Hillary Clinton took $823,087 form lobbyists in 2007, this is close to TEN times what Barack Obama, WHO DOES NOT TAKE MONEY FROM REGISTERED LOBBYISTS took from companies that lobby that same year. Even John McCain took $416,321, about HALF what HELLary took. Vote for Obama because otherwise, you're screwed!

Yes you got it right again!! Why does America continue to put up with all of the stupidity going on in politics?? The greed, the liars, the corruption? And now forced health care?????? Where and when will all this stop??????????????

Hi Mark.
Another great political cartoon.
However,you'll notice that the ONLY candidate that has NOT changed his POSITIONS during the last few decades is Ron Paul.
You're right that Ron,an avowed Libertarian,"changed" parties to run for president.
However, he only did this so that he could get some media exposure and get on the ballot.
Bottom line,if you're not a "whore" of big business, FORGET running for President of the U.S.
I'm ready to embrace a policy wherein we would simply randomly select a U.S. citizen that is over 45 and make them President.
Hell, how much WORSE could it GET??????
Keep up the good work.

First, a techy wish/request. I wish we had a PAUSE button on the player on this site. The messages on the background appear and go by so fast that the only way to read all of them is to hit the STOP button. But, doing that, when you hit PLAY again, it starts from the very beginning of the video. Any way to get a PAUSE button added to this player, Mark?

Now, about "change". I think that there are at least two possibilities about what's going on with the electoral process in America.

1. The people are really THIS stupid if the election results and poll results are to be believed.

2. The elections are rigged and it doesn't matter what lever you pull, where you mark your "X" on a paper or what choice you touch on a touch-screen. It's all a show, a play, a ruse to give the illusion that Americans are living in a democracy. The real decisions are made by a secret cabal of rich powerful elites, making all the decisions for the country and the world for that matter behind the scenes. I think that if someone were to rise that they couldn't control, he'd be quickly eliminated somehow.

How can we believe the election results in these primaries so far are real? Are the people really THIS stupid to say they want change in all the polls asked of them (if the polls are real, that is), yet vote for the same old, same old all the time.

Why did John Edwards and especially Dennis Kucinich not get any support (supposedly) even though they was saying everything 80% of Americans were saying in all the polls as to what is wrong with the state of affairs in America. i.e. The disparity of rich and poor, the Iraq Invasion was wrong and unconstitutional cause he invaded a sovereign country and used U.S. military to basically assassinate a foreign head of state, Lied to Congress the U,N, and the world about WMDs, Bush/Cheney committed war crimes, use of torture okay now, Habeas Corpus suspended, domestic eaves-dropping unconstitutional, that Articles of Impeachment he introduced went nowhere. And on and on!

I think it's all a big charade and that Americans are scared into complacency to march on Washington and demand a transparent government and an overhaul of the entire system of government that the U.S. operates under.

I think that the fear of speaking out against the government for fear of being arrested, thrown in jail and losing what little scraps you may have, has been successfully achieved by a government that has slowly morphed over the years (and in a quick jerk forward under Bush/Cheney's administration) from a democratic republic to a quasi-police state and then eventually to a full police state.

Look how many cops have been added to keep law and order (THEIR law and order) in the cities and towns across America. America's Gestapo, perhaps?

Look at the build up of the military and how much money is pumped into IT rather than into social services and making life better for its citizens. America's Stormtroopers, perhaps?

Look how many prisons are built in America to hold so many of its citizens that are thrown in prison for long sentences for even minor offenses. There, these convicts work to produce goods for the State at slave-labor wages. America's Gulags, perhaps?

What's next, Concentration Camps to exterminate the undesirable of Society in the name of National Security? "He's a terrorist, we had to kill him. He was saying things against your government that loves you. We're your big brother and we know what's best for you, so just shut up and trust us -- or else."

Some of us in Australia understand change. We booted out our Prime Minister that was cuddling up to W. Bush. Now we have 'promises' of Iraq troop withdrawl whereas before we did not.
This new mob also has scrapped 'Privatisation' of everything not bolted down, and now we have 'Public Private Partnerships (PPP)' of everything not bolted down. And when it came to the Industrial Relations laws that saw our old 'Bastard in power' thrown out, our new 'Bastards in power','changed' and now support the very laws that they campaigned against. Brilliant.

No wonder Iraqis are clamouring to our two-party change-in-name only Western spin-flavoured democratic systems.

Non-Zombie

The new animation, "Changeometer," has just been posted. Try out the Changeometer and see who will drop out of the presidential race next!

-Mark Fiore