Posted on 08/10/2015 7:35:54 PM PDT by SamAdams76
I'm in the mood to ramble a bit so please excuse me for this rather long-winded vanity. Feel free to move on to another thread if you wish. Or you can pour yourself your favorite adult beverage and read on if you dare.
No, it's not one of those infamous swan-song "I'm leaving and I'm not coming back" vanities. We used to have a name for those kind of vanities but it slipped my mind. You should all be so lucky! That will never happen. Been here since the very beginning (changed my screen name back in '97) and I'm sticking it out to the end. So you guys are stuck with me unless I get the zot treatment or I check out of this world. I don't intend either to happen for a very long time.
So I'm coming off a long summer vacation and had some extra time to spend here recently. These are definitely interesting times we are living in. As the 2016 election season heats up, I think we are in for quite a ride. Which leads me to the motivation to write this vanity.
The Donald Trump phenomenon has caught everybody by surprise. When he jumped into the race just about two months ago, we all saw it as some much needed comic relief. Most of us figured he'd be out of the race in a matter of a few weeks in his typical spectacular fashion and we'd get back to serious business. I don't think any of us predicted he'd be topping the polls and by a rather comfortable margin at that. Even after making a series of blunders that would run the campaign of just about anybody else off the rails.
It is safe to say that nobody has ever seen the likes of Donald Trump before in a presidential campaign. We are like people on the ground seeing a 747 jet flying over us sideways at a 90 degree angle. We can't take our eyes off of it because we are waiting for it to crash. We are amazed however that it hasn't crashed already and that it is somehow keeping itself up in the air. Of course, we are all rooting that it finds a way to right itself so that it can make a safe landing (we are wishing for that, aren't we?).
So back to Trump a little later. After taking some time to study the other candidates in the race, I am convinced that we have perhaps the strongest field of presidential candidates ever assembled for the Republican Party. We have a total of 17 major candidates and with the exception of just a few of them, I would be proud to have any one of them as our next president.
I especially want to point out the virtues of Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Two finer men can probably not be found to lead our nation. These are truly exceptional people with a long list of accomplishments, solid conservative values and they are both terrific family men. The accomplishments of Ted Cruz need not be rehashed here as any Freeper worth his/her salt will already be well familiar with them. But if you haven't had a chance to explore the resume of Ben Carson, please take the time to do so. You will not be disappointed.
So on one side you have Donald Trump and on the other side you have these very fine conservative candidates who are inarguably better credentialed than Donald Trump to be our next president.
Donald Trump. Where does one begin? Had Trump announced back in June that he was running for president as a DEMOCRAT, I don't think too many people would be shocked. Surprised yes, but shocked, probably not.
Well like him or not, we have him as a Republican candidate and up to now, he has been running away with this race, despite his many missteps and blunders. Trump's candidacy has been falsely declared dead more times than Bob Hope and Queen Elizabeth combined. Yet each time he bounces back stronger than ever. Even Keith Richards is getting jealous of Trump's almost supernatural resiliency.
What is it about Donald Trump? Many conservatives (including myself) have fallen under his spell. After years and years of seeing our conservative icons attacked and usually destroyed by a relentless left-wing media establishment, we are finally seeing somebody who can dish it right back and then some.
Now there is definitely something un-artful about the way Trump fights back. It is off-putting to most conservatives to see the way that he attacks back. All those Twitter messages that sound like they were written by some overgrown kid in his mother's basement, for example. But they seem to be not only working but setting the mainstream media back on their heels. They have no idea how to deal with this guy. And we love him for it. He's like the scrawny kid in school that fights back against the schoolyard bully, pins his arm behind his back, shoves his face into the mud and tells him to holler uncle. Many of us are cheering for this guy, even though deep down in our hearts, we know it probably won't end well in the long term.
So while this schoolyard brawl goes down between Trump and the media, our conservative candidates are finally starting to gain some traction. After strong debate showings on Thursday, both Ted Cruz and Ben Carson have taken to the road and are drawing large crowds and much needed donations to fuel their campaigns. They are moving up in the polls and in one NBC post-debate poll (it must have pained them so to put it out), Cruz and Carson are #2 and #3 respectively behind Donald Trump while establishment favorite Jeb Bush slips towards the middle of the pack. Even Carly Fiorina, another non-politiican, is rising fast.
Now the discussions here on Free Republic are getting quite heated between the pro-Trump folks and the anti-Trump people. The anti-Trumpers see Trump as a false idol who is not a true conservative. They see Trump as a disruptor who will end up dividing the conservative vote, resulting in a slam-dunk victory for the Democrats. On the other hand, the pro-Trumpers are just plain fed up with the political process. They have been burned in the past by career politicians and their false promises. After all, what has the GOP majority in both houses done for us lately? In there minds, our leaders have failed us and it's time to give an outsider like Donald Trump a chance, even though he's not a fully vetted conservative by any means.
