I thought that some of the regulars must have had their accounts hijacked because the posters were listed as senator, mayor etc. Then I realized that the flood of posts just automatically elevated them to that level.
It certainly seems as though the mods have at least temporarily lost control. On some forums newbies are moderated until they demonstrate that they are not bots, but I don't know if that is feasible here.
Perhaps if the forum were nuked from orbit...<grin>