May 30, 2011

 
     Look, there's a Republican elephant sitting on the curb--and it's crying!  Well, no wonder.  The party's presidential hopefuls are walking by
 
     "Weak" seems to be the adjective columnists use most to describe the field.  It's good one.
 
     I mean, there's the presumed front runner (nobody's voted yet, of course) Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.   He backed a health care plan in his state that critics say resembles President Obama's.  Fatal, they add.  And there's driving off on vacation with the family dog on the roof of the car.  Unfortunate, surely.  There's former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who criticized Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program.  If that's smart politics, I'm an aardvark.  There's former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who called for cuts in Social Security and Medicare, and said he'd sign the Ryan budget changing Medicare.  If that's smart politics--I don't know, how many aardvarks can I be?  Oh, and Pawlenty wants us to be tougher in Libya.  Nukes?  Ground troops?  I'm not sure.
 
     Then there's Sarah Palin, the half-term governor of Alaska.  Did you know you can see Russia from her home state?  You can;  I have.  But is that a qualification for the presidency?  Beats me.  There's Minnesota Cong. Michele Bachman.  Is she qualified?  I have no idea.
 
     You know who'd liven it up, though?  The woman who lost a Senate race in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell.  The one whose TV ad began, "I am not a witch." Just what we need, don't you think?