Posted on 09/28/2015 8:34:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Early as it is, recent polls are beginning to tell us something about the 2016 presidential election.
For one thing, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Jeb Bush will be the Republican nominee. Not only is he a weak fifth (at 7%) in the just released NBC/WSJ poll, Republicans, as of now anyway, just don’t like him. In a new Fox News poll, he has a net favorability rating (like/dislike) among GOP voters of a measly one percent.
For comparison, favorability ratings for Trump are +12, Cruz +21, Fiorina +30, Rubio +35, and Carson an unprecedented +52. Almost everybody likes him. (I thought Republicans were supposed to be bigots.) Carson is also creeping up behind Trump over all, only one point behind in the aforementioned NBC/WSJ poll, 21-20. (Fiorina and Rubio are tied for third at 11.)
Perhaps more telling, in another just released poll of North Carolina voters by Elon University, in a hypothetical NC general election matchup we find Trump losing to Clinton by 7%, but Clinton herself losing to Carson by 11%. That’s a huge 18 percent swing! (I don’t think you’ll find Donald bragging about that one on Hannity.)
Something is clearly going on here, Mr. Jones. But what is it? First off, voters have liked Dr. Carson from the beginning for his life story and his authenticity. But lately he has shown more than that. His statement that he would not support a Muslim for president — and then giving his reasons, specifically that sharia law with its legislated misogyny and homophobia, not to mention immutable fusion of church and state, is in direct contradistinction to our Constitution — has highlighted issues for the electorate that no other candidate has thus far dared to raise, at least to the level that Carson has. And he has resonated with the public on the subject across party lines. (In one poll, 51% agreed with Carson and 28% disagreed.)
Moreover, Carson is talking seriously about substantive ideological issues like taqiyya – the principle in both Shia and Sunni versions of sharia law allowing Muslims to lie to non-Muslims for the advancement of Islam — that rarely are discussed in political campaigns (or, for that matter, in Iran negotiations). The public, some small part of it anyway, is being educated.
Not surprisingly, this – dare we call it – uppityness on the part of the neurosurgeon has elicited a fair amount of cognitive dissonance or, in Andy McCarthy’s term, willful blindness from the liberal punditocracy. Jake Tapper on his Sunday show acted as if he could scarcely understand what Carson was saying, even though it is quite simple. Fortunately for us, CNN itself published a transcript. From Carson:
Let me tell you what I would advocate, I would advocate that people go back and look at the transcript of what I actually said. …I would have problems with somebody who embraced all the doctrines associated with Islam. If they are not willing to reject sharia and all the portions of it that are talked about in the Quran. If they are not willing to reject that, and subject that to American values and the Constitution, then of course, I would. I would ask you, would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to advocate for somebody who would not do that? Probably not. …Is it possible that maybe the media thinks it’s a bigger deal than the American people do? Because American people, the majority of them, agree and they understand exactly what I am saying.
Thankfully, they do.
Now wise friends of mine still tell me that the former pediatric neurosurgeon cannot be president, even though he has done such pioneering things in the operating room and even though he is arguably the most extraordinary individual to run for president since Lincoln and Washington. And I understand what they’re saying. It would be something very different. But those same people were telling me that Trump could not be president months ago, until Trump showed he had staying power in the polls. We don’t know anything anymore. But what is clear is that Ben Carson is formidable. I would suggest that in this instance (as in many instances actually) the quiet man may emerge to be stronger than the loud man. Maybe he already he is.
And here’s something else for Republican voters to think about. Wouldn’t a Carson-Rubio ticket, or vice-versa, someone from the inside and someone from the outside, do more to destroy the despicable identity politics the Democratic Party has been exploiting to everyone’s detriment for generations than just about anything you could think of? It would upend all the reactionary nonsense Obama has stood for on symbolism alone. Worth pondering, no?
And, as Steve Jobs would say (hey, there’s a movie coming out), ONE MORE THING: Joe Trippi — a smart liberal pundit who is not a bad guy — has written an L.A. Times oped today insisting “No, pundits, Hillary is not collapsing.” Maybe he’s right. Maybe Sanders and Biden can’t really overcome her, unless, of course, she’s indicted. But the essence of what Joe T. is saying is that the ethnic (read: black) vote will save Hillary after she goes down in white-bread Iowa and New Hampshire, where her numbers look really bad. That, however, is all the more reason to put Carson on the Republican ticket (if he doesn’t get there by himself, which he well might). Ben would DESTROY Hillary in the general election. Besides the fact that he’s authentically black, as opposed to “Clinton black,” Ben’s already got Kanye West on his side. Game over!
