To be fair, some of this unedifying scramble can indeed be blamed on the press corps. Special props go to the hyperactive political news sites that crave a fresh narrative every 15 minutes, even if it's a sitcom like Donald Trump. And a hat tip to Fox News, which has helped trivialize the campaign by offering a platform to one not-ready-for-prime-time Republican semi-celebrity after another. On behalf of journalism, sincerest apologies for wasting so much of your time.

But the fickleness of the G.O.P. is not entirely a media phenomenon. The latest Fox poll offered Republican voters a menu of 11 candidates and found that not only were voters scattered across the conservative landscape, but a quarter of the Tea Party adherents sampled were still "not impressed" with anyone. It's hard to impress a movement that only knows what it is against.