2016 Republican Presidential Clown Car Begins!

At a certain inflection point the lies stop working. The Republican base has finally figured out that "voodoo economics" don't work. Yet they are clueless how to fix it. How do you undo 30+ years of it?

Enter the smart, savvy, scowling showman. He is self-financed and promises restored greatness. He has a bully’s instinct for the jugular and a sense of how sick an angry America is of politics as usual and political correctness. He hijacks a Republican Party that has paved the way for him with years of ranting, bigotry, bellicosity and what Robert Kagan, in The Washington Post, has rightly called “racially tinged derangement syndrome” with respect to President Obama.

Trump’s Il Duce Routine​

 

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Congressman King (Republican) said calling Canadian Raphael (i.e. Ted) Lucifer was an insult to the devil. It's unfortunate, but true.

 

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The

The irony was after Ted Cruz shut down the government, almost single handedly, the follow year, the Republicans won a majority in the Senate. I wonder why his actions are still sales pitches as so bad for the Republicans, seeing the Republicans won the Senate and gained power? This idea of corrupt leadership, from both sides, may explain the anger. It was not about the results for the party, but the establishment pecking order being decided by special interests and not Cruz.

Another aspect, was people like King, did not want to make any waves to upset their easy and cushy existence. Cruz made them worry. It reminds me of a union job, where the rookie guy, trying to do good, works too hard, which causes the lazy veteran workers to look bad. They will tell him to slow down. If the new guy does not slow down, thinking is doing good for the company, they will get even more upset and may try to blackball the rookie, so he goes away; pressured to leave. Then the slow pace and security is restored.

The New Congress and New Senate had the capacity to reshape the future direction of the country, such as defund ObamaCare and get spending under control. But the lazy Republicans, with their cushy jobs, did not want to work. This defiance is what precipitated Cruz, Trump and even Bernie Sanders. This is going to change.

 

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I see you have been listening to Limbaugh again.

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Well, shutting down government wasn't Canadian Raphael's unforgivable transgression, though he did indeed lead the effort to shut down government. He wasn't the first Republican to lead a government shut down and he probably won't be the last. As previously stated, Canadian Raphael's unforgivable sin was to repeatedly threaten the full faith and credit of the nation through a debt default. That's the act of a traitor. That's what Canadian Raphael has repeated done in order to advance his political career. He has repeatedly put his personal ambitions above the safety and well-being of every American. That's not the kind of person who should be in the White House.

Two, there were many reasons why Republicans won the Senate, not the least of which being the electoral map. Democrats had more seats at risk last election cycle. This year it's the exact opposite. Republicans have more Senate seats at risk. The Republican win had little to do with Canadian Raphael's participation in the government shutdown. A government shutdown doesn't threaten the health and well-being of all Americans like a US government debt default would.

I don't think you have been paying attention.

Well, that's the meme Republican entertainers have been pushing, but it simply isn't true. If the new congress could have reversed or defunded Obamacare they would have. They tried. While Republicans held a majority in Congress, they didn't have enough votes (i.e. 2/3rd s) to override a presidential veto. It's that "Constitution thingy" so called "conservatives" (i.e. Republicans) like to pound on and then quickly forget when it gets in the way of their ideology.

The US Constitution divided government (i.e. decentralized power) making it necessary for people to work together in order to enact laws. They never intended that one party should become all powerful. Instead of demanding all power and refusing to negotiate and holding the nation hostage to their ideological demands, as much as Republicans and folks like Canadian Raphael (i.e. Cruz) hate it, they need to play well with others (i.e. negotiate). And has been repeatedly observed by many people, Canadian Raphael doesn't play well with others.

 

Based on comments made by Canadian Raphael (i.e. Ted) this morning, I think it's over. I think they know they will lose big today in Indiana. The desperation in the Cruz camp has been blatantly obvious this week.

 

To paraphrase what you said in another thread, it couldn't happen to anyone more deserving.

