If presidential debates were moderated by science fiction fans

Okay, I'll admit that I'm slow on the draw on this one. But as tonight is the last of the 2004 presidential debates (talk about bad timing--who schedules a debate opposite game one of the Astros-Cardinals playoff series!?) it's timely if nothing else. The Mumpsimus has a hilarious SFnal riff on the presidential debates up, that is well worth a look.

MODERATOR: How do you feel about genre-bending movements such as The New Weird and Interstitial Arts? Are they a threat to the purity of science fiction and fantasy? Senator Kerry?

KERRY: I believe that we can have a large movement all together, and that the tent we live in -- or, rather, everyone here but the President and I and, I'm sorry to say, you Mr. Moderator [chuckles] -- that tent -- it's large and can contain multitudes. What's new and weird is the President's approach in Iraq. If we had made alliances, we would have an interstitial approach to foreign policy, but at the moment, the failed policies of this administration have given us a maze of death which our troops are dying inside.

MODERATOR: Mr. Bush?

BUSH: What's new and weird is my opponent's love for Saddam Hussein. Look, I don't know half of what he's talking about, I don't understand any of the words he's using, but I know I'm right. And that's not weird, and it's not new.

It's not too much to ask that we have a few questions about the New Weird thrown out in tonight's debate, is it? Yeah, I thought so...

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