Only in this Post-Sanity Age of Republicanism could one of its adherents be so clinically flaky as to first "reach out" and "offer" his name to a Democratic president for a cabinet position, as the White House press secretary's office strongly insisted he did, and then abruptly reveal to the nation that his steadfast conservatism might fail to seamlessly mesh with the president's non-conservatism.

And then quit, virtually on the spot, in an amalgamated moment of personal epiphany. "I couldn’t be Judd Gregg and serve in the Cabinet," the self-referencing senator told the Politico. "I should have faced up to the reality of that earlier." You think?

Obama corroborated his press secretary: "It comes as something of a surprise, because the truth, you know, Mr. Gregg approached us with interest and seemed enthusiastic," he told the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill. yesterday.

Yes, "something of a surprise," something akin to a 'Dear John' letter sent to Private Obama as he was out there selflessly fighting for a new era of bipartisan cooperation in the service of economic recovery.

The truly amusing part, though, was the White House's formal statement issued shortly after aides confessed to having been "blind sided" by Gregg and "totally caught off guard" by his ultimately unrequited love.