I think the immeasurably entertaining Mark Sanford would make an excellent--indeed a kind of splendidly collective--GOP presidential candidate in 2016, don't you?
He has the gaffe-proneness of Mitt Romney, the awed cluelessness of Herman Cain, the stunningly arrogant hypocrisy and double standards of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum's sanctimony and Rick Perry's wholesale unsuitability and Michele Bachmann's riveting witchhunting prowess, all in one.
He's a well-versed master of Republican bogeymen--labor unions! and earmarks! and oh heaven help us, Nancy Pelosi!--so his prep time would be minimal, thus the GOP could get started on its losing campaign straightaway. Plus, his singular though collectively representative candidacy would abolish the need for a whole bunch of other GOP presidential candidates to vomit in undifferentiated speeches the very same bogeymen for nearly two horrible years.
We'd all be grateful. Obama's Democratic successor is as good as already nominated, so Republicans might as well proceed with their loser--and, besides, it looks as though Mr. Sanford will be extraordinarily available for a while.