Endlessly Arguing Our Points is the David Way

It's on Brian.  It's on like she-bears on hecklers.

First: By "dark" I did not mean "disturbing".  They are not necessarily synonymous.  I meant "dark" more along the lines of the dictionary.com definition: sullen or morbid; having richness or depth.  I should add the -er.  Darker.  Because, no, Lady Gaga is no Sylvia Plath or Nick Cave.  Lady Gaga is simply more morbid and, in my opinion, exhibits more depth than Ke$ha (and yes, I'm putting the $ there).  Please compare oft repeated sections of each song:

I want your love, and I want your revenge.
You and me could write a bad romance.

vs

Don't stop!     Let it pop.
DJ, blow the speakers up.

Okay.  Seriously.  Neither is a poet, alright.  But the first one, from Bad Romance (obviously) is far, far more interesting.  It could mean many things.  It could be a reference to an abusive relationship.  She wants his love, perfectly aware that it'll result in his "revenge".  They could write a bad romance, but not in the "heaving bosom" badness way, but in the "I'm gonna hurt you and you're gonna love it" kinda way.  Or, it could be a reference to a break up that she hasn't gotten over.  She's becoming obsessive over this guy or gal.  This storyline could be backed up by further lyrics: I want your love.  I don't wanna be friends.  This portion of the song is sung plaintively and not to quintessential poptart perfection.  It's sung like the "ugly" she demands at the beginning of the song.  Which I like.  It's not "safe", per se.

In contrast, what does Ke$ha sing/rap about?  Ke$ha sings/raps about partying, drinkin' some Jack, kickin' guys to the curb because they don't look like Mick Jagger.  Oh, and boys trying to touch her junk.  There's no subtley.  There's nothing interesting or unusual in there.  She's just partying.  Yes, this gives the song charm and makes it a fun pop song, but it does not make it a better song than Bad Romance.

Second point: Yes, I will admit, the video game beat to Ke$ha's song is hilarious.  Albeit slightly annoying.  However, Brian, I have to point out that this little argument of yours (i.e. that she stole an appropriate piece of the 80s; as opposed to the Madonna-esque bridge that Lady Gaga stole from the same era) is probably based 75% on your own personal love of 80's video games.  Your nostalgia for what was your favorite 80's past time (besides getting beat up by me) has made you a softie for Ke$ha and, most likely, a softie for anything that utilizes video game-like beats (e.g. The Postal Service).  I bet if Lady Gaga had thrown in a sample from Joust, you would've praised her ingenuity, too.  Burn.

Third point: It's easy to concede this one.  Lady Gaga's song is "Euro Trash".  But this does not mean it isn't well sung or well played Euro Trash.  Neither does the "four-on-the-floor" beat equate to badness.  A plain 4/4 time signature has been used on multiple brilliant songs.  Here Comes the Sun anybody?  4/4.  (Well, for the most part).  It's still a fantastic song.  So I negate your argument that her boring 4/4 beat makes her song less superior to Ke$ha.  Yes, it's less superior to Here Comes the Sun, but that's because Here Comes the Sun was gifted to us by the gods.  Bad Romance was gifted to us by Lady Gaga, who is not a god but simply a brilliant pop song writer.

My argument for Lady Gaga, too, goes beyond the songs themselves.  I chose just the songs for my challenge because I was trying to point out that much of pop is purely aesthetic (which you didn't refute and kinda supported with your video game love).  You like it because you like it or, consequently, hate it because you hate it.  However, Lady Gaga is more than simply her pop songs.  She is a piece of performance art.  I hear her stage shows are incredible entertainment.  I've never seen them, but her outfits and her persona are ingenius.  They're not just wonderful marketing ploys, but truly bizarre, sometimes ironic, often hilarious artworks.  Her videos are kitchy homages to bad foreign films, are visually appealing, and mostly just weird.  And her apparently androgyny (or supposed intersexed-ness) freaks people out in a time when they need to be fraeked out by such things.

Ke$ha, on the other hand, (and most other pop artists, for that matter) simply...well, she's just there.  It's not like she has the talent to be just there, either.  Not like a Christina Aguilera or a Beyonce (did you hear Beyonce's version of Halo at the Haiti Benefit?  She sang it with no autotune and just a piano and it was beautiful).  Even Christina and Beyonce, though, have particular images.  Ke$ha mostly looks like the 80's vomited on us, which makes her lesser of a pop genius than Lady Gaga.  Pop should be about more than just the music--music that, as you point out, tends to be lame.  Pop is an image and an attempt to influence culture.  All music attempts to influence culture, but pop stars do it from multiple angles (when they do it well) because, well...they often don't have enough actual musical talent to do it simply through music.  Think Madonna.  Musical talent?  Not much.  I loved her music growing up.  I still groove to her music (most of it early 90's and 80's stuff), but most of her influence as an "artist" came from her stage shows and her videos and the persona that added to the regular old pop music.

In other words, most of Lady Gaga's music is not only superior to Ke$ha's, but Lady Gaga herself is.

And Brian, I think you underestimate my ability to endlessly argue my point.