Fine, Trump Leads in Almost Everything in Iowa. But Carson? Seriously?

If you really think this through and believe him, then fine, vote for the whackjob.

So many commentators, mostly Republicans, are thinking that the GOP is going to go off the rails if they can't stop Donald Trump. Something's happening under the radar that is equally frightening:

In the first major-outlet non-Internet poll since the Republican primary debate last week, it's almost not surprising that CNN/ORC finds Donald Trump retaining the lead in Iowa. Almost. It's still a bit surprising, given Trump's wobbly handling of criticism during the event.

So Trump's up — and Ben Carson has moved into second in the first caucus state. For months, Scott Walker held a sizeable lead in the state. Walker's now in third, according to CNN, with Carly Fiorina, winner of the pre-game debate, jumping into fifth behind Ted Cruz.

Fine. Stop right there. Go look at the cool charts in the WaPo article that shows Trump leading in every category except abortion, where he's behind Huckabee and Carson.

Now, reflect. Is there anybody in this world that thought that the early race for the GOP nomination to run for the presidency would be topped by Trump, Carson, Walker, Cruz, and Fiorina?

Progressive that I am, I find it amusing until I think of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Then I'm sober in a flash.

Apparently in Wisconsin, it's the special interest groups, Scott.

Who can cut $250 million from education and turn it into a $250 million arena? Why, Scott Walker, man of the people, can!

In July, Wisconsin governor and presidential candidate Scott Walker signed a budget that slashed $250 million from his state's higher education system. Wednesday, he signed a bill that would spend $250 million of taxpayer funds on a new stadium for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Read the article to "not get stuck in the weeds." So, GOPers, your priorities are sports and not education when it comes to tax dollars? If so, Scott Walker's your man. You can have him.

Note. Since I'm really sober now, I've got the mention that if Fox News is the news station of choice of Republicans, and they help produce poll results like these -- and you have to be living in a closet not to notice how "on-message" Fox News is -- then we have entered a new realm of politics. The Kochs are not our worst enemies, yet.

This new realm of politics is, in a sense, actually old, in that grand Rovian, swiftboat way, only now cable-news-driven. For example:

The whole report is here. Reading it is clearer than watching it. But what comes out loud and clear -- if you're inclined to rational thought -- is that this controversy is about Hillary Clinton handling her emails while in office the same way predecessor Colin Powell did without controversy. In Clinton's case, the Benghazi committee harassing Clinton has produced a flurry of investigations that, so far, have produced two emails -- sent to, not by, Clinton -- that were not marked as classified. What should be remembered is that the public will never see these emails if they indeed held classified content or were so classified after the fact, so we won't really ever know. And as small as the story really is, Hillary Clinton will be unmercifully swiftboated with it beyond the 2016. And Fox -- and its audience -- eats this stuff up with a spoon. Ratings, people!!