What an ingenious display of irony and iron-headedness!

Max, a naturalized American citizen from the Dominican Republic, is no dove when it comes to politics. In this offbeat interview conducted by Nick van der Kolk, who speaks standard English, Max stumbles over his English in declaring he's a Republican. Come November, he'll vote for John McCain because of the Arizona senator's strong military stance. With characteristic Latino bravado, macho Max favors America's big-stick approach to international conflict so that "This country, the United States, be respected (sic)."

Fine and dandy. At the same time Max is busy espousing the Bush Doctrine and saying he owes a profound debt to white men, as opposed to African-Americans like Barack Obama, however, this drop-in slyly uses the noise of jets at Boston's Logan airport as an ominous backdrop. Moreover, van der Kolk segues from Max to some dissonant, unsettling music for a trombone (or some deep-throated wind instrument) -- as if to juxtapose Max's, and, later, McCain's gung-ho hawkishness with a wah-wah-c'mon-buddy-you-can't-be-serious footnote. At the outset of this unique piece, van der Kolk replays President Bush repeating the words "terror" and "terrorist" manically for nearly 20 seconds. In contrast, clips from some of Obama's speeches serve as welcome relief from relentless jingoism.

Rarely have I heard an interview that respects its interviewee enough to allow him to vent his opinions, while at the same time making him the butt of criticism. McCain Republicans may accuse van der Kolk of being un-PC, of setting Max up as a Dominican dupe. Obama Democrats may view Max's not-so-subtle evisceration as just desserts. Anyway you hear it, this is a devastating editorial.

Listen and judge for yourself.