It’s Comical, Part 3: They Yam What They Yam Edition

This was originally posted in February 2008 over at American Street and reposted here almost a year ago. Since we’re talking about the comics, I thought I’d dust it off.
First, though, a tip of the hat  to the lovely and talented Friend of the Court who suggested the theme for this humble submission.

With the business out of the way, let’s begin with Chimpy Chim-pea…

RP ♥ BP

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Rand Paul, the newly nominated Republican candidate for Senate from Kentucky, touched off more controversy on Friday by calling the Obama administration “un-American” for taking a tough stance with BP over the company’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A day after he was forced to explain remarks he had made suggesting he was not fully supportive of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, Mr. Paul set off yet another round of Twitter, cable television and e-mail chatter by lambasting President Obama and his aides for insisting that BP be held accountable — and pay — for the oil spill cleanup and damage.

Original DVD cover

(In the frame, r to l:  Lamar McKay, President and Chairman of BP American, Steven Newman, President and Chief Executive Officer Transocean Limited and Tim Probert, President Global Business Lines and Chief Health, Safety and Enviromental Officer Halliburton)

The Wizards of Oil

From The Washington Post:

Three major oil industry executives agreed on one thing in a pair of Senate hearings Tuesday: Someone else was to blame for the drilling rig accident that triggered the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The senior executives from the oil behemoth BP, the offshore oil drilling company Transocean and the oilfield services contractor Halliburton pointed fingers at each other in seeking to explain what caused the accident that set afire and sank the Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 people.

…snip…

BP blamed the failure of Transocean’s blowout preventer and raised a new question about whether Transocean disregarded “anomalous pressure test readings” just hours before the explosion. Transocean blamed decisions made by BP and cited possible flaws in the cementing job done by Halliburton. And Halliburton said that it had faithfully followed BP’s instructions and that Transocean had started replacing a heavy drilling mud with seawater before the well was sealed with a cement plug.

To the tune of If I Only Had a Brain, written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, as performed by the fabulous Ray Bolger:

Lamar McKay:

I sit here, oh so coyly, don’t know why the gulf’s so oily,
But I’m here to proclaim,
That I couldn’t say for certain,
But I think that Halliburton,
Is the company to blame.

The Grincheney Revisited

Hey kids! I was too damned lazy xI couldn’t think of a damned thing to photoshopxxI thought we’d start a new Raisin tradition! As we’ve all seen, Deadeye Dick Cheney hasn’t changed much in the last year, so I thought we could have another Grincheney sing-along, just like last year. Pour yourself a nice cup of hot cocoa or some left-over eggnog, put on those new fuzzy socks you found under the Christmas tree, and snuggle up! Let’s sing!

Original image.

To the tune of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, by Dr. Seuss, performed by Thurl Ravenscroft:

Glory, Glory Halliburton

From POLITICO:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) offered an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts to companies who prevent victims from filing lawsuits against sexual assault and harassment.

Franken proposed the amendment after hearing the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, who alleges that she was brutally raped while working a contractor for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq.

But Jones was unable to press charges in court because her defense contract stipulated that any such allegations can only be heard in private arbitration.

Franken’s amendment, which passed 68-30, received the support of 10 Republican senators. However, most Republicans opposed the amendment because it went against the wishes of the Defense Department, and argued it gave Congress too much influence in altering defense contracts.

Original cover

I know he’s telling the truth–his lips are moving!

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS News Blogs (September 30, 2009):

Democratic Representative Alan Grayson of Florida, who has come under fire from Republicans for suggesting on the House floor Tuesday night that “Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick,” said in an interview with CBSNews.com Wednesday that the response to his comments has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“People are calling us from all over the country to congratulate us for telling the truth,” he said. “People are happy to see a Democrat with guts.”

Original movie poster

The Grincheney

Original image.

To the tune of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, by Dr. Seuss, performed by Thurl Ravenscroft:

Scotty McChicken Comes Home to Roost

From Politico:

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan names names in a caustic passage from a forthcoming memoir that accuses President Bush, Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney of being “involved” in his giving the press false information about the CIA leak case.

…snip…

“I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the seniormost aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby,” McClellan wrote.

“There was one problem. It was not true.”

Original DVD cover.