"He yelled at me!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Not."

"You scared me! I'm telling Kate Brown."

"You think she cares? Go ahead, liar."

"No, you're the liar."

"Look who's talking."

"Takes one to know one."

"You don't even live here -- go back where you belong, weirdo."

Such is the nature of political discourse in Portland these days, as the city's creepy mayor, Sam Adams, confronts the oddball crew of volunteers who are out gathering signatures trying to recall him from office. With more than three years left in the city's four-year collective nervous breakdown currently in progress, it's par for the course.

It wouldn't be surprising if the mayor actually did say some intemperate things to one of the petitioners. His comedy sex tape co-star, Fireman Randy, recently cut loose with some nasty words defending the mayor to one heckler outside City Hall, and the Fireman later seemed proud about it. The fact that people are seriously questioning the city's direction under this pair seems to be getting under their respective skins. Can they properly administer their bureaus and make sound decisions about the city's future when they are regularly distracted by shouting matches on the sidewalks? A good question.

Speaking of questions, we have never found out who conducted the shady telephone "poll" on behalf of Adams back in early July. These unsolicited phone calls seemed designed as much to spread positive messages about Adams (and negative messages about the recall effort) as they were to gather opinions about him. A hired defender of All Things Blue assured us at that time that the campaign finance reports on the poll would "presumably" reveal who conducted it, and who paid for it. But funny thing -- here we are two months later, and no reports of any kind appear to have been filed about it on Orestar. At least, none that I could find. Maybe such a filing isn't even required, allowing the dark forces of City Hall to operate in the shadows. That's certainly the kind of practice we've come to expect from these folks.

I remember the last mayoral election -- the one Adams stole by lying -- when he and his supporters absolutely crucified his opponent, Sho Dozono, for allowing a poll to be taken on Dozono's behalf without disclosing it. And now here the mayoral camp or its friends seem to have done essentially the same thing during the recall season. It's profoundly wrong, but the people of Portland (particularly the ones with enough money that they could have canned the creepy one) appear to be satisfied with this kind of government. And so we shall get what we deserve. Go by streetcar!