Posted on 08/12/2015 6:14:45 PM PDT by markomalley
Outsiders who have never before held political office are dominating the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Donald Trump is the GOP front-runner, while businesswoman Carly Fiorina is surging after a strong performance in last week’s debate.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is also showing strength, and is a candidate to watch in the Iowa caucuses, where he is outperforming former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Conservatives are thrilled with the developments.
“This is a paradigm shift,” conservative Iowa radio host Steve Deace told The Hill. “The base of the party is in open revolt. We’re watching a political party dissolve. It’s a civil war and the GOP as it’s constructed may not survive.”
Others think Republican voters will eventually coalesce around a more traditional GOP candidate — perhaps Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
They believe Trump’s rise is a product of his celebrity and a media frenzy that will ultimately fizzle. They doubt that Carson and Fiorina will be able to compete in the fundraising fight, or pull together the political operation to make a deep run through the primaries.
But for now, the anti-establishment wing of the GOP is on the upswing.
Fiorina is rising in polls, moving into the top tier of candidates in Iowa and New Hamshire, according to two surveys released this week.
A new survey from Public Policy Polling showed Carson has pulled into a second-place tie in Iowa with Walker, who for months held a big lead over the field in the Hawkeye State. A Suffolk University poll released this week showed voters in Iowa believe Carson matched Rubio as one of the winners in prime-time debate.
Both are embracing their outsider status.
“Change was promised, but people don’t see that change ... if Congressional leaders can’t produce results, they need to step aside,” Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, told Breitbart News in a post-debate interview.
The comments aligned Fiorina with grassroots critics of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Carson was similarly blunt in his criticism of the political establishment.
“The political class has weaved an imaginary tale that they’re the only ones who can solve our problems,” he said this week on "CBS This Morning." “But the fact of the matter is if you take the collective political experience of everyone in Congress, which is just under 9,000 years, you’ll see that it really has not solved our problems.”
The rise of Trump, Carson and Fiorina is welcome news to conservatives such as Laura Ingraham, who has been critical of Bush, presumed to have been the GOP front-runner.
“If we don’t come to terms with what is happening in the Republican Party, this is going to be a very ugly 2016,” the radio host said in a testy exchange on Fox News with conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, who has been critical of Trump.
“There is a coming crack-up in the Republican Party if Republicans don’t let this play out,” Ingraham said.
Many conservatives believe GOP leaders oversold on promises they made heading in to the 2014 election cycle, when Republicans won an historically large majority in the House and wrested control of the Senate from Democrats.
“There was no point in the last election,” said Deace. “Republican leaders nullified the results. Nothing has happened that wouldn’t have happened if [Senate Democratic leader Harry] Reid weren’t the leader.”
Even conservative critics of Trump’s policies believe his popularity is linked not just to his celebrity status, but to the fact that he doesn’t sound like a politician.
“Donald Trump is not taking off because Republican voters agree with his liberal policy positions,” Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham wrote in an op-ed on Red State. “He has supported socialized medicine, abortion, and amnesty in the past. He is taking off because voters feel unheard, they feel like both political parties are paid off by the well-connected, and they feel like the political process has become a game disconnected from addressing their concerns.”
Texas-based Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak estimated that those in open revolt with the party constitute about a quarter of Republican primary voters.
He said the outsiders will have an impact on the race by forcing candidates with establishment appeal to find new ways of addressing the growing sense of frustration among the base.
One beneficiary could be Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
The Texas Republican, who since arriving in Washington has relished every opportunity to frustrate party leadership in the Senate, surged into second place in a NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released shortly after the debate.
He’s raised more hard campaign dollars than any other candidate, hauling in $1 million in the 100 hours after the debate, and attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 at a rally in Alabama this week.
Mackowiak says GOP candidates need to realize how angry the base is with its elected GOP leadership.
“The establishment side of the party has to show that they get it, and we haven’t seen that yet,” he said. “They’re saying that Obama has failed, they’re not saying that GOP leadership has failed. That’s not the message the base is sending.”
The GOP has overlooked the anger and frustration of Americans.
I’m so sick of the ‘concern trolls’ and propaganda coming out of these DC outfits.
“There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down.”
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting to get different results... Romney, Dole...
