As Sarah Palin prepares to step down as governor, we salute her unforgettable time in the national limelight by looking back at her political life in pictures. OK, they're fake pictures, but they tell a story of a woman who is destined for a higher comedic calling.

Letterman Contributed to Palin's Resignation

Joking about Sarah Palin's resignation Monday night, David Letterman quipped, "Was it something I said?"

As it turns out, the answer is yes.

Sarah Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein said in an interview with CNN that Letterman's jokes about Palin and her daughter contributed to her decision to resign.

"When people don't accept normal bounds of decency making jokes like that about children, maybe this is not good for the state right now," Van Flein said. "And maybe somebody else who is not the subject, and whose family is not the subject of this scrutiny, can move the state forward."

So let's get this straight, Palin was prepared to stare down Putin and nuke Ahmadinejad, but a comedian proved too much for her? Lord only knows what she had in store for the likes of Letterman and Tina Fey if she were ever given the power to torture people.

'Department of Law' to Protect President Palin

Sarah Palin's says she resigned because she's been hounded by too many ethics investigations. So what if she were president?

Her answer to that question has been added to our list of the 10 dumbest Sarah Palin quotes of all time:

"I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," Palin told ABC News.

Sorry, Sarah, there is no Department of Law, but you may have better luck with the Department of Homeland Hilarity.

More Sarah Palin Humor:
Top 10 Real Reasons Palin Resigned
Funny Sarah Palin Pictures
Sarah Palin Cartoons
Sarah Palin Jokes

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Sarah Palin may be leaving office, but she still holds the title of national laughingstock, and likely will for the foreseeable future.

The Palin jokes are sure to keep coming, especially now that she has supplied comedians with a fresh supply of fodder from her bizarre resignation announcement. Here's the first batch of what is certain to be a steady new stream of late-night jokes about the soon-to-be former governor:

"There was a surprising announcement over the weekend. The governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, is leaving office. She's stepping down. Something I said?" –David Letterman, referring to his feud with Palin

"President Obama right now is in Russia. Obama went there because from Russia you can actually see Sarah Palin cleaning out her office in Alaska." –Conan O'Brien

"I was talking to a lady here in the audience, she was from Alaska and we were wondering about this. How does a thing like this work? She steps down and she's no longer the governor of Alaska. And we figured it out: Miss Congeniality steps up and is now the governor of Alaska." –David Letterman

Read more Sarah Palin jokes...

Letterman's Top Ten Messages on Sarah Palin's Answering Machine

10. "Hi, it's George W. Bush. Why didn't anyone tell me resigning was an option?"
9. "It's John McCain--Why did I call?"
8. "Mark Sanford here. Ever been to Argentina?"
7. "I'm calling from Geico to see if you want to renew your dogsled insurance"
6. "It's Letterman. We still cool?"
5. "McCain again. Still no idea why I called"
4. "Hi, it's the dry cleaner. Having trouble getting caribou blood out of your Prada jacket"
3. "Hi, it's Sarah...Oops...Dialed my own number"
2. "Schwarzenegger here. If you want a job, California could use a new governor"
1. "Hey, it's McCain. Who would've thought you'd retire before I did"

Top 5 Best Quotes About Palin's Resignation

1. "I have said Sarah Palin's political ambition combined with her intellect is like putting a jet engine on a golf cart; lots of horse power and no steering capabilities. Today she proved it." --Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, whom Sarah Palin is threatening to sue

2. "Sarah Palin decided to chuck her responsibilities but still wants to have an impact on public debate. So what does that make her, a community organizer?" –NPR's Michel Martin

3. "Watching Sarah Palin's press conference on Friday was like watching a drunk seal trying to land a plane, or in basketball terms (which Sarah prefers) like watching a grade-schooler try to score on Kobe while jabbering inanely." --Huffington Post blogger David Stemler

4. "Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy." --New York Times columniust Maureen Dowd

5. "I think Sarah Palin is on the verge of becoming the Miami Vice of American politics: Something a lot of people once thought was cool and then 20 years later look back, shake their heads and just kind of laugh." --Republican media consultant Todd Harris

Read more devastating quotes about Sarah Palin...

