Senators pick their favorite superheroes

Nerds, rejoice! The most wonderful time of the year is here — Comic-Con.

The annual comic-book convention in San Diego runs through the weekend. So in honor of the geeked-out event, ITK decided to throw on her reporting cape (before promptly taking it off because it was approximately 1,000 degrees in D.C.) and fly to the Capitol to ask senators about their choices when it comes to comic-book heroes.

A favorite of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) just happens to have a similar moniker to the junior senator. Said Manchin, “Bazooka Joe, remember that one?” Sorry, senator, but besides the bubblegum of the same name, Bazooka Joe’s a little before ITK’s time. (Although Manchin added he has an affinity for Superman.)

The Man of Steel is apparently the man to beat when it comes to the favorite character of lawmakers. While Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) argues the high-flying hero has “got the whole package,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) admits, “Superman’s really my favorite. I try to be like him, and I fail every time I try.”

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) isn’t as interested in heroes who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. His favorites include Doonesbury and Pogo. But it’s a lovable loser Kerry likes best: “Charlie Brown, because he’s always screwing up.”

One of the few female fictional do-gooders can do no wrong in Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s eyes. The Maryland Democrat loves her some Wonder Woman: “I like who she is. I like the way she fought for the little people. I loved her copper bracelets. I loved her verve. And she had to do it with all those guy action heroes when it was a little hard to get some space.”

When ITK pointed out that perhaps the senior senator might relate to her beloved cartoon hero, Mikulski replied, “I’d rather be Wonder Woman than Wonder bread.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

And forget talk of the debt ceiling; ITK’s question touched off a great internal debate for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who wondered aloud, “Batman — is he a superhero? Or is he not because he doesn’t have any superpowers? He just has a costume, and he can’t fly or anything.” While Rubio couldn’t come to an immediate conclusion on the hero/not hero dilemma, his pick for favorite might be the most PC answer yet: “Captain America … as a kid I thought he was pretty cool because he didn’t have any special powers. He just had a shield.”

ITK will be on the lookout — eyeing Rubio and other lawmakers to see if they start bringing shields to the debt-ceiling debates.

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