We endured the first term of this anti amercan imposter, on election night “the second time around” I remember it as clear as day, karl rove as the evening wore on predicted a romney win and for the second time around we all got screwed. 2014 we gave them all the majority to smack this bastard down and start to roll back his destructive health care, epa and irs harrassements, executive orders and what did we get? we again were spat on. I am enjoying thier roast they deserve it all
“We’re watching a political party dissolve.”
We can only hope!
“The base of the party is in open revolt. We’re watching a political party dissolve. It’s a civil war and the GOP as it’s constructed may not survive.”
I can only hope the GOP “as constructed” does not survive, if it does, the country won’t.
If this were a real civil war, then the victor would hold trials, such as for treason, and various persons, such as boner and mcclown would be held accountable and pay the ultimate price. Personally, I’d be happy if they’d be put in stocks on public display at the Capitol so everyone they’ve screwed can throw rotten veggies at them.
I think that a Convention of States scares the hell out of them. We could literally throw about 80% of Congress out of office all at once.
The communists running the DNC and the RNC country clubbers and their greedy pulled back wives are terrified of this guy.
A couple of black marxist propagandists on one of CNN tonight basically said that Trump, the Republicans, and anybody who doesn’t denounce him are racists in need an attitude adjustment.
They are really busy twisting the knife into the back of law abiding normal American taxpayers.
Trump will crucify the likes of Jeb Bush, comes right out and says he doesn’t respect him.
For that reason alone is a Godsend.
““I’ve been dealing with politicians all my life. They are all talk, no action,” Trump said. “Never going to get done. They’re controlled by the lobbyists, they’re controlled by donors, and they’re controlled by special interests.
When I tell somebody to do something, I’m not going to get a lobbyist calling me the next day to say, ‘Please don’t do that even though it’s good for America.’”
Specifically, he got asked about Jeb Bush. Not a big fan. “The last thing we need is another Bush,” Trump said.
He doesn’t seem to think much of Jeb’s brother, George W., either. During the interview, Trump said, “I would be willing to bet I would have a great relationship with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. It’s about leadership.”
O’Reilly responded with, “You sound like George W. Bush when he looked into [Putin’s] soul and said he was a good guy.”
Trump snarked, “Bush didn’t have the IQ.”
These GOPe candidates, Bush etc will see that the REAL conservatives are getting the attention and the poll figures...Watch them attempt to sway in that direction to try and show that they, too, are “conservative”...
When they do, most conservatives will be aware of the game they are trying to play...I just hope the rank and file republicans see through their game...
Politicians on both sides have allowed thirty million plus illegals in our country. They have ruined our culture and bankrupted is. All for power and money
“F’ the GOP. They don’t get it at all.”
I think they get it. They simply don’t care what us interlopers want. Now be good and vote for their boy.
“The establishment side of the party has to show that they get it, and we haven’t seen that yet,” he said. “They’re saying that Obama has failed, they’re not saying that GOP leadership has failed. That’s not the message the base is sending.”
If that is what they believe they are dead wrong, years late and trillions of dollars short. Yes, Obama has failed. We knew he would be a failure when these same idiots decided to let McCain lose to Obama. Then they promised us the death of Obamacare in 2010 and once in office, decided they didn't need to worry about it any more. Then loser Romney in 2012 and outright lies, treachery against the base (remember Mississippi), and deceit in 2014. Contrary to their belief, the exact message we are sending is that they, the GOPee, have failed and the media has failed as well as Obama.
They don't get to manipulate and control us any more. We want people in there who will do what needs to get done and not just make nice reaching across the aisle. They need to stop forcing their godless, job swallowing ideas on us and stop trying to sabotage our candidates or suffer the consequences. Because they sure aren't acting as if they've gotten the message at all.
It's battered voter syndrome. In spite of all the promises, we're abused after every election.
Relevant then and now...thanks for the link.
"He said the outsiders will have an impact on the race by forcing candidates with establishment appeal to find new ways of addressing the growing sense of frustration among the base."
Why "new ways"? Is there something wrong with proven successful methods? Isn't that the antithesis of conservatism?
The only true outsider is Ben Carson. The other two, Trump and Fiorina are manipulators of the system. Particularly Trump, the better of the two, he's a master exploiter and now turning that skill to the public.
Let’s hope someone takes over the republican party. The current crop of asshats who are traitors to their electorate need to take a leap.
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