That's an eye-catching headlne

Half of Detroit’s 8 mayoral candidates are felons by Christine Ferretti, Mike Martindale and Robert Snell. What more is there to say? Res ipsa loquitur.

Half of the eight mayoral hopefuls on Detroit’s primary ballot next week have been convicted of felony crimes involving drugs, assault or weapons, a Detroit News analysis shows.

Three were charged with gun crimes and two for assault with intent to commit murder. Some of the offenses date back decades, the earliest to 1977. The most recent was in 2008.

Talk about defining deviancy downwards:

Political consultant Greg Bowens said there are candidates with past hardships in every election cycle. It’s not something unique to Detroit or the political arena in general, he said.

“Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,” said Bowens, a former press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and NAACP activist. “They (candidates) deserve the opportunity to be heard, but they also deserve to have the kind of scrutiny that comes along with trying to get an important elected position.”

For those who have made the argument that in the past decade we have had the worst media and worst political class in our history, this would seem to serve as supporting data.