Stein's Lines

The wittiest candidate to enter the US Presidential race is one we may never hear. Her name is Jean Stein, and she is the candidate of the always-distant-third Green Party.

Jean Stein--Dr. Stein--is a physician, a cook (organic foods), and former lead singer in a rock band. Contemplating her candidacy, she wonders "how a nice doctor like me got to be in a God-forsaken place like this." She then provides her own answer: "I'm now practicing political medicine because politics is the mother of all illnesses."

It would be entertaining to hear Dr. Stein in debate with Messrs. Obama and Romney, but that is unlikely to happen (even though she did engage in debate with Romney in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race. Her take on that: "It's easy to debate a robot.").

Stein's lines probably won't be heard in this year's debates, because the Commission on Presidential Debates has ruled that a participant must have "a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate."

The rock singer/organic cook/Harvard-schooled doctor thinks the major parties, Democrats and Republicans, like that rule. She says, "If they actually have to debate a living, thinking, informed person, it's very hard for them."

Maybe she should go into broadcasting. We need more of Stein's lines.