...but what bunch of geniuses scheduled a 9 a.m. Sunday airtime for a debate in Iowa, supposed hotbed of conservative evangelicals like us?

I don't know about you guys, but I assumed it was at a rational time (such as now) and was a little bit surprised to log onto my e-mail and find it full of stuff about...a debate that already happened. As for 9 a.m. ET, I was at church. I'd bet money that Steve was getting ready to head to church himself--and that David was asleep.

So let me get this straight:

1. Most of the target audience was singing hymns.

2. They still have nine people up there.

3. Only six of them have any chance of becoming the next president (and that's pretty generous in light of the summer Senator McCain has had).

4. The number-two guy in most polls was not among the nine, as a result of not yet having gotten his act together.

Oh, but there was at least one redeeming moment:

UPDATE: You know what, there was one other redeeming moment. And it wasn't a certain Senator defending his unrivaled negativity. It was the resounding applause that followed Governor Romney saying, "And I get tired of people who are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have." Skip to the end of this clip and check it out:

It's obvious that Governor Romney's response is resonating in Iowa--and that others' smear campaigns aren't. And as we've pointed out before, if you don't believe in supporting pro-life converts, then you should be blackballing Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Sam Brownback, and Fred Thompson.

Such an insistence is both irrational and destructive--and those who claim to wish to see the GOP remain a pro-life party do their cause no favors by making it.