Over at The Corner today, Jonah Goldberg posted the newly released cover of the new book coming out from Markos Moulitsas. Noting the strangely familiar cover, he remarked:

Kos’ book cover approaches the highest form of flattery

Indeed. You’re probably wondering what the smiley face really has to do with Markos’ book. I mean, with Liberal Fascism, it makes sense. In fact, it’s even explained in the book. But what does it mean with Markos?

Well little does Jonah know that a lot of process and astrology went into this cover selection. They had to go through several iterations of the book before finally arriving at the reasonable decision of tying the American Flag into a turban and calling Republicans terrorists. And luckily for you fine folks at RedState, my vast network of publishing industry contacts were able to retrieve for me some of the discarded versions of the cover EXCLUSIVELY!! Once you see them, I think you’ll better understand the thought processes here.

So please, read on for …
THE TOP 5 DISCARDED KOS BOOK COVERS YOU NEVER SAW:

NUMBER 5 (counting is done backward. Because Bush.)

Publisher’s Notes: “It’s a bit derivative, and the title is not very punchy. Also if you could use a computer for the mock-ups rather than other books with white-out and stickers on it, that would be great.”

Verdict: Discarded

NUMBER 4

Publisher’s Notes: “Well we like the plain background and bold fonts. Still derivative. And the title comes off a bit wimpy, can you maybe put a little stank on it? Get your butch on! Also, it’s probably best not to tout your polling right now, don’t you think? PS> Comic Sans? Really?”

Verdict: Incinerated.

NUMBER 3

Publisher’s Notes: “Ok this one is our bad. Butch probably wasn’t the clearest direction to give you. I guess we were hoping maybe you could Taliban it up a bit? Also, Bob thinks, and I really have to agree, that you should go back to the “Founder of Daily Kos” line at the bottom. You feel us?”

Verdict: Reported to DHS.

NUMBER 2

Publisher’s Notes: “Um. Well you look great, let’s just get that out of the way. We’re just not sure peeking in through a window conveys the right message. Come to think of it … are you sure Moe Lane didn’t switch the cover on you? Also on that note … can we get a real manuscript? The one you sent just says “All work and no play makes Markos a dull boy” 3,723 times. Probably a mail mix-up.”

Verdict: Discarded. Also redrum.

NUMBER 1

Publisher’s Notes: “Ok, see NOW you’re talking. Love the title and the cute little guy with the American flag towel. We think the subtitle might be a bit indecisive. You know what might be good? Do you know any Talibans who could write the subtitle for you? Just a thought. Keep up the good work!”

Verdict: Mostly discarded, pending email from a Taliban.

And there you have it folks. The very next version was the one they ran with. And hey, Erick. At least he didn’t call anyone a brownshirt right? Now THAT would have been beyond the pale.

Anyway, in light of book fever, I’ve decided to write my own book. My working cover is below. See you at Amazon!!

Sigh.