Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dubbed the national debt a "burden for our children for life."

Ex-Rep. Dennis Kucinich vilified Republicans for adding, by his calculations, $4 trillion to it.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, meanwhile, predicted debt will precipitate a future of "indentured servitude to foreign lenders."

What unites these and other presidential candidates is that they themselves are in debt. Campaign debt.

It's a dubious distinction shared by Democrats and Republicans, eccentric nonagenarians and White House occupants.

Such debt isn't really hurting anyone but creditors — certainly not the nation nor its creditworthiness.

But it is a reminder that despite candidates' soaring rhetoric about fiscal responsibility, they often fail to follow their own prescription for sound budgetary management amid the relentless rush to remain competitive with political rivals during election seasons that are longer and more expensive than ever.

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At any rate, forget all that: the new fantasy candidate for conservatives is Dr. Benjamin Carson, a neonatal surgeon, with no political experience, who achieved the status of dream presidential nominee by virtue of giving a good speech at the conservative conference CPAC last week. By late Thursday afternoon, he was explaining to CNN's Jake Tapper the circumstances under which he'd consider a bid for the White House in 2016.

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“Were I to run for the Senate, it would be a terribly nasty campaign,” Erickson wrote on RedState. “I’m not putting my family through that when the best outcome would mean a sizable pay cut in pay and being away from my kids and wife all the time huddled in a pit of vipers often surrounded by too many who viewed me as a useful instrument to their own advancement.”

Chambliss has of late been targeted by conservatives because he recently backed away from his support for Grover Norquist's tax pledge. Herman Cain has also been floated as a potential Chambliss challenger, though he told the Daily Caller that it's not likely: “My attention will be on exposing the economic pain and suffering to come from a second Obama term, [rather] than on a decision Senator Chambliss made,” Cain said. “No, I’m not running!”

Erickson, for his part, insisted that his brief consideration of a run was not "just some effort of self promotion," but a response to "the efforts of several and the financial pledges of support."

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“My thoughts are, this whole thing about civility, the Democrats have demonstrated they can find new lows to be incivil [sic] about the language,” Cain told Sean Hannity.

"This is nothing more than another way to get around the voter intimidation charge and to basically cause white voters to think twice about going to vote,” he said. “That’s what that was all about.”

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In a speech at the University of Florida on Thursday, Cain said that if he had been the nominee he'd have a "substantial lead" over Barack Obama. And what is his reason? “The reason is quite simple: I have some depth to my ideas."

“Stupid people are ruining America, and we've got to take it back,” Cain said in the speech, which was part of his "College Truth Tour."

The Gainesville Sun reports that Cain ended his speech by singing  “Believe in Yourself” from the movie “The Wiz."

Via The Daily Intel.

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Al-Marayati, one of the most well-known Muslim voices in public life, thinks that’s not good enough. “Romney has the responsibility to state where he stands because he cannot have it both ways. When he doesn’t comment, he is giving legitimacy to Bachmann’s point of view, and this is now going to be aligned with Romney’s point of view. Whether he personally believes it or not, this will be the perception. And perception becomes reality,” Al-Marayati told Salon.

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It all began one evening in 1996, when I was working the information booth at a black tie function in my hometown of Louisville, Ky. I first noticed Herman as he walked through the lobby toward the escalator. He stared at me, and I couldn’t help but stare back: His look was so intense. I turned away, but when I looked back a few seconds later, he had not moved his eyes. He was riding the escalator with his body still turned toward me. He was dripping with confidence and arrogance. He had this incredible grin on his face, as if he already knew how the evening was going to turn out.

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On Wednesday, our greatest foe in the war on "sissy pizza" answered your prayers and launched "a bold solution to the rampant ignorance being thrust upon the people of this nation by lazy and blatantly biased news media outlets." Welcome to CainTV, the Web network whose motto brags, "We are not stupid." And nothing says "We are not stupid" like a rant against billionaire "Warren Buffet" [sic]. I remember him. He's the guy who made his fortune in Sizzler sneeze guards, right?

