Moving on to Other Foreign Elections!

Lest you think that publicity stunts are limited to American politics or Paris Hilton, the Hungarian Prim Minister "leaked" a recording of him berating the government for lying and not doing anything.

The really scary thing is that we're so used to this sort of thing that it's nearly impossible to tell whether it's a terrible mistake or a ploy to make him look like a reforming firebrand/maverick. Honestly, it could be a real leak and he could be scrambling to protect what's left of his political life, but this is exactly the sort of thing that someone like McCain pulls out of his hat when things aren't looking so good.

On my side, I find this PR nonsense is the absolute worst part of politics. It's gross and repellant and, ultimately, quite boring. It's Compassionate Conservatism and Al Gore's earth tones and all of that crap. I don't think I'm alone here, either. This is what turns people off of politics, not the issues or voting or something. People care about the issues, especially the really complicated ones. What makes people stop caring is how both parties, whatever their positions are, seem to have exactly the same PR firm (and not a particularly good one). They're both transparent and indistinguishable.

But, then, I'm bitter and unemployed. In my heart of hearts, I'd prefer any candidate who spoke Latin or had a passionate love for medieval history. Hell, at this point, I'd take anyone who had a passionate love of anything. For this very reason, if I was able to vote in West Virginia, I'd vote for Robert Byrd in a heartbeat. Say what you will about him (and goodness knows there's plenty of bad things to say about him), but he clearly cares deeply about the Senate and its history, not to mention the Roman Senate. I find that very appealing, and not just because I also like the Roman Republic. That passion is a part of the real Robert Byrd. It's not moving any polls for him, it's not winning him any votes (except mine, I guess), but it is still very important to him, and it gives him a much more interesting public personality than, say, John Kerry or Trent Lott. It might not be ideal, but I'll take what I can get.

Especially when the major players in the next presidential election are people like Hilary Clinton and Bill Frist.

Gak.