COMMENTARY | With Herman Cain's candidacy for the presidency "suspended," the remaining Republican hopefuls are scrambling to win big in the upcoming New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses. They appear not to have learned the lesson of Cain's situation, however: publicly doing stupid things kills campaigns. Several of them have foolishly agreed to participate in a so-called debate hosted by NewsMax, which the network website says will feature Donald Trump.
The loud-mouthed, bad-wig-wearing, egotistical reality-show host will "moderate" the event, which is akin to being the ringmaster at the circus of political stupidity. Trump acts like a self-important narcissistic bullying snob and will probably get more value from hosting the show than the candidates. After all, he'll be in position to make himself the center of attention -- and isn't that what he does best?
One candidate's stated reason for attendance paints the event as a farce. An ABC News report quotes Newt Gingrich as saying he would "want to go just for the entertainment value." We Americans need candidates who are more interested in entertainment than in the problems facing the citizens like we need an extra hole in our heads.
The New York Daily News reports that Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman declined to participate. Paul demoted Trump from ringmaster to floppy-shoe-wearing comic by calling his invitation "clownlike." A Business Insider report says the Huntsman campaign mocked participating candidates as sucking up to Trump.
If we're lucky this will be a plot by Republicans to weed out stupid candidates. Anyone showing up would be grilled on TV and then told "You're fired!" and kicked out of the race.
I doubt we're that lucky. The show is sure to be watched by the types of viewers who enjoy "reality" television and watching drunken strippers fight on certain talk shows. The candidates who refuse to participate in the event will not be praised for their character; they'll simply be one step further from the oval office because other candidates were willing to sell out for a few more minutes of air time.
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