T-Paw throws in the towel

The worst decision Tim Pawlenty ever made was running for president. The best decision he ever made was calling it quits. "Obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist, and so we're going to end the campaign," T-Paw announced today to no one's surprise. In fact, the "pathway" never existed for a rational moderate who tried to convince right-wing, barking-mad Republicans that he was their man. "Not crazy enough," is the way the TPM obit put it. As Jon Huntsman (another rational moderate) is about to learn, an influential part of the GOP base is only interested in ecclesiastical saviors who promise to exorcise America of Obama and roll it back to the 1950s. If Huntsman too is soon shown the exit (as is probable), Mitt Romney will be the last rational man standing in the GOP race. In theory, his clout, money and organization should enable him to win the nomination despite the rapture over the candidates on his right flank. But given Rick Perry's easy entrance into the race and the (inexplicable) adoration for Michele ("I have no brain") Bachmann, Republicans might in fact be crazy enough to cast Romney aside in favor of one of the loons. But this isn't Pawlenty's problem anymore. He's now free to rejoin the world of the sane. Perhaps he can now help his party do the same.