Political slugfest

Why are other countries' politicians so much cooler than ours?

Two Thai senators fought it out Monday in front of Parliament, but this was no political grudge match - they wanted to promote traditional Thai kickboxing.

"It's good that I can still stand," 59-year-old Payap Tongchuen joked after donning gloves and trunks and going two rounds with Direk Tungfang in a boxing ring set up for the occasion in front of the parliament building in Bangkok.

The referee declared the fighters - both former professional boxers - joint victors.

A fight between any two of our current senators would be more unintentionally hilarious than exciting. Imagine, say, Lindsey Graham and Harry Reid huffing and puffing as they struggled fruitlessly to land slap-fight blows on each other. Instead of having "joint victors," we would all be losers.