Midterm Madness, Part Three: August And Everything After

Once upon a time, political wags used to talk about the "silly season" as a portion of the campaign calendar where everyone sort of loses their mind for a spell, transforming the serious election season into a comical geekshow of cartoon self-abuse and strenuous exercise. Traditionally, this goes hand-in-hand with the late summer months, when the news-cycle drags to a halt and you spend the days hoping that maybe some story about litigious zombies will break somewhere.

Well, we're in the last throes of August now, and the sad truth is there's really no way of distinguishing this month in the campaign from the ones that have preceded it. Even as America experiences the brunt of a massive unemployment crisis at home and a souring war abroad, political candidates continue to wage an ongoing campaign to determine who can be the most asinine dimwit in America.

Once again, Ben Craw, Elyse Siegel and I have surveyed the political discourse and found it wanting! In this edition: we have Harry Reid going yellow-bellied on the Cordoba House, Aqua Buddha worship, a zonked out Ben Quayle, John McCain going goo-goo eyed over Snooki, and Basil Marceaux -- whose internet prank campaign actually seems to be making more sense, compared to everyone else.

Enjoy, I guess? Because this is just not going to get any better, America.

[WATCH]

[Video produced by Ben Craw. Thanks to Internet-whisperer Elyse Siegel.]