I've only seen a little bit of the American Idol (when Friday Night Lights was taking a break or when there was nothing else on but reruns), but this Sanjaya guy creeps me out, and he can't sing either. I can't figure out why he still on the show.

But there's lots of blog buzz this morning about his appearance last night, in which he apparently wore a white John Travolta suit and mumbled his way through a standard for Tony Bennet.

Apparently he's Big News. Google has over 3300 news articles on the guy this morning. Technorati lists nearly 32,000 blog posts about him.

Last week, CNN was interviewing two political analysts about Congressional funding for the war and the pending veto. The conversation got quite heated, and the wobbly talking bobble-head hostess interrupted to say "We'll have to leave it right there" and then told viewers to stay tuned for their upcoming report on Sanjaya and his outrageous hairdo. I kid you not.

So what's up with this guy and the people who keep voting for him? Well, it turns out that it may be a vast internet conspiracy to sabotage American Idol. Here's an example from "votefortheworst.com":

Yes, Sanjaya rocked it in a white suit with slicked back hair. Call 1-866-IDOLS-07 or text VOTE to 5707. Simon couldn't even talk and just called it, "Incredible" to try a new tactic and get rid of Sanjaya. Don't let his new tactic work, Sanjaya's gonna need a LOT of help this week so vote as much as possible for the entire 2 hours. Let's help him get to Latin music week next week for a rousing performance of "Shake Your Bon Bon." You know you want to.

Howard Stern is involved, too. The show's executive producer denies that internet campaigns and such can have any influence on the outcome. Tell that to Dan Rather and Trent Lott.

On the other hand, the whole conspiracy thing might be a manufactured controversy cooked up and coordinated by the producers as a PR stunt. In which case it appears to be working, and I salute them.

At any rate, I hope Sanjaya wins. It would pretty much sum up what the show is really about, and it's not singing.