I was off by one person.

My prediction that hippie chick Brooke White would be leaving American Idol this week nearly came true, as White joined kickboxing country gal Kristy Lee Cook in the Bottom Two this week. But America liked the singer-songwriter a little more than the country gal, so Cook took the long walk tonight.

This ejection was notable for something else, though (no, not the boneheaded way they strung out the ejections -- though Ryan Seacrest gets extra butthead points for trying to make David Archuleta choose which group of Idols formed the bottom three). Paired with Michale Johns' departure last week, it confirmed a disturbing trend. Idol voters are no longer rejecting the people who have given the worst vocal performances.

That honor this week went to Jason Castro, who didn't even make the bottom three, and White, who escaped ejection by the skin of her too-pink nose. Kristy Lee Cook turned in a pretty good vocal this week, but it wasn't enough to save her from viewers who still remembered the calamity which was her speeded up, countrified 8 Days a Week during Beatles Night.

We are at a point in Idol where the also-rans are mostly fighting over who gets ejected first. The two Davids -- Cook and Archuleta -- are like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; the frontrunners trying desperately to avoid making the kind of mistake that would kill their candidacy.   

But at a time when Syesha Mercado can blow the doors off a Mariah Carey song and still nearly get voted off, who knows which way the wind is blowing? Which makes for a lousy singing competition, but an amazing reality TV show.

Here's Kristy's last tune: