John Dickerson is on the campaign trail and he’s fallen into a nostalgic funk.  Back in the good old days it was more fun, or at least funny.  So he writes about the how humorless the GOP candidates are.

Wit, ah wit.

Good fun making up insta-theories(tm) for this.  I wonder if the PR industry has determined that the majority of the target audience things wits are twits?  No doubt campaign consultants fear spontaneity so much they suppress all wit.  Individuals have their preferred subspecies of wit, Dickerson likes wit, maybe these guys all prefer sarcasm or slapstick.  And then maybe Jon Steward locked up the supply of good comedy writers?

Presumably there are two or more faces on each candidate.  The face he shows on national television, the one he shows off the record on the press bus, the one he shows when pressing the flesh with the voters on the streets, etc. etc.    And no doubt they can be more witty in some of these contexts than others.  John would appear to be telling us that these guys aren’t even witty on the press bus.

Let us not forget.  Accusing the loser of being humorless, angry, and depressed is a cheap, but effective, shot.