Not too long ago, I wrote about the low-octane writing that's so far carried the day in the coverage of the primaries, but have been overjoyed, or at least snickering quietly, to read that Sinbad has entered the news. And not just for starring in a retread of Jingle All the Way, but because he went to Bosnia with Hillary Clinton and---this fountain of pop-culture has beens just gets better---Sheryl Crow. This was back in 1996, so still a few years before I paid good, hard-earned money to see Sinbad's stand-up show in Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis. I chalk that up to becoming a well-rounded observer of the culture. I vaguely remember he made some joke about sitting through algebra class.
But now---NOW!---Sinbad is saying that Bosnia wasn't all that dangerous back in 1996, or the part he, Clinton + Baby Clinton and Crow visited wasn't all that bad, and Slate's Christopher Beam, the WaPo's Mary Ann Akers, and, farcically, Sinbad himself have all weighed in on the fracas.
"Sinbad risked his neck in Kosovo. Sinbad saved his best jokes for the troops. Sinbad got a kick-ass haircut. Sinbad wore his best Karl Kani shirt. Those are just FACTS. "
Like the good doctor said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." We may be entering the beginnings of the truly melted down, truly professional phase of the primaries, and not a moment too soon.