The dude is straight-up creepy.

 

Just listening to the guy makes me feel dirty. Today he is calling Trump a pathological liar. Cruz has no room to talk in that regard. That's like the pot calling the kettle black.

 

Well it's over. CNN has just declared Trump the winner in Indiana. When they call it this early after the close, you know Trump has won by huge margins. I am now 100% confident Trump will be the Republican nominee. But I doubt Canadian Raphael will withdraw from the race. Like Michelle Bachman God wants him to be POTUS don't cha know? Cruz's money will begin to dry up. Funny, Bachman didn't become POTUS either. God must have changed his mind.

 

Or at least, he has one. Unlike Bachmann..

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Not Exactly Fond Recollections

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Distraction: Click to mosh.​

Well, you know.

Michele Bachmann landed on her feet, traveling the Christian radio circuit on the End Times tip, and her message for Christians is pretty straightforward: Jesus is coming. Blame Obama.

I doubt we will be so lucky with Trump. After his loss, he's probably headed back to the game show circuit. I just don't think the joke works if I wonder whether he will get a FOX News contract or simply buy FOX News.

Ms. Bachmann arrives in my awareness via sources like Right Wing Watch, where I learn about how Bachmann thinks international terrorism is God's way of humiliating President Obama↱, or that Phyllis Schalfly↱―who now faces a coup↱ at Eagle Forum―saw Lady Lightbulb as a potential hand-picked successor until finding out the former congresswoman from Minnesota Six isn't smart enough for the job↱.

So, yeah, finding out what Michele Bachmann is up to is an unfortunate side effect of seeking information about what conservatives are up to.

We probably shouldn't expect Mr. Trump to be so accommodating.

And, you know, maybe NBC won't want him back after all this. But, you know, I'm really quite cynical about capitalists and conscience, so it seems impossible that a ratings magnet like Trump will go long without finding a new gig as a media celebrity. I hear iHeartRadio↱ might well be needing a new host ... and some cash. Give Rush the dump and pitch for the Trump? The Republican presidential frontrunner is certainly wealthy enough to buy or build a pulpit for his personality cult.

Oh, hey, remember that time in 2011 when Bachmann rose to the top of the GOP pack, and there was murmur and buzz about a possible Bachmann/Trump ticket?

No, we won't be seeing Trump/Bachmann; in 2012 the Donald accused the Minnesota Moonbat of disloyalty after she skipped a debate. That, and she backed Cruz this time 'round. You know, the guy who just suspended his campaign.
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Notes:

Marcotte, Amanda. "Early retirement For Rush Limbaugh? His show is in peril, but the right-wing world he helped build will sadly live on". Salon. 19 April 2016. Salon.com. 3 May 2016. http://bit.ly/1SKRMIf

Tashman, Brian. "Bachmann: Maybe God Uses Terrorist Attacks To Humiliate Obama". Right Wing Watch. 23 March 2016. RightWingWatch.org. 3 May 2016. http://bit.ly/1W5TwOE

—————. "Phyllis Schlafly Almost Picked Michele Bachmann To Succeed Her 'But She Knew Nothing About Politics Outside Of Her Own Domain'". Right Wing Watch. 21 April 2016. RightWingWatch.org. 3 May 2016. http://bit.ly/1SKQZHj

 

Canadian Raphael did withdraw! Hell's bells! But unfortunately, I don't think we have heard the last from Canadian Raphael. He will be back at some point like a bad penny.

 

Wow. Did not see this coming.

 

Emblematic

So did you hear the one about how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), wrapped up his campaign suspension announcement in Indianapolis and then struck his wife↱ twice in the face?

It really was an accident.

Really.

Still, it just seems emblematic of Ted Cruz and his flaccid failure of a presidential bid.

