Mitt and Mike Duke it Out

The GOP presidential race has become quite the sideshow for we secular progressives.

The sparring between "Stormin' Mormon" Mitt Romney and Mike "Go Huck Yourself" Huckabee comes down to this: Which guy's religion is the right kind of crazy to win the evangelical vote?

Mitt is trying desperately to convince us he won't have more than one first lady, and Mike is all too glad to feed the public's ignorance on Mormonism.

Romney finds himself giving sermons about his faith to a confused Republican public who are too lazy or suspicious to crack a book and have at the facts themselves. Suddenly it's not about politics or America at all, but about golden tablets and giant arks.

It comes down to this: Evangelicals don't want a president, they want a pope. They're as interested in the War on Christmas as they are the war in Iraq. When social issues dominate, policy issues sink away.

Maybe that's what it's all about. Rather than consider what the future consequences of torturing prisoners may be, candidates can argue about the Second Coming. After all, who needs to worry about foreign policy when you're about to get Raptured away?