Retardo Political Briefs: Who's the Real Space Cadet Now?

• Former cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas is running for a seat in parliament from Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. Unfortunately, Farkas, who was a big hero back in the 80s, is trying to shoot into MP-hood by hitching himself to the center-right Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), which many political scientists say is likely to either come crashing to Earth following the election, or to just explode in a big fireball of finger-pointing and recriminations. Meanwhile, Farkas can't even claim to be Hungary's - or the party's - only astronaut anymore. Good luck, Bert - sounds like you're gonna need it! [nol.hu]

• In other MDF news, the teetering-on-the-brink conservative party is suggesting that mobile phone companies provide free SMS (text messaging) services for those who are hard of hearing. Strictly speaking, this isn't a retardo idea, but given how desperate the MDF is for anything that will get them past the 5% vote threshold needed to remain in parliament, and the fact that the 5% of Hungarian voters who are stone deaf will probably never hear about it, it's close enough. [index.hu]

• Assault-rifile-toting/T-shirt-selling anarcho-prankster Tomcat was seen throwing a cake at Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky's face at a campaign event last week. Tomcat said it wasn't him who pied the capital's longtime polgármester, but a person who took the cake from him, and in any case the point was to demonstrate just how sick of politics everyone in Hungary is, and how what is really needed is a party to show everyone what clowns normal politicians are. [fn.hu]

• Main opposition party Fidesz look set to win the upcoming elections, based on the odds being given on the best-plugged-in online bookie. [sportingbet.com]

• Centrum Party leader Mihály Kupa told his party's campaign opening assembly on Sunday that all of Hungary's current leaders should go straight to hell. "They are hustling from the right, from the left. This is when we should politely stand aside and say, 'just hustle to hell.'" Despite this an other zingers - including "the Russians were in the pantry, but these [wretches] are in the bedroom - the former finance minister only got five or six rounds of applause during his 45-minute speech. So much for centrism! [index.hu]