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Notes:

Baumann, Nick. "Ted Cruz Accidentally Punches And Elbows His Wife In The Face After Dropping Out". The Huffington Post. 3 May 2016. HuffingtonPost.com. 3 May 2016. http://huff.to/1SMPYuV

 

I was a bit surprised by Cruz's withdrawal. But in retrospect, I shouldn't have been. The nation is better because Cruz is no longer in the race. But, unfortunately, I doubt we are yet rid of him. He is a scumbag who would and has done whatever it takes to advance his political career. His withdrawal for the race is a bid to salvage his political ambitions. This is the man who tried on multiple occasions to cause a US debt default to advance his political ambitions, a move that would have had catastrophic near and long term consequences for the US economy. Someone who would do that is a scumbag of the first order.

 

Murmur and Buzz: Kasich Out

Breaking news alert banners tell us Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) will suspend his presidential campaign today, leaving Donald Trump unopposed through the rest of the nomination contest. More to come as the banners evolve into actual reportage.

 

The question now is, what happens to all the "Anybody But Trump" crowd? Were they bluffing? Will they vote for Hillary or simply not vote, or will they form third party ore will they fall in line? I hear the "Anybody But Trump" financiers are closing their wallets.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cards-in-protest-after-ted-cruz-a7012381.html

 

Another No-Go for the Convention

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Last month, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) answered the question of whether or not he would attend the Republican National Convention this year about as simply as the noncommittal can get: "I don't have any idea"↑.

On Monday, Mr. Blunt explained that he now has an idea. Via KMWU↱:

In the midst of a re-election campaign, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., says he won’t be attending this summer’s Republican presidential nominating convention in Cleveland.

Blunt has attended most presidential conventions during his congressional career, although he notes that his visits have usually been only for a day or two. His decision to skip this one entirely, he says, has nothing to do with the party’s turmoil over its likely nominee, Donald Trump – nor his heated fall contest against Democrat Jason Kander.

He’s staying out of Cleveland, Blunt said, because of the convention’s timing: from July 18-21. Missouri’s Aug. 2 primary is just two weeks later.

“I’m saying that I think Missourians would assume that I should be paying attention to their vote in a couple weeks rather than how the delegates are going to vote at a national convention,” Blunt said Monday.​

It isn't exactly a compelling excuse; in February the St. Louis Post-Dispatch↱, noting Blunt's re-election campaign kickoff, explained that he "will almost certainly face Democratic challenger Jason Kander, 34, currently Missouri's secretary of state". That near certainty derives from the perception that "neither faces any serious opposition for their respective parties". It is a crowedd field, to be certain, four Republicans, three Democrats, two libertarians, a pastor running on the Constitution ticket, and a registered nurse specializing in mental health running as a write-in candidate. For his part, Mr. Blunt does not expect to be toppled in the 2 August primary.

Nonetheless, that's his story and he's sticking by it. For now. Who knows? Maybe someone will ask again next week, and Mr. Blunt will offer a different explanation. The bottom line is that another prominent Republican will skip the convention.
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Notes:

Mannies, Jo. "Blunt will support GOP presidential nominee, but is skipping trip to Cleveland". KWMU. 3 May 2016. News.STLPublicRadio.org. 4 May 2016. http://bit.ly/1UzuQx2

McDermott, Kevin. "With two announcements a year apart, Missouri's U.S. Senate race has begun". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 20 February 2016. STLToday.com. 4 May 2016. http://bit.ly/24yeNlJ

 

The lies still work fine. They just picked a different, better, liar.

The Republican base never had any idea what Reagan's economics and financial management policies were in the first place, and didn't really care. When they blew up - as they did repeatedly from 1982 until cratering in 2008 - the base (with the help of the ever-compliant major media) reacted by blaming welfare programs and the like. They are still doing that - how often have you seen somebody ascribe the 700 billion dollar collapse of the entire US banking system to government encouragement of irresponsible residential mortgage borrowing by undeserving poor people?