I hate to see this division in the ranks although I do see and understand the passion on both sides of the fence.
What I want to say here is that regardless of how we feel today about one candidate or the other, we are still nearly six months (half a year!) away from the beginning of the primary voting. A lot can change between now and then. Trump may not even still be in the race by the time the Iowa caucus rolls around. So what I'm saying is let's not make enemies of each other at this time. I like to think that we here on Free Republic are all on the same team, even though we do have our differences. A Trump voter today could easily be a Cruz voter come January, as circumstances are likely to change between now and then.
Ridiculing or attacking each other for taking a pro or anti Trump position is not likely to win each other over. That's not to say we shouldn't have vigorous and passionate discussion (and be prepared to intellectually defend our own positions.) But we should not consider each other enemies - at least not when we are still six months away from the voting.
Now I'm as guilty as anybody else when it comes to this sort of thing. So I'm not claiming any high ground for myself. I will vow however to keep the discourse between my fellow Freepers more civil and respectful going forward.
Speaking for myself, while I am taking a pro-Trump position today, I am paying very close attention to Ted Cruz and I'm liking what I'm seeing. He was phenomenal in the "debate" last Thursday night and his campaign appearances in the Deep South this past weekend were electrifying. And to think that the media tried to destroy this guy.
I think win or lose this go-around, Ted Cruz has a great future ahead of him (he's only 44!) and has potential to be a historical figure along the lines of Ronald Reagan. A man of his caliber has nowhere to go but up.
So while I'm currently supporting Trump, if by the time my Connecticut primary comes around on April 26, Cruz is in the running for the nomination and that Jeb Bush has been knocked out, I will likely switch my vote to Ted Cruz. Even if Trump is still in the race at that time. So while I will vote for Trump over Bush, I will vote for Cruz over Trump, provided Cruz at that time has a shot at the nomination. I think a lot of the other Trump voters of today feel the same way.
Bottom line, many of us conservatives are fed up with politics as usual and especially with the way the GOPe has rigged the nomination process to eliminate true conservatives from the race and nominate middle-of-the-road milquetoast candidates who become easy pickings for the Democrat nominee.
Think about the dismal performance of the GOP nominees since Ronald Reagan. Sure, Bush Sr. won big in 1988 but he was still riding Reagan's coattails and it didn't hurt that the Democrats fielded one of the worst tickets ever (Dukakis/Bengtson). Since then, the GOP nominee lost big in 1992 and 1996. In 2000, GWB squeaked in only as a result of a handful of Ralph Nader votes in Florida. He then barely held off Kerry in 2004. Then it's been a train wreck ever since.
No wonder so many of us are enamored of Donald Trump. He is showing us how to fight back and how to win. Sure, he's a bull in a china shop and he's likely to eventually blunder his way out of contention, but for the moment, we are observing in awe, like that earlier described 747 flying sideways through the air.
And look at who's riding in Trump's wake. We have Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and even Carly Fiorina gaining on and even possibly surpassing the choice of the establishment, Jeb Bush.
Another Freeper in these forums described the situation perfectly. Look at Donald Trump as the delivery mechanism with Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and other conservatives being the payload. As for Bush, we'll just jettison him overboard like a blue ice cube from an airplane toilet.
So thanks for entertaining my vanity ramble and let's see where all this takes us.
fixed it.
Agreed. Let's see what he can do!
I’m betting Trump will rile up the electorate, spice up the conversation, and then withdraw and support Cruz.
I so despise Cruz's H1-B position that, unless he changes it, I can actually see myself not voting for anyone for President if he gets the nomination. I may have to hold my nose and vote because I'm pro-life, but I bet he and his team are counting on that.
I hope everyone who has no problem raising legal immigration through the roof gets to personally know the horrors of long-term unemployment, where you can't scare up a job interview even when your life literally depends on it.
What the race would look like without Trump at this point:
Bush 8%
Walker 7%
Carson 6%
Cruz 6%
Rubio 5%
Kasich 4%
and the rest
Your next to last paragraph sums it all up. If Trump is just the delivery mechanism, he’s doing a damned good job of it, like a bomber getting its payload to the target.
Cruz is the man in terms of political guts, determination, and knowledge.
Ben Carson needs some time to “season” politically, but he’s a real gentleman and we need one who can slice and dice his opponents and fellow GOPers with a fine samurai sword, sort of like his brain surgery scalpel.
Even Huckabee, in a pinch, would give us a fighter though I’m not sure he is sellable throughout the whole country. Still, he has guts. “The military’s job is to kill the enemy and destroy things. It is not a social experiment”.
That was a kick in the balls of the Left, Obama, Dempsey, Hillary, Boehner and McConnell. I like that. But I want someone who will also stomp the SOBs when they are down on the ground so that they never get up again.
