June 13^th

There is no right wing columnist to joust with today so I’ll make some general comments about the Republican field. It has been said by some pundits that the Republican field of candidates is deep because there are a dozen or so who seem to have some chance of being nominated and then there are several more who provide comic relief.

The field is not deep at all; the field is broad and very shallow. Consider the recent Preakness horse race: one horse was the odds on (literally) favorite. A two dollar bet on American Pharoah to win would have won you all of thirty cents if you were right. Is there any odds on favorite in the Republican field?  Is there anyone running who is an odds on favorite to take the Presidency? If you do enough polling you might find one but if you do the poll the next day that advantage will probably disappear.

Leading this weak pack is Jeb Bush who is burdened by his family loyalty into weaseling about the appropriateness of our invasion of Iraq. Now, with his front runner status in jeopardy he is reshuffling his deck of advisors. He also has the problem of being more accepting of allowing the millions of employed tax–paying, law abiding, families to remain here with green cards than the run of his hard right competitors.

Just next to him is Governor Scot Walker, he has managed with the help of the Koch Bros. money to win recall elections and is right up there in the polls. Unfortunately Walker is a waffler. He has changed his mind on Immigration and changed his mind on abortion…and occasionally changed it more than once. (This information is from Charles Krauthammer—not one to lightly criticize Republicans.) Walker has another problem if he hopes to win the Presidency: he just isn’t the kind of guy you’d want to have a coffee/beer with or invite to your house for a dinner party. I don’t think anyone is comparing likeableness among candidates but I can’t imagine stern-faced Walker winning that contest.

Far down in the pack are Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina and my favorite Donald Trump. Dr. Carson is a noted surgeon but his ideas about the age of the earth suggest that he has been bamboozled by a fundamentalist cult. If he should be asked about the extinction of the megafauna at the beginning of the Holocene he is quite likely to disgrace himself with anyone other than Bishop Ussher’s followers. Senator Graham is fiftyish, single and rather hawkish. These are not likely to endear him to a wide circle of voters. Carly Fiorina is very rich and stridently attacks Hillary Clinton at every opportunity. She badly loused up her last job at Hewlett-Packard and now she wants to be President of the United States, some nerve! And then there is Donald Trump; it does seem that there is always Donald Trump. Republicans are not great at providing comic relief but “The Donald” is that rare exception for which we should all be thankful.