Got GOP?

Gee, the Iowa caucuses are the day after tomorrow.* Wow! Am I excited! Not.

I've made it a practice not to read the all the words written about the Republicans running for their presidential nomination.

I've got a great idea for the news media, which (who?) is always complaining about losing money and cutting back on staff. Since all the candidates say the same things all the time, with slight variations depending on who they're sucking up to at the moment, why not just give us a weekly summary of their utterances.

Oh, I remember, they used to do that in weekly news magazines. I didn't read them either. Are they still around?

Chances are most people have already decided who they're going to vote for in November. It's either Obama or the other guy. Then it will start all over again, after the back-patting on the winning side and the recriminations among the losers.

I've always thought the British had it right – set a date for an election, six weeks to campaign and then vote.

That won't happen here. There's too much money in election campaigns. Media aside, consider all the other parasites that feed off our elections: lobbyists, consultants, pollsters and so on.

There's a lot right about our country but an awful lot wrong with the way we decide who's going to run it.

Here comes Iowa. Brace yourselves.

*corrected Monday afternoon. Sorry.