doesn't actually have an A team, that her advisers have always been chosen more for proven loyalty than talent, that her supporters don't feel deep affection for her. [Her] guru-pollster, the almost universally disliked Mark Penn, has, according to Newsday, become the focus of charges that he has "mistakenly run Clinton as a de facto incumbent" and that the top officials on the campaign have never had a real understanding of Iowa...
Obama's staffers blamed the politics of personal destruction: ...Obama's campaign continued to criticize Clinton for what it said was a pattern of using "gratuitous, personal attacks as a weapon in politics..."
What was it about that exchange over immigration that it now threatens months and months of effective campaigning and a series of debate performances in which Clinton was judged superior to Obama and the other Democrats in the field?


I have been tested. I have been vetted. There are no surprises... Whoever we nominate is going to be subjected to the full force of the Republican attack machine.
Top 10 Good Things about the Greenhouse Effect - August 10, 198810. Melting polar ice caps make for better surfing.
9. Long lines at Disney World reduced by sunstroke.
8. With five years, Jerry Lewis' hair will be bone dry.
7. Can use "stuck in road tar" as acceptable excuse for missing work.
6. ABC will take a $200 million bath on Winter Olympics.
5. Intense heat should open pores in General Noriega's forehead.
4. My dog-shaving business will take off.
3. "I'm dehydrated" will replace "I'm not gonna pay a lot for this muffler" as America's favorite phrase.
2. Can cook lobster by lowering it into toilet.
1. Hot babes, less clothes. 'Nuff said.
10. Kicked 12 year-old boy to get McGwire home run ball
9. He's the real reason behind Matt Damon-Minnie Driver breakup
8. Wedding ring he gave to Hillary? Cubic Zirconia
7. Sold secret puffy thigh technology to Yeltsin
6. Once tried to build a bong out of Al Gore
5. Broke into the Watergate just for the hell of it
4. When family goes to movies, makes Chelsea pretend she's under 13
3. Paid Ken Starr to write a report that would "make him look like a stud"
2. At state dinner, once accidentally hit on Hillary
1. Secretly sold Delaware to Chinese for $500
The concerns about Clinton, 60, a New York senator, are that she is devious, calculating and, fairly or not, a divisive figure in American politics.

Candor and authenticity were repeatedly cited. "I don't feel like I look at her and see someone who's telling me the whole truth," said Allison Lowrey, a 30-year-old human resources consultant from Philadelphia...
Things are tense in Hillaryland these days.
Her once-commanding advantage over Obama in Iowa and New Hampshire - the two critical initial contests - is evaporating. She has gotten the worst of recent exchanges over Iran and health care.
There are political strains with her greatest asset and surrogate, Bill Clinton. The former president was quoted last month as saying he had really opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. He later claimed he was misquoted.

Top Clinton campaign officials were privately furious at the former president, saying he had revived the complaint that the Clintons lack credibility, unfairly tarnishing his wife in the process.

...her campaign has a near-obsession with what it perceives as a hostile press. They were incensed by a story in The New York Times that reported skepticism about Hillary's contention that her proposal to overhaul health care would help a lot more people than the plan of her rival.

It's a good bet that Clinton, encouraged by her husband, is weighing a shake-up, like bringing in John Podesta, the former White House chief of staff, to direct the overall campaign. The question is whether it is too late and too awkward before those first contests, which are to be held in three and a half weeks.
If she can't adjust and rise to this challenge, however, she may well finish third in the Iowa caucuses and lose to Obama in New Hampshire. In the past 30 years, no candidate has lost both these tests and won the nomination.
Hillary Rodham (C), a lawyer for the Rodino Committee and John Doar (L), Chief Counsel for the committee, bring impeachment charges in 1974 against President Richard Nixon in the Judiciary Committee.
Wow. When Hillary was young, she was simply stunning. Stunning. It's easy to see what Bill saw in her.




I know this last one isn't a political cartoon, but it sent shivers down my spine. Don't know about you, but that's how I could imagine heaven to be.