Years of carefully laid plans to repackage the Republican Party’s traditional ideas for a fast-changing country came crashing down here on Tuesday when Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign for the presidency after a crippling defeat in his home-state primary.
Since Mitt Romney’s devastating loss in the 2012 presidential election, the Republican National Committee and leading voices at think tanks, editorial boards and Capitol Hill symposiums have charted a path back to the White House based on inclusive rhetoric and a focus on middle-class issues.
Nobody embodied that vision better than Rubio, a charismatic standard-bearer for conservative orthodoxy who readily embraced the proposals of the right’s elite thinkers. The senator from Florida spoke urgently and eloquently about raising stagnant wages and eradicating poverty. He had an immigrant’s tale to match the rhetoric. And on foreign affairs, he was a passionate defender of the GOP’s hawkish tilt.
I am sad. Rubio seems like a decent man. I would never vote for him because he is far too conservative for my taste. However, he is a person I respect. Cruz and Kasich are still in the race.
There is just something wrong when decent people get rolled over by the ruffians, hooligans, and hate mongers.
This whole Trump thing is just sad and very scary.
“when decent people get rolled over by ruffians, hooligans, and hate-mongers.”
By George, she’s got it!
Exactly the way so many feel these days about what they have gotten from the Dem liberals. It all started back in 2008 when a guy claiming to have been baptized in the toughness of Chicago politics told his people to go out there and get in the faces of the rest of us. And then there was talk about bringing a gun to a knife fight and kicking asses. Later they issued reports suggesting that war veterans, conservatives, and evangelicals were potential terrorists and then brandished phones and pens as their vanquishers of constitutional legislative opposition. Ruffians, hooligans, and haters all! Now you see their unleashed minions trying to kneecap free speech by shutting down campaign events or instigating confrontations in front of video cameras or forcing honest people to step down from their jobs or positions because they do not bow to the Junior Lords of the PC World.
BTW, might I suggest that Rubio lost because most people didn’t want to vote for him? In all of Florida, he only carried Miami-Dade County. Hanging around with the hooligans of the infamous Gang of Eight can do that to you.
I never heard Obama urge his followers to kick ass or do anything that incited violence. Please give me a specific example.
I remember the report. It was about domestic terrorism. Janet Napolitano released it. I don’t recall the report mentioning evangelicals or conservatives. Please, again, show documentation. I remember it differently. I remember veterans and right wing fanatics. I don’t really think of conservatives and right wing fanatics as being the same.
What honest people have been forced down from their jobs over PC, at least at Obama’s behest?
I hardly think of the gang of 8 as hooligans. Who had they strong-armed, insulted, threatened to punch in the face? No one, to my knowledge. I am assuming you mean the bi-partisan gang of 8 on immigration?
I don’t know why any of them are losing to such an unpresidential, unfit for office person. I mourn the loss of the GOP if one of them cannot get the nomination.
The entire thing is sad that this is how even a 4th of the people want their country to be run. It appears to me that we are headed towards something really horrible.
Marco Rubio I disagreed with on policy. He didn’t make me embarrassed to be an American. Donald Trump does.
@Wolve
Well said Wolve.
Regardless of how this all turns out, I find some satisfaction in knowing that the progressives are beginning to know how the rest of us feel for being betrayed. As hope and change turned into a governmental attack on our society, our jobs, our income, our freedom to be left alone and our national defense, our religion, our security, the value of citizenship and our sense of fair play — and as things that were clearly wrong were defended from abortion to Ferguson/Baltimore, the search for a non PC representative began.
“ruffians, hooligans, and hate-mongers.” Really, as compared to what we have seen over the last 8 years from progressives and free loaders in our cities and at the primary rallies- to say nothing about Goverment actions taken by Executive Order and Regulation. Tell me again about how many disruptions have been caused by a Trump or Cruz or any Republican supporter – none – zero. The comparison between those acts of violance and Congressional – constitutional – obstruction – are insulting. I am not going to say progressives deserve it, but for all their angst, Obama’s abuse of power at the top and the violence at the bottom is the cause of it. As Huckabee noted recently, Trump and Cruz are the only peaceful option available.
I feel that what you are spewing is alternate reality.
