Responding to Mitt Romney’s most recent Mittism – that he’s not concerned about “the very poor” because they have a safety net – Newt Gingrich tells an audience that he’s opposed to even a safety net because it’s part of  “the welfare state.”  Elect me president, says the Herodotus of West Georgia College, and I’ll replace the “safety net” with “a trampoline.” Meaning? Presumably an opportunity for “the very poor” to better their lives by gainful employment cleaning the lavatories at Tiffany.

Not that Republicans in the remaining primary and caucus states don’t have other choices: There is Rick Santorum, the most appealing presidential candidate to come out of Pennsylvania since Milton Shapp, and Ron Paul, who wants to do away with the Federal Reserve, return to the gold standard, and if that doesn’t work, the barter system.

Meanwhile we can take further comfort in having a President who, commenting on an upbeat jobs report, tells a Northern Virginia audience that the economy will continue to improve unless Congressional Republicans choose to – his eloquent choice of words – “muck it up.”

Democracy, said Churchill, is the worst of all forms of government – except for all those other forms.  It’s times like these that make me wonder whether we shouldn’t keep looking.

Sound Bite to Remember

“Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.”

–Franklin D. Roosevelt on General Douglas MacArthur