A PROPOSAL. If we're going to play by Mark Halperin's rules of mindless balance, then every news item about John Kerry's hamfisted way with humor should be followed by a sentence something like this: "This is not the first time an important politician has been caught in what observers say is an act of disrespect for our troops." Which would then be followed by a description (in print) or the actual footage (on TV) of this.
But this will not happen, because Halperin's a salon-sniffer with all the sincerity of a man who sells potions out of a wagon, and because an awful lot of the people you hear yukking it up on that video are the ones playing Don't Get The Joke from their fainting couches today.
It's step-up time today, boys and girls. Are you going to play along with the bullshit controversy du jour or are you going to do your actual jobs? By all means, let's talk about Iraq for the next six days.
--Charles P. Pierce
