Well this is certainly interesting. I don't think I could sit through Jay's painful shtick long enough to watch this, but it's revealing that NBC is pulling out their big guns to promote the show. (It's also getting a second half-hour airing after Will & Grace on Aug 14).

NBC owns Bravo and it's already Bravo's most popular show ever, so they're hoping to finally put the network on the map with it, what SouthPark did for Comedy Central.

Meanwhile, the homos venture further and further into the mainstream.

I'm not a big fan of Slate's chief political correspondent William Saletan (as opposed to their wonderful Chris Suellentrop), but he just nailed Joe Lieberman.

"I want to vote for Joe Lieberman," his piece opens. "I really do. I just want somebody else to deliver his lines."

I really, really don't want to vote for Joe Lieberman, but regardless of whether or not I do, Saletan couldn't be more right with the central argument of the piece, "Joe Lieberman needs to be played by somebody else."

Some of the evidence:

Lieberman's body language is even more incongruous. He speaks of "strength" in a faint, creaky voice. He makes a fist but never clenches it and seldom raises it above the podium. When he does swing it forward in an attempt to look forceful, his head reclines away, as though he's the one getting punched. "My campaign has a lot of energy," he asserts in a voice trailing off. "I'm standing for something," he insists as he leans on the podium. In the flattest tone imaginable, he drones that he's "stunned" by Bush's lack of preparation for postwar Iraq. He accuses Bush of "tighten[ing] the noose around working families' necks" and tries to illustrate the noose, but somehow can't manage to close the distance between his hands to less than 18 inches. He threatens to hit Bush "right up the middle" but defuses the gesture with an avuncular grin....

One big sign of trouble in a campaign is when the candidate makes his campaign strategy a centerpiece of his stump speech. Lieberman does this all the time. He tells Democratic audiences he can match Bush where Bush is strong—on defense and values—and beat Bush where Bush is weak, on the economy. That may be true. But Lieberman shouldn't have to say it. He's the candidate. His job is to be appealing, not to tell people why they should find him appealing, or why they should vote for him because some other constituency will find him appealing.

I'm not saying Lieberman is miscast as a politician. He has strengths, and those strengths worked well in previous roles. . . . Joe Lieberman is a gentle soul. I like him for that. I just don't see how it'll make him president.

It's nice to see a pundit actually grasp that there's more to a president than stands on the issues and likelihood of a labor endorsement. If you don't have the personality to carry it off, none of that other stuff makes a bit of difference.

The incredible part is all the journos who can't see this, who spent half the year writing about him as a major contender. Just how blind do you have to be?

A certain David Lewis waited until the day the first openly gay bishop was ordained by a mainstream denomination to charge the new bishop as a "skirt chaser."

His final ratification vote scheduled for today was just delayed indefinitely to investigate the charges. (No bishop has been refused ratification since 1934.)

Reuters just reported this:

A copy of an e-mail obtained by Reuters that was sent to Vermont Bishop Thomas Ely from a man identified as David Lewis accused New Hampshire Bishop-elect Gene Robinson of being a "skirt-chaser" who fondled him two years ago.

"My personal experience with him is he does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men. I believe this is an alarming weakness of character that alone makes Gene unsuitable for the office of bishop," the note, dated Sunday, said.

Sounds damn fishy to me.

I'll add to this post as news develops. AP has a story with more background but fewer details on the allegations.

(I'm 24 hours late on this, but was obsessed with the newsmagazines yesterday):

The Des Moines Register released a major new poll yesterday and Dean has finally inched ahead of local favorite Dick Gephardt in Iowa. He's now narrowly in the lead and gaining in both crucial states, Iowa and NH--neck-and-neck with Kerry in NH, Gephardt in Iowa, each of whom was supposed to dominate in those states. (And the other is well back in each of the other states).

The poll showed Dean with  23 percent, Gephardt with 21 and Kerry well back at 14. Lieberman was the only other candidate in double digits, with 10. But among voters saying they will definitely vote, Dean's lead widens to 10 percent.

Dean is the only candidate strong in both states, where a lot of voters have actually been paying attention. And he's drawing incredible crowds in Iowa for this early in the race.

Key excerpts:

more more more

Click to read excerpts from that piece and the Register's followup poll story today focused on issues. (The number one issue for Iowans by far is the economy. Second is healthcare.)

Newsweek's new issue does much better on capturing Queer Eye For the Straight Guy than it does Howard Dean. Really nice story, hit's all the right notes:

Queen for a Day

Bravo’s ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ has exploded. It’s a makeover takeover.

It also answers a few questions I had been wondering about:

• In fact, they take about three days, chiefly because of the home redesigns. After day one, producers put the guy up in a hotel, and he returns only when his place is finished. The Fab Five, however, genuinely don’t know what they’re up against until they arrive at their patient’s door. They receive a brief dossier during the car ride over and then have to form a game plan on the spot.
• “Queer Eye” pays for the entire makeover, and the final price tag ranges from $2,500 to nearly $10,000, Collins says, depending on how much the subject could realistically afford. The idea is to fashion for him a lifestyle that he can maintain, thereby heading off a slow, yearlong slide back into style purgatory.
• The Fab Five’s good vibes have even touched NBC, which aired a 30-minute version of the pilot episode after a recent “Will & Grace” rerun. It held onto 86 percent of the gay-themed sitcom’s audience. NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker told news-week that “Queer Eye” will make another cameo on Aug. 14, but he insists that Bravo will remain the show’s permanent home. (Its initial 13-episode order has already been extended to 20.) “NBC will be fine without ‘Queer Eye’,” Zucker says. “It’s far more important to turn Bravo into a must-have cable channel.”

Now then. Doesn't it seem like the media is just saturated with homos right now? Even my gay friends are amazed by it. Are you breeders sick to death of it yet? Are you planning to stage a backlash?

He won the first vote yesterday. The final vote is today (Monday). If he wins, he'll become the first openly gay bishop from a mainline denomination. Emphasis on "openly" of course. Here's the opening of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story:

Gay bishop on way to win

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Episcopal Church moved one step closer to making history Sunday when an openly gay man won the first of two votes he needs to become a bishop.