More Sarah Palin Humor:
Top 10 Real Reasons Palin Resigned
Funny Sarah Palin Pictures
Sarah Palin Cartoons
10 Dumbest Sarah Palin Quotes

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10. She's pregnant again and is having John Edwards' baby
9. She's "hiking the Appalachian Trail" with Mark Sanford
8. She wants to spend more time teaching abstinence to her family
7. She's joining the cast of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!"
6. She cracked under the strain of watching Russia from her house
5. She wants to devote herself full-time to making comedians apologize for the new wave of jokes they're about to unleash on her
4. Her daughter Bristol is actually having Alex Rodriguez's baby
3. She's taking up Playboy's offer to pose nude as part of their upcoming "Governors Gone Wild" issue
2. She came to the end of the Bridge to Nowhere that is her political career
1. She didn't resign at all. It was an elaborate hoax pulled off by Tina Fey

More on Palin's Resignation:
Comedians Mourn Palin's Resignation (Borowitz)
Sarah Palin Resignation in a Minute and a Half (HuffPost Comedy)
Insane Palin Threatens To Sue Entire Internet, Via Twitter (Wonkette)
Translating Palin (MadKane)
Palin Resigns Presidency To Lead Country Better, Better Effect Change (Opinions You Should Have)

More Sarah Palin Humor:
Best Palin Humor
Funny Sarah Palin Pictures
Sarah Palin Cartoons
Sarah Palin Jokes
10 Dumbest Sarah Palin Quotes

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Now that Al Franken has become the first comedian elected to the U.S. Senate, or at least the first professional comedian, will the joke now be on him?

As a former Saturday Night Live cast member, Franken may soon find himself spoofed on his former show. Asked about the possibility, Franken said he wasn't sure who might do a better impersonation of him, Fred Armisen (who currently plays Obama) or frequent guest Alec Baldwin.

Most of the late-night shows are off this week, so it remains to be seen whether Franken will become a frequent butt of jokes. So far The Daily Show has weighed in on Franken giving the Democrats a nearly super-duper majority, and Stephen Colbert has been wallowing in the terrible news.

Editorial cartoonists, meanwhile, are having fun riffing on Franken's comedic credentials with a series of amusing cartoons.

As a salute to our nation's first comedian-turned Senator, here's a must-see video from the vault: Al Franken impersonating Mick Jagger on "Solid Gold", sometime in the '80s. Yes, that's the future Senator prancing around in tights and singing the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb."

Franken may be just what the Democrats need to come up with their own version of the now-defunct Singing Senators.

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A blockbuster Vanity Fair article paints a devastating portrait of Sarah Palin that describes her life as an "unholy amalgam of Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure." Among the revelations: one of John McCain's advisers called her "A Little Shop of Horrors"; she writes creepy emails to friends pretending to be God; and she's a compulsive liar.

The McCain staffers who trashed Palin in the article say they still suffer a kind of "survivor's guilt":

"They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be."

Ouch.

This Just In:

• Duly Quoted: Norm Coleman has now lost state- wide elections in Minnesota to a wrestler and a comic. So, next time out, beware that rodeo clown." –Comedian Will Durst

• Gov. Mark Sanford says his Argentinian mistress is his soul mate, forgetting that as a politician he has no soul (via Fark)

• The Mark Sanford affair commemorated in poetry: Sanford at the Bat

• Here's a handy Republican Sex Scandal Flowchart, courtesy of Talking Points Memo

• NotTheLATimes: White House Orders Celebrities to Stop Dying in Threes

• Borowitz Report: Madoff to Share Cell With O.J.

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"Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared...and it turned out he was in South America. And then it turned out he was down there because he was sleeping with a woman from Argentina. Once again, foreigners taking jobs that Americans won't do." --David Letterman

"Gov. Sanford may have broken the law because he left the country without transferring power to his lieutenant governor. Yeah, apparently Sanford violated South Carolina's sacred bros before hoes law." --Conan O'Brien

"Today the governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, who's the head of the Republican Governors Association, held a press conference to reveal he had an affair with a woman from Argentina. People were shocked because Republicans traditionally don't do well with Hispanic women." --Conan O'Brien

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is claiming victory in Iran. It's controversial and he is very unpopular. And the danger is this - he could ruin the political career of his brother, Jeb." --David Letterman

"No, it's sad about Iran, but what do you expect about a country with a government that's propped up by oil, that's led by a religious wacko? Kind of like Alaska." --Bill Maher

Read more...