Roger L. Simon – Co-founder and CEO Emeritus of PJ Media and PJTV – is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and multi-award winning novelist. He is covering the election at Diary of a Mad Voter. You can find him on Twitter @rogerlsimon.
@eddriscoll’s artwork above was adapted from the climax of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
That would be a good job for him. We citizens would be lucky to get a real qualified HHS MD or as surgeon general.
Thinks we should have “negotiated with moderate Arab allies” for hand-over of Bin Laden.
Weak, unrealistic, world view. Non starter.
Carson is a tool of Rove.
The Donald is not and never was a “conservative” in the sense of the term well understood by most of the regular participants of Free Republic.
What he is (and this is perhaps his strongest virtue), is an excellent salesman and negotiator. The Donald does it just for the sport of the game, and if also incidentally he takes a nice profit out of it, that is just gravy on top of the meat and potatoes.
And the pursuit of the Presidency is probably one of the biggest deals The Donald has ever engaged in, with stakes higher than anything else in the world.
The Donald used to own casinos, you know that? And when it ceased to be a profitable operation, it got axed. No hesitation, no mercy.
LOL, I saw my first 2016 sticker today. It was "Bernie 2016".
We have no earthly idea whether Ben Carson has that skill set or not, but there is nothing in his professional or personal background to say he does.
RE: Carson is a tool of Rove.
How do you know that?
I’m not voting for a lying liberal piece of garbage like Trump to make you or your democrat friends happy.
Period.
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I feel for you...suffering from both TDS and PMS. Hope you feel better.
“I couldn’t care less what the democrats would be willing to vote for. That the standard “moderate” bottom feeder strategy.”
I get it. You have your principles. If a Republican can win by gaining votes of some Democrats and moderates, you have a problem with that.
look up “operation mockingbird”
Rove plans on using Carson and Fiorina as firewalls to help jbush or as an alternative Rubio as backup.
He is looking at this new race as three clusters. Trump/angry voter, gope approved, and bottom feeders.
I want him to be the Republican choice. Will the media obsess over him and talk about the “first completely Black president”? (0bammy is half black).
I’m sure he’s a good buy on a personal level.
But he’s also bad on guns and bad on immigration, and at least questionable on abortion.
It’s hard to ask why Trump is getting traction in the primary, even though he’s not really conservative, without also asking the same question about Carson.
“Trump inherited millions from his father. “
And turned it into a worldwide empire of billions.
Most kids who are born on second base, squander the opportunity. He grew it into something bigger.
“Johns Hopkins ain’t no SMALL practice. It happens to be a world renowned teaching hospital in Baltimore MD.”
Great hospital.
I don’t think he ran Johns Hopkins hospital though.
“A small practice?”
Yet you didn’t detail any of his actual practice - number of employees, etc.
The rest is admirable and I admire his accomplishments. That is different than saying he is prepared to run one of the worlds largest countries.
Political reality in the hard, cold big leagues mandates a veep candidate bringing with him/her three things....a large, dependable bloc-following (hispanics, evangelicals, whatever), big-bucks donors, and a substantial, dependable electoral college vote in the general election (for example, a veep candidate from Texas or California will score more heavily in the selection process than one from Rhode Island).
Gentle Ben flunks in all aspects, so does Fiorina along with most other names being tossed around in the wind as a vice-presidential selection.
My reasoned guess is that Trump would select none of the above and his running mate would be someone we haven't even thought of and whom we would like VERY much.
Leni
For the umpteenth time! Obama’s lack of “executive experience” has nothing to do with the horrible president he is/has been. It’s all about his ideology! ...and NOT lack of experience! He could have 20 years of “executive experience,” and it wouldn’t change one iota of the man’s ideology-driven agenda!
“He’s on the Kellogg board”
Yes. Paid to serve. Great.
Is he there as a figurehead, or are they launching a medical cereal?
Registered Repub since first registration, my family voted Goldwater over Kennedy..
Family is Republican and conservative back to before this was a country, 1640’s to be precise.
So please check your tongue before you make unfounded accusations. History, especially US is my strong suit academically
Semper Fidelis!
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