Bye Bye, Herman Cain

A while ago, a reader asked why I hadn’t written more about Herman Cain. Because, I explained, the only reason he had a greater chance than any other eligible American citizen of winning the Republican nomination was that he’s on the ballot paper in the early primary states. In time, I said, this would be seen to be a mere technical advantage for Mr Cain. The indulgence with which his candidacy has been treated can only be explained as some kind of virus or, if you wish to be more charitable, an experiment in mass hallucination. But these things pass and even bad trips end. Witness the (final) implosion:

Writing about Herman Cain for President – even when so-called polls showed him doing well – was always a space-filling nonsense. The only viable commentary on all this is the meta-commentary and, actually, one should have (just) enough respect for the Republican electorate to appreciate that, in the end, they won’t endorse this charlatan.