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Why GOP elites are totally ignoring a political reality that could destroy their party
The Week ^ | November 12, 2015 | Michael Brendan Dougherty

Posted on 11/12/2015 10:01:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

For months now, the race for the Republican presidential nomination has actually been split into two races.

In the one that gets talked about the most by the professional political press, the Republican race is all about Jeb Bush failing to take his enormous lead in money and organization and distance himself from his rivals. In this race, Marco Rubio looks like the candidate that the party will eventually rally around. Perhaps, Carly Fiorina or Ted Cruz will emerge as the conservative movement's insurgent in this race. The big questions in this contest: Which candidate will be the greatest matchup against Hillary Clinton? Are they accomplished enough? Do they represent change? This is the politicians' race.

You've also heard about the other Republican race, the populists' race. You find it featured more on conservative talk radio, especially recently. On one side of this contest is Ben Carson, cast as the godly man of virtue who will save the character of this nation from galloping secularism and political corruption. His opponent, Donald Trump, is going to save America's white working class from economic and cultural dispossession, defeating the pincer of badly negotiated globalization from above, and uncontrolled immigration from below....

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; carson; elections; rubio; trump
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1 posted on 11/12/2015 10:01:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Fiorina? Conservative? Lol. Snowballs chance in hell.


2 posted on 11/12/2015 10:03:08 PM PST by gwgn02
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Great to see you Vet! Things are lookin’ up, no?


3 posted on 11/12/2015 10:05:05 PM PST by txhurl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That was entertaining.


4 posted on 11/12/2015 10:06:47 PM PST by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why can’t the elites see that it’s not going to be business as usual anymore. The productive middle class is being squeezed to a point that it’s ridiculous.


5 posted on 11/12/2015 10:10:03 PM PST by Ciexyz
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To: gwgn02

The comment on Fiorina is closer to the truth than

“Donald Trump, is going to save America’s white working class”

Th statement implies that immigration control is inherently racist


6 posted on 11/12/2015 10:10:38 PM PST by Fai Mao (Genius at Large)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Dougherty sure gets around, does he not.


7 posted on 11/12/2015 10:12:36 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
If they want to win, the leaders of the politicians' race need to actively push Trump and Carson out of their way and find a way to attract their supporters.

It's just that easy! Bush needs to butch up and put Trump in his place and then he will get all Trumps voters! I could barely type that I was laughing so hard.

If the politicians don't fight for their party, someone else might just wreck it for them.

The best thing that could happen is for the Republican Party to be "wrecked" by an influx of people that represent their constituents.

8 posted on 11/12/2015 10:20:22 PM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: spodefly
“It's just that easy! Bush needs to butch up and put Trump in his place and then he will get all Trumps voters! I could barely type that I was laughing so hard.”

Same here. Reading you line all I could think of is Jeb in leather trolling for “like minded voters” on the back streets. This is not a stretch (sorry for the pun) given his being so hard up (sorry again) for aFIRMation (there I go again!)

9 posted on 11/12/2015 10:35:09 PM PST by IAMNO1 (Enough with the divisions. Lets get somebody in there who'll fix this mess.)
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To: spodefly

The author’s analysis is OK but his conclusion is wrong. No nominee will ruin the party. It has suffered flawed nominees before. But if GOPe tries to steal the nomination from a candidate who won it fair and square, that could destroy the party.


10 posted on 11/12/2015 11:07:28 PM PST by matt1234 (Note to GOPe lurkers: I and thousands like me will NEVER vote for Jeb Bush)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Perhaps, Carly Fiorina or Ted Cruz will emerge as the conservative movement’s insurgent in this race. “

Carly Fiorina works for the GOP establishment. She is not an insurgent.


11 posted on 11/12/2015 11:12:38 PM PST by Pelham (A refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
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To: Olog-hai

He looks queer.


12 posted on 11/12/2015 11:14:41 PM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common anymore.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Denial is not always ignoring it.


13 posted on 11/12/2015 11:35:37 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: IAMNO1; spodefly
LOL -- Bump both of you!
14 posted on 11/12/2015 11:42:53 PM PST by lentulusgracchus ("If America was a house , the Left would root for the termites." - Greg Gutierrez)
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To: matt1234
But if GOPe tries to steal the nomination from a candidate who won it fair and square, that could destroy the party.

They've done that kind of stuff before, and as long ago as the campaign of Benjamin Harrison, and again in 1912 when the Bull Moosers bolted.

They did it in 1960 with the Compact of Seventh Avenue that made Nixon the nominee and in 1952 when they screwed the Taft "Main Streeters" by going out and recruiting the apolitical Dwight Eisenhower (like they did in California with Schwarzenegger for a governor's race two generations later).

They did it in 1976 when they beat Ronald Reagan and nominated Ford, who lost (in the debates, I might add) and in 1988 when they "seized" the nomination for Manor Bush.

15 posted on 11/12/2015 11:53:27 PM PST by lentulusgracchus ("If America was a house , the Left would root for the termites." - Greg Gutierrez)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Some of the things Carson has said disturb me.. Cruz.. The perfect candidate for my taste. He and Hillary have squared off before.. She isn’t winning that one either.


16 posted on 11/13/2015 2:29:46 AM PST by momincombatboots (Back to West by G-d Virginia.)
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To: lentulusgracchus

... or nomination of Bob Dole, John McCain & Mitt Romney. Each of those was sort of like the magician forcing a card into your hand so he could tell you which card you picked.

With loser nominees like those 3 it’s no wonder that the Republican Pary is more comfortable in the role of minority party and refuses to push their agenda legislatively.


17 posted on 11/13/2015 3:04:13 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I guess we have to put up with these stories for awhile longer LOL.


18 posted on 11/13/2015 4:04:14 AM PST by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket.l)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All
Here's the author's 2011 article on Romney, predicting that he will never be the GOP's presidential candidate because he's not like McCain - "bold" and a "teller of hard truths."

pbs.org - link

The author's handicapping skills are captured in his 2012 GOP primary prediction. And even more importantly, his judgment of the character of political leaders is captured in his description of McCain.

Nothing but more RINO Redux!

19 posted on 11/13/2015 4:24:49 AM PST by drpix
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To: matt1234
It has suffered flawed nominees before.

Yes. Several come t mind... In my lifetime, too.

Dole
McCain
Romney

Let's just NOT go RINO this time. That is THE flaw.

20 posted on 11/13/2015 4:25:53 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (As we say in the Air Force, "You know you're over the target when you start getting flak!")
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