Detroit Bundles Current Race and Sex Scandals Efficiently in a Single Mayor

NOT THE BOY GENIUS Kwame If you like race-based politicking—and the sanctimonious Keith Olberman tirades it spawns—you're gonna love what's going down in Detroit. There, scandal-plagued Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spiced up the normally staid "State of the City" speech last night by dropping the N-word and explaining how he's really the victim in the scandal/criminal investigation caused by his extramarital affair and his alleged lying under oath.

Kilpatrick: "In the past thirty days, I've been called a nigger more than any time in my entire life. In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I've heard these words, but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children." Kilpatrick also decried the "unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality" targeting him and the "hate-driven bigoted assault on a family." So it's the racism that's creating all these problems for his family, not the sexy text messages he stupidly sent to his mistress from his government-issued phone. To be fair, it's probably a combo.