Who has messed with your religion? I don’t think Obama has messed with anyone’s religion. How has Obama attacked your job? Your income? Who is bothering you and not leaving you alone?
PC issues started long before Obama took office. I would look towards college campuses rather than Obama.
I am so glad that I am not you. I couldn’t stand to live that unhappily. I wasn’t wild about the Bush administration but I sure didn’t feel that it was personally directed at me.
Maybe I should strive to be like you. Then I would only have one set of enemies. This week I have been called a racist, and a couple other things. I am not an ideologue. That means I catch it from all sides. Shrug!
How do you think Trump will solve your problems? How can he reroute Congress and the Supreme Court?
@MoonHowler
Moon,
Not to speak for Wolve here, but please consider all the things you can’t recall. Perhaps these statements and actions Wolve refers to, didn’t make a strong impression on you, as you didn’t see them as directed at you. I did. Also consider that the flavor of media you choose didn’t make a big deal out of the statement, play the soundbites repeatedly, or subject them to endless analysis, complete with talking-head commentary. I am confident you heard, read, or viewed these comments. You just filtered them as the didn’t trip your sensitivities.
Consider the possibility of the above, and then consider all of those who do recall all of the divisive statements and actions of this president, his surrogates, and his supporters, over the last 8 years and 6 federal election cycles. In this, you will find the germ of an explanation as to why Trump is dominating, defying all conventional wisdom. He is a consequence of the last 8 years.
Do I detect some more “it’s Obama’s fault?’
What became of the previous notion that people were disappointed with the Republicans?
I suppose the closest I come to identifying with any of this is the horrible attack on women making their own reproductive choices. I do personalize that somewhat, thinking how glad I am I am not a young women. I translate much of that into economic power. That doesn’t seem to let up, regardless of who is president.
I would be willing to sacrifice that right to not have brownshirts running all over the place, however.
One more thing…how about examples of things that were said and that I probably didn’t feel were directed at me.
Also, if media gets tiresome, I change the channel. I had to do that with Faux News. Almost everything that is said there offends me. I also got so I couldn’t watch Morning Joe for a while because his behavior was so obnoxious.
I haven’t found Obama particularly offensive at all. You are right about that. There have been a few things I have not liked. That would happen with anyone though.
@MoonHowler
Moon,
The GOP base is angry at the “establishment” too, thus the rejection of those candidates perceived as representing “business as usual”. That’s why Kasich is the sole “establishment” candidate left in the race. Rubio rode the Tea Party waive into office, then burned that bridge with the “gang of 8”. Rand Paul suffered from his support of Mitch Mconnell’s reelection. Christie from the perception that he gave Obama a bump right before the 2012 election. Jeb (who IS the most conservative Bush, and was a fantastic governor) had been too long away from office, and a last name associated with the establishment.
the 2010 and 2014 mid-terms demonstrated anger and frustration with Obama.The 2016 nomination contest demonstrates anger and frustration with the establishment. If you look at it honestly, you can see 2010 and 2014 as frustration on both sides of the aisle. GOP voters were motivated to come out, and Dem voters displaying apathy. Bernie Sander’s surprising success (although waning) also points to a growing dissatisfaction on the Dem side.
2016 indicates a paradigm-shift in the GOP. I suspect a similar shift is coming on the Dem side.
Democrats for the most part aren’t upset with Obama. They are upset with obstruction.
Steve, the reality is, I think there are more than 2 Americas.
At this point, I am not sure what establishment republicans are. I thought I knew. I don’t. I think we used to call them country club republicans.
@MoonHowler
“Democrats for the most part aren’t upset with Obama. They are upset with obstruction.”
I believe there are millions “Feeling the Bern” who would disagree with you. These are the same folks who bailed on the Dems in 2010 and 2014, who either voted GOP, or stayed home.
“Steve, the reality is, I think there are more than 2 Americas.”
No argument here. We’ve been sub-divided and pandered to like no other point in our history. Reading some of the “think-tank” analysis has triggered many Ocular Migraines of late.
“At this point, I am not sure what establishment republicans are. I thought I knew. I don’t. I think we used to call them country club republicans.”
