From Ardi to today's knuckle-walkers

I'VE JUST finished reading National Geographic's report on the discovery in Ethiopia of Ardi, the pre-historic hominid who will be, um, around 4.4 million years old on her next birthday. The patient research by Owen Lovejoy, a comparative anatomist at Kent State University, contributed greatly to the findings of the dig that pushed back the evolutionary calendar for upright creatures another million or so years. Now, I wonder if we can spare a few moments for some devolutionary research to determine why so many politicians with wacky thoughts have regressed to walking around on their knuckles these days on their way to the November elections.