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Posted on 04/26/2011 9:28:40 AM PDT by jmaroneps37
The boomlet for Donald Trump as a Republican nominee for president of the United States ought to be a wake-up call for Republican candidates and Republican party leaders alike.
Why has Trump surged ahead of other Republican candidates and potential candidates in the polls? It is not likely that his resurrection of the issue of Barack Obama’s birth certificate has aroused all this support.
The birth-certificate issue does more political damage to Obama’s critics than to the president himself, because it enables the media to paint those critics as kooks. Nor are Donald Trump’s political positions such as to create a stampede to his cause.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Radio-talk-show host Mark Levin has rebroadcast Trump’s varied and mutually contradictory statements on political issues and personalities over the years. It was a devastating revelation of Trump’s “versatility of convictions,” to use a phrase coined long ago by Thorstein Veblen.
So then what is Donald Trump’s appeal? And why should it concern Republican leaders in general?
Trump has what so many other Republicans are so painfully lacking: the ability and the willingness to articulate arguments clearly, forcefully, and in plain English. Too many Republicans talk like the actor of whom a critic once said, “he played the king like he was afraid that someone else was going to play the ace.”
What electrified so many Republicans about Sarah Palin in the 2008 election campaign was that her speeches offered such a contrast to the usual mealy-mouthed talk common among other Republican candidates, including Sen. John McCain. Whether you agreed or disagreed with her position on the issues, you didn’t have to wave your hand in front of her eyes to see if she was awake.
Donald Trump is dangerous in at least two senses. If, by some tragic miracle, he should become the Republicans’ candidate for president in 2012, that would be the closest thing to an iron-clad guarantee of a second term in the White House for Barack Obama.
That would be a huge setback for the Republicans — and, far more important — a historic catastrophe for this country.
What seems more likely is that Donald Trump as a candidate for the Republican nomination would use his superior articulation skills — not to mention brash irresponsibility — to trash all the other Republican candidates for that nomination, leaving them damaged goods in the eyes of the public, and therefore less able to gather the votes needed to prevent the reelection of Obama.
Why Republicans seem not to understand the crucial importance of putting the same time and attention into articulating their positions as the Democrats do is one of the enduring mysteries of American politics.
It was obvious that the Democrats coordinated their talking points and catch-phrases — “social justice,” “tax cuts for the rich,” etc. — even before the overheard and recorded statements of Sen. Chuck Schumer about Democrats’ plans to repeatedly use the word “extreme” to characterize Republicans.
But how many Republican catch phrases can you remember? Republican rhetoric tends to range from low key to no key.
Nor is there much evidence that Republicans have asked themselves how the left wing of the Democratic party gained such ascendancy in recent years, in a country where millions more people identify themselves as conservative than as liberals.
In short, there is little or no evidence that most Republicans see any need to fundamentally change their approach to the public. But if they think that they can rely on Obama’s declining popularity to win the 2012 election, they may be in for a rude shock. Worse yet, the whole future of this country and of Western civilization will be in jeopardy — in a world where the likes of Iran and North Korea become nuclear powers while we engage in empty talk at the U.N.
Barack Obama’s declining support in public-opinion polls makes some conservatives feel that his reelection hopes are doomed. But Donald Trump can be Barack Obama’s secret weapon in his fight to remain in the White House. The Donald can be his Trump card.
Officials in HI were unable to confirm Obama’s eligibility with the documents he had presented. Nancy Pelosi nearly had a fit. Obama was already very popular. Pelosi took it upon herself to sign two documents to confirming him as eligibility without even verifying it. I guess Pelosi thought the dems would have been in control of Congress for at least the next 4 years.
Trump is the most liberal "Republican" in the field right now. He's far from the best we've got...not that I'm impressed with most of the others at this point...
4 trillion national debt...I’m feeling nostalgic.
Yes.
And yes.
Most of us have held our noses and voted the "party" because conventiontional wisdom says the alternative guarantees a win for the real 'Rats.
