This year's Republican race for the Presidency kept reminding me of a story I read years ago.  Yesterday I got a book in the mail, a collection of humor, and there it was "The Greatest Man in the World' by James Thurber.  It's a story about a surly bully named Jack Smurch that managed to fly a monoplane around the world without a stop, tanks of fuel attached to the sides of the plane, and a gallon of bootleg and six pounds of salami.  The world watches his progress, and he becomes more and more of a hero, finally landing safely.  Meantime, the reporters and government have been researching his past, and it is a terrible one, he stole from church, knifed his principal, long history of arrests.  And when he meets the press, it gets even worse.  He insults Lindberg, calls the French men who died in their plane "frogs" and wants money for his success. Every sentence is full of swearing.

The government tries to hide him away, but the people adore him, and finally they have a conference with the governor of New York, the Senators, and even the President.  It's in a hot room, and Smurch opens the window.  Bad mouthing everyone, and demanding lots of money and women, the President gives a nod and the Secretary of State pushes him out the ninth floor window. His funeral is extravagant and attended by thousands, but not his mother, who is smirking, in his same style, as she fries hamburgers in a run down joint. 

Now this is all written in the Thurber manner, amusing and witty, but certain similarities do appear.  Whenever our Smurch talks, I shiver, and an embarrassment comes over me - embarrassed for our country, for the people who are cheering him on, for me.  Even the name is kind of familiar.  Well let's see what happens.