Funny Or Die's Santa Election Ads Are Smarter Than Most Political Satire (VIDEO)

We still have almost a full year left to go before the 2012 election. Sure, political satire seems fun and energetic now, but imagine 11 more months of "Romney is boring" and "Obama is ineffective" jokes. We're already sick of the predictability, especially as many people have grown disillusioned with politicians and their transparent tactics of voter outreach. It's truly the fundamental approach to politics itself, and not politicians, that deserve mockery in 2012.

Which is why we love Funny or Die's new ads asking to vote in a new Santa in 2012. A series of four ads, each one attacking the previous "Santa" candidate, take aim at the vocabulary of political advertisements.

First, you have veteran actor Christopher McDonald playing Glen Fondale (slogan: "Ho Ho No"), the senior statesman who cites his accomplishments delivering gifts at home and abroad as his main platform to be elected Santa. Then, his ad is attacked in one by the tough-as-nails, "gets things done" candidate Mack Henry, played by David Koechner (slogan: "No Ho Ho"), claiming that his opponent "agreed with Santa's naughty or nice list 90% of the time."

Enter Maria Bamford's Kathleen Hayward, a not-so-subtle Michele Bachmann/Sarah Palin surrogate, a "North Pole outsider" intent on restoring the "dignity and tradition of our Founding Santas" by keeping presents away from gays. (Slogan: "Ho No No.") Finally, we meet Bert Grumm, played by Andrew Royo of "The Wire," who appears to be shooting his commercial in an abandoned office he's using as a campaign headquarters. He thinks being Santa would be a great excuse to get fat by eating lots of cookies.

In 2012, we hope Santa brings us more political comedy like this: Stuff that ruthlessly mocks the absurdity of political campaigning itself, and not the easy-target candidates. (Oh, and this video does indeed reveal who wins the Santa election, but you'll have to watch to find out.)