Four More Years in the Bush Leagues (CD - 2005)

Personnel: Dave Kane, Emily Bell Spitz, Lenny Williams (piano).

Recording information: Reagan International Trade Center Amphitheater, Washing (2004-2005).

Director: Bill Strauss.

The Capitol Steps are up to their usual tricks with this live CD, covering both world events and the 2004 presidential election. "Embraceable Jew" imagines a hilarious meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. President George W. Bush takes plenty of lumps with "Someone Dumber Might," "If I Only Had a Plan" (to the tune of "If I Only Had a Brain") and "He Works Hard for the Country." Kevin Corbett not only mimics Bush's voice very well, but adds a few malaprops worthy of him. Mark Eaton captures the droning, pompous voice of unsuccessful 2004 challenger Senator John Kerry, who receives a few salvos himself with "Fakey Purple Hearts," "I've Taken Stands on Both Sides Now," and the sidesplitting line in "Der Nadermouth" ("He's taken more positions than Paris Hilton"). The new Democratic Chairman, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, is skewered in "The Impossible Dean," while the four aging liberal Supreme Court Justices are lampooned in "The Supremes" (borrowing the music from the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive," including the line "Our legal briefs are now Depends"). The only throwaway track is "Lirty Dies," a closing monologue of Spoonerisms that quickly loses steam. While political comedy CDs are in danger of rapidly fading from public interest due to their focus on current events, any student of history, regardless of political persuasion, ought to pick up this CD in order to share it with his or her children and grandchildren. Any baseball fan will pick up the mathematically impossible score in the cover art means that it was likely created by a Blue State Democrat, or at least, someone who is unfamiliar with baseball. ~ Ken Dryden minimize