Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett was beaten with a metal pipe by a crazed thug at the Wisconsin State Fair Saturday. Is mayor-beating a new political trend, and is Tom Barrett now probably mayor-for-life? The answers are yes and hell yes.

The evidence of the mayor-beating trend is tenuous enough for, say, a Sunday Styles piece. But connect the dots, people:

1. A New Jersey man beats a the mayor of a Pennsylvania town with a bat.
2. Now this.

As for Barrett, he can now be elected to whatever the hell Milwaukee position he wants. Including mayor! He came walking out of the state fair Saturday night with his family and heard cries for help from a woman arguing with a 20 year-old man. The mayor went over to calm the "vicious thug," and was attacked and beaten with a pipe. The "knucklehead" is now in custody! Barrett is recovering in a hospital with head and hand wounds. But this sealed Barrett's ticket to political symboldom (from the hometown Journal Sentinel):

Barrett, first elected in 2004 and re-elected last year, was struck on the head and torso with the pipe and broke his hand, presumably when he punched the man.

Mayors of America: expect to be attacked. But bear the pain, and fight back. Soon, all of our mayors will be MMA fighters. You knew this was coming.