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Those figures would be Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, each of whom made statements so outlandish in the past few days -- which deviated so far from reality, however you slice it -- that the normally inscrutable Barbara Walters would be forgiven a spit-take.

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Fear not, though: Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls, and there's plenty of grist for the comedy mill in the former speaker of the House. As Stewart observed:

That's Newt Gingrich's pitch: "I'm the thing that's been in your pantry forever." You could try your newfangled "Popped Tarts" and "Eggo'd" waffles, but if you look way back in there, there's a can of La Choy Baby Corn, a product that may or may not still be offered by the La Choy company. You don't remember buying it -- yet you don't remember ever being without it. And now you have no choice but to elect it president.

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It's fitting that the most revelatory interview with White comes via Leslie Bennetts, who happens to be known both for getting celebrities to let their guard down (while at Vanity Fair) and for her exhortations for women not to leave the workforce (in her book "The Feminine Mistake"). And no, the major nugget isn't that White says she thought about groceries while having sex with Cain. (Cain denies that the two had a sexual relationship.) It's how lack of money made White feel powerless, and sex (which, yes, she didn't much enjoy) proved the next best commodity. That made her miserable .

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Jon Stewart examined the competing claims of Cain and White on "The Daily Show" last night, and came to the following conclusion:

Wow. Thirteen years, no sex. Either one of these two is lying, or Herman Cain is the worst deal closer in the history of extramarital affairs.

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Lori Klein, an Arizona state Senator and Cain's Arizona state chairman, told CBS News she stands by Cain.

Says she has known him for 12 years and he's "never been anything but a gentlemen - and I am not an unattractive woman."

That's a slam-dunk argument, right there. And she's not even done!

Klein suggested that if Cain is innocent he should sue White for libel and went on to attack the media for digging up the allegations. She also said that in politics, "we want a virgin to do a hooker's job."

Yes! Herman Cain is a hooker. But a hooker with a heart of gold, and the constitution to resist harassing or assaulting Lori Klein, a noted attractive woman!

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We've been waiting for months for the race to narrow itself to Mitt Romney and the not-Mitt candidate, and it looks like it's going to be Newt Gingrich. His strong debate performance last week combined with the endorsement of the Manchester Union Leader this weekend means he's unlikely to rise and fall in GOP polling as rapidly as Cain or earlier not-Mitt candidates Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann. No one else is likely to rise to challenge him. Huntsman is too moderate (and Mormon) to be not-Mitt, and Ron Paul is too eccentric for Tea Party Astroturf types to get behind. Rick Santorum is Rick Santorum.

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We already know that Herman Cain is totally butch. Not so butch that he'd need to settle any sexual harassment claims by the ladies, of course! Ha ha! But definitely masculine enough to understand the true measure of a man – not in the achievements he attains, not in the people whose lives he makes better, but by the toppings on his pizza. That's why, in an interview with GQ,  Herman Cain, pizza tycoon, blamer of the poor, viral video star, and man who "totally respects women," philosophized about culinary sex roles.

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Speaking to Greta Van Susteren, the kindly Mrs. Cain said she didn't recognize the man described by his accusers, that her husband "totally respects women." That is to say, "If you understand what old school is, of that generation where men still wanted to open the doors for women, and if we're walking along the street, he wants me to walk on the outside, next to the curb. It's not just me, it's any woman he's walking with because old-school people think they're supposed to be women's protectors."

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Are confidentiality agreements a good thing? They certainly encourage settlement. Most civil litigation, over 95 percent by most reliable estimates, concludes in a settlement. The risks, stress and costs of litigation encourage settling cases. The courts also encourage settlements as measures for judicial economy. And most settlements – in and out of courts – end with confidentiality clauses, which the parties sign, agreeing to keep the charges and settlements confidential. The motive for the defendant is to pay a price to keep a contested charge private, whether or not it is true. Cynics call that practice extortion; realists call it the price of doing business.

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