Still losing my voice… and talking Mark Sanford, because apparently I’m type-cast…

From a couple weeks ago… sorry, I’m slow…

More

Fighting a cold, talking about political redemption… ME!

Politics makes strange bedfellows, so apparently I’m sleeping with the NY Post.

This - “The greatest gags, tweets, jests and jokes from the past year” - is at least the 4th time they’ve loved me: Page 6 about Get Rich Cheating and two (or 3?) other “best jokes” mentions.

“As a male above age 30, I get all these targeted, personalized ads for, like, mortgages and sexual aids. So annoying! I don’t need information about mortgages.” — Jeff Kreisler

Look, if this is how I take down NewsCorp, this is how I take down NewsCorp.
Beggars-choosers and all that…

On The Final Edition…

• The Atlantic wrote this nice piece about Tony Hendra and The Final Edition:

Stop Talking About ‘Fake News,’ Says Fake-News Pioneer

“Satire is rarely if ever a slam-dunk. It’s the classic Chinese torture: it kills by a thousand cuts. And that ultimately is why satire—true satire—is so essential to a genuine democracy functioning in a genuine republic.”

• Here are a couple recent animations:

• And our radio show and website are always fresh and new…

On Viewpoint talking Marriage Equality, The Supreme Court, Republican Evolution, Chris Christie, Glenn Beck and, of course, Dennis Rodman

Cut from tonight’s show. Watch anyway.

With the Supreme Court set to take up the issue of same sex marriage, some politicians have weighed in… while others wish the question would just go away.

John Huntsman, former utah governor and republican presidential candidate, has an op-ed today in The American Conservative that is *in favor of* gay marriage. Huntsman wrote

“Marriage is not an issue that people rationalize through the abstract lens of the law; rather it is something understood emotionally through one’s own experience with family, neighbors, and friends. The party of Lincoln should stand with our best tradition of equality and support full civil marriage for all Americans.”

That’s a compassionate and well-reasoned argument from a Republican. But then again, Huntsman isn’t facing GOP voters any time soon. Lucky for him.

A recent analysis by the Associated Press found thatof the mere 47 Republican state legislators who voted for marriage equality since 2009, (more…)

Couple-ah recent appearances on the television. Viewpoint, on Current TV, hosted by the wise, kind, funny, and well-coiffed John Fugelsang.
More to come…

I’m pretty dang happy this came together so well.

Saturday, February 9. Get Rich Cheating Live returns to Washington, DC
with very special guest, Karl Frisch!
Facebook event here - Tix and details here.
This is almost sold out - Get tix now!

The Cheater Says: Come learn to be rich, DC. Politics is for four years. Cheating is forever.

Sadly, my Earth-shattering appearance on Viewpoint from last Wednesday is not available online (something about “too awesome”), but, luckily, I’ll be on again tonight, 8pm, Current TV. Tune in.

Here is a 20 min interview I did with the talented Matt Sky for AndMagazine. Steroids and conventions and TV and guns and immigration and oh oh oh oh my!

Today. Inhale.

6pm - Writing, editing, producing The War Room, as usual.
7pm - Recording an interview for Sky v Sky
8pm - Appearing live on Viewpoint on Current TV

Busy days don’t happen every day. Better grab some coffee.

Exhale.

Here’s a radio sketch inspired by what I wrote below:

Here are the original words:
Violent video games are either fun, stupid, or dangerous. It depends upon your constitution.

Or, in the case of the gun debate, behind which part of the Constitution you want to hide.

The violent nature of some video games and movies has prompted a discussion of the role of violent entertainment in gun violence.

The lobby for the movie industry, the Motion Picture Association of America, doesn’t really want this conversation to get started. The head of the MPAA, Chris Dodd, former Senator of, ironically, Connecticut, told the Hollywood Reporter this week:

“What we don’t want to get involved with is content regulation. We’re vehemently opposed to that. We have a free and open society that celebrates the first amendment.”

A free society that celebrates an Amendment. That sounds familiar.
Watch 10 seconds of this.

That was Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, the defacto lobby for gun manufacturers.

So the gun lobby stands behind the Second Amendment. And the violent movie and video game lobby stands behind the First Amendment. Seems like a stand off right in the middle of our Bill of Rights.

But it needn’t be a choice between the two Amendments. Neither the First nor the Second Amendment is so pure that it can’t be altered by reasonable, commonsense regulations that prevent actual harm. For instance, the First Amendment doesn’t allow you to yell fire in a crowded theater. The Second Amendment shouldn’t allow you to bring an assault weapon in there either.

Reasonable safety limits to any of our Amendments do not threaten the Constitution. They protect it. They protect us, We The People, who gave that Constitution life.

And really, there shouldn’t even be a discussion about trading one amendment for the other. It’s a false equivalency. The great success of the NRA has been to convince us that video games and gun access are equally responsibly for gun violence. Study after study have shown that video games do not have a direct impact on gun violence. Study after study have show that gun availability and access do.

Our violent culture and the First Amendment are factors that should be discussed in regards to gun violence, but they are not nearly as significant as guns and the Second Amendment. It’s not even close. Just having this discussion prevents us from dealing with the real problem: Guns. Good work, NRA.

