Rising Faith in Our Inhumanity

Garance Franke-Ruta notes that Jack Ryan is "perhaps the first politician in history to be brought down by a sex scandal involving wanting to have sex with his wife." That's perfect. I have to say, I was frustrated with Jack Ryan's exorcism until I realized that his "crying is not a turn-on" quip was not just general commentary.

While this window's open I figure I'll throw something out on Fuckgate. While it makes the man sound psychopathic, it's altogether great that the VP is playing toward a FOX News/NASCAR/National Greatness Whatever attitude in saying, you know, sometimes you just have to tell a dude to fuck off, 'cause sometimes dudes deserve it, and sometimes it makes you feel better to let let the dude have it. Even better is the fact that it seems to be playing well with the nation. Great—I can handle a Republican Party that spins a nice Christian moral clarity yarn in pursuit of its goals way better than actual religious fundamentalism among the powerful. It would appear that the Republican Party can still get on board with abject incivility/getting dag-nasty/crowning cult leaders, so there's always a little light at the end of the relativist's tunnel. Depending on how you feel about light and darkness, of course.

So maybe the left could use to come together and, in a unified voice, condemn this un-Christian, vehement attack in the holy ground of God's chosen Senate, which should be the true picture of brotherly Christian unity—something like that. Eh, whatever—we're never going to be as good at that game, but we've got Hollywood.

UPDATE: Wonkette:

Conventions attract call girls like Halliburton attracts no-bid contracts, and political conventions are no different. Today the New York Daily News is reporting that escort agencies in New York "are flying in extra call girls from around the globe to meet the expected demand" during the GOP convention. (Like getting sucked off by the energy lobby isn't good enough for them!) Agency operators are optimistic about business prospects: Says one, "It's going to be big."