How has that worked out for you? Hell, for us all?
He would not be in the field if one of the other conservative candidates had challenged Obama on his missing BC.
Here’s what I’d say then:
(responding to a Dem)
Yes, I have supported Democrats. Let me ask you a question - do you truly think Obama is doing a good job? If not, then, look at me, perhaps I’m more like you than you think. Vote for me then, instead of criticizing me for supporting YOUR guys.
If this was true they would shut up and let us destroy ourselves. Never stop your opponent when he is willing to do it for you...
It is the liberals telling us over and over how crazy we are for bringing it up that makes me certain we need to bring it up.
The Donald’s a fun guy, he’s a hell of an attack dog, he brings up the BC, doesn’t take s*it and the GOP hates him these are all traits I love about him. BUT, there are some definite causes for concern his flip-flopping on positions being a key factor, his endorsement of universal healthcare, numerous contributions to both sides of the aisle, eminent domain, gun control, etc. The Donald is not a true conservative we need a candidate who can attack like Trump, but who is also a bonafide conservative.
What exactly does the “conspiracy” of which you speak consist of?
"Reality" got us where we are, doofus.
"Incapable of doing?"
How about you giving the definition of "insanity" another glance?
*Monday, April 25, 2011 11:14:28 PM · 20 of 135
Jim Robinson to Steelfish
Where’s the birth certificate?*
Interesting comments by you there troll about birthers.
Even more interesting is the post by Jim Robinson about the birth certificate.
Think I'll go with JimRob on this issue.
That's my point: your claim about him spending all that money to hide records isn't true.
It never ceases to amaze me how a rumor repeated often enough on birther blogs eventually gets accepted as gospel truth by birthers everywhere.
Out of curiosity, did you ever bother to check whether there is any evidence, any at all, that would substantiate the rumor you repeated above?
Well, I agree with Sowell that Trump is not presidential material. But I am disturbed that Sowell says that for all the wrong reasons, beginning with the assertion that birthers are crazy.
Trump is a bad candidate because he is very liberal, and because he cannot be trusted since he has no basic moral principles.
But the more he stands up there and demands that Obama show his birth certificate, his academic records, etc., the better.
Trump is certainly a potential spoiler. But only if the dimwits in the Republican Party help him by lining up behind someone like Mitt or Huck. What Trump has shown them, although they don’t seem to be listening, not even Sowell, is that it pays to speak out and attack Obama directly, instead of beating around the bush, making deals, and hiding in back rooms.
Look, it’s not Trump for President the good people of this country are worried about. It’s the constant refusal of people who say the birth certificate is not relevant and why it is not relevant. They seem to make up all these excuses; but never show proof or actually say why they don’t consider the issue relevant.
Quit lying to us no matter which side of the fence you are on.
Also, no matter which side of the fence Donald Trump is on; he is showing what is lacking in America now with our alleged politicians; etc. and that is courage and honesty.
People do not give a crap what a person said, did or didn’t do in their past. Barack Obama, the Marxist follower of Rev. Ike and Bill Ayers, and Bill Clinton, the Adulterer in Chief, both proved that. All people care about is their mortgage, their health care, their kids’ college, their job security..... What Trump said years ago..... screw that. The 21st Century mind-set is not the 50’s when Adalai Stevenson’s divorce helped cost him the Presidency. People don’t give a crap about someone’s past actions or statements.
Yeah. All those fake photos of the muslim manchurian candidate in Kenya and other muslim venues got to me.
And all those faked videos (made in hollywood by Jews) depicting Hussein's closest current advisors saying the most absurd anti-American anti-Constitution treasonous garbage got to me. I actually think most of them are real.
Your authoritative words have been filed away for reference, because you said so : Barack Hussein Obama has NOT spent a nickel hiding his personal, academic, religious and political record.
Check.
Got it!.
What public housing project did you say you live in?
Idiot!
... < /sarc >
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