Top 5 Political Costumes

In the spirit of Halloween and the idea of dressing up as something you’re not, we’ve decided to pay tribute to the five best political poses from the other 364 days of the year.

Without further ado, here they are, in reverse order:

5. Fred Thompson as Ronald Reagan Sure, they’ve got Hollywood in common, but for all his faults we just can’t imagine Ronald Reagan fizzling the way Thompson has in the campaign. What’s the opposite of a big splash? Still, that hasn’t stopped the candidate from promising to boldly lead us right back to the 1980s. What a visionary.

4. Hillary as a Thug History has shown Hillary Clinton to be more interested in health care than warfare, so why does she keep talking about how tough she is?

3. Romney and Giuliani as Social Conservatives These two deserve special mention. It takes a lot of chutzpah to flip-flop in the age of the Internet. We don’t just have a public record, we have YouTube. Seriously, did either of them think they were going to get away with their blatant flip-flopping? Wait a second, they are getting away with it.

2. The Democratic-Controlled Congress as Anti-War We know the Democrats have accomplished a lot in Congress, just not that one thing Americans sent them there to do. Sure, it’s hard to pass legislation with a slim majority and a hostile president, but enough pretending to be trying to bring the troops home while passing “emergency” war funding bill after “emergency” war funding bill. Of course they’re afraid of being painted as anti-troop by their political enemies, but that’s why it’s called leadership.

1. Bush as a Top Gun OK, so it’s not exactly a current get-up, but how can we resist this oldie but goodie: the president who ditched the Air National Guard striding across a carrier deck in that flight suit to claim “mission accomplished.” Of course he was only a passenger on the jet that landed, but that’s the power of make-believe. Besides, you have to be competent to fly a plane.