This post will probably give me nightmares, Michael. I just envisoned Bill and Hillary on Rushmore. And two makes six (and me sick).

I'll say this much Michael, I had Chait slightly ahead of you in the "pathologically obsessed with Hillary Clinton" race, but you've caught up!  

I know, I know, you can quit any time you want to.  

Are we actually allowed to add onto Mt. Rushmore?  I mean, it's not like sticking another watercolor up on the fridge.  But suppose an unquestionably awesome chief executive comes along - let's say someone who saves us from alien extermination, a la "Independence Day."  Is there room for one more?

I make my living off the evening news. Just give me something--something I can use. People love it when you lose; they love dirty laundry.

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here. I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear. Come and whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry...

We got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five. She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It's interesting when people die; give us dirty laundry.

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet? You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet. Get the widow on the set! We need dirty laundry.

(You don't really need to find out what's going on. You don't really want to know just how far it's gone. Just leave well alone. Keep your dirty laundry.)

Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies. We got our fingers in everybody's pie. Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry. We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing. When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing. We all know that craft is king--give us dirty laundry!...

Probably a wise decision (of hers).

Of all of mankinds creations, these figures atop Mt. Rushmore will far outlast in durability and longevity the Pyramids, the great wall of China, you name it. Solid granite, protected from the elements as they can be, it is estimated they can last up to 200,000 years, and likely longer then humanity (as we view ourselves) will last.

How is that for a different take on them?

I've said this before, but here it goes again.  Occasionally you read an anecdote like this from the campaign trail that suggests that Hillary is a real person: very sharp, sometimes flustered, a little cold, more comfortable with policy papers than people, a sense of humor a little too dry and dark to let out.

And if we had more of that-- if she didn't make such a studious effort to be a robot-- I really would like her a lot more as a candidate.

All of this makes me feel very sympathetic for Hillary.  She wants to be president but she knows that a person without Bill's people skills can't win an election.

You're right ejbenjamin, that it reveals a side of her that she keeps hidden.  What it also reveals to me is what she thinks about Bill, and it's nowhere near kind and gentle!

ejbenjamin, that is what I thought- that is a humanizing moment.  I kind of found it endearing.   And blackton, that is something that sends shivers down my booze-bent spine: there is a chance that the nex species that develops some kind of awareness will see those faces and have that atavistic and vague thrill we have when contemplating something ancient and unknowable.   It is stunning to think about.

lymon- once Hillary leaves the race and stops offering rationales for Obama not being the candidate then we can ignore her.  Until then she is still a major figure who invites scrutiny.

Mr. Yard, did you write that yerself?  If so, kudos.

@ aeromonas -- That's actually a song from the 80's by Don Henley.

@ blackton -- If Mt. Rushmore lasts 200,000 years, then Teddy Roosevelt SO lucked out getting up there!

He was a good President, but not in the Washington/Jefferson/Lincoln league.

kevmonj -- If Mt. Rushmore lasts 200,000 years ... it'll be almost as old as John McCain!

<rimshot>

Thanks folks, you're great.  Try the fish.

Was this from 'Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions' in MAD?

"Why don't you learn something about the monument,"

1. Because Howard said he would cover it in tomorrows conference call.

2. Let me guess, it has something to do with hard working whites with no education.

3. It's your call. Either I hop back on the plane and you get more free media or I go back to the visitors center for Rushmore facts.