After the glow of the Inaugural, the early weeks of the Obama era are already turning not so fun. So let's return to a simpler, happier time -- the 2008 campaign when all kinds of wacky things were said and done, before the economy collapsed and a new president had to deal with that, and the hyper-partisan GOP.
Try to identify who uttered each of the following remarks, send to me at gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com, and the winner gets a copy of my new book, Why Obama Won!
1. "I am not ready to announce yet -- even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."
a)Mike Huckabee
b)Mitt Romney
c)Stephen Colbert
d)Kurt Warner
2. "He's the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."
a) Peggy Noonan
b) Hillary Clinton
c) Sarah Palin
d) Joe Biden
3. This commentator said on CNN that the winner in 2008 simply had to be Hillary or Obama because Bush has been so bad "he has screwed it up for any white man to be elected."
a) Kanye West
b) Bill Maher
c) Alec Baldwin
d) Chris Rock
4. "Thank goodness, my cousin, Dick Cheney, will not be on the ballot this November...that's embarrassing. When people look at their genealogical charts they like to find someone cool."
a)Charles Barkley
b)George Clooney
c) Barack Obama
d) D.L. Hughley
5. "The sooner we accept the basic differences between men and women, the sooner we can stop arguing about it and start having sex."
a) John Edwards
b) Bill Clinton
c) Rudy Giuliani
d) Stephen Colbert
6. Another commentator after some on Wall Street claimed that a possible Democratic victory in November was already hurting the economy: "How bad do the Democrats have to be to pre-fuck the economy?"
a)Paul Krugman
b) Robert Reich
c) Jon Stewart
d) Paul Volcker
7. "That's all right -- he's still a scumbag....he's one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater for Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy -- can't help it.'"
a) Bil O'Reilly
b) Bill Clinton
c) Bill Maher
d) Bill Richardson
8. "I want to cut his [Obama's] nuts out."
a)Michael Savage
b)Dan Savage
c)Jesse Jackson
d)Jesse Jackson, Jr.
9. "I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin' chillin' I guess....Ya fuck with me I'll kick [your] ass.
a)Rod Blago
b)Todd Palin
c) Sean Penn
d)Levi Johnston
10. "Every morning, when Alaskans wake up, one of the first things they do, is look outside to see if there are any Russians hanging around. And if there are, you gotta go up to them and ask, 'What are you doing here?' and if they can't give you a good reason, it's our responsibility to say, you know, 'Shoo! Get back over there!'"
a)Tina Fey
b)Sarah Palin
c) Both
d) Mike Gravel
e) Jewel
11. "Brothers should pull up their pants. You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing. What's wrong with that? Come on."
a)Ann Coulter
b)Will.i.am
c)Barack Obama
d)Michael Steele
Greg Mitchell's "Why Obama Won" is his ninth book. He is the editor of Editor & Publisher.