Is Shibli Al-Mallat losing his mind? I am serious. I want my friends in Lebanon who know him to see if he needs help. I watch taped (Arabic) news shows on my Archos gadget when I travel. So I saw an episode of LBC-TV's Naharkum Sa`id with Mallat. He was just not real. He kept referring to himself as "the civilized candidate." I kid you not. On several occasions, he kept referring to his meetings in DC with officials at "a very high level." The sympathetic host, with a suppressed smile, even asked him at one point about those meetings at "a very high level." Mallat said he meets with officials at "a very high level" but that he "has opted" to avoid meetings "at a very high level" in the "Executive Branch"--he said that in English. He basically implied that Bush was begging to see him, but that he decided against it. He also said that he was offered numerous times to be member of parliament and the Ministry of Justice. When people bring up the fact that nobody knows what he has been doing politically, he refers to his "struggle in the March 14 Movement." Once a reporter asked him to clarify. He said that he went to the demonstration on that day--that counts as "struggle" now, especially if you dragged your maid with you. The only reason why anybody knows about his is because he used the victims of Sabra and Shatila massacres to attain name recognition. He believes that the "struggle" against Israel should be "peaceful and civilizational." He said that "all Law schools in US" are now convinced that Israel is not democratic because he persuaded them of that. He said that his "civilizational candidacy" is a big sacrifice because he had to give up a "great post" in the US (not identified) and "a great post" at St. Joseph University in Beirut. He said that he convinced the US government to go easy on Hizbullah, and that they agreed with him. He said that when he speaks to US officials he tells them to "take care of the Golan Heights." He admitted that he would not have run if his favorite person, the Maronite Patriarch, agreed to run for president. He does not take any step without consulting with the Patriarch. This ostensibly former secularist also expressed concern for the "Christian people." I will say this, however. He has excellent command of the Arabic language. His grandfather was a poet: I used to like to read his poetry. His father, a judge, also wrote poetry. Mallat: you should write "civilized poetry" instead of this joke "civilized presidential campaign" of yours.