Last night was yet another Republican presidential debate. It was apparently quite the show (I didn't have the stomach to watch most of it). Like any circus, though, sometimes it's the sideshow that's more entertaining. But first - the main event:

There were plenty of contentious moments: Bachmann and Pawlenty were both trying to be THE candidate from Minnesota... Gingrich took a cue from Sarah Palin and blamed the "gotcha" media (the exchange actually caused the crowd to boo Chris Wallace for asking "tough" questions)... Santorum "came out" as the anti-states-rights candidate. And then there was Ron Paul teaching Santorum a little history lesson about Iran (this is one part I DID see):

I found myself agreeing with Paul on his foreign policy thoughts. That's dangerous, because he's such a John Bircher in so many other ways.

NOT at the debate were two members of the side-show: TX Governor Rick Perry and media personality Sarah Palin. Perry essentially "leaked" the news that he definitely will announce whether he's running on Saturday. This is the same sort of will-he-or-won't-he gamesmanship that Gingrich was using to pad his pockets (until he made the fatal mistake of actually running). Sarah Palin, however, is still running towards the cameras, wherever they might be. Iowans - lock up your corn.

Meanwhile: in campaign stops, Romney actually said on camera that corporations are people, which should strike a chord with all the farmers and people treated like replaceable meat cogs in the corporate machinery... Also, Rick Santorum essentially said that abortion is more traumatizing than rape, letting rapists off the hook and condemning women to carry their rapist's child to term.

Delving deeper into the bizarre, we have Mother Jones magazine revealing a long lost "documentary" in which then-education-activist Michelle Bachmann warned "Americans about a coming second Holocaust brought on by the U.S. public education system". Anytime a politician uses the term "holocaust" to describe anything that isn't an actual genocide (or maybe even more specifically THE holocaust) should be forced to watch several hours of footage from WWII concentration camps.

Of course - what's a campaign without celebrity endorsements? Hermain Cain got a thumbs up from Vanilla Ice, which is at once hilarious, ironic, absurd, and irrelevant. Bachmann was given some moral support by Miss America. Which of these two is more ridiculous? You decide.

The most astounding thing about all of this is that these are the front-runners. These are the candidates for the Republican party to become president of the United States. Every one of them is fatally flawed in some way, in some cases to the core of their party, and in some cases to the overall voters. There is not an inspiring statesman among them.

But - it does make for entertaining theatre, and easy pickings for the snark. Pass the popcorn.