Is the Trinity Cheerleader’s rise in the polls a result of his vicious, reasonably untrue attacks on the Construction Magnate? Is it a result of the war in Iraq? (My favorite explanation for what’s going on, by the way.) Or is it for some reason we have yet to think about?

As noted previously, I’m having a difficult time caring. It’s not like these guys are all that different in tone and approach. They tell us all is fine in the city, we need to hand out more tax breaks to developers, and that they’ll pass a magic wand or two over the budget to come up with money to pay for city services while at the same time cutting our taxes.

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Which means that whoever wins, we must remain ever vigilant. I want to pass on this gem from the memorial service for the writer David Halberstam, who was telling off a general in Vietnam who was criticizing the assembled media because Halberstam had called another general at home. But the sentiment remains the same.

"General," Halberstam said in his great loud voice, "we are not corporals. We do not work for you. We work for our editors. If you have any complaints, complain to our editors. We will disturb the commanding general at home any time we have to do so in order to get our job done. The American public has a right to know what’s going on here. Is that clear?"

Is it?

Update: Just to show how absolutely bizarre this election has become, there is an Ed Oakley sign on a home on Swiss Avenue near the post office — which, unless I can’t remember anything at all, had a Support the President sign during the first couple of years of the Iraq war. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I completely overwhelmed by what’s happening?