I remember when the party self-identified as “Reagan Republicans” and “Rockefeller Republicans”. I despise the term “Establishment”, always have. At least it seems to have replaced “RINO” as the main internal pejorative.
The Bern isn’t running against Obama. He’s running against Hillary. Many see her as too establishment. The same thing happened during the last election. Different people support different people within the same party.
I despise the term RINO more than I do Establishment, although Establishment is getting up there.
I remember Reagan vs Rockerfller Republicans. I was the later kind.
I never cared for Rubio’s opposition to gay marriage, Obamacare, abortion, Supreme Court nominees, etc. He will soon be out of the senate too, hopefully replaced by a progressive. I won’t miss him
@MoonHowler
“The Bern isn’t running against Obama. He’s running against Hillary. Many see her as too establishment. The same thing happened during the last election. Different people support different people within the same party.”
I would disagree with this. It comes down to marketing. Bern is running against the outcomes of the last 8 years, just as much as he is against Hillary, who promises to continue Obama’s policies. would agree that she represents the Democrat “Establishment”. I a have said this before: The same dynamics that are impacting the GOP this cycle, will impact the Dems in coming cycles. On the GOP side, we saw it with the Ron Paul Revolution, which appeared on the national stage in 2007. I remember being at a gun show, and this kid approached me (I was wearing a Fred Thompson button), wearing a Ayn Rand-type shirt asking “Who is Ron Paul?” The kid started trying to sell me on Paul. I knew who Paul was, but decided to have some fun. I told him I didn’t approve of his lifestyle, although he’s free to cross-dress if he wants. The kid got all flustered and such and asked me where I got my information. I told him I’d seen him all over the TV in drag. This got him all spun up. He said “Ron Paul isn’t a transvestite!” I said, “Sorry” and while pointing to my hearing aids, said “I thought you were talking about Ru Paul….who is Ron Paul?”
But I digress. The fact is, a shift is going on in American electoral politics, and it is happening on both sides. Boomers and older GenXers better accept this.
Booomers accept nothing. Remember they have to be the loudest folks in the room. That might be part of Trump’s problem in addition to being an egotistical, uncouth A-hole.
Seriously, what are you Republicans going to do about this guy? He certainly isn’t a Republican. He just a mean-spirited man with enough money to buy himself the nomination.
Disclosure: I am an alpha boomer.
I don’t agree with you about the Bernie phenomena. We will never convince each other. When I think about Trump, I get a stabbing pain over my right eye. I would rather anyone be president, almost, than him. Ted Cruz is making that difficult to say.
I have no investment in this election. I will not vote for Trump or Cruz for any reason.
@MoonHowler
It looks like “We Republicans” are going to nominate him, while the Democrats look like they are going to nominate Clinton. There’s 8 months until the election, and much more can change and happen in the interim. It’s easy to say “I won’t support X candidate under any circumstances” this far out. Tougher when you have to face the reality of choosing. All this talk of a third party is just speculation. I could speculate that Trump and Cruz will unite as a ticket, and the party will then unite around them…but it’s still way too early to call. What I do believe is the party will unite around Trump, including the “establishment”. If they oppose him and he wins, they become irrelevant. If they oppose him and he loses, they might as well join the Dems, because the base will turn them out in 2018. Don’t forget, Reagan faced the same internal resistance in 1980, and at this point in his race, he was getting clobbered by Carter in the polls. He went on to beat a sitting president. Trumps no Reagan, but then again, Hillary has some fatal flaws.
I won’t support Trump or Cruz under any circumstances. I can say that. I would think people of conscience would not either.
I am just not a party person. I would support the person who made me gag less. I have done that in the past on two many occasions.
I am still not sure what Republicans mean by ‘establishment.’ Is there a difference in “establishment’ and ‘established?’
I don’t know how Republicans think now. I used to know, back in the dark ages. To say that when I was a Republican they were different than Republicans nowadays is an understatement.
Reagan and Trump aren’t even on the same planet. In the first place, Reagan pulled in a lot of people who had great hopes for southern Jimmy Carter that fell flat. I am thinking of the middle people, not the party faithful. My husband sure got sucked in.
There was also social conservatism that sucked people like him in. He felt he had been victimized by some of it without going in to too much detail.
