There is no shortage of political fodder for comedians in 2008. The campaign season took off with Stephen Colbert's Doritos-sponsored run for president [1]. When his presidential dreams were broken into shards of bottom-of-the-bag chips, we turned to the feisty Democratic primary. The fightin' socialists!

During the 500 or so debates, our gossip-mongering eyes studied Hillary's glances to Barack, at one turn with the adoration of a schoolgirl and another with a readiness to bite into his soul. The love-hate relationship found its way into a spoof of the Sarah Silverman-Matt Damon video [2] in "I'm F*cking Obama [3]".

A quiet Summer brought a folksy Fall when Sarah Palin, literally, took the stage. Her interview with Katie Couric was spoofed on SNL [4]; her life turned into a faux Disney movie complete with a real-life trailer [5]; and her quote about "real America" was refuted in Jon Stewart's defense of fake America [6]. But 18 days before the election, John McCain and Barack Obama got together and roasted each other [7], acknowledging in person the campaign headlines swarming above.

So those are our favorite Lighten Ups — what's yours? Haven't got one? Fear not because we'll be looking back at the biggest and bestest news from 2008 [8] right into 2009.

Source [9]