So the FOX machine and the Republican National Committee have entered into an unholy alliance to cull the field of presidential candidate hopefuls in an attempt to make media events (debates as they call them) more manageable. FOX has already provided an unprecedented amount of free airtime to these individuals; many of whom were paid employees of FOX during the last four years. So the likes of Santorum, Jindal, and Fiorina have been relegated to riding in the Short Bus to Palookaville.
What is truly notable about the GOP campaign is not the "chosen" or the "wallflowers," but the absence of an individual for whom so many had a twinkle in their eye. A politician who embodied the GOP "wet dream." A man who stood firm against gay marriage, immigration reform, abortion rights, the coarsening of society, women's issues, voting rights, and Liberalism of all stripes. That man is disgraced former governor Bob McDonnell. I have no doubt that McDonnell, who once contemplated the persecution and prosecution of adulterers, sodomites, cohabitors, and the like, would be at the top of the GOP roster for 2016 if it were not for his indiscretions and ethical lapses as Governor of Virginia. He and his "First Lady" who tried hard to look twenty years her junior, were the perfect figureheads that Republican voters crave.
Coincidentally, it was McDonnell's fellow Virginian, and hyper-partisan Conservative former Senator George Allen, who was so ingloriously knocked off his early trajectory towards the White House in 2006 after his "Macaca" reference went viral.
As you are preparing your popcorn in advance of tomorrow night's clown show, and you are thinking that a more ridiculous collection of wingnuts has never before been assembled, consider the absence of Bob McDonnell.