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In the most heated bracket-based throwdown since Man Madness, Holy Taco has launched its 2009 National Douchebag Tournament, whereby d-bagz compete against other d-bagz in four categories (sports, entertainment, politics, and business) en route to the ultimate prize (as yet unspecified).

Notable matchups include A-Rod vs. Bellichick and Beckham vs. Bonds in the sports division, and Octomom vs. Dane Cook in the entertainment division.

All of which is good clean fun, to my mind. But the Politics Division is a real letdown. I mean, there’s a pretty disappointing pattern here: Slightly loudmouthed (OK, sometimes more than slightly loudmouthed) leftist goes up against some sort of heinous, far-right succubus. Observe:

This, to me, is a really, really tepid shot at centrism on the part of the Taco. Are they actually suggesting that Harry Reid is a fouler personage than Ann Coulter? Or that Michael Moore’s moderately successful movies are douchier than Bush’s warmongering? There’s hardly a pairing here that even approximates a level playing field. Arianna Huffington runs a left-leaning publication and writes the occasional middlebrow editorial; Rush Limbaugh jeers dying senators. I’ll give ’em the Spitzer/O’Reilly one, though it’s a stretch. But come on: Is this fair? How can we commies possibly hope to compete?

By way of a teaser, the Taco is pitting Katherine Heigl against Ryan Seacrest. To wit:

Voting begins noon eastern tomorrow.