Category: Funny Stuff

Carly’s Boxer Blimp

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The Carly Fiorina campaign has released a follow-up to their much-lampooned “Demon Sheep” web video.  In this one, Barbara Boxer turns into a giant blimp because she’s full of hot air.  (Getcha popcorn ready, because it’s almost eight minutes long.)

Despite the ribbing from Fiorina’s primary opponents, ad maker Fred Davis claimed victory for the viral hit, pointing to its high number of YouTube views.  Davis might have a point.  The funny part of the Demon Sheep video – the campily costumed and Keds-clad sheep – came at the end, after the video had railed on fellow Republican candidate Tom Campbell’s fiscal street cred.  The Boxer Blimp wouldn’t attract nearly as much attention if it hadn’t been for its fluffy forefather.

Still, the video is as unfocused as it is comical and over the top.  The message shifts from the Senator being arrogant to incompetent to out of touch, and discusses taxes, environmental policy, financial restraint, national security, and Boxer’s personality with clumsy or non-existent segues.  The imagery is often uneven; at one point, the announcer accuses Boxer of being progressively “less and less effective” during her Senate tenure just as her image is smashing through the Capitol dome.

It does, however, tell a good story about Carly Fiorina – but unlike the Demon Sheep, the story comes after the CGI blimp attack.

But regardless of what anyone thinks of the style of the ads or how many viewers they attract, the one measure of effectiveness is at the polls.  That’s an area where Fiorina still lags behind.

(By the way, if you look closely, I’m pretty sure the shots of San Francisco include Alamo Square – more notably known as “Full House Hill” for its inclusion in the opening credits of the legendary and classic sitcom.)

Rove, Rove, Rove your boat

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Despite some stirrings on the right, there’s nothing wrong with Matt Lauer’s interview with Karl Rove, part of which aired yesterday morning.  The Today Show host was a bit combative, but journalists are supposed to be that way when talking with political figures.  (And sparring with a Republican is at least better than recycling the same five stories every morning and pretending like something is new.)

Matt Lewis had Rove on his podcast yesterday and came at the interview from a different angle.  If you are a politics junkie, it’s a good interview to listen to.  (For instance, Rove shares a hilarious story of a then-college-aged Lee Atwater’s first meeting with George H.W. Bush.)  It’s definitely worth a listen.

Sunday Funnies: Today, all funnies are local

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Charlie Rangel’s ethics problems have led to his electorally vulnerable Democrat colleagues giving back campaign donations from Rangel’s PAC in an effort to distance themselves from the erstwhile Ways and Means Chair.  (Incidentally, Rangel has this backward: usually step one is people giving you bags of money, and step two is the ethics investigation.)

The Republican Party of Virginia is asking why two Virginia Congressmen – including my own Representative, Gerry Connolly – haven’t given theirs back:

31 and forever young

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Last year, I celebrated my 30th birthday with a list of 30 lessons I had learned in 30 years on the planet, which I got a lot of good feedback for.  For 31, I only have one thing to share.

One advantage of having an early March birthday is that if you are a baseball fan, the Spring Training games are starting right now.  I am something of a baseball fan, so I’ve been reading up about the Yankees in Florida.  But a piece of news from the San Francisco Giants camp made me smile this week, when pitcher Tim Lincecum met the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr.:

It happened in the visitor’s clubhouse at Peoria Stadium, as Lincecum discussed his one-inning start against the Mariners. Griffey budged into a group of reporters and extended his hand.

“Lincy, what’s up?” Griffey said. “Just wanted to say hi.”

Then, as soon as he appeared, Griffey was gone, skipping out of enemy territory. “Nice meeting you!” Lincecum called out to him. He looked dazed and awed.

“Wow, he just came over here,” Lincecum said. “What were we talking about?”

