Inappropriate

This was disgraceful, embarassing, unbearable, and inappropriate. The aide (or, heaven forbid, elected official) who suggested and/or arranged this should be sentenced to a lifetime of writing the complete transcripts of all of Al Gore's speeches on a neverending blackboard with their fingernails.

Whatever the intent, whatever the point, it epically fails on every level -- as an exercise in citizen testimony, as a perspective on a serious public policy issue, and, perhaps most significantly, as an attempt at humor. Would you believe that the Chairman of the committee is running unopposed for re-election (the only unopposed House member in California)? Is it too late to start a write-in campaign?

File this one under "Edsel." Good grief.