Jon Huntsman of Utah is looking more presidential every day.
This morning, for example, he said the flap over when Dr. Kidglove gives his speech about jobs is "nonsense." Kidglove, Hunstman said, "has not been able to deliver on jobs" for almost three years, so it really doesn't matter when he says whatever it is he's got to say now.
Besides, it is no longer news that whenever John Boehner barks, Kidglove slinks off whimpering to a dark corner and says, like Cool Hand Luke to his cruel jailer, "Yas, Boss." So once again he did Boehner's bidding, even if on a matter that is, indeed, "nonsense."
Looking even more presidential, Huntsman went on to say today that his fellow Republicans haven't done any better on jobs for American workers: "we're getting drama but not solutions," he scolded.
Huntsman is the only declared candidate for the presidency who has introduced a plan to attack the unemployment crisis, a serious, substantive proposal that merits serious discussion.
And he doesn't have a -- excuse the metaphor -- prayer of becoming his party's nominee. The cockamamie crazies seeking the nomination have all claimed God as their patron. They keep topping one another in the Gaffe and Piety Derby.
Bachmann: “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to Me here?’" After Katrina, kooks like her broadcast the word that that tragedy was God punishing New Orleans for the atheism of Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
Then there's Perry, who calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme and doesn't even know what brand of nonsense his Texas schools are required to teach as "science." Evolution, he says, is just a theory with "gaps" in it, so his schools teach creationism as well. Wrong. They teach "intelligent design," which is just as flaky but not the same thing. Pity the poor children of Texas!
Mitt Romney has scurried to claim the patronage of God to persuade the Christofascists that his brand of Mormonism is really OK. If there were any doubt as to whom Romney would represent as president, take a look at the list of his top campaign donors (in order): Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Bank of America, Sullivan & Cromwell (biggest law firm to Wall Street),Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The same band of thieves is coppering its bets with huge donations to Obama. No wonder no Democrat is willing to challenge Obama for his party's nomination. The losers are American voters who will be left with Hobson's choice.
It's not surprising that third-party talk is getting louder on both sides of the theoretical center line of the American political spectrum.
Imagine, if you will, a contest that has Perry, Kidglove, Huntsman and, say, Russ Feingold, the latter two representing opposing but reasonable political viewpoints, and expressing them articulately and sanely. The majority of American voters -- who prefer catchy soundbites and slogans to actual thinking -- will stand by their party loyalties.
But voters who really want a President who understands issues and offers thoughtful plans for tackling them would profit from a debate between Huntsman and Feingold. They could decide on the merits of the arguments as they perceive them, vote accordingly, and walk away from the polls feeling that at last, at long, long last, they had not wasted their ballots.
"Don't tell Momma I'm a journalist; say I play the piano in a whorehouse."