The most obvious part of the story is Lincecum’s reaction.  Tim Lincecum has won the last two Cy Young awards and is among the best pitchers in baseball, if not the very best.  He signed a $23 million contract this winter and, when he becomes a free agent in a few years, will sign much bigger contract (if he stays healthy).  And when he met one of the players he grew up idolizing, he became 10 again.  Lincecum unwittingly reminds us that we shouldn’t let the responsibilities that we take on as we grow older keep us from enjoying the things that make us feel like a kid again.

But there’s another side to this.

By making the short trip from one clubhouse to another – a miniscule effort – Griffey made Lincecum’s day.  And as he shook the pitcher’s hand, surely a part of Griffey flashed back to the mid-90’s as well, when he was a skinny young kid himself with a sweet lefty swing saving the Seattle Mariners franchise.

The point is that being young at heart isn’t something you have to wait for – opportunities are created, not made.  Just make sure to grab ’em when you see ’em.

Sunday Funnies: Hitler makes a Hitler video

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Last week on the Matt Lewis Show, Matt and I joked about the Hitler video phenomenon – YouTube videos which re-subtitle a scene from the movie Downfall to make it seem like Adolph Hitler is complaining about HD-DVD losing out to Blu-ray, the Cowboys losing to the Giants, or most recently Scott Brown winning back The People’s Seat.

What would Hitler think of this?  I asked Matt.  This week he sent the answer:

Fiscal conservatives are sheep. Some are demon sheep.

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 6 Comments

Carly Fiorina’s Senate campaign gets points for creativity – releasing a web video to make a detailed case against her primary opponent, Tom Campbell, that just couldn’t be made in a thirty second ad.  But whoever cut and approved this ad has done more harm than good:

Likening conservative primary voters to sheep is a bad idea on its own, but Fiorina’s folks take it a step farther with the “demon sheep” at the very end.  It’s funny, but in a so-bad-it’s-funny kind of way, which is a bad thing for a political ad in a charged primary.

Sure enough, the parodies have begun almost instantly, and they have been thorough.  You can follow the Demon Sheep on Twitter (@DemonSheep) and ask questions of the unholy beast.  Campbell is using the ad as fund raising fodder, and it has likely helped his name recognition among prospective non-California donors.

More important, the ad – and not the message the ad was trying to convey – is the subject of discussion and media coverage, some of it quite tongue-in-cheek.

Happy Groundhog(s) Day

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

As the world waited breathlessly on Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction this morning, the Wall Street Journal entertainingly chronicled other, lesser-known groundhogs who predict the weather in other areas.  Apparently, the rivalries get pretty intense:

Bob Will has been trotting out Dunkirk Dave for up to 100 people since the 1960s, and he has a number of pet peeves about Phil… “I just think that maybe Punxsutawney Phil should predict the weather the way Dunkirk Dave does, standing on his own on the ground, instead of being yanked up in the air and held,” says Mr. Will. “We don’t fake it here.” He suspects the Punxsutawney Inner Circle consults the long-range weather forecast to make sure Phil doesn’t look foolish.

Don’t drive angry, Mr. Will.  The folks behind New York City’s Groundhog, Staten Island Chuck, have theories about Groundhog Day Central as well:

Peter Laline, general curator of the Staten Island Zoo, says Chuck has been right 22 of the past 29 years…  He thinks Punxsutawney’s celebration is “more storybook and fairy tale,” noting that the town claims that Phil has lived for 100 years by sipping magical punch.

The article did not mention Laline’s ruminations on whether the Rock is the real Tooth Fairy.

The folks at PETA have a different idea altogether: last week they called on the Inner Circle of Punxsutawney to abandon the tradition of parading a groundhog about.  Their solution?  Robot groundhogs.

Maybe the robots or the myriad less-famous groundhogs would be more likely to predict early springs.  But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.

Sunday Funnies: Learning economics doesn’t have to suck

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The President’s proposed spending freeze has touched off a debate between Keynesian liberals and free marketers over the role – and capabilities – of government spending.  Perhaps you have seen talking heads bickering about these theories, but the best way to articulate this century-old dichotomy of economic theory is, of course, a rap battle:

What does it say about the state of journalism that this actually outlines economic theories better