Which was Reagan code for black people - still is, in Reagan's Party. They know, it's ingrained in their synapses, that nationalism in the US is in reference to a white man's nation, preferably Protestant. The jury may still be out on whether the liberal intellectuals of the 1930s were right, and the nationalism of all fascist movements is founded in racism of one kind or another, but we know that is true for the US version.

The Republican base has "figured out" nothing. Nada. This is the continuing rise of fascism in a Western democratic republic, and the sight of its core principles and essential motivating philosophy being championed in public is the sight of standard Republican politics.

Trump is another Reagan. He just talks vulgate, instead of Reagan code.

He's saying nothing essential that Reagan didn't say, nothing Gingrich didn't say, nothing W didn't say, and nothing any more foolish or facepalm horrible than what those guys or any of a dozen "respectable" Republican national politicians have been saying for thirty years and more.

Try to find a Trump quote or scene any cringe-inducingly uglier than Reagan's Neshoba County Fair speech in 1980, for example.

Not to mention the talk radio, TV analysts, etc.

Because neither has the media "learned" anything. The contortions they are now performing to find Democratic Party equivalences to the Trumphighlighted, no longer ignorable, base nature of the Republican base would be hilarious - Onion stuff - if similar contortions hadn't been dominating the media and setting the stage for so much disaster for so many years.

The current deflection of the Iraq War (besides claiming it to have been a "both sides", bipartisan venture) is that "the Intelligence was bad". This is true, in a way. The intelligence has not improved.

 

I was looking forward to see who else Cruz would nominate. But alas that will not be. Instead, The Donald will make a nomination. One must wonder who that will be. I'm thinking he would want an Hispanic and a woman, given his problems with those demographic groups. He gets both with Governor Susana Martinez. Trump doesn't strike me as a deep thinker. So I wouldn't be surprised to see The Donald nominate Martinez in the coming weeks as his running mate.

 

Trump Card

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Ostensibly, Martinez will say no:

Mr. Trump has a singular track record of picking fights with obvious potential running mates like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has indicated a lack of interest in the vice presidency generally and has yet to reconcile with Mr. Trump publicly. Ms. Haley and another potential pick, Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, have sharply criticized Mr. Trump at recent party gatherings and do not want to be associated with his sometimes-angry tone, according to advisers and close associates who have spoken with these Republicans.​

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A cross section of leading Republicans agree that his most sensible choice would be an experienced female governor or senator, given that he would most likely face Hillary Clinton in November and need support from a majority of white women to offset her strong support among blacks and Hispanics. Yet Mrs. Clinton is currently ahead of Mr. Trump with white women by double-digit percentages, according to a recent CBS poll.

The pool of Republican women in major offices is relatively small, and Mr. Trump has already alienated some of them. Governor Haley denounced him for not quickly disavowing support from the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and Governor Martinez has criticized his remarks about Hispanics.

Both governors endorsed Senator Rubio for president; a Martinez spokesman said she “isn’t interested in serving as vice president,” while a Haley spokesman declined to comment.

(Healy and Parker↱)​

The NYT report does note, to the other, that when asked, Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK) refused to rule out the possibility, saying instead that "Any discussion of other service I might be asked to offer to my country is flattering but premature". You know, the same governor of Oklahoma who can't properly name the three branches of government↗.

Honestly? I would love to see that.

Meanwhile, on the men's side, Newt Gingrich has expressed his interest.

Of course he did.

So did Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and, of course, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ).

Oh, and Ben Carson.

I shite thee not.

At this point, I might as well throw in Gov. Paul LePage (R-ME). I mean, why not? He's at least as crazy as Trump, and perhaps even more doltish than Fallin. That latter is something of an accomplishment. Dubious, true, but an accomplishment nonetheless.

Trump/LePage would be a hell of a show, and a fitting end to this era of the Republican Party.
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Notes:

Healy, Patrick and Ashley Parker. "Run on a Ticket With Donald Trump? No, Thanks, Many Republicans Say". The New York Times. 30 April 2016. NYTimes.com. 4 May 2016. http://nyti.ms/23hKsFA