Jeb Bush - more like a Weeping Willow rather than a Mighty Oak
Rand Paul - out in the Oort Cloud like his father. A major disappointment.
Pataki - Gone in Sixty Seconds
Jindal - Not yet ready for Prime Time but he’s on his way
Fiorina - Not bad. She might end up as VP in order to get in some real-time training.
Kasich - Sell out
Perry - Gone in less than 60 seconds. And for God’s sake, somebody get him a new pair of glasses. He looks worse in then than I do, and I have the same glasses.
Who else is left? Don’t really care.
Hillary - Closet commie
Sanders - Closet queen commie
Warren - Red as they get
Schumer - PUTZ
O’Malley - Closet commie late tot he game, after he wrecked Baltimore. That legacy is going to sink him like the Lusitania.
LA FReeper tells me he's known as "the artful dodger" down Louisiana way.
I think Bush is being propped up like a coffin photo by some phony straw poll. He just hangs out quietly like a June bug in a corn field grasping his 10%. None of the media discuss him.
That was one very thoughtful rant Sam.. Thanks for sharing...
I love your article and it’s spot on....
I love Trump because of what you said, you just never know what he’s going to do or what he’s going to say, but one thing we do know, you attack him and he will attack back...
I like Cruz, he is doing everything right, he’s into his campaign, calling out Hillary on her crap...and he would make a great V.P.
Don’t kill me here folks, but if Trump takes POTUS and Cruz as V.P. Trump can pull a lot of things together, and Cruz can do the politicking and if Trump wins, 4years of getting things we need, Cruz goes in for 8 years and we should have our country back...even if Trump gets another 4 years, all the better...
Maybe by then these ‘spineless congress critters’ will be replaced with some strong, young people with new ideas and can bring up behind them some more strong, new people...
I can see where a lot of these candidates would be good in different positions in the Cabinet and clean out the ‘rotten nests’ that have been sucking us dry...
Lets hope we can get our Country back and take care of our borders, our vets, our economy, our job situation, get that stupid obamacare wiped out and something the people can afford, tell Iran to take a flying leap off a tall building, support Israel, fix our immigration problem..
Good luck to all of us...
You may have confused the issue with some good old fashioned common sense.
The compassionate conservatives, the quitely suffering presidents are victims of bullies in the media and the PC world. They push then push harder because no one pushed back.
Trump ended that. He stood up to them. Any Republican nominee needs to learn from that model. They can be more polished about it but damnit it's time to stand up and fight back!!
Right you are. And Rand Paul did the same. I used to have some respect for both of them. But both were quite willing to violate Reagan's 11th Commandment in exchange for a little bump in the polls.
They should be attacking Obama and Hillary, not Trump. I have no further use for either Fiorina or Paul.
You make a great point and I too am EXTREMELY guilty of the same problem. I owe many here not only an apology, but gratitude for the education I have received from those who have a cooler disposition than I. I'm sorry for my rudeness and lack of civility. I don't expect acceptance just time to learn more.
The problem is, just like Palin, Cruz doesn't have the media acumen Trump has. He was being blockaded before Trump got in, and in my mind, the only reason he's allowed any airtime at all at this point is to act as a foil against Trump.
Were Trump to go away, you'll never hear anything about Cruz on the MSM, again. And unlike with FReepers, that absence will harm him in the general population.
Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder...it makes it forget.
But I think you're mistaken about this:
despite his many missteps and blunders.
I haven't seen any missteps and blunders. Fighting back is why he's the lead dog, the only dog with a good view.
Like you I just want a civil discussion of the candidates and their relative credentials. Cruz is my top pick, but I'd be happy with Walker, Paul, Carson, Fiorina, and even Trump (if he can genuinely stay conservative). Bush, Graham, Christie, and one or two others are my only stay home in disgust candidates.
What I really don't want to see is another purge of FReepers who don't tow the pure conservative line. McCain and Romney supporters were treated badly. Yeah, the candidates weren't conservative, but until recently neither was Trump. I'm just hoping that like the vineyard laborers in the Biblical parable who were hired late in the day, Trump is as deserving of conservative credentials as those who worked the full day.
Well spoken oh wise one—
Trump/Cruz
Cruz/Carson
PS— Huckabee gets written off as inconsequential but he gets my dark horse slot.
I thank you for your thoughtful post. I am convinced that all America is thinking . They are tired of do nothing fakers we sent to Washington. They are tired of capitulation. They are tired of republicrats . They are tired of being told what to say . They are tired of being told what to think. They are tired of being told its their fault or its their shame. They are Tired of megyn kelly’s deceit. They want to save the Christians yazidis and the Jews in Israel and peace loving Arabs ( if there are any ) and they want to seize their OIL. No more Mr. Milquetoast . It is over. Go Trump!!
These career women just can’t pass up an opportunity to put the guilt on men. It’s a flaw that should keep them out of the top job in my opinion.
Very well said! Thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.