To cleanse the palate, via the Weekly Standard. Alternate headline: “Semi-retired Chicago slumlord enjoying semi-retirement.”

A reader e-mailed this morning asking for a thread on this because it shows how much savvier Democrats are about exploiting “soft propaganda” opportunities in dramatic media consumed by low-information voters. Point taken, but how many lo-info voters know who Valerie Jarrett is? How many, if you told them who she was, could pick her out of a line-up? Barely a third of the public can name the three branches of government. If you’re a Dem strategist who’s looking to grab the attention of “Good Wife” fans, realistically your only options are Michelle Obama or The One himself. Everyone else is basically a “who?” in Kardashianized America. If I had to bet, I’d bet that Jarrett did this because she got a kick out of it. If her boss can go farting around on the golf course 10 minutes after ISIS drops a video of an American being beheaded, why shouldn’t she carve out a half-hour to do this as a goof?

Beyond that, is this really a trend we want to encourage by trying to play at the same game? Arguably yes if the political benefits outweigh the costs — but as I say, I don’t see real benefit here unless you’re using a big name. If this becomes just one more avenue of below-the-radar politicking, soon we’ll have political hacks from left and right clamoring for guest shots on any show that’ll have them. The next season of “House of Cards” will be nearly unwatchable, I expect, for just that reason, but at least that’s a show about Washington. What happens when the trend grows to the point where President Romney’s chief of staff is doing cameos on “The Walking Dead”?

See what I did there? I turned this into a “Romney 2016” post before you guys even knew what hit you. Troll-hack level: Master.