Is it me, or has The Albuquerque Journal gone from ridiculous to just plain twisted? I mean, what was with that picture of a guy purchasing an AK-47 on the front page Thursday?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a little creative license in the journalism profession. And it’s cool with me that our morning daily is a Republican newspaper. It’s 2008, so if you don’t like it, get your news online. I’m all for that. But Thursday’s “Run on Guns” made the Journal look like a parody of itself. (Or perhaps the Journal has just launched its new business model and has decided to compete with The Onion for readership.)

Check out the lead:

People drove around grinning with Obama yard signs stuck on their car windows Wednesday morning and planned weekend parties to bask in the afterglow.

Dan Hutchison went in a different direction.

He drove directly to an Albuquerque gun store, pointed to a dull black Israeli-made AK-47 rifle and slapped his driver’s license on the counter for a background check.

“I’m disappointed,” Hutchison said. “This country is going down the tubes in a hurry.” He forked over $829.95 and added, “It’s time for the Rapture.”

If the Journal countinues to get this weird, I might renew my subscription!

UPDATE: Glad to see folks weighing in on this. I agree that the story was entertaining. What I found to be profoundly cynical and typical of the Albuquerque Journal’s penchant for the assinine was the frontpage photo–a picture of an embittered silver-bearded guy clutching his new AK47. Coming one (news-cycle) day after the election, the story was appropriate and amusing, but the accompanying frontpage photo was twisted. That was my take. Unfortunately, the Journal’s user-unfriendly website made it impossible to locate the photo and post it “here.” If anyone has better luck finding it, please post the link in your comment. Thanks.