The fall of the House of Bush came a little over a week sooner than predicted. But, hey, that's what happens when you go all in with your campaign budget, drag your brother out of the closet for one last hurrah, and then end up finishing far closer to sixth place than first.
Well we all knew it was coming. At least now the fat cats can start funneling their cash to someone who at least has a glimmer of hope to derail the run away train known as Donald Trump.
Given the hard right turn the GOP has taken, it is easy to say in retrospect, Jeb Bush never stood a chance. Hell, no sane person might when you take a look at what grass roots republicans believe now days. In CBS exit polls yesterday, 75% of South Carolinians, whether they voted for Don Trump, or not, said they believed in his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.
Yes, severe craziness is prevailing at the moment and Brother Trump is channeling directly into it. Earlier in the week Public Policy Polling crunched some numbers and found that 70% of Trump's supporters in South Carolina think the confederate flag should still be flying at the state capital. In fact, 38% said they wished the south had won the Civil War. In addition to 80% of them favoring that ban on Muslim immigrants, 33% said practicing the religion of Islam should be illegal in the United States, while 23% claimed they were undecided on the issue. In fact these fuckers are so nuts the poll found that 31% of Trump supporters also think gay immigrants should be stopped at the border. It was unclear if those in favor of such a law believe all gay immigrants come from the country of Homoslovakia, or not, but the odds seem pretty good they do.
Meanwhile Ted Cruz described his third place finish as, "...defying expectations." That's one way of putting it, since he got only 27% of the evangelical vote, which he depends so heavily on. It is increasingly clear that Senator Cruz can't hang with the media hog that is Donald Trump. His message, that he's a religious Trump with brains, looks to be lacking, since a candidate with any sort of brains at all seems to be the last thing republican voters care about right now.
After the nightmare in New Hampshire Marco Rubio rebounded nicely with a second place finish, although he was a full 10 points behind Trump and a mere 0.2% ahead of Cruz.
Now that Bush is gone, Trump has to be thinking the establishment will begin to seriously rally around the senator from Florida. The first sign of that came earlier today when he retweeted a supporter's assertion that Rubio might not be eligible to run for the presidency. The theory is, even though Senator Rubio was born in Miami, since neither of his parents were citizens when he emerged on the planet, he is automatically disqualified. It is an argument espoused by the likes of the constitutional scholars at the John Birch Society. In the past, at least one Birch publication has claimed, a potential president not only has to be born within the confines of the United States, but both of his, or her parents must be American citizens at the time.
Trump, as always, dodged accusations that he's dumpster diving into the Chock Full O Nuts waste bin of political science. On ABC's "This Week," besides saying he retweets a lot of things his supporters say, he claimed he was just attempting to, "...start a dialogue." He also said, "I think lawyers have to determine it (Rubio's eligibility)." The very notion Rubio might be ineligible is, of course, prima facie bullshit, but as we all are painfully aware, Donald Trump will do, or say anything to create a media buzz.
Indeed, as long as the press is talking about how weird and wild El Don is, they aren't talking about who is running against him and what they're saying. That's right baby. Keep the spotlight on me, no matter what and everyone else will remain stuck in the shadows.
Other than the South Carolina democratic primary this coming Saturday, the next stop is Super Tuesday. 14 states and American Samoa will be going to the polls on March 1st. If Rubio is to put a dent into the hysteria, ignorance, and neo-fascism of the Trump campaign he's going to have make some sort of significant move then.
If he doesn't the American republican party could well fall into the hands of a 21st century version of Adolf Hitler and the latter day Brown Shirts who so rabidly follow him.
Think not? To paraphrase Messrs. Jagger and Richards, "...it's just a vote away.."
sic vita est
2-21-16
At the risk of sounding like a hand-wringing fop, nevertheless I am deeply disturbed by the turn our country has taken. That a mean-spirited playground bully like Trump can not only get this far into the campaign - but be far ahead of his competition -- disturbs and worries me a great deal. Are we the only ones that see him for what he is? The very people that he is wooing today with, what is to them, feel good rhetoric, will one day be the target of his disdain. I have serious doubts that he respects anybody. I do have a measure of sympathy for main line conservatives. They didn't see this coming, and most of them are good people who just happen to think and approach social concerns differently than I do. What really agonizes me, though, are the candidates on 'my" side. Hillary and Bernie just don't seem to be the answer this year, either. If I had to vote for one of the three today, would gulp hard and put my check by Bernie's name. I believe he's a bit old and too socialistic, and Hillary's trustworthiness is in question, but they both look like superheroes compared to Mr. Trump.
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