Herman Cain made the only news he could after he suspended his campaign this weekend by endorsing his friend and former opponent, Newt Gingrich. How important Cain’s endorsement will turn out to be is debatable. It’s not like every voter who once considered Cain an option automatically turn to Gingrich just because Cain did.
But what the endorsement does is continue to make the GOP Presidential race one of the more entertaining in recent memory.
Adding to the entertainment factor this weekend was Ron Paul calling himself the “flavor of the decade”, connecting himself to the “flavor of the week” labels that have been attached recently to other candidates.
If Ron Paul is a flavor of something, it’s not of the decade; it’s more likely that he’s the flavor of the libertarian wing of the GOP. That wing has always been a crucial leg of the GOP stool, but never one that has wielded much power. Libertarians, within the GOP, are more like Jan Brady, always there but never really mattering much in the big picture.
If you doubt the entertainment value of the GOP race at this stage of the game, take a quick account of recent activity.
In the last 10 days, the following has happened.
A frontrunner was thrust from the race due to sexual harassment allegations. A Former Speaker of the House who was barely polling high enough to participate in debates one month ago has been anointed the new front runner. And, Ron Paul, the guy who’s been running for President almost as long as Pat Paulsen, declared himself the “flavor of the decade”.
Seriously?
The writers of Two and a Half Men couldn’t come up with a scenario like this.
The GOP comedy tour continues to entertain and be exceptionally humorous to Democrats who know that if the GOP had a serious candidate, their White House incumbent might actually have to sweat out the 2012 election.
The way it’s going right now, the hardest thing Barack Obama must do is keep a straight face while this Reality Comedy show continues to break new ground.
Fortunately the primaries are coming and that should help settle the issue. Even if the field get trimmed to only two or three, that should help keep some of the funnier, wackier moments to a minimum.
Then again, we are talking about Republicans in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Yeah, who am I kidding? This comedy train is only bound to keep on rolling.
About The Blogger
– Dominic Dezzutti, producer of the Colorado Decides debate series, a co-production of CBS4 and Colorado Public Television, looks at the local and national political scene in his CBSDenver.com blog. Read new entries here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Dezzutti writes about federal, state and local matters and how our elected leaders are handling the issues important to Colorado. Dezzutti also produces the Emmy winning Colorado Inside Out, hosted by Raj Chohan, on Colorado Public Television.
