Political informercials in prime time used to be the refuge of rich but crazy third party candidates like Ross Perot or Lyndon LaRouche, but now Obama has taken it mainstream. There’s something sad but inevitable about that, the loss of any dignity left in a Presidential campaign. Politics was never pretty but there was an effort to keep some class in the business of choosing a President. And then it became routine for Presidential candidates to stop by Oprah and Saturday Night Live. Now it’s routine for them to use viral videos and infomercials. We’ve taken the Presidential race right to the front pages of celebrity magazines and Paris Hilton releasing her Funny or Die comedy videos is now reported on as political news along with Obama girl and whether Joe the Plumber will get a country music contract. Things aren’t just bad, they’ve reached the point where issues aren’t an issue anymore. Not when the press would rather cover Palin’s wardrobe or Obama’s beach photos or where Michelle orders her clothes or how much Tina Fey looks like Sarah Palin. If there’s one reason I wish Obama and Palin would both vanish where they came from is that they’ve made our political culture as hopelessly retarded as our celebrity culture.