McCain is a secret Romulan

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge After watching this past weekend's "megachurch debate" McCain showed that he really has only two main planks in his platform - Kill It and Drill It. Killing and drilling is all he seems to know. Obama on the other hand can articulate subtle issues like health care, social injustice, unemployment, off-shoring (as in moving jobs off shore, not drilling), global warming, alternative energy, transportation, and diplomacy. Diplomacy is such a lost art it seems. When faced with a global conflict, deploying a diplomat is cheaper than deploying the 82nd Airborne. A diplomat will need a laptop, cell phone, air fare, hotel room, and a few cab rides. That is dirt cheap when compared to lugging half of Jacksonville, NC all the way around the world. Diplomats may be forceful, but they do not kill, especially innocent civilians. They don't accidentally level schools, hospitals or baby milk factories. McCain has never been able to articulate his ideas about diplomacy, probably because it doesn't involve gunpowder. Lastly, if you don't get today's strip, click HERE.

What Hillary’s Umbrella Is Protecting

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeToday's commentary is light because it is my birthday and I am relaxing today! w00t! Anyway, a tiny bit of commentary I guess. Hillary's nuclear umbrella bothers me. What are we protecting besides oil with her umbrella? Dictatorial societies and cultures that are repressive to women, unfriendly towards the west and loves to kill Jews. I am not sure protecting Sharia Law and Wahhabism is a good mission for our soldiers to die over. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

Paris Hilton Ruins Everything

click to enlarge I think it is becoming harder and harder for Bush to find folks to do his dirty work. I can't keep track of the scandals nor the tangled web of indictments, subpoenas, convictions, appeals, hearings, charges, investigations and trials. With an approval rate of 28%, the Republicans in Congress are starting to see the anchor around their neck from the USS BushCo. Bullies tend not to maintain long-term friendships. I fail to understand why the privileged still believe the law doesn't apply to them. I see Paris Hilton as how Bush probably was in his 20's - a whiny, white, rich brat expecting the rules and the law not to apply to them. Artist Note: Every time I write a series, it tends to morph along the way because I always try to tie today's events into the storyline. I can be difficult at times since I usually will have written the story months before it is published. Today is such a morph. I can't believe Paris Hilton is begging her fans to ask the Governator for a reprieve. Good grief.

Peaceful Solutions Seen In Middle East, BushCo Outraged.

click to enlarge Yes, Mr. Bush, there are tools other than guns... we call them words and they always seem to fail you. "The solution to Iraq -- an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself -- is more than a military mission. Precisely the reason why I sent more troops into Baghdad." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2007 There is nothing dishonorable in diplomacy, it is a very old form of statecraft where every word and meaning is carefully spliced together so the other party will understand exactly what you are saying. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Is there any wonder why you would suck at it? So please stay out of it and let the adults in the State Department (or maybe the Speaker of the House - because the Speaker SPEAKS) try to clean up the messes you've made. And if you really want to make an positive impact on the Middle East, just resign. Just quit. Chuck it all and go back to your brush in Crawford, Texas. Oh wait, you are there already... on vacation, again.

Diplomacy: A San Francisco Value

click to enlarge If BushCo refuses to participate in diplomacy, somebody should and that somebody is Speaker Pelosi. Of course, Bush is very upset that someone upstaged him in the Middle East (not hard to do) and made him look bad (he does that all by himself) by getting things done. From the San Francisco Chronicle: President Bush is nettled that Pelosi is playing at Mideast negotiator, if, indeed, her visit to Damascus goes that far. Yet, her scheduled meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, an established troublemaker in Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, is a useful counterweight to the White House's record of diplomatic neglect and malpractice in the region. She has paid the customary visit to Israel to pledge U.S. support and gone to a memorial in Lebanon to a leader believed assassinated with Syrian help. These are the usual stops for an American politician. But because she is third in line to the president in the U.S. government, a visit to outcast Syria carries risks. Pelosi is unimpressed with the White House posture of ignoring Assad until he comes begging. Far better, she indicates, to talk face-to-face about his support for Iraqi car-bombers or missiles for Hezbollah fighters on Israel's northern border. And guess who is providing diplomatic help with Britian in an attempt to gain freedom for the captured sailors and marines? Syria. More indications emerged today of the role Syria is playing in the diplomacy. The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, told the newspaper Al-Anba that the situation needed "quiet diplomacy", which Syria was involved in. Syria has long been the Arab country closest to Iran, a non-Arab state.