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In the quirky vortex where politics, popular culture and the Internet meet, TBO.com producer Michele Jones writes Polipopublog.
Help Michele avoid navel gazing by sending comments, ideas or snark to share.
Comment here or email directly.

My dear, loyal Polipopublog and generically titled "Election 2004 Online" blog readers (anyone? anyone? Bueller?), I am leaving you.

Specifically, I am leaving Florida for Chicago, the land where everyone swears I'm going to freeze to death.

I'm trading Nelson and Martinez for Obama and Durdin and leaving you Jeb Bush for some governor whose name I can't pronounce.

You keep the hurricanes. I'll take the snowstorms.

I don't have any grand words of snark to impart, so instead I will leave the two quotes I've had on my computer here at TBO for the past several years:

1. From the show 'Scrubs': "No matter where you go in life, always keep an eye out for Johnny the Tackling Alzheimer's Patient."

and

2. From one of my daily horoscopes (Aries): "You aren't paranoid if people really are out to get you."

These thoughts won't give you the secret to life or even the secret to snarky political commentary... but they're funny.

So goodbye, shalom, au revoir, adios, etc.

That's all folks.

Nothing is too silly for Polipopublog. Not even flip-flops.

I've never seen so much (read: any) coverage of flip-flops as I have in the last year.

Am I missing something?

Karl Rove says he learned that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA from Chicago Sun-Time's Bob Novak (story here), then told Time's Matt Cooper. Novak was the first person to reveal Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent. Cooper and The New York Time's Judith Miller only reported her name after she was outed.

Judith Miller is in jail, Matt Cooper is testifying, and Democrats are calling for calling Karl Rove's resignation.

What's happening to Bob Novak? Nothing.

Am I missing something? That's not a rhetorical question -- I'm actually asking.

Here are some blogosphere rumblings about Novak:

Some people have all the luck. This guy is getting paid $100,000 a year by Country Music Television to watch reruns of Dukes Of Hazzard and write a blog about it.

If anyone would like to offer me a similar salary (or a little less, that's fine) to cover reruns of Friends or Seinfeld, I'm all over it. I'll even celebrate Festivus.

Tom DeLay's a little mad.

A recent episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" referenced DeLay in a story line about the murder of a federal judge. Apparently, one of the L&O cop characters quipped, "Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt."

I think that's funny. DeLay didn't, even though he has admitted that his comments regarding judges having "to answer for their behavior" in the Terri Schiavo case were "inartful."

I'm a little behind in my Star Wars viewing. I still need to see 'Episode II' before I check out the new one. Apparently, I need to catch up quick though, because the galactic series has gone political... at least according to some.

Several blogs and a few stories have pointed out a supposed comparison between Darth Vader and President Bush, particularly a line where Vader echoes Bush's "you're either with us or you are with the terrorists" sentiment by telling Obi-Wan Kenobi, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan responds, "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes."

Ummm... okay... Could be... I'll have to see the movie before I weigh in on this, but it seems to me that "you're either with us or against us" is an old saying. Neither Bush nor Vader invented it. But the idea is most commonly associated with Bush's quote these days.

Since there are plenty of comparisons between Star Wars and philosophy, Star Wars and religion, and Star Wars and myriad other real-world studies, why not throw in politics, too?

Here's a sampling of the discussion:

I hate mandatory registration on news Web sites. My information is floating around in too many places as it is, and each site requires a different format for user names and passwords and I can't keep track of them all.

Problem solved: BugMeNot.com.

Jeb Bush may insist that he's not running for president in 2008, but his participation in high-profile, international diplomatic delegations strongly implies that a run for the White House is on the table for future elections.

This weekend, Jeb! went to the Vatican for the installation of Pope Benedict XVI. This follows a trip earlier in the year to Asia to tour tsunami damaged areas with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.

It all makes sense: One of the criticisms of George W. Bush when he ran for the Big Prize in 2000 was a lack of international experience. As a governor, Jeb! would face similar criticism. He'll end his second term as Florida governor in 2006, then have several years to get involved with the Republican Party on the the national level before running in 2012 or 2016. Spacing a few years between his brother and himself will separate Jeb! from W's shadow.

