Posted on 08/08/2015 10:49:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
On Friday night I swung by Sean Hannity's show on Fox News to chew over Thursday's GOP debates. You can see the video here.
We discussed Hillary Clinton's weakness re Bernie Sanders, and then moved on to the Republican side of things. The debate attracted an audience of 24 million people, the highest cable-news rating of all time, versus an audience of three-and-a-half million for the allegedly iconic Jon Stewart's farewell show (his second highest audience ever) and the highest non-sport cable rating in history.
Much of it was generated, presumably, by non-political types tuning in to check out frontrunner Donald Trump. Of course, much of the party doesn't accept him as a genuine "frontrunner". On Thursday, a lackluster Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, the Number 2 and 3, seemed to see themselves as the real frontrunners, playing it safe. I don't think that was a smart move, as I said to Sean:
"Donald Trump — you would have to drive a stake through him. So simply because no one did drive a stake through him, he survived, and therefore, he won. So he's still in the game and he's still locking down whatever it is, 25 percent, 32 percent I think it is in South Carolina now. So he's the guy to beat. I thought most of the others did well within their own terms, although they're actually quite narrow terms. And the disappointment, I think, was with the number two and number three because I think Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, in a sense, were both sitting on their non-leads. They both of them, I think, took a sort of conscious decision to kind of do a low-key don't-frighten-the-horses thing and hope that when Trump implodes, that they're still in the number two or number three slot....
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
True, but Carson would also be an excellent choice. Black, Christian (Adventist, I believe), intelligent, principled, respected.
That’s my ticket Cruz/Carson 2016!!!
Nope, that sexy, endearingly dorky ginger is mine. Or I will cut you.
It is, I agree.
Cruz has to find a way to overcome this if he wants to win.
if he cannot find a way to focus attention on himself, he will go unnoticed.
Sometimes being low key and calm voiced and reasonable is not what is called for.
Steyn has more knowledge of and love and concern for the United States than most natives. I’m not gonna flame you as you are entitled to your opinion, but I don’t understand it.
Yes, I agree completely.
The parties have made themselves irrelevant.
If no one trusts any of the GOP candidates up there, I can’t really blame them.
I still love Ted Cruz, even though he has done some things that I can’t understand or don’t agree with, but there may be many others who do not.
“We keep being told by the experts that Trump is a divisive figure with a low ceiling, but the ceiling keeps going higher - 22, 24, 26 per cent, over thirty per cent in certain states, which is impressive in a 17-man field.”
LOL!
I can relate to what you’re talking about. On the other hand, Trump is approaching the office of President and politics in general from a completely different trajectory from all the other candidates.
All the others, aside from Ben Carson, have followed similar career paths. They have been involved in policy, government or the law in some form or another, their whole careers. They have immersed themselves in these areas in a way Trump never has, and know the issues inside out in a way that Trump doesn’t.
Trump, on the other hand, approaches these problems like a businessman would. He recognizes certain problems, knows the end result he’s aiming for, and is confident, that with the help of competent people in his administration he will be able to figure out the specifics. It’s a departure from the explanations you would get from any other politician. The question is, do voters have enough confidence in Trump’s ability as a manager, to achieve the objectives he has declared?
It’s a different standard in which to judge a candidate from the standard we’re used to, where the candidate lays out his plans ahead of time. Trump says, I don’t know the specifics yet, but I’ll figure them out, and if you doubt me, just look at my record.
He sums it up SO beautifully. They truly don’t realize how sick of their crap we are. :
“The reality is that the GOP establishment, after their appalling behavior in the Hastert years, were given a second chance by the base in 2010, and a third chance in 2014. Now they’re demanding a fourth chance - and people go, well, say what you like but a Republican president will at least get to appoint rock-ribbed Supreme Court justices, like, er, John Roberts, who constitutionalized Obamacare, and, um, Anthony Kennedy, who gave us federally mandated gay marriage. Boehner, McConnell, Kennedy, Roberts... Not much to show for a party that’s been supposedly dominant for 35 years, is it?
The GOP thinks the issue is Trump; much of the base thinks the issue is the GOP.”
There are a couple of icons to many FReepers that I just don't personally care for. One is Ayn Rand and the other is Mark Steyn. That said, thanks much for not flaming me and, of course, I appreciate that our opinions can and will vary on occasion.
Lol! He needs to be cloned!
I appreciate your perspective and respectful reply. :) I think he does very much have a stake in this country, though. As far as I know, he’s chosen this country as his permanent home, and I’m presuming his three children were born here. Just doing a cursory search, I can’t find out for sure. And who knows if he hasn’t tried to become a citizen. I know through a South African friend that it’s not so easy for educated whites to do that. She was put through the ringer just to get a green card...10+ years and tens of thousands of dollars later. I don’t know if he’s ever been asked about his status, but it would be interesting to hear his answer. Still, no matter his status, he has wit. Common sense. Historical knowledge. High intelligence. And he’s conservative. And I think his concern and love for the United States is genuine and shines through. He has never set off my phony detection radar, and I have a fairly good one. He’s only ever cheesed me off just a tiny bit once when I heard him on the Rush Limbaugh show and he got testy with a caller that brought up about BO’s status! Personally, I think he’s a great, rock-solid advocate for conservative issues.
“The GOP thinks the issue is Trump; much of the base thinks the issue is the GOP.”
It means you have an IQ below 100.
Not you, personally, it’s a descriptor.
P.S. I don’t know a whole lot about Ayn Rand, but have seen a couple of interviews with her. I think she was highly intelligent, but rather extreme going by my limited exposure to her ideas, and not very appealing to me overall. Still, she might have a couple of ideas that I could adhere to.
Steyn briefly compliments Cruz in the Hannity interview linked in the steynonline piece. It's not enough, but it's not nothing.
Quite a few FReepers come short of near worship of her. Not me and I've taken some hits here for it. Her writing is plodding and pedestrian with one-dimensional characters, with all of the heroes thin and sex-crazed and the bad guys dumpy and overweight. Sure, she spins a few nice phrases about the free market but is ponderous while doing so. Although her ideas are vastly different, her style is about as captivating as Marx in Das Kapital. And I'm a guy that actually slogged my way through the oft- impenetrable Ulysses.
But that's not at all the substance of my dislike for Rand. I can overlook stylistic matter but I certainly can't overlook her atheism (that in itself is the bridge too far), her advocacy of child murder and her deep hatred for Ronald Reagan. Since we're having an adult, respectful dialog, please watch and listen to her own words and let me know if I'm off base:
I’ve heard her books are VERY tough to get through. I have a SHORT attention span when it comes to reading, so I almost definitely know I couldn’t do it.
Thanks for the link. I’m up late trying to get last minute papers in for a class! As well as a short attention, I’m also a professional procrastinator. I will try to look at that interview, though.
I’m guessing her extremism in that video is what I gathered from my previous viewings of her. I could live with her atheism, but she came across as very cold and extreme to me. Not much human compassion. I can’t warm up to that on any side of the spectrum.
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