These days I have a lot of trouble taking politics seriously. I do take policy debates seriously, but those usually take place outside of Washington, among academics, and usually with a strong emphasis on a historical perspective.
What goes on in Washington is a food fight televised by CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. The more entertaining the food fight, the higher the ratings. An entertaining politician to me is a car wreck. I enjoy watching one as much as the next guy. Here’s what it takes:
- Some degree of insanity
- Radical ideology
- Wit and willingness to use it
- Bad judgment of what’s appropriate to say to an audience
- Long list of political and personal enemies
Based on that here are my top 5 entertaining (in a bad way) politicians:
5. Newt Gingrich
“Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods, have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works, so they have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day; they have no habit of “I do this and you give me cash,” unless it is illegal.”
4. Barney Frank
“Gay people have a different role than other minority groups. … Very few black kids have ever had to worry about telling their parents that they were black.”
3. Herman Cain
“We need a leader, not a reader.”
2. Donald Trump
On Muammar Gaddafi: “I rented him a piece of land. … and then I didn’t let him use the land. … I don’t want to use the word `screw,’ but I screwed him.”
1. Sarah Palin
“Polls are for strippers and cross-country skiers”
Barack Obama:
Rick Perry:
Ron Paul:
Mitt Romney:
Michele Bachmann: 
Jon Huntsman:
Herman Cain:
Newt Gingrich:
Rick Santorum:
Gary Johnson: