you give love a bad name

omg, i am sick as a dog but hopped-up on cold drugs (and cannot sleep). so at first i thought i was hallucinating this evening when, at the end of american idol's surprisingly fun bon jovi episode, the president and mrs. bush popped up on screen in a taped bit to thank america for raising something like $70 million during last week's "idol gives back" super-special edition, money for saving dying people in both africa and the u.s.a. they read their lines with blank (in)sincerity and totally flatlined during a scripted bit at the end. but the simple lines were actually sort of surreal and multilayered:

george: say, laura, you think i ought to sing something?

laura: i don't know, darling, they've already seen you dance!

har-de-har. dang. move over, sanjaya's hair. this bit -- delivered on may day and the anniversary of "mission accomplished" and the day he vetoed the troop-withdrawal plan, no less -- was probably the most unbelievable thing i've ever seen on idol. it was more blatant product-placement than the fucking coca-cola ads plastered all over the set. but it was pushing on us dear leader instead of caffeinated bubbly stuff. what a totally "normal" little appearance, all sweet and folksy and aren't-we-compassionate-conservatives? in the midst of the larger shitstorm the government is in, it did not compute at all and felt like something right out of howard chaykin's american flagg. wtf did bush even have to do with any of that fundraising? when the hell did he ever even care about charity? it's like, praise the people for giving money to help starving kids in america and abroad, b/c this administration sure as hell isn't gonna do it!

i mean, i get it: american idol is on fox. they support bush. but the whole thing just flies in the face of the show's concept. if anyone is so totally not an american idol right now, it's george bush.