224 years ago, America’s Founding Fathers debated whether a Bill of Rights could ensure the birth of this great nation. Their legacy is now in the unworthy hands of lobbyists fighting over which industry should most profit from selling violence and death.

* by “live” I mean “last month.”

Talking about Gaming The System on Huffington Post Live.

Watch highlights here:

Watch The War Room with Jennifer Granholm for stuff like this… and other, better, stuff, too..

Alright everyone, just calm down. Take a deep breath. Step away from the Twitter. Put down your ticket to Canada. Everything’s going to be okay. Let me repeat - for both your sake and mine - everything’s going to be okay.

It’s been a bumpy week since the first debate. Romney is gaining in the polls. The Republicans seem energized. Even improving jobs numbers haven’t slowed the Mitt-mentum.

Suddenly, progressive voices - from blogs to newspapers to my boss on TV - have been in a panic, wailing and gnashing their teeth over the impending 8 years of a Romney White House with a 99-1 Senate majority and 9 Scalias on the bench. “Oh no, the sky is falling, all is lost!”

Let’s all just relax. I don’t mean let’s all get complacent - we need to work harder now than ever - but… (more…)

Honored and humbled to be part of Governor Granholm’s team. Great speech last night. Check that… great speaker last night… Reviews, video, & cuts.

(To potential clients: Whether you agree with her politics or not, don’t you want your speech, presentation, or event to be as memorable as this? It’s easy: Click here).

Update: Um, the Governor got a call thanking her for the speech from POTUS himself. That’s, um, cool.

Let’s review:

“Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, proved a surprise hit at the Democratic convention Thursday, delivering one of the most rousing speeches of the gathering and prompting laughter and applause among the delegates.” - The Wall Street Journal

“The rabble-rousing speech of the night… Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, made (her) point in dramatic fashion” - New York TImes

“Pitch-perfect… an address that electrified the convention” - The Nation

“Jennifer Granholm electrified the Democratic National Convention crowd Thursday with a bold, energetic, and above all loud speech” - Huffington Post

Current TV’s favorite tweets about the speech.

Christian Science Monitor’s “Best Lines From the DNC - From Granholm to Kerry”

An animated GIF gallery on Buzzfeed

“Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm just gave a fiery speech to the Democratic convention, bringing the house to its feet… by far the most energetic and well-received of any so far this evening” - Politico

“Most Ass-Kickinest Speech… Her speech yesterday was short, but incredibly potent and she lit the hall on fire with it in the bargain. If you didn’t catch it previously, it’s well worth a quick look for the history books” - BradBlog

“President Obama will have his work cut out for him following the Democratic National Convention‘s breakout star, former Michigan Governor and Current TV host Jennifer Granholm. In a short speech that packed a brass-knuckled punch… the crowd goes wild… Gov. Granholm got such a rousing response that people at the convention had trouble hearing much of the speech. During the speech, Jennifer Granholm was the top trending Twitter topic nationwide.” - Mediaite

“One of the best speeches of either convention. Granholm found ways to zing Romney, while also coming across as funny and likable. This is no easy task… I found her enthusiasm compelling. And I don’t even agree with her.” - Daily Caller

“Ex-Michigan Guv Jennifer Granholm just burned down the house at the DNC with a speech that bludgeoned Mitt Romney on his refusal to back the auto bailout in her former home state.” - S.F. Chronicle

(more…)

There’s a lot to process in this new-fangled interweb show thing. Video, g-chat, cheating, guests, laughs, smarts, and - towards the end - my baby. Check me out on Huffpost Live.

I finally put up a new stand-up video. It’s long for the web, but a) too bad, b) I’ll put up little 2-3 min bit-length vids soon, and c) see a.
Enjoy.

Tune in to The War Room weeknights at 9pm EST

Study Finds 90 Million Eligible Voters Plan Not To Vote

You - or someone you know - may be one of those 90 million choosing not to vote. It’s a free country.

You can certainly choose to reject that hard-earned right, for whatever reason. You might think you’re too busy to vote. Or that the party line fighting makes you nauseous. Or that your vote doesn’t count.

But let me tell you: If you’re staying at home because you’re disgusted by the negative tone of the campaign… If you believe both sides run the same vile, lying, attack ads…. If you’re not voting because you’re turned off by politics: Congratulations, you’re fulfilling the right wing agenda.

The right is working very, very hard this election, spending record amounts of money, for the purpose of having you decide NOT to vote. They are desperate for you to stay home. They are spending money on ads. They are spending money on voter suppression. They are spending money on letting you know they are spending money… So that it disgusts you. So that you’re turned off by the whole awful spectacle they’ve created. They have the champagne on ice, ready to pop the cork on election night when you opt out.

Not voting isn’t just sitting it out. Not voting is giving in.

Your “no vote” is really a vote for negativity. A vote for lowering our political discourse. A vote for pessimism and disengagement and apathy. It is a vote for the status quo, for entrenchment of power, for the persuasiveness of money. A ‘no vote’ is a ‘Yes’ vote for Romney, Adelson, and the right wing strategy of having you not vote.

If that’s what you want, go for it. But if you actually care about your precious right to vote - now and in the future - then go register and go vote. And take one or two of the 90 million with you.