It's really perfect timing: Last night The New York Times posted a new best-seller list that includes the first appearance of Shut Up and Sing, a right-wing book by Laura Ingraham that, among other things, denounces entertainers who talk about politics -- at just about the exact moment when Gallup was releasing poll results showing Republican "actor" Arnold Schwarzenegger blowing away the rest of the recall field (he now leads Cruz Bustamante among likely voters, 40%-25%). And, at the same time, we got a trial balloon for the possible candidacy of yet another GOP entertainer -- Dennis Miller:

The comedian Dennis Miller is being talked about, apparently seriously, as a Republican candidate for a statewide post. Three Republican strategists interviewed in the past week have said they want to draft Miller into politics. One, a prominent Republican operative and Schwarzenegger aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that once the recall election is over, he plans to recruit Miller to challenge Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat next year.

The Schwarzenegger campaign even provided Miller a political audition of sorts this week. The comedian, famous for his raunchy and irreverent rants and his stint on "Saturday Night Live" more than a decade ago, provided the campaign's official post-debate spin in Sacramento Wednesday night. Later the same evening, Miller spoke at a Schwarzenegger rally.

Last week, of course, a Kelsey Grammer trial balloon was floated by the Republicans.

This is rank hypocrisy -- as Barbra Streisand, Janeane Garofalo, the Dixie Chicks, and a lot of other entertainers know. But I don't blame the GOP -- at the national level, at least, the media have rolled over for Schwarzenegger like lovesick puppies, and it's clear that this could happen anytime a Republican star runs. (Celebrities who are Democrats are deemed decadent and out of touch with ordinary Americans' values, but GOP registration clearly confers Teflon.)