@MoonHowler
You don’t have to agree with me regarding “The Bern”. But, if Hillary loses in November, and Warren becomes the “nominee in waiting”, it will be because of “the Bern”. Same ideology. Different vintage.
Lots of people really like Warren. I like her. I am just not excited by political candidates these days. I agree with what she says about the economy. I think everyone is tired of being ripped off while the 1% get richer. Nothing has trickled down …yet.
I am making no predictions. I don’t hate Bernie either. He’s a likable guy. I am just detached. This election is more about who I don’t want at this point. The thought of Trump or Cruz horrifies me.
Warren could be Hillary’s VP.
I wonder who she will choose.
Trump should chose a Latina who has converted to Islam.
@Starry flights
Please, please – Starry, can you set that up for the general election, just after the convention and before the indictment?
Republican can do what they want but as a purple voter in a deeply purple congressional district my preference is not to vote to re-elect Comstock (R) because we can’t trust a federal government to Republicans with so much dysfunction that they support Trump or Cruz for president. Independent voter anger at republicans as a party may not be visible now but expect to see it in November up and down the ticket.
Comstock appears to be lock-step with the rest of the Republicans, from where I sit. I wouldn’t support her anyway because of the women’s issues. I make no bones about that. Anytime I have cut someone a break on the women’s issues, I have always regretted it because they always end up voting for something draconian, just to go along to get along.
Fool me once, shame on them, fool me twice….
I am in the 1st congressional, which isn’t even Northern Virginia. Whoever drew these districts had their head up their butt. What does Northern Virginia have in common with Montross, or Williamsburg for that matter?
I find the hate for Trump by the left to be ironic.
Trump is the candidate that all the moderates have been demanding.
He supports quite a bit of the left’s platform.
He doesn’t take marching orders from the GOP or the conservatives.
20,000 Democrats crossed over in MA to vote for him.
This is a moderate Republican.
So…who has the popcorn?
You live in an alternate reality. He most certainly isn’t a moderate. Threatening to round up all undocumented immigrants and deport them is certainly not moderate. It is extremist. He also can’t do it. Threatening to not let any Muslims in is also not “moderate.’
He suggests things that are Constitutionally unacceptable.
I will step off my soap box. Tell me 5 things he is “moderate” about.
His behavior is despictable. I don’t know one person who you would consider “left” (left of John Birch) who thinks Trump is moderate. I think most of all, people are disturbed by Trump’s incredibly bad manners. He really hasn’t mentioned policy other than what he would do to other people.
A’int gonna be an indictment
Moon…you just proved my point, without even realizing it: You are a “loud” boomer. I am a GenXr (although barely). The boomers have done well financially, for the most part. GenXers are PISSED. We’ve faced stagnated wages for the last decade (for me, the last 7 years…no kidding). What makes this particularly painful is that this happened during “prime earning years”. Now us early GenXrs are looking at the fact that we’ve got about 15-20 years to secure our retirements…but we also recognize that we may be the first generation to never retire. We want what you were able to achieve withing a 45 year working life. Millennials, they want the boomers gone, so the GenXers can move up…and out. But the boomers are hanging in there…right to the end. “selfish boomers” is the mantra of GenX and the Mlillenials.
But the Millennials look at their GenX parents and Boomer Grandparents. They look at the lifestyles they achieved. They want it, and they want it now. They were told, “go to college, get a degree, get a credit card, a car note, an iphone, a macbookpro…and life will fall at your feet.” Never mind the fact that most have never worked prior to college (cheap foreign labor or under employed adults takes the jobs once filled by teens). Never mind the fluff and crap that passes for a college education these days. They took out the loans, took the crap classes, and got the diploma. They want it. Never mind it took Boomers 30 years of working to become financially secure. Never mind the same amount of time only secures “financially stable” for the GenXer. Nope…they want it, even though they haven’t really had to work for it.
Millennials are a different breed. The first “internet generation”. Think about that. You and I had to trudge to the library, hit the card catalog, pull the books, write the “note cards” etc. ad nausaeum, if we wanted to research and present an idea. Millennials just blast it out on facebook, or hit wikipedia, and dont have to defend a thing. This makes them mentally weak, and it shows.
