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The voters have their own agenda in this cartoon by Denver Post cartoonist Mike Keefe.

Keefe also addresses the issue of John McCain’s age, but I don’t think his age is the issue.

George W. Bush is promising to help victims of this week’s storms in five southern states:

President Bush told those affected by a string of deadly tornadoes in the South that the U.S. government will help them and the rest of the country is praying for them.

Bush will visit damaged areas in Tennessee today.

Imagine what comfort the victims of the storms will take from Bush’s words and his brief presence, knowing how he helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Pray hard, folks.

Comedian Bill Maher was on Larry King on Monday night, just before the Super Tuesday primaries. They talked about the Obama “phenomenon“:

MAHER: I just think there’s something there that we haven’t seen in decades — you know, people getting involved who never got involved before. He’s stirring something. You know, he got like 14,000 people in Idaho or some place where there’s only 12,000 Democrats. He got 14,000 to come to a stadium. And, you know, it’s something that’s — it’s beyond politics. And that’s, I think, what a lot of this country has been looking for.

In the last presidential election, I think, the figure is 79 million people who could have voted and did not. Those are the people, I think, who are getting involved. And I’ve said this before, I think if the people who don’t vote voted, those are basically liberal voters. Conservatives tend to be squares, and I don’t say that in a derisive way — they’re just the kind of people who get up early and vote. And liberals tend to be in a nightclub at night or, you know, they’re — they’re younger, they’re poorer. They’re perhaps more self- involved — they’re a lot of things, but I think if there was mandatory voting, if someone went to everybody’s apartment and grabbed you by the scruff of your neck and said “You have to pick somebody, now get in there and pick,” I think you’d find out that this country is lot more liberal than people realize.

Responding to a videotaped question, Maher talked about what racial politics and the country’s response to Obama:

VIDEO QUESTIONER: Who do you think middle America is more ready for? A white woman or a black man as president?

MAHER: It depends on what you mean by middle America. That’s a broad term. I always think America, if you scratch the surface, they’re more liberal than you think, especially the younger people, who may be actually voting this time. If by middle America you mean the South, no. I think there’s still residual racism in the south, but not, again, as much as people think.

But, yes, I think they’re more ready for a woman.

But not this black man. That black man doesn’t strike them as such a black man. I always say, he’s like the Halle Berry of politics. For hundreds of years, people were like, “I wouldn’t go near a black woman, but boy, I would kiss Halle Berry. I think I would make an exception for her.”

KING: We’ve never really had anyone like him.

MAHER: Never. It’s a phenomenon. You cannot recruit a phenomenon. As long as you have it, you may as well take advantage of it, Democrats.

On Hillary Clinton:

I do think that if she got the job, she’d be an extremely capable executive and it would be, you know, light years better than what we have now. But I just think that we’re at a point in our history where we need to hear the words, “And now for something completely different.” We want that breath of fresh air, just like 1960.

(The linked video has only part of the interview. The transcript has errors, but appears to be complete.)

He spent it, all right.

Political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz observed George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address with an urgent message from Uncle Sam.

Barack Obama told the editorial board of the Reno Journal Gazette that “I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.”

Now, Bill Clinton talks trajectories in a cartoon by Don Asmussen:

Via Eschaton, Fox News’ coverage of Rudy Giuliani, “fair, balanced and unafraid.”

But not America’s President.

How did we come to this?

Mitt Romney’s failure to eat fried chicken with the skin on is nothing short of blasphemy here in the South, according to GOP rival Mike Huckabee.

I blame this organization.

George W. Bush works to secure his legacy:

With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials.

This emerging American negotiating position faces a potential buzz saw of opposition from Iraq, with its fragmented Parliament, weak central government and deep sensitivities about being seen as a dependent state, according to these officials.

At the same time, the administration faces opposition from Democrats at home, who warn that the agreements that the White House seeks would bind the next president by locking in Mr. Bush’s policies and a long-term military presence.

Skeptical Iraqis are asking, “So this is democracy? Shut up and do what I tell you?”