I love this idea! One of the best days of my semester in Washington D.C. was Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day at the ice cream store around the corner from the office of my boring internship. Now Ben & Jerry's is giving away ice cream in protest.

The Washington Post (I got this via Wonkette) reports: "As part of its "Lick Global Warming" campaign, the gang at Ben & Jerry's is protesting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by whipping up the world's largest Baked Alaska to plop down in front of the U.S. Capitol today.

The lovely dessert is anticipated to weigh 1,140 pounds and measure 4 feet tall and 4 feet around, with the help of 3,600 four-ounce scoops of Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel ice cream, 90 pounds of cake and 150 pounds of marshmallow cream."

Slowly, maybe surely, the politicos are finding the Internet's many uses as a message machine. A couple months ago I pointed out a Social Security calculator that Senate Democrats used to criticize the Bush Social Security plans. During the election, the Republicans had some creative Kerry-bashing games on their site.

Now, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee introduces Tom DeLay's House of Scandal. (Again, I found this at the Daily Kos. Kos is onto everything... at least everything liberal.) The House of Scandal uses a Flash piece to illustrate the web of DeLay's alleged transgressions of ethical and legal boundaries.

In a non-election year, this is the kind of story that gets overlooked. In an election year (at least in 2004), this would be huge: Florida Ban on Felon Voting Is Upheld.

The 160-year-old law that prevents convicted felons from having their voting rights restored was the focal point of controversey after the 2000 election debacle and again in 2004 when the state issued an inaccurate list of voters to be purged from the roles.

Lawyers for ex-felons suing to have their voting rights restored will appeal to the Supreme Court. They have 1 1/2 years to straighten it out for the mid-terms.

This article in the New York Times discusses the use of cell phone cameras by pilgrims visiting the body of Pope John Paul II.

We received a comment from a TBO.com reader who saw on CNN people taking these pictures and was offended. I'm not offended, because I don't see the difference between a person snapping their own pictures and the Vatican taking official photos of the pope's body and distributing them to the media.

I personally don't want to see pictures of any dead body, but I know that viewing the body of a deceased loved one is how many people mourn. And taking a personal picture is a more personal way to mourn than having a copy of an official photo.

As much as the Terri Schiavo case SHOULDN'T be a political issue, everyone knows it is now. The blogosphere is all over this. Here's a sampling:

• The Daily Kos: "I just saw a clip on CNN of Randall Terry promising that Republicans at all levels will have "hell to pay" for cynically using the "pro-Life" movement if they don't "save" Terri Schiavo. Terry accused the GOP of using the Religious Right to gain power and then doing nothing when in power. This is the proverbial 'tiger by the tail' for the GOP. The GOP needs its extremists to gain power, but can not reward these extremists and remain in power."
• Electablog: Dave Pell's written a lot about this situation, including many harsh words for Jeb Bush and Tom Delay and those of the religious right. "This really is a sick attack on the dignity of our courts, our government and what's left of the value we place on reason. And it's coming from the very top. We need to wake up out here in the secular world. This is horrible stuff and a ridiculous abuse of power."
• RedState.org: Writers here are condemning Judge Greer, but also discussing the lasting effects of the case on the Republican party. "There is a lot of activist energy on the Schiavo matter. When Mrs. Schiavo dies, I would expect people like Dobson, Gary Bauer, Mrs. Schlafly, etc to harness the energy and turn it towards the judicial nominations battle and state law reforms on this issue."
• FlaBlog: As usual, FlaBlog runs a good roundup of Florida coverage.

I'm currently reading Joe Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the story of Trippi's role as campaign manager for Howard Dean. Before Dean took a nose-dive in Iowa, his campaign put fear into the hearts of traditional politicos everywhere, or at least made them take notice. Using the Internet to mobilize people around the country, the campaign raised an unprecedented amount of money from average Americans instead of relying on corporate donations.

