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JUST IN TIME

Gail Collins is back in the NYT after taking a long leave to write a book.

Debating With the Stars

I was afraid that we would have to weather this shit-storm of a GOP primary alone.

Not so.

Here she is taking the measure of the GoOPers field through the prism of last night's "debate".

The current front-running Mitt Alternative is Rick Perry, possibly the first major presidential candidate opposed to the direct election of U.S. senators since the advent of the Bull Moose Party. He did not do anything superweird at his maiden presidential debate, unless you count bouncing up and down and cocking his head a lot. Or claiming that the reason a quarter of the Texas population has no health insurance is because of government interference.

And Romney cleaned Perry’s clock on Social Security. Young Americans, if you dream of someday running for president, try not to write any books calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme.

“We’re not trying to pick fights here,” protested Perry, inaccurately. Attempting to change the subject, the Texas governor suggested: “Maybe it’s time to have some provocative language in this country and say things like: ‘Let’s get America working again and do whatever it takes to make that happen.’ ”

Labels: Republican primary, republican whack jobs