On the upcoming GOP presidential candidates debate:

So, here’s who made the the cut:

Businessman Donald Trump
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
Former surgeon Ben Carson
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Ohio Gov. John Kasich

Or, put another way, three former governors, one sitting governor, one former US senator, one sitting US senator and the only woman in the field were aced out of starting positions at the Republican Goat Rodeo by a revival tent huckster, an openly batshit doctor and a thug-tempered carnival barker with a comb-over.

Congratulations, GOP.  I’m sure, somewhere in the Great Beyond, Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower are looking down upon you…

…and trying to figure a way to nuke the entire party from orbit.

So, of the ten, Bush, Kasich, and Christie are the only ones who have any apparent interest in governing.  Based on their records and what they say they stand for, short of the Democrats nominating Lyndon LaRouche or Louis Farrakhan, I wouldn’t vote for any of them in a million years*.  The bigger picture from William Saletan: “Not Fit to Lead: The Iran hearings have shown how the Republican Party can no longer be trusted with the presidency.”   His observation re Ted Cruz pretty well sums things up:

The most disturbing thing about [Cruz isn’t his] obnoxiousness. It’s his intellectual confidence in the face of his own ignorance.

Yes, intellectual confidence in the face of their own ignorance is common among politicians.   What distinguishes the contemporary Republican party, and their 2016 presidential candidates in particular, is the magnitude of their over-achievement in this area.

* For the record, the last Republican I voted for was Bill Weld for MA Governor in 1990.   I didn’t vote for Charlie Baker but I have no animosity towards him.   There’s much that needs fixing in MA, e.g., the MBTA and Child & Family Services.  I believe he understands the problems.  (Addendum 8/5/2015:  Baker bears considerable responsibility for the biggest problem the T is facing now. They’ve got other problems too but the debt problem is largely on him.   It would be appropriate for him to take the lead in fixing it.)  Baker’s approaches to fixing problems might not be are unlikely to be the ones I’d take but I hope he’s successful.  I’m not especially optimistic that he will be but I hope that he is – after all, I live here.