What the shit is he putting in his tea?

Click image for full Adam Zyglis/Buffalo New cartoon.

I like my cigar

Click image for hilarious Chan Lowe/Sun-Sentinel cartoon.

I'll make it into propaganda

Newt Gingrich knows propaganda. You can bet that, even if Obama had stonily refrained from smiling, Newt would be making propaganda use of whatever Obama might do that Newt's wingnut target demographic might object to if told to be outraged. Or Newt could just make it up, no biggie.

Fear is the mind-killer

Contrast the Bushist response to North Korea with the Obama administration's response.

Bushist: Screaming, fear-mongering Chicken Little, followed by the silent treatment that a high school girl might inflict on her puppy love.

Obama: Measured, serious, reassuring. No panic, no stupidity. Diplomatic but no pushover.

Now, remind me, who are the grown-ups?

Time for ridicule, not a spanking?

As long as I can remember, North Korea's response to any controversy or criticism has been to take its hysterical rhetoric straight to DEFCON 2-year-old:

But Pyongyang said Thursday that it was ready for an "all-out confrontation" with South Korea, calling President Lee Myung-bak a traitor and accusing him of "frantically inciting hostility" toward North Korea and "kicking up ... war hysteria," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.

Their tantrums would be funny if they didn't have such a large and relatively well-fed army and an insane leader.

While it hardly seems productive to respond in kind - and Hillary doesn't - is it time to open up a new front in diplomacy and poke fun at their, ah, lack of maturity, perspective, and proportionality? Of course, as with most two-year-olds, North Korea's frantic screaming usually means they feel left out and want attention - and probably something else.

I'm guessing they need more food aid to feed everyone besides the army.

Click image for public domain notice.

Update (2/21): Hillary opts to spank North Korea:

"North Korea is not going to get a different relationship with the U.S. while insulting and refusing dialogue with the Republic of Korea," she said.

Lowering expectations

Any two-year-old who has learned to poop in a toilet can tell that McCain's suspension is not only bullshit but is pure political calculation.

McCain will show up to the debate, but his spinners will plead that the dog ate his homework if he's not ready for anything but the typical stock bumpersticker phrases. He'll say he's been spending all his time on the economy.

Barack should be ready to retort that he knows this debate was meant to be about foreign policy but that he's willing to talk about the economy off the cuff and without preparation (heh heh). And then he should smoke McCain's ignoramus ass about the credit meltdown and everything else.

That could close the deal.

I also found this pretty funny in a laugh or cry kind of way.

But Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, called McCain's decision to suspend his campaign the "greatest single act of responsibility ever taken by a [Republican] presidential candidate."

There. Fixed. Trust Newtie to be clueless and over the top about responsibility.