A bright idea

Every week, it seems, another Republican runs for President. Each one has only to open his/her mouth, and they become the front-runner...for the week. But so far, only one (Pawlenty, in case you lost track) has dropped out. As the crowd grows, the process favours the candidate who can make the most extreme and absurd statements, to get coverage from a broadcast media corps as ignorant as the candidates.

With over a year before the election, there is room for at least 50 more Republican candidates. It makes one wonder whether, if the extreme right gets over-populated, one of those candidates might decide a centrist position would be unique.

In case you forgot, the week after the 2008 election, the pundits' best bet for the next Republican presidential candidate was Bobby Jindal. We've not heard a whiff from him, even though he has an actual achievement to his credit, courtesy of BP Oil. One wonders why. Aside from his disconcerting resemblance to Alfred E. Newman, one wonders if his staff took the temperature of Republican primary voters and decided that they couldn't stand the idea of another person of colour as a serious candidate. They already have Herman Cain, who has about as much traction as a Zamboni with bald tyres. Oh right, there's also Jimmy McMillan, who seems to be there to make even Michele Bachman look sane. Jindal, besides being smart himself, has a smart staff.

Neither pundits nor candidates have learnt anything from the farce that is the American presidential election process. Being the first candidate standing means nothing. The trick is to be the last one standing.