Lunacy

Two political posts in one day...I don't know, might be a sign of a dangerous addiction. It's just been, well...there's a big shadow crossing the moon this evening, and the city has fallen silent except for all these dogs inexplicably howling. Plus Mercury's in retrograde of some such shit, and Mayans say time ends in four years.

Four years?

So the president, who's romping around Africa, being entertained by lovely native dancers wearing his face on their asses (not making that up), has hit the all-time lowest approval rating in history. To put 19% in perspective, mental health professionals estimate as much as 17% of the population suffers from psychiatric disorders, so Bush is 2 points ahead of crazy. (Still better than Cheney.)

Meanwhile, Shiite militia leader al-Sadr said he'll decide Saturday whether the cease fire he instituted will continue. If he say yes, the truce continues. If he doesn't say anything...game on. And there goes that much vaunted improvement the troop surge was supposedly responsible for, because the next thing you know, the Shiites and Sunnis are going to be drawing down on each other again. Maybe why all that talk about bringing guys home has...just...kind of...tapered away....

Meanwhile, the Clinton camp is walking around like someone's just struck them all in the head with baseball bats and they're trying to catch their equilibrium, which they do now and then to wave their arms and yell "He's not presidential! He just talks good!" Uh huh. Even Mr. Bill and James "Serpenthead" Carville are saying Clinton's got to win either Ohio, Texas, or maybe both, and number wizards are saying she has to win them decisively. Like by, uh, 20 points. Meanwhile, the newest polls in those states show Obama continuing to close the gap. People were a little worried about Michelle Obama's remark that for the first time in her adult life, she was proud of America--ruh roh--until Bill O'Reilly, actually trying to defend her from some right-wing caller, said, "Look, I'm not going to round up a lynching party until I learn the facts."

Oops. Either he knew what he was doing and was stupid, or his unconscious took over and revealed who he really was. Either way, the heat's off Michelle.

And then...oh God. You really can't...you just really make this stuff up much less hope it'll happen, but New Yorkers, when they sip their coffee and blearily snap open the Times tomorrow are going to be confronted with a big headline that John McCain was making nicey-nice back in 2000--when he was 63, kids--with a 40-year-old female lobbyist who just happened to have business with several of McCain's committees, and whose clients contributed to John "unimpeachable ethics" McCain's campaign. Which really comes as no surprise for those of us who remember that dingbat when he was one of the Keating Five, but it's coming as a rude awakening for the GOP establishment to be dealing with their own "bimbo eruption." Pat Buchanan reportedly had a public meltdown on MSNBC earlier this evening.

Ah irony. Irony is a sweet, sharp liquor that goes down ice cold then kicks your brain right out its skull. Irony's a keeper.

This one day after David Letterman said of McCain, "Doesn't he remind you of a greeter at Wal-Mart? He reminds you a mall wanderer. He reminds you of that guy who gets confused by the automatic door at the supermarket."