Thursday, August 28, 2008

"I Love This Dirty Town"

That's what the character J.J. Hunsecker said about New York City in that great movie Sweet Smell of Success. Presidential election seasons always make me feel that way about the Holy City of Washington. [Note: I call it "the Holy City" because I don't see why the Shia should have all the fun. They have at least six Holy cities - Najaf, Karbala, Qom, Mashhad, Shiraz and Samarra - not to mention Mecca and Medina, and I think it's only fair I should have at least one.]

The election is still a long way off, but I'm already giddy with excitement watching the attack ads, the VEEP-stakes, the consultants and pollsters earning their big quadrennial fees, the spinning and posturing, the netroots campaigns, and so on and on. Even down at my low level on the government food chain we feel the excitement, as the members of the 'permanent government' maneuver for jobs in the next administration.

There really is nothing quite like a Presidential election to bring out the best and the worst of this little hothouse world inside the Beltway.

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