I, too, am leaning towards David Cook, for his rawness and seemingly “ready for prime-time” persona. With that said, Archuleta was spectacular last night. It should be based, though, on the overall performances, from when the serious competition began.

In that case, Cook is clearly the stronger performer. But, because they allow unlimited votes per person, I believe every teenie bopper on the planet voted for Archuleta. Not that he isn’t talented, but just not deserving, overall, of being the next “Idol”. We shall see……….

I think that David Cook, mindful of how much an “American Idol” contract would force him to be in servitude to 19 Productions and forced to sing their crappy songs as other winners have had to do, deliberately took a dive last night, particularly by choosing the last song he did. Result; he still gets a lot of publicity and a steady gig for a few months on tour, during which time he can try to put together an independent career on his terms, free of the confining demands of 19 Productions.

While I am at it, Randy is an idiot who cannot string two words together without a “Yo, Dog” and his phony gang hand signals. As for Paula; well you, Neo, would be much more familiar than I with the effects of too much drugs and alcohol on someone of limited intelligence who, even in the best of times, has a problem with coherence. Simon, obnoxious as he is, is usually the only judge who really knows what’s happening and says what he observes and thinks about it. Having said that, I think that at one time or another each and every one of these judges, and sometimes all three together, have abandoned impartiality and put their fingers on the scale to influence who will win.

Finally, I am particularly suspicious of voting in which we never see the tallies nor have any objective observer insuring that such tallies are legitimate and accurately reported.

Keep up the good work.

Imagine there’s no liberals
It’s easy if you whine
No one to blame for everything
Your whole worldview’d run dry

Imagine all the liberals
Turning into you!

Woo hoo, ouuuuu ouuuuu
You may say I’m a schemer
And you’re not the only one

But I hope one day, you’ll run out
And learn to blame yourself for once

I watched your “Heaven” clip. Oh heck, I’ll confess, I watched it twice. For a sense of David A’s power, watch it once more yourself and, instead of looking at David A., focus on the people listening to him. Even Simon looks stunned. The back-up singers aren’t working on this number, so they’re just standing idly on the sidelines, waiting to be needed, maybe a little bored at first. They must have heard thousands of fine voices — that’s their job. But as they listen to this kid, they’re transfixed. You can see it in every line of their bodies. At second 40, one of them wipes away tears.

Even though I thought David A should have won, I’m virtually certain he will have some sort of wonderful career anyway. As will David C.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to whatever both Davids do next.