They want socialism…without even understanding what that entails. This is more dangerous than Ted Cruz wanting to “defend the constitution”. This is more dangerous than attacks on the 2nd amendment, or “women’s rights”. They believe that you can have socialism without also accepting the police-state. They are “social-libertarians”.
You and I know this cannot work. Dems used t back workers. The GOP used to back management. It worked because at the core of the argument was a “free market capitalist system” Both workers and management were “producers”. This has been replaced with “take from producers, and give to non-producers, fair-share, level the playing field, You didn’t build that”, and other such socialist nonsense. But the millennials are eating this up.
They want it now. They aren’t willing to work for it. They’ve been told the boomers and GenXrs are screwing them, and they have a vote.
And you like Elizabeth Warren. Got news for you Moon: To Warren, you are a “useful idiot”. Shell flim-flam you with pledges to support you on “reproductive rights”. I am sure she will. She’ll also continue what Bernie Sanders started: A Marxist revolution. AS a GenXer, I despise what she stands for. Not because she opposes the 2A (that’s a multi-generational Dem thing). Nope. It’s because she wishes to consign me and my generation to poverty and government dependency. Afterall, we are the last of the economically independent Americans…those who go through life without any Federal assistance. Heck…I’ve never used a single VA benefit…and I EARNED that.
While I respect you tremendously, I do believe that you haven’t put the thought into the implications of Sanders run, nor have you thought about the implications of Warren continuing this ideological movement. Please don’t be a “Boomer” troupe.
@MoonHowler
Regardless of his current statements, he has been
pro-choice
pro-single payer healthcare
pro-gun control
praised and donated to Hillary and other Dems
pro eminent domain
pro big government
pro cronyism
pro bribery
pro illegal immigration when it saves him money
Wanna bet on this? Come’on! We’ve been speculating on this for months. I say she does get indicted (if only because Obama wants to kill the Clinton legacy) right before the convention. You think it aint gonna happen. Put a steak dinner on it. I am willing to go as high as Ruth’s Chris. If you refuse to accept the bet, please refrain from future speculation, as you will have no credibility.
Ahem…..pure speculation.
I think we must know a different Obama.
Trump should pick Ted Cruz. If he does, he unites the party and wins.
Since when is Cruz a party favorite? I thought he was reviled in the Senate.
That’s an example of “looking large.” I am not buying it. Too many people hate Cruz and Trump. Some hate them equally. Both are ridiculously hideous human beings who have no manners.
After Trump said Cruz was constitutionally ineligible to be president, how’s he going to pick him as his VP? Forget it. I suspect Trump will pick the fat guy from New Jersey who’s been waddling around in Trump’s shadow lately – the fathead and fatso ticket! They’ll be good for lot of laughs, haha!
There is only one reason why the Establishment is afraid of Donald Trump – he is going to expose them and the party is going to end (the spend, drink and eat party). He is not owned by anyone or any group – he will be able to do something that no other member of Congress or President can do – say no to any group. Just look at the Establishment right now – there is talk of changing convention rules in order to stop Trump. Talk of candidates colluding to stop Trump. When have you ever heard a Candidate tell his supporters to support another Candidate in a state in order to stop a Candidate? They are trying to obstruct him before he is even elected.
Donald Trump is our next President and the Republicans own him.
I certainly don’t think that Trump will be our next president. There aren’t that many stupid Americans.
As for obstruction, well….are we surprised that the party of obstruction would try to obstruct one of their own?
Here’s my prediction: About a month before the convention, an indictment will be made. It’s a safe bet that a grand jury has been impaneled. Immunity from prosecution isn’t granted to witnesses, without the expectation that testimony will be required. Clinton’s IT guy has been granted immunity.
Obama will make a statement to the effect: We thank Secretary Clinton for her work, and her nomination fight has been admirable, but I hope she will focus on defending herself in this matter.
The super delegates and donors will abandon her. Joe Biden will be offered up as a white-knight.
The Obamas and the Clintons do not like each-other. Obama controls the party now, and doesn’t want to hand it back to the Clintons.
The reality is, he has to hand it to someone.
I think much of your prediction is wishful thinking. Your party has been trying to take the Clintons out since 1992.
Yeah!