[AmishDude]

Al Franken's popularity is part of what I've been calling the "pretentia". Hating Bush is now seen as an indicator of profound intellect.

It's strange, in times past, someone like Springsteen would have encouraged people to buy the book of an intellectual or even a pseudo-intellectual polemic like Noam Chomsky. But now, the intellectual master of liberalism is an ersatz humorist whose jokes indicate a wholly unveiled psychosis of bitterness and anger.

[Paul Atreides]

Also, given the display put on by Fagonna, Britney Queers, and Christina Faguleira, some think that the ability to shock is a sign of brilliance.