Synaesthetic Shock Brigade

after another inane sunday opinion section in the new york times--where frank rich reminded us that the republicans, not the democrats, are in shambles among the public and kristof indulged in a heartwarming exotic tale of the amazon--i was reminded of an onion headline i saw a few years ago. it was after the 2004 election, and said "long-awaited beer with president awkward, disappointing", riffing on bush's polling wins as more down to earth than kerry. maureen dowd seems to think that this is a quality the american public still wants in a president, lauding hillary's incorrigible srappy-ness. do i care if the president can bowl? no. and also, bowling is sort of hard. i do care if they are competent and respect the democratic process.

in other news, did anybody notice that a few weeks ago, only a few days apart, detroit mayor kwame kilpartrick and former newark mayor sharpe james were indicted and tried, respectively? in the last elections of these two mayors, james infamously accused his opponent corey booker, the columbia educated son of two civil rihts activitists, of accepting the support of the kkk, and 'supporters of kwame kilpartcik' ran an ad featuring two bodies swinging from a tree, comparing opponent freeman hendrix to a german uncle tom and his supporters to a lynch mob. now they are both accused of federal crimes. i am not sure if a plausible causal link could be made, but something about being above logic in politicking and being above the law certainly go together. interesting.