Politics As Blood Sport

Watching clips of the most recent Republican candidates' televised dust-up, it occured to me there's a strong likelihood that two of the verbal pugilists will wind up on the same ticket, like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on a tag team. Watching the about-face should be fun, as they scramble to take back all the trash they've talked at each other for months. The latest bout was sponsored by YouTube, the symbol of here today gone tomorrow culture served up in five minute chunks, the maximum attention span of the average viewer. Perfect. A mini-scandal erupted when it was discovered that one of the "ordinary citizens" asking a question was a Clinton campaign operative. A former general who came out of the closet when he retired, he wanted to know the candidates' positions on "don't ask, don't tell," regarding gays in the military. The organizers were embarrassed that they hadn't vetted the questioner more carefully. With these events you don't want valid issues brought up and getting in the way of the substantive stuff, like Giuliani accusing Romney of hiring illegal aliens to work as servants in his mansion.