The Administration can just point to the U.S. Senate, which seems ready to roll over and grant unconsitutional powers to Bush:

The Republican leadership in the Senate made their move early Thursday evening, successfully blocking any votes on amendments to the intelligence bill and forcing the Senate to vote only on the Administration-approved bill worked out by the Senate Intelligence committee. …

The Intel committee bill expands the government’s wiretapping authority and gives immunity to the telecoms that helped the government secretly spy on Americans without getting the warrants required by law.

The Iraqis thought they were getting Democracy. What they got was MAD — Modern American Democracy. What a gyp!

I owe an apology to George W. Bush and the whole Bush Administration. I’ve been saying that they told thousands and thousands of lies during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

I was wrong.

A new study says they made only 935 false statements:

According to the study, Bush and seven top officials — including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice — made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources — mainly quotes from major media organizations.

I’m deeply ashamed of over-stating the case against Bush and Co. I’m very, very, very sorry.

Repeating, for the record: they only made 935 false statements.

That’s completely different.

Only part of this speech is famous. It’s worth hearing the whole thing.

A short clip from my favorite Martin Luther King speech is here.

Unless George W. Bush declares a State of Emergency and cancels the November elections — which seems moderately unlikely without Alberto Gonzales as his chief legal advisor — we will inaugurate a new president one year from today.

Surveying the field of surviving candidates from both parties, I feel confident that, no matter which candidate becomes president next year, the inauguration will be a huge, huge upgrade.

But will it be enough?

For years, I’ve felt that our constitutional system was hanging by a thread. But in recent months, I haven’t believed that.

I believe the thread has snapped.

The Constitution needs friends. But George W. Bush, sworn to “preserve, protect, and defend” it, has instead trampled it. The Congress, sworn to support the Constitution, has rolled over time after time. They’ve gutted the writ of habeas corpus. Congressional Democrats joined with Republicans to pass flatly unconstitutional laws — granting Bush authority to bypass constitutionally-required warrants, for example. Right-wing federal judges look the other way or even approve the Administration’s crimes against the Constitution.

As Judge Learned Hand said in 1944: “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.”

So we, the people of the United States, face a great question in 2008: does liberty lie in our hearts? Will we take back this country? Will we restore the Constitution?

Picture this: next year, the new President — whoever it is — repeats the oath of office after the Chief Justice.

“I do solemnly swear …”

“that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States …”

“and will to the best of my ability …”

“preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Imagine, at the word “Constitution,” that a mighty roar comes from ten thousand, then fifty thousand, then a hundred thousand throats. Dignitaries on the stand leap to their feet, applauding. The roar becomes wave after wave of cheers and applause from the crowd, loud enough and continuous enough to stop the proceedings for several minutes. A thunderous ovation, not for the new president, but for the Constitution, which needs friends, and has them.

When, after several minutes, the cheers and applause finally fade, the new president finishes:

“So help me, God.”

Let’s take the country back.

Many years ago, I worked with a guy whose outgoing personality I envied. He was a glad-hander, a back-slapper, with a winning smile and a ready wit. Almost everybody who met him liked him instantly.

But it didn’t take long at all — a few days, maybe a few weeks — to see that he was also a lying, manipulative, back-stabbing weasel. He didn’t hide it. He would — confidentially, of course — show me just how he’d tricked or cheated someone else. Undoubtedly, he confidentially entertained others by telling them how he was fooling me.

Everybody saw through him eventually, but I don’t think he ever suspected just how transparent his dishonesty was to everyone.

I haven’t thought of that guy for years, but Mitt Romney reminds me of him.

It’s startling to see a reporter call a politician on a lie. It’s not surprising that campaign aides consider that “unprofessional.” Yeah, you sure don’t see the profession doing that very often.

I wanted to mark the new year by observing a minute of silence for each American soldier who died in Iraq in 2007. I wanted to think about each of those lost lives, about their hopes, about their heartbroken families.

Sixty seconds for an entire life — it’s a feeble gesture, I know. But I wanted, by devoting just one minute to contemplation of a single life, to get some sense of the scale and scope of the sacrifices made in Iraq by our men and women in uniform.

In 2007, there were 901 U.S. deaths in Iraq. That’s fifteen hours and one minute of silence.

In March, the Iraq war will enter its sixth year.

Now I want to scream.

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow reviews 2007.

Part 1 and Part 2:

Well, 2008 is a new year. Maybe things will be better this year. Hope — foolish, foolish hope — springs eternal.