Stateside,  Vote 2012

Happy, um, Deathday, Elvis!

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann wished Elvis Presley a happy birthday Tuesday on the 34th anniversary of his, er, death.

Bachmann’s campaign has been playing Elvis’s cover of “Promised Land” at her rallies. Why they chose this version of the song, rather than the superior Chuck Berry original, is a matter for speculation. I’ve been suspicious of Elvis’s cover versions since he changed the lyrics in Little Richard’s “Rip it Up” from “union hall” to “social hall.”

(If Bachmann campaigns in, say, Shreveport, I wonder if they’ll delete the “Somebody help me get out of Louisiana” bit.)

Now that Rick Perry has joined the race as another candidate with connections to creepy Christian extremists, and has shot up to a strong lead among Republican voters, Bachmann will need to keep the silly mistakes, and ensuing ridicule, to a minimum.

I can’t imagine that Perry’s predecessor as Texas governor, George W. Bush, was happy that Perry said it would be “almost treasonous” for Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to try to boost the economy by printing more money– as in fact the Fed, under Bernanke, has done.

Recall that Bernanke was appointed as Fed chairman by none other than President George W. Bush, and reappointed by President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, as Jon Stewart asks, why is everyone ignoring poor Ron Paul?