With the presidential primaries working up to their full fury, it can sometimes seem like dark forebodings are blooming all around us. I know all the political rancor can get people down. But look on the bright side, public angst always makes a good season for what my favorite comedian, Bill Hicks, dubbed "the comedy of hate."

For instance, when I emailed my uncle a couple of the goofy tag clouds I've cooked up at work lately (ex. one, two), here was his response, unedited:

Maybe you can do one for me that shows the frequency of words I use to describe politicians.

Like:

asshole
liar
ego-centric
disingenuous
opportunist
insincere
dishonest


Can you do thin in real time as I write? Huh? can ya?

His personal motto: "Never vote, it only encourages those people."

I don't agree with him. But, come on, that's pretty funny.

This is a post Ben Welsh made on January 12, 2008

It is filed with other posts about celebrations, complaints and the news.

Topics include 2008 election, email, humor, los angeles times, media, my life, politics, quantitative analysis, web and word cloud.

Some similar posts are "The Arcade Fire Hypecloud," "Ben's News Cloud," "Wright '01 vs. Wright '08," "Which Barack Obama headline makes the best band name?" and "What the future holds for farmworkers, Hispanics...and U.S. senators?"