Let us pray it's all a joke.

Michele Bachmann and Donald Trump. Both running for president. Yes, president of the USA. One has to wonder. If they are doing this just as a lark. Or do they actually feel they have a serious chance of winning? If this is a new political reality in my country, gawd help us. If any of the oft-mentioned names for Republican nominee actually become president, it’ll be time for me to exit. To another country. Italy? Maybe Scotland or Iceland. I’m considering the alternatives. If I stayed in the USA, I’d have to close myself into a cocoon. And try to hide in my separate little realm. Pretend I’m in another world. Sarah Palin would be bad enough. These other clowns would even go beyond preposterous. An absolute nightmare. A living hell. A reality I couldn’t buy into. And still retain my sanity. It’s bad enough that Bachmann is my congresswoman here in Minnesota. In what I once thought was a liberal state. More advanced than the rest of the USA. If Bachmann can happen in Minnesota, we’re in deep doo-doo. I’d expect a Bachmann to emerge in Texas. But Minnesota? How can my state produce a liberal such as Senator Al Franken at the same time that Bachmann gets reelected? It’s incredible. Franken gives me hope. Bachmann drives me batty. All the way to despair. And she’s not even the end of the horrific Republican mix. Gingrich. Huckabee. Barbour. Pawlenty. Romney. The list goes on and on. Tell me, is this an extended April Fool’s Day? Are the Republicans pulling our leg? Let us pray it's all a joke. –Jim Broede