When is humor no longer funny?

[Vandiablo]

-- Warning: Partisan mumbling ahead --

Maybe you've seen this piece from The Onion of January 2001.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

(click link for more)

I have no idea if it's authentic 2001, but it's true enough to be sad. I'm pretty sure that Gore would not have prevented 9/11 and that Gore or Kerry wouldn't have prevented our current economic crunch, but I'm positive we'd be using less oil and there'd be a lot less damage to many things -- U.S. credibility, air, water, parks, science, etc. The last eight years will forever in my mind be categorized as "botched" and "squandered".

-V