As Gore Vidal likes to say, we’re living in the United States of Amnesia. If you had any reason to doubt the great man, check out the new reality shows crowding our TV screens currently. There’s Dog Eat Dog, NBC’s new offering, in which “six sexy and savvy players play upon each other’s strengths and weaknesses” to compete for $25,000.

The other night, in the show’s quiz section, a young female contestant was stumped when asked: “Which West Point graduate led the allied forces in Gulf War One?” A fog of amnesia passed over her youthful face, then she lit up and blurted: “Al Gore.” Gore Vidal would have enjoyed that.

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Ari, Watch What You Say

Aaron McGruder knows how to say goodbye to outgoing White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. (Remember the chill you felt, just weeks after 9/11, when you heard Fleischer tell Americans that they needed “to watch what they say.”)

In a recent Boondocks, my favorite comic-strip as even casual readers of this weblog know, Huey asks Caesar, “You heard Ari Fleischer is resigning as White House spokesman?” Caesar: “Did they say why?” Huey: “Presumably to spend less time lying to the public and more time lying to his wife.”