Obama does Grumpy Cat

President Obama obviously is taking my advice and preparing for a profitable post-White House career doing stand-up in Las Vegas. No longer content merely to crack jokes and sing, he's expanding his repertoire to do impressions. Seriously: Here he is doing Grumpy Cat yesterday at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum. Let's see Rich Little top that. (Hat-tip to Talking Points Memo.)

Dave & Barack talk retirement

I wish David Letterman and Barack Obama could hold on to their jobs a lot longer. But all good things must come to an end. Dammit.

The director of an anti-Obama documentary indicted on campaign fraud charges? Wow, didn't see that coming!

From The Raw Story: "Conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza was indicted in federal court on Thursday for allegedly arranging for $20,000 worth of campaign contributions — far above legal limits, Reuters reported.

"The indictment did not name the candidate benefiting from the donations, but the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) accused D’Souza of reimbursing others in August 2012 for making the donations in his name, enabling for them to be falsely reported to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). Taken together, the charges carry possible penalties of up to seven years in prison...

"D’Souza, a former president at King’s College, was fired from the Christian-affiliated university in October 2012 after being spotted traveling with a woman who was not his wife.

"He was also behind the documentary 2016: Obama’s America, which drew surprisingly well at the box office thanks to support from conservatives. While promoting the film, D’Souza accused President Barack Obama of harboring 'Charles Bronson rage, vigilante rage.'”

Ladies and gentlemen... The splendiferous comic stylings of Barack Obama

Meanwhile, off in the wilds of Wasilla, the increasingly irrelevant Sarah Palin made this desperate bid for attention. (BTW: Note that she still identifies herself as "Politician" on her Facebook page.)

There's nothing like getting encouragement from someone you respect... and this is nothing like getting encouragement from someone you respect.

So I asked my buddy what he thought of my applying for the film editor job at A.V. Club, and he... well, let's put it this way: Now I'm beginning to regret all the cash I forked over for that re-election campaign. (Photo credit: Susan Walsh/AP; Hat Tip: Huffington Post.)

Four more years! Four more years!

Celebrating the RE-election of Barack Hussein I Smoked Bin Laden's Ass Obama. Let the good times roll, y'all.

Insert Laurel and Hardy joke here

Politics make for strange... bipartisan partnerships.

Lena Dunham talks about her "first time"

The lovely and talented Lena Dunham made me laugh out loud with this video in support of President Barack Obama. At least, I laughed until, for the second time in less than a week, I was reminded that I cast my first vote in a Presidential election all the way back in 1972, for George McGovern. God, I feel old. As Vincent Price once said after he realized that, out of all the people in an old movie he was watching on TV, he was the only one still alive: "I put down the drink -- and picked up the bottle."

This just in: Barack Obama is a colored person

A Twitter friend posted this with the message: "This is what Republicans see every time the President speaks in front of black folks." You know, I think he may be on to something.

Samuel L. Jackson in Wake the F**k Up!!!!

Personally, I think this is Jackson's finest performance since Snakes on a Plane.

Lifting Obama up where he belongs

You do realize, of course, that this instantly iconic image will loom large in each and every future biography and documentary about President Obama, regardless of the outcome of this year's election, right?

Barack Obama: "I Am A Huge Clint Eastwood Fan"

Once again, Barack Obama redefines the term "class act" while maintaining his sangfroid.

(Yeah, I know, it's pretentious to use a French term in this context. But I also know that just annoys the Obama-bashers even more, so I can't resist. It's even more fun than mentioning Journeys with George to a Bush hater.)

"When you're rich, you want a Republican in office"

Looks like porn movie star Jenna Jameson is swallowing... er, I mean she's coming... oh, hell, looks like she's getting behind Mitt Romney.

On the other hand: The Huffington Post reports that Ron Jeremy remains an Obama supporter.

Obama vs. E.T.?

I've always suspected that Steven Spielberg cast Francois Truffaut in Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a scientist who could communicate with extraterrestrials because... well, because of course Truffaut could have communicated with extraterrestrials, if he'd ever had to, because that's the kind of amazingly astute and sensitive fellow he was. In much the same vein, I'm not at all surprised to hear that most people believe Barack Obama would be better qualified than Mitt Romney to handle an invasion by unfriendly extraterrestrials. After all: The dude took care of Osama Bin Laden, right? 

On the other hand, I'm not sure even President Obama could do a better job of leading the human counteroffensive than... President Bill Pullman.

Clint Eastwood: Stealth Pinko or Obama Tool?

Last night, I wondered how long it would take before some conservatives started complaining that Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad for Chrysler played too much like... like... well, like a thank-you shout-out to Barack Obama for the auto industry bailout.

Well, as it turned out, Michelle Malkin didn't wait until the end of The Big Game before Tweeting her disapproval. And this morning, Marketwatch reported a snippy reaction from David Limbaugh, a conservative writer who, as I understand it, is to his older brother Rush what Frank Stallone is to his brother Sylvester: “I think Clint Eastwood’s credentials as a conservative have been overrated for some time."

As Monday proceeded apace, there were reports that the ad itself had been removed from YouTube after NFL reps complained about an alleged copyright violation. No joke: The NFL bigwigs allegedly insisted that any ad using the term "Halftime in America" would be verboten simply because the NFL claims all rights to the term "Halftime." This may or not be true -- after all, we're talking about an organization that doesn't allow free use of the term "Super Bowl" in non-approved advertising -- but in any event, cooler heads prevailed, and the spot is back on view at You Tube.

And, trust me, not everybody is happy about that. As reported today on Chris Cillizza's The Fix blog, Karl Rove (a.k.a. Bush's Brain) views as the ad as nothing less than -- are you ready for this? are you sitting down -- propaganda approved by the Obama re-election campaign:

“I was, frankly, offended by it it,” said Karl Rove on Fox News Monday. "I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising.”

Meanwhile, left-leaning commentators could barely contain their glee. Over at the Daily Kos site, writer Laura Clawson took a tongue-in-cheeky approach to parsing Rove's comments for deeper meaning. ("It's not clear whether Rove is implying that Obama saved Chrysler in 2009 in order to get a 2012 Super Bowl ad that some would interpret as positive about him, or that Obama actually called up Chrysler and demanded the ad, but whatever.") And Michael Moore -- yes, that Michael Moore -- Tweeted a thank-you to Clint Eastwood for what Moore sees as Eastwood's ringing endorsement for President Obama's re-election: “Your sermon seemed 2 b a call 2 give O his ‘second half.’”

Eastwood has not officially responded to the controversy -- yet -- but given his history as a political maverick, I am certain he will say something that will not entirely please folks on either side of the political divide. (And good for him.) I also have no doubt that, right now, someone somewhere is planning to take a publicity shot of Clint Eastwood from some movie, and Photoshop onto the superstar an "Obama 2012" T-shirt. Might I humbly suggest a photo of Eastwood from True Crime, his under-rated 1999 drama? You know, the one with the unmistakable anti-capital punishment message?

UPDATE at 5:34 pm: According to MSNBC.com:

Eastwood, for his part, told Fox News producer Ron Mitchell, "There is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain. l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK."


So there! Now get all these damn political pundits off his lawn!

Thank you, Mr. Obama

Ummmm! Doughnuts!

Obama bashes Birthers, thumps Trump at White House Correspondents' Dinner

As I have said before: I fully expect that, after he completes his second term as President, Barack Obama will pursue a profitable career doing stand-up in Las Vegas. Though probably not at a casino owned by The Donald. (BTW: Check out all the movie references -- everything from The Adjustment Bureau to The King's Speech, with a well-chosen clip from a classic cartoon as lagniappe.)

Suggested for Mature Audiences

At my suggestion, Foamy Squirrel -- one of the regulars over at The Hot Blog -- devised what I think would be a great ad campaign for the new True Grit. Almost as great as this (unfortunately) unused campaign ad for the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Who dat at the White House?

Robert Redford: Obama isn't doing enough

Robert Redford is seriously unhappy about the way President Obama is handling the ongoing Gulf Oil Spill (a metastasizing catastrophe now of sufficient importance to justify the use of capital letters, like The Great Recession). As he posted today on OneEarth.com:

"I am glad that President Obama announced that he would appoint an independent commission to look at the causes of the blowout and determine what we must do to prevent this from ever happening again. This is an important first step in addressing the national tragedy and coming up with real solutions to prevent future drilling disasters.

"But it is not enough."

Redford discussed his concerns tonight with Keith Olbermann during, apparently, a break in his post-production chores for The Conspirator. It would be overstating the case to describe Redford's tone as "angry." But I can't help feeling that, in the weeks and months ahead, he's going to be hard-pressed to devote his full attention to the task of completing and promoting a movie.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy