By the way, where's the NRA...

...been since Freddie Gray was arrested in Baltimore? Do they still think the police are "jack-booted government thugs"? Are they calling for the black protesters to arm themselves? Somehow I don't think so.

As Tavis Smiley once said, "Let's arm every black person in America and see what the NRA says."

With the addition...

...of Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson yesterday and Mike Huckabee today, the field of Republican candidates for president just doubled, to six. If you include Jeb Bush and Scott Walker the number will grow to eight. Add in some combination of Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, John Kasich, John Bolton, George Pataki and -- what the heck -- Donald Trump (puff, puff) and you're well over a dozen. (Question: How big of a stage will you need for that first debate?)

Where am I going with this? Since all of the candidates basically agree on the issues: cut spending, slash taxes on the rich job creators, repeal Obamacare, blah, blah, blah, how on earth will they distinguish themselves in such a crowded field?

And the answer must surely be: Say something outrageous to get attention. And that outrageous thing will almost surely be to the right of any other candidate.

So what? you might be thinking. But if someone says something outrageous and extreme and it vaults them into contention it could force the frontrunner to the right as well. (Think Mitt Romney and immigration in 2012.) And that means by the time the party settles on its candidate, the standard-bearer could very well be too far out of the mainstream to win a general election.

Two completely unrelated thoughts...

...on a rainy Tuesday morning just so you all know I'm still alive (if not very talkative lately).

The first is that your biggest takeaway from the recent events in Baltimore says a lot about you. If it's that mom slapping her son, above, you're probably a (white) Republican who watches Fox. For everyone else, it was that a 25-year-old black man died while in custody of the Baltimore Police.

Second, here's an interesting statistic on the (almost) eve of the British election: the Conservative Party hasn’t won more than 36 percent of the national vote since 1992.

P. S. Ed Miliband is still a (very) slight favorite on PredictWise and Paddy Power to be the next prime minister of Great Britain.

Jay and the Americans...

...were (was?) one of my favorite groups. It wasn't for nothing, as you can tell from the video above, that Jay Black was known as "The Voice."

(Is that lip-synched or just a crummy video? I can't tell.) Check out this one instead:

Still not convinced? Here he was in his prime:

But enough about Jay and the Americans. (Although one can never really "get enough" of Jay and the Americans.) This post isn't even about him (or them). No, it's actually about Ben E. King, who died on Thursday at age 76.

While he may be better known for “There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me,” he also cowrote and originally sang “This Magic Moment,” the gold record that Jay and the Americans recorded in 1969. So let's give credit where credit is due.

But Jay and the Americans were great, weren't they?

The Tom Toles cartoon of the day:

Bernie Sanders announced...

...for president yesterday and it would be easy to dismiss his candidacy. (One blogger even went so far as to call Hillary Clinton the only serious candidate in the race.)

But take a minute and ask yourself: On which of the following issues do you disagree with the senator from Vermont? From an article in the Times:

FOREIGN POLICY Mr. Sanders opposed the war in Iraq and warned against the United States getting bogged down in Afghanistan, calling it a costly quagmire like Vietnam.

Hard to argue with that.

ENVIRONMENT Mr. Sanders has warned about what he calls the severe impact of human-caused climate change. 

Pretty mainstream for a Democrat.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE Mr. Sanders strongly supports same-sex marriage. 

Even the Roberts Court seems poised to rule in favor of gay marriage.

IMMIGRATION Mr. Sanders supported Mr. Obama’s 2014 executive action shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Again, mainstream Democrat. 

HEALTH CARE Mr. Sanders supports a Medicare-for-all single-payer health care system.

Impossible to pass, but hard to argue with.

ECONOMY Mr. Sanders supports increased government spending to generate jobs and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

See: Krugman, Paul.

And from OnTheIssues.org, Sanders is pro-choice, anti-war on drugs, pro-environment, cautious on free trade agreements, pro-gun control, and a champion of Social Security and Medicare, fair taxation, separation of church and state, and public education.

So, again, on what issue do you disagree with this guy?

Okay, okay, so...

...I cherry-picked this quote from a piece on Carly Fiorina in Bloomberg* today, but you have to admit: it's a doozy!

[Fiorina's] first husband, Todd Bartlem, a Stanford classmate who’s told other reporters that in the years they were together, she had no political opinions and considered Dress for Success her bible. When reached by phone recently, Bartlem said only, “You’re wasting your time, and I don’t want you to waste mine. In the clown car that is the Republican Party, she’s the ultimate clown.” (Click.)

Ouch!

Who is this Todd Bartlem guy anyway? I Googled him and found this from an old piece in the Times:

Peter Burrows's 2003 biography, "Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard," about the former Hewlett-Packard czarina, included background and commentary from Fiorina's first husband, Todd Bartlem. Bartlem comes off as a bitter, wounded, and dare I say truthful commenter on Fiorina's hard-won transformation from world's peppiest receptionist to CEO of a prestigious multinational corporation.

Bartlem describes Fiorina worshiping the book "Dress for Success" like a "Bible," and ditching him without leaving a phone number or forwarding address.

"She became a unidimensional person," says the jilted husband. "Anything that didn't enhance her business life she didn't want to know about. . . . I wish I could wish her the best, but I don't. I want to see her fail."

I don't think he likes her.

* The Bloomberg piece is actually a balanced profile of Ms. Fiorina and worth a read if you think she's going anywhere in the 2016 Republican race for president. (She's not.)