Jeb and Kasich deserve better, but...

After Saturday- Super Tuesday at the latest- it will be time for Jeb Bush to get out of the presidential race. John Kasich, too.

Both are intelligent men whom I admire and have long thought would make great presidents. It isn't  Jeb's fault that he shares a last name with a former president who, rightly or wrongly, is unpopular at the moment. It isn't his fault, either, that so many Americans have come to the incredibly stupid conclusion that he shouldn't be president because of his last name. But there it is.

John Kasich is a guy I've had my eye on ever since his brief 2000 run for the nomination. He's smart, genuine, and gifted, a talented campaigner and a talented executive who has by general consensus (including the consensus of the people of Ohio) done a great job as governor. Sadly, he decided this year to run to the left of the field, a losing proposition for a Republican. He hasn't so much changed his positions on abortion and marriage redefinition as run away from them. He hurt himself badly by doing that and squandered great gifts, a great resume, and his position as governor of a state the GOP has to win in order to win the presidency.

Neither one of them is going to be elected president this year. And that's a shame. In another year, either might have been especially if Kasich had been smart enough to move toward a non-divisive posture by simply not talking about abortion and marriage redefinition instead of going to such lengths to distance himself from his past positions. But people are angry. Donald Trump happened And now the only thing these two good and gifted men are accomplishing by staying in the race is to keep the votes of the center-right divided and ensuring that the race is a two-candidate affair between Il Duce and Ted Cruz, neither of whom are either electable or fit for the presidency.

I sympathize with their desire to go out with dignity. On the other hand, the welfare not only of the party but of the country requires that they both get out and get in back of Marco Rubio soon. I pray that after South Carolina, or Super Tuesday at the latest, Jeb Bush and John Kasich do the right thing and drop out of the race. To do anything else would be as selfish as it would be pointless.

Caricatures by DonkeyHotey

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