Commenting on National Review‘s parting of ways with John Derbyshire and Robert Weissberg over their “racially offensive commentary,” the New Republic‘s Timothy Noah quips, “By the logic of newsmagazine trend-spotting, one more transgressor at National Review will give us a trend.”

If Noah were to widen his reading he might learn we already have a trend. Here’s a worthy candidate from another New York publication, New York magazine itself, and its star political writer John Heilemann, in his piece on Romney’s possible veep choices:

Which brings us to the other odds-on favorite: Ohio senator Rob Portman.… He is solid and stolid, bland and boring, and as egregiously Caucasian as a potful of Uncle Ben’s.

I really can’t add to that. Perhaps Senator Portman should simply rip his skin off.