WASHINGTON -- The worst job in the world, it turns out, isn't the U.S. presidency but speaker of the House of Representatives.

"It's where you go to die," as one veteran Hill watcher put it to me.

Volunteers?

In the wake of majority leader Kevin McCarthy's sudden withdrawal from his once-certain ascent to the speakership, several others are considering running for the job.

Long before there was a "Black Lives Matter" movement, there was Ruth Starr Rose -- an activist artist whose paintings nearly a century ago captured the dignity and spirit of America's black families at a time when stereotype and caricature prevailed.

The Republican Party's "Freedom Caucus," which has several less-charitable nicknames on Capitol Hill, is the dog that caught the car.

Now what?

Having (sort of) unseated Speaker John Boehner, these 37 or so uber-conservative House members are now scrambling for "a real leader."

WASHINGTON -- In the spirit of charity prompted by Pope Francis' visit to the U.S., let's not call them bigots.

Let's just call them the clueless, the incurious, the moronic, the dull. In short, ignoramuses.

I refer to those Republican wits who unconscionably demonize a swath of Americans based on their religious views. Haven't we gone through this sort of thing before? It was all rather bloody, as history recalls.

Sometimes what seems the least consequential detail tells the most about a person's character -- or at least his or her intentions.

Such was the case at the end of Wednesday's debate, the second for the GOP field of presidential candidates, with the "light" and irrelevant question of which woman's face they'd like to see on the $10 bill.

Once upon a time in a twinkling city on a hill, little boys and girls were taught that anyone could grow up to become president.

Some in the media were quick to dismiss Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's speech attacking Donald Trump as the opportunistic rant of a 1 percenter.

That is, as a presidential candidate whose poll rating hovers around 1 percent. The consensus was that Jindal was trying to hook his wagon to Trump's jet by calling him out, not to mention calling him a narcissistic, know-nothing, shallow, egomaniacal carnival act.

Whew. My memory's not so good these days, but did I write that speech?

WASHINGTON -- The Trump riddle continues to compel: How has he managed to successfully execute such a mass deception?

It is perhaps time to stop wondering what The Donald's got that the others ain't got.

Not to diminish the importance of the first Republican debate, but it felt like the first in a political survivor series.