This Santa-themed video probably won't make you ho-ho-ho, but it's a pretty effective message for UNICEF.

Say what you will about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's “oops” moment — OK, so it was more than a full minute — but he at least parlayed it into an appearance on David Letterman.

He mocks himself by reading the Top 10 list.

You can do almost anything with the right collection of video clips, including making Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan seem like they were philosophically separated at birth.

At least that's what Think Progress, a liberal organization, did with this video.

This may be the funniest send up of the Rick Perry hunting camp name controversy. But be advised that it may be the most concentrated use of the “N word” in a single television segment.

By the way, Wyatt Cenac's contention that Washington has a “Niggerhead Mining District” does not seem to be quite accurate. There is, however, a Niggerhead Creek and a Niggerhead Road that leads up to a gold mine in the McCoy Creek area, and a Nigger Creek Placer Mine in Chelan County.

Those who watch the GOP debates faithfully, and those who think they've seen enough debates already, might especially like the opening sketch from Saturday Night Live.

Last fall, Spokane and Coeur d'Alene reacted admirably to members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a small Kansas congregation that uses the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan to spread a view that the United States is being punished for being too accepting of homosexuality.

Recently in Kansas City, Westboro members picketed and another counter-demonstration was mounted. This time with some sound effects from the Foo Fighters. Maybe that will become a standard response to the congregation…don't fight fire with fire, fight hate speech with music.

BuzzFeed boiled the debate down to 75 seconds, which is pretty good. But the best take off, as usual, came from Jon Stewart. It can be found inside the blog.

A day late because of taping schedules, Jon Stewart delivers the best look at the GOP presidential debate, and the  news media that covered it.

If you liked the first segment, go inside the blog to see the second…

This proves that almost anything can be mixed into a song on the Internet.

And that Moammar Gadhafi's hat may be the coolest bit of headware of 2011.

This isn't the best Barack Obama impersonation ever, but it is kind of a clever idea.

It was bound to happen. Even a stock-trading baby can drop a bundle, so to speak,  in a big downturn in the Dow.

Jon Stewart's take on the debt talks takes aim at both sides.

The Republican Leadership Conference invited a Barack Obama impersonator to provide a bit of comic relief at a meeting last week, and he fell a bit flat.

Actually, a bit flat may be understating it. Obama himself might have received a better response.

OK, I admit I watched much of the GOP presidential debate on Monday, because, well, it's sort of my job.

But the whole set up — New Hampshire, seven candidates, town hall meeting style questions, a full phalanx of talking head analysts parsing every word — did have me checking the calendar to make sure that I hadn't slept Rip Van Winkel-style through 2011 and awakened in January 2012.

Truth be told, I had a similar “What year is this again?” feeling when folks in Washington started announcing in the last week runs and non-runs for various statewide executive offices on the 2012 ballot.  And some of the full-time political geeks who do campaigns for a living admitted similar feelings in conversations.

So I gotta wonder, how does the rest of America — you know, the real people who have lives and  jobs and other things to occupy their minds — feel about presidential debates nearly 18 months before an election? The Daily Show may have captured it best.

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain has a good idea, with bad execution.

Do you know where he messed up? Go inside the blog for the answer.

Normally, Spin Control wouldn't pay any mind to a campaign commercial from a mayoral race in New Jersey. But this one is so much fun that it makes one wonder what sort of creative spots we could see in the Spokane municpal campaigns if candidates put their minds to it.

First, Spokane probably rhymes with more things than “North Bergen.”

Second, Mayor Mary Verner can sing, as she's proven in the past at columnist Doug Clark's annual street music event. Maybe all she needs are some good campaign lyrics to adapt “Proud Mary.”

Third, we've got several months for the candidates who can't sing to dig up creative Web video enthusiasts.

For all those political junkies who just can't wait for the 2012 election: Gary Busey endorses Donald Trump for president, and even suggests a campaign slogan.

One of the perks and/or consequences of being in congressional leadership is your face shows up in some of the darnedest places. So it was for a certain Eastern Washington congresswoman Tuesday night on the Daily Show, for a significant part of Jon Stewart's bit on budget negotiations.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is among the House of Representatives most active social media-ists. This is her monthly YouTube video, which may be most notable for all the different places and different people the camera catches her smiling in or with as the background music plays relentlessly on.

President Obama hasn’t had much call to dance in the last week, but during a stop in Mumbai, India, earlier today he was invited to join a troupe of children dancers. So he did, and the video was very quickly cut and remixed with “In da Club” and hit the Internet.

Watching the video, it seems the president  is using American steps for the Indian dance, and ending it with the politician’s handshake, which is a step unto itself.