Reading The Pictures: Where Did TIME Find The Balls?

(TIME's version vs. Shaw's version: click for full effect)

Two years ago, after Bush pulled out the election by the skin of his teeth (or, according to some, by Diebold password and some old fashioned dirt ball voter suppression tactics), all we heard was: mandate! mandate!

So last week, the Blues absolutely pulverized the Reds, and what was the result?

How about... George H.W. Bush re-runs; a debate whether Nancy's been getting overly positive coverage, and whether she deserves at least a one week "honeymoon"; how the country is up in arms ... over the removal of lawn signs!; how the Blue's have completely collapsed into finger pointing ... and one unbelievably lame and completely event-missing TIME election cover.

TIME missed it so badly, in fact, I couldn't help offering two replacement covers. You can see the other on this sister-post at BAGnewsNotes.

Is there some kind of political physics we don't know about where the opposite of "far right" is "middle?" Is there a special color chart, known only to the MSM world, where blue minus red gets you purple? I mean, the Blues practically wipe the Reds off the map and TIME gives both EQUAL billing!

Where this magazine found the balls is beyond me. Was it so hard, given the achievement, for this cover to even mention the word "Democrat."

For more of the visual, visit BAGnewsNotes.com.

(illustration/Arthur Hochstein. November 20, 2006. Cover. time.com)