Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Narcissism 101: Political Fallout’s Top Posts of 2008

T.M.: Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who in this blogsphere is fairest of all?


Mirror: You, my creator, are the fairest of them all.

Ah yes, nothing smacks of narcissism more than an obedient mirror -- except of course anyone crazy enough to run for president of the U.S., because they think have what it takes to speak for the entire free world.

Or worse, someone crazy enough to start a blog because he or she thinks the entire world wants to hear what they have to say.

That said, I’ve compiled this year’s top posts on Political Fallout based on number of times viewed. Granted, due to my adventures in writing straight journalism this year, my satiric voice was less prolific than last year and suffered from comedic laryngitis. However, I have managed to resurrect Political Fallout this month and my satiric voice is slowly returning to the page.

Drum roll please…

Political Fallout’s Top Posts of 2008:

No. 1: Obama Plagiarizes Bob the Builder in NH Concession Speech

While watching his concession speech after the New Hampshire loss to Hillary Clinton, this was the first time Obama infused his catch-phrase: “Yes We Can!” Living in what has become a Bob the Builder household (which I declared to help offset the “War on the Wiggles”), I couldn’t help but give attribution where it belonged. Surprisingly, Obama’s catch-phrase has survived any Bob-the-Builder plagiarism allegations and has become a mainstay of the Obama phenomenon.

No. 2: How Will Clinton Spin Out of Potomac Spanking Machine?

After Hillary got handedly spanked by the Obama Campaign Machine in the Potomac states, two of her top-level campaigns stepped down, while the rest of us sat back and watched how she would spin her way out of these primary defeats. People keep coming back to this post for whatever reason, more than likely research-op interns gathering ammunition to tear down the Clinton Machine. (I wish Rove's mommy would take his computer away from him for once and for all.)

No. 3: GOP’s Trusty Invisible Hand Fist F*cks the Trickled Down…Again

I never bought into Adam Smith’s free-market myth resurrected in the 1980s by President Ronald Reagan. The theory doesn’t account for the greed factor, especially in today’s corporate context, wherein greed is a prerequisite and not an exception to the rule.

Given the current and ongoing economic meltdown, these big wigs are falling like dominoes.

Unfortunately the people on the bottom are breaking these fat cats’ fall.

No. 4: Dear American People: Please Excuse General Motors for Driving its Company into the Ground

Having been privy to several real-life excuse letters from today’s helicopter parents, I though it apropos to apply this medium to those folks who are supposed to be models of responsibility. General Motor’s economic crash is partly due to other market factors, but ultimately they were the source of their undoing, once again illustrating the the myth of the free market.

No. 5: Insourcing Rock ’n’ Roll: Guess Who Invades Coralville’s 4thFest

This was my video debut and the camera work looks more like something out of “The Blair Witch Project” than first-rate investigative journalism. Nonetheless, we need to expose washed-up bands from other countries, who come to America and take jobs away from hardworking garage bands looking for their next meal ticket to stardom.

Jib Jab’s 2008 Year in Review: The End of Democracy as We Know It?

Looking back, the year 2008 may earmark the end of Democracy’s Bronze Age in America. Politicians opened Pandora’s political box and unleashed a maelstrom of the Seven Deadly Sins on an unsuspecting electorate.

Unfortunately, the decline of democracy is no laughing matter – unless you’re Osama bin Laden, Lucifer and/or Dick Cheney – who are down below perfecting their sinister laughs around a bonfire while stoking its flames with Our Constitution.

However, the folks at Jib Jab did manage to capture this year’s decline of democracy in a short animated piece:

Jib Jab’s 2008 Year in Review:

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Despite capitalism and democracy’s fall this year, Pandora and President-elect Barack Obama did manage to shut HOPE in-a-box. Moreover, Obama managed to capitalize on HOPE during his campaign, which hopefully will help stop the bleeding and restore faith in our Democracy.

We can only HOPE: "Yes We Can!"