It felt like the night George Bush won and Al Gore lost.

This was a night when  meritocracy in pop America  really lost.

It’s still  not as bad as if William Hung had won. It’s not as big a fraud as say calling the Monkees  better than the Beatles.

But everyone knows Adam Lambert should have  been declared this year’s “American Idol”  winner.

Lambert’s talent just dwarfed all the others. Adam made Kris look like Opie at the junior high  talent show.

At first, the night had appeared somewhat stacked in Adam’s favor. On this final episode, he  got to sing with no less than Kiss and Queen, essentially a grand showcase of the eye-linered contestant with his musical forebears.  It almost seemed  a pre-annointing of the winner.

So when Kris was announced as the “Idol”  it just seemed like a false note.

But what do you expect from a multiple-vote system. It’s been said America doesn’t like to sense its vote doesn’t count.  The AI system indulges those voters. Vote doesn’t count? Make it count 10 times. Vote all you want. It’s an all-you-can-eat democracy.  But it does make the vote about the voters and not about the talent on stage.

Doesn’t matter.  Before long, Kris will be joining previous winner  Taylor Hicks on the county fair circuit.

Meanwhile, Adam will emerge quite simply as the most versatile and gifted performer birthed by the show ever.

Talent always wins out in the end.