By that I mean (no, it's nothing dirty) that the news of the Michael Jackson verdict will suck the air out of every other news story this week. Watch the Bush Administration and their cronies carefully. I bet they'll be dumping the bad news like every day is Friday. Forget Felt, forget Cooney, forget Coin-gate, forget the quagmire that is Iraq. Michael Jackson is the star of this news cycle. That is, until another white woman goes missing.
The media: Look over here!
The public: Ooh, shiny!
My humble advice to Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership (who might not be paying attention to all this nonsense): if you have any important strategic initiatives, and you want anyone to actually notice, hold on to them for another week at least.