Where does pop culture meet the presidential election cycle? On American Idol, of course. And while it's pathetic that people vote on A.I. with more fervor than they vote for president (though in slightly smaller numbers,) there's always a chance for a year 2000 style upset ... and for Ohio and Florida to screw it up...
Case in point: Tonight on Idol, Nadia Turner, from Miami, got the boot, while Shaker Heights, Ohio's Scott Savol was saved (for a third straight time). The Idol boards are on fire over this one, with most of the heat being trained on the 28-year-old who in 2001 was arrested for allegedly roughing up his infant son's mother at her home during a Valentine's Day domestic dispute.
Savol, an overweight (but not in the "velvet teddybearish," Ruben Studdard sense of the word "overweight"), attitudinal gangsta wannabe with modest singing talent, a horrible little mustache and, according to the eternally bubbly host, Ryan Seacrest: greasy glasses, joined Turner, a gorgeous, Caribbean Christian (with fantastic hippie-mod style and massive, Sideshow Bob hair) from the Sunshine State, in the bottom three. (Let's face it, she picked a song nobody knew and paid the price). But here was the shocker: with them at the bottoom was the show's onetime odds-on favorite -- Helena, Alabama's mannerly rocker Bo Bice, one of the oldest performers on the show at 29, and one of the two or three most talented.
Compounding the horror, it appears that Bo actually got fewer votes than Scotty-boy, prompting the A.I. message board dwellers to go ... well ... ape sh*t.
One poster asked whether Nadia got the boot for revealing her Christian beliefs. Others simply posted various permutations of WTF??!!!!???? and vowed to bump the offending Savol off at all costs next week. Another offered to "make a deal with Satan" if only Scott could be voted off next week. One unfortunate post lurked off into racial wonderland, asking whether or not Savol is part Black. This poster summed it up brilliantly:
Nopoint2: Ohio is pretty good in pulling up mystery votes. Just think about the presidential elections last year. Maybe Scott is getting some support from the White House. :)
Priceless.
Last thing I'll say on this: like presidential elections, American Idol voting is about intensity more than talent. Whoever has the most fan intensity wins, whether or not they were the best performer week after week (isn't that right, bad-debater Dubya...?) I have no clue who'll be the next pope, but I can tell you with authority that this year, when the dry ice smoke and corny, canned car commercials clear, the next American Idol will be of Greek extraction. And how do I know? Say it with me: Intensity. Note the number of posts to each contestant's message board as of 10:59 EST Wednesday:
Anthony Fedorov - 45,780 Nadia Turner - 74,878 Scott Savol - 39,216 Bo Bice - 109,012 Carrie Underwood - 49,457 Anwar Robinson - 115,498 Vonzell Solomon - 24,327 Constantine Maroulis - 257,794 (and one of the threads is labeled "Greek God Groupies."
Shall we all start practicing our "make love to the camera" pouts now? And yeah, I just admitted I watch "American Idol..."
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
Where does pop culture meet the presidential election cycle? On 