As Trippi says, the candidate lost, but the campaign won. Future elections will show how much the campaign influenced others in politics. Traditionalists are still very resistant to using the Internet as a significant tool in campaigning, but this book illustrates the strengths of this medium and highlights some of the pitfalls the Dean campaign hit.

I had been planning to write a blog about the improving relations between Democrats and Republicans in our country since the election. My basis for this was the new friendship between former President George H.W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton. Even before pairing up to raise money for tsunami relief, the two former political rivals were becoming buddies.

I see this relationship as very encouraging. If a Republican leader and the father of the most polarizing Republican in recent history can genuinely enjoy the company of the most polarizing Democrat in recent history, there's hope for the rest of our politically divided country.

When the Supreme Court declared recently that execution of minors is unconstitutional, they cited America's status as the only Western country to still allow the practice. This wasn't the only reason to disallow execution of minors, but it was the one that annoyed some people. More than a few Americans dislike the idea the U.S. would bow to pressure from the international community.

Regardless of whether you give heed to what the rest of the world thinks of us, I believe it's important to at least know how we're perceived around the world, if just for the sake of being informed or having perspective.

Pollster John Zogby, who usually takes polls about real presidents, has made a foray into the fictional kind. A new Zogby poll has Jimmy Smits' Democratic character beating Alan Alda's Republican character in the West Wing election. Martin Sheen can't run again because of term limits.

Given the candidates' fictitious status, I'm guessing Zogby didn't poll likely voters.

As long as we're rooting for fake presidents, I vote for Alan Alda. I'm a big MASH fan.

I heard a CNN Headline News anchor say that Saturday had been the deadliest day in Baghdad since last month's elections. This struck me because it seems that the T.V. news people like to say "Today's the deadliest day in Iraq since [insert date or benchmark here]."

I can see mentioning that a particular day has seen the most deaths in the entire war or in a year or six month's time, but the longer the war goes on (and oiy, does it go on) and more "deadly days" we see (which is pretty much every day now), the harder it is going to be for us news folk to use the "deadliest day since..." claim.

If ever there was a merging of politics and popular culture, it is Hunter S. Thompson, author, journalist and enigmatic lunatic.

About his life, Thompson once wrote, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone . . . but they've always worked for me." But he also conceded to a USA Today reporter in 1990, "Obviously, my drug use is exaggerated or I would be long since dead."

Since his suicide Sunday night, this is the best thing I've seen written about him:

"His beat, he once said was "the death of the American dream." Interviewers later suggested to him that he in a way embodied that dream. They said he exploded in profanity, but conceded that perhaps he did." - The Washington Post

Journalists' affection and adoration for Thompson makes no sense. He violated the basic tenets of our profession - fact and objectivity. By all logic, we should hate him. But we love him because he didn't break the rules, he rejected them outright and never made any excuses for it. Doing that with the talent and creative genius he had, mix in the frightening eccentricities and dangerous lifestyle, and the result is a cultural (or counter-cultural) icon.

I found this handy-dandy calculator from The Daily Kos, one of the more well-known hot-spots in the Blogosphere.

While I love the fact that the Internet is used in this way - the calculator is interactive, creative and makes a point - I have one major problem: One of the criticisms coming out about the Bush Social Security plan is that there is no plan yet. So if there's no plan, just vague discussions about possibilities, how are the Democrats coming up with such exact numbers for a calculator?

Another installment in the Way Too Early files:

Possible '08 Candidates Meet N.H. Visitors.

What do Jim Davis's announcement of his candidacy for Florida governor and the Today show's kickoff of the countdown to the 2006 Winter Olympics have in common?

They both occurred WAY TOO EARLY.

President Bush won a clear victory in Florida in November, but he apparently loses a popularity contest with Oprah.

After WFLA News Channel 8, TBO.com's coverage partner, preempted the talk show Friday afternoon to carry President Bush's town hall meeting at the Tampa Convention Center, the station's telephones rang nonstop with angry viewers. When I asked how many calls they received, I was told, "Hundreds! Easily hundreds."

Ah, the State of the Union Address. The annual exhibition of Congressional aerobics: Sit to the left, cheer to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight!