Comedians everywhere are having a field day with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's confession to having an Argentinian mistress. A few of the best late-night jokes so far:

"Just another politician with a conservative mind and a liberal penis." --Jon Stewart (Watch video clip)

"Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared...and it turned out he was in South America. And then it turned out he was down there because he was sleeping with a woman from Argentina. Once again, foreigners taking jobs that Americans won't do." --David Letterman

"Needless to say, this not great news for the Republican party. So many prominent Republicans have been caught in these situations lately: Mark Sanford, Larry Craig, David Vitter, John Ensign from Nevada. And do you want to know why this is happening? The gays. They've destroyed the institution of marriage and now this is what we get" --Jimmy Kimmel

"Good for her I say! Good for you! Finally! I never understood why these women had to stand by their douchebag at the press conference. He's like, 'Oh I did this I did that then I took off her dress and then we went to Hooters'...I think what the wives should do is just wear a t-shirt that says 'I'm with stupid.'" –Craig Ferguson on Mark Sanford's wife not appearing at his press conference

Read more Mark Sanford jokes, plus watch Craig Ferguson's hilarious comedic riff on Sanford.

Mark Sanford's Love Emails

Sanford's love emails to his mistress, which read like a cheesy romance novel, are also eliciting snickers. Keith Olbermann's dramatic reading, accompanied by mood music, is not to be missed. A sampling from the emails:

"Two, mutual feelings . . . You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details…

Read the rest of the emails...

More Quips About the Sanford Affair

"If one thing is clear, this is definitely Mark Sanford's first affair, because no experienced lothario would have played it this badly. There are junior high kids trying to get to third base that have more of a plan than this guy." --Comedian Christian Finnegan on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann"

"Too bad if a governor had to go missing it couldn't have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin." --Sen. John Kerry

"This is almost like, 'I don't give a damn, the country's going to Hell in a handbasket, I just want out of here,'" said Limbaugh. "He had just tried to fight the stimulus money coming to South Carolina. He didn't want any part of it. He lost the battle. He said, 'What the Hell. I mean, I'm -- the federal government's taking over -- what the Hell, I want to enjoy life.'" --Rush Limbaugh, arguing that Sanford flew out of the country to have an affair because President Obama pushed him over the edge

More Mark Sanford Humor:

Mark Sanford Cartoons (About.com)
Top Ten Surprising Facts About Mark Sanford (Letterman)
Top Ten Gov. Mark Sanford Excuses (Letterman)
Sanford at the Bat (Kind of a Lark)
Reenactment of Sanford Affair (Andy Cobb)
Mark Sanford Karaoke (Jimmy Fallon)
Jon Stewart on the Sanford Affair (Daily Show)
Colbert Declares Himself Governor of South Carolina (Colbert Report)
Sanford Transfers Extramarital Affair to Lieutenant Governor (Borowitz)
Is Mark Sanford America’s First Emo Republican Adulterer? (David Rees)
FOX News Labels Sanford a Democrat (Media Matters)
Twitters Best Comments During Sanford's Press Conference (CSM)

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(Photo by Davis Turner/Getty Images)

"The Iranian government is planning a curfew because things are getting so crazy in Iran. And I thought if there is one thing an angry mob respects, by God, it's a curfew, isn't it?" --David Letterman

"Some experts are saying the Iranian election was rigged because in some towns, voter turnout was more than 100%. What's even stranger, all those extra votes were from elderly Jewish people in Palm Beach, Florida." --Conan O'Brien

"No, it's sad about Iran, but what do you expect about a country with a government that's propped up by oil, that's led by a religious wacko? Kind of like Alaska." --Bill Maher

"Well, the results from Iran's presidential elections are in. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared victory. But his opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, is claiming ballot fraud and wants an investigation. If that doesn't work, he's planning on making a documentary about global warming." --Jimmy Fallon

"But I hope they get this figured out. I hope it goes away soon, because the last thing we need is unrest in the Middle East." --David Letterman

Read more late-night jokes about the Iranian election...

More Iran Election Humor:
Iranian Election Political Cartoons (About.com)
The Daily Show Reports From Iran (Daily Show)
Ahmadinejad Tweets Back (Funny Or Die)
Ahmedinejad Breaks His Silence (YouTube)
Twitter Creator On Iran: 'I Never Intended For Twitter To Be Useful' (The Onion)

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