I watched the State of the Union and found the only entertaining part to be the cut-aways. Hillary Clinton looked a little green, John Kerry has replaced the orange palor from the campaign with a rosy cheeked at-least-I-don't-have-the-stress-of-the-job look and Dick Cheney still looks like Richard Dreyfuss:

The cut-aways made me realize a few other politicos resemblances, though, so I bring you...

Polipopublog's Mockumentation of Washington Look-Alikes, 1st Edition

John McCain as Theodore the Chipmunk:

Joseph Biden as Robert Culp (aka, that actor everyone recognizes who does bajillions of guest roles but no one knows his name until a blog writer does an exhaustive Google search.):

I'll tackle some more soon, though the John Kerry/Herman Munster comparison is old, so I'll just let that one rest.

I saw two good bumper stickers last week. The first was a modified Bush/Cheney campaign sticker, but the car owner had taken a razor to it so that it just said "Bush" with a flag logo. Since leaving campaign stickers or signs up too long after the election is a pet-peeve of mine equivalent to people leaving Christmas lights up until March, I applaud this guy. He can still support his guy without sporting an outdated election sticker.

For Kerry fans, you should probably just take the sticker off, if you didn't already out of depression.

Reader Craig Schaffner wrote this about my comments on the inaugural entertainment (that the Republicans got bad performers while the Democrats would have gotten better ones):

You’ve convinced me, I’m going to change my vote next election because Democrats have better entertainment at their inaugural parties. Thanks, Craig Schaffner

Dave Pell, of Electablog, seems personally offended by the disposable camera Jeb Bush used at the inauguration. I guess techie-folk expect others to be up to speed, but I also noticed the anchors during the broadcast emphasizing that it was disposable. The governor makes $120k and some change a year, can't he afford a decent digital?

I love JibJab. In honor of Bush's second inauguration, check out "Second Term", the masters of online musical political parody's latest. So far, nothing can compare to "This Land," but the fact that they're still cranking these out is great. It's a constant reminder to not take politics too seriously.

Product placement is the model of modern advertising. You can't watch a movie now without seeing a subtle or not-so-subtle close-up of a label. Whenever actors drink soda, the Coke or Pepsi brand is clearly visible.

This method has trickled up to Washington, as Cadillac debuted its newest car in limo form for the presidential inauguration. President Bush is cruising through Washington in the jazzed-up, armored model.

Unless you're easily offended, check out Wonkette's blow-by-blow of the inauguration. An excerpt:
"11:35AM: Bad hat day. Specter in modified cowboy hat. Harken in fedora.
11:35AM: Jeb totally pacing things out for next time. "I'll wear a red tie," he's thinking....
11:36AM: Massive earhair shot of Bush. A good deal of earhair. Should the leader of the free world have so much ear hair?"

Does it seem like every few years, a new children's show offends the religious right? First Barney, then Tinky-Winky... Now Spongebob. I'm sure The Wiggles are next.

In what Twilight Zone do Ben Stein and Hillary Duff get billing on the same event? Only that $40 million shin-dig known as the presidential inauguration.

Reuben Studdard, Kelsey Grammar, 3 Doors Down, The Gatlin Brothers, The Temptations, Hillary Duff, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Beatlemania Live are all scheduled to appear at one of the 9 inaugural balls, according to The Associated Press.

I have to wonder how much better the line-up would have been if Kerry had been elected. Guessing: Bruce Springsteen, U2... The usual suspects from the campaign trail plus others. Republicans always get the B-list celebrities.

In the category of "Warnings that should be obvious and I fear those who dont' think they are" comes this story: Toilet Brush Warning Wins Consumer Award

Andy Borowitz poses an important issue: Is Britney Spears really the most annoying? Isn't Paris Hilton worse?

Yes. The answer is yes. Much, much worse. At least Britney used to sing.

This slays me... Drug firms have warned their employees about Michael Moore, who is working a new movie about the healthcare industry. They are told to look for "a scruffy guy in a baseball cap."

I'm not sure the description was necessary. I think Michael Moore is just one of those people you know when you see him.