GOP Loses Control of Presidential Candidates

RNCMartin Longman wrote a very interesting article, The Racist and Spineless GOP. In the Republicans’ effort to never be asked a difficult question, they’ve canceled their upcoming debates. Ted Cruz wants “real journalists” like Rush Limbaugh to moderate the debates. You can see how the establishment Republicans would hate this. There is already a big tendency for these clowns to push far to the right. What is a series of debates pandering to Sean Hannity going to do?

But one of the debates that the Republicans have canceled is with Telemundo. Not just that. It was the first debate that they canceled. It’s so impressive. After the 2012 defeat, the Republican Party was united in thinking that it had to reach out to Latino voters. What’s more, since that time, the conventional wisdom is that the only way to win the White House now is to win the Latino vote. But the Republicans are turning in on themselves. They want to talk only to themselves — only to other old white people. It’s quite amazing to think about, because clearly the Republicans already have the angry old white person vote wrapped up.

Marco Rubio, for one, has a lot of skeletons in his closet. But the Republicans seem to think that they can just ignore this and that the Democrats will not mention it in the general election.

It’s kind of like all they care about is winning the Fox News primary. It’s parochial. And there really is nothing wrong with that. You are, after all, reading a liberal blog. And you are probably a liberal. There is a lot to be said for creating safe spaces where like minded people can work out what they think. But it is strange to see this happening with professional politicians who we would think would have that sorted out. And it is downright bizarre coming from people who are running for president. That is about as grand a scale that you can run on.

It seems that they aren’t interested in winning the general election. Marco Rubio, for one, has a lot of skeletons in his closet. But the Republicans seem to think that they can just ignore this and that the Democrats will not mention it in the general election. I was writing about this last month, Democrats Would Get Rid of Hillary Clinton If They Thought There Was a Scandal. But that is something I wonder about. Republicans seem to think that the Democrats are protecting Hillary Clinton. Could it be that they are just that clueless? That they don’t understand how elections work and that getting the nomination means nothing if you nominate a candidate who will be destroyed in the general election?

Of course, what’s happening is that the Republican Party has lost control of the nominating contest. Certainly someone like Reince Priebus understands how this is supposed to work. But the candidates don’t seem to understand it. And they are the result of the steady dumbing down of the Republican base. And that is the result of the very Republican elites who Priebus represents as they’ve made decisions over the years to just keep the party going one more election cycle. Now they have voters who want the impossible. And candidates who don’t understand how to win a national election. I’m glad to see it. Maybe the Republican Party can’t even win the White House in a year where the economic fundamentals are in their favor. The Republicans really are self-destructing before our eyes.

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About Frank Moraes

Frank Moraes is a freelance writer and editor online and in print. He is educated as a scientist with a PhD in Atmospheric Physics. He has worked in climate science, remote sensing, throughout the computer industry, and as a college physics instructor. Find out more at About Frank Moraes.

9 thoughts on “GOP Loses Control of Presidential Candidates

  1. The numbers people probably have already told them what we know-that a Republican will not win a Presidential election because their platform is not wanted by the general American public. So instead they concentrate on raising as much money from people to use to fund their personal pet projects (and whatever financial problems Rubio has) while knowing that if they keep the House and Senate, they still can get what they want which is total stagnation of the US.

    My friend Donna had a great breakdown of Tuesday’s results.
    http://www.democraticdiva.com/2015/11/05/democratic-voters-sit-out-yet-another-off-year-election-lets-examine-why/

    If we have the Presidency and it is likely the Dems will keep it, it remains depressingly evident without the House and Senate, nothing will improve. Even if we do get the House and Senate, because of the behavior that the electorate refuses to punish individual Republican congresscritters for, we still will need 60 votes in the Senate for literally everything.

    It is no way to run a country and there are no real answers. Other than maybe moving to Antarctica as it will be balmy soon enough anyway.

    • That is a good article, thanks! One positive note from Tuesday: Ohio apparently decided to redo gerrymandering. (I don’t know the details, but it sounds nice.)

      I don’t expect the Dems as currently constructed to be much more than Evil Repellent, but that’s better than nothing on the national front. That Beelzebub’s minions are taking over lots of state governments and doing real local harm does bother the shit out of me.

      I think at some point the Dems are going to realize they have to get radical or get out. Voters have heard the same stuff for years and they’re bored silly by it. They want radical ideas. On one side, it’s outright fascism. On the other, maybe actual good-government policies, crazy as those may seem.

      • The Democrats’ biggest problem, as I see it right now, is the fact that they have to be a left AND right organization because the Republicans are off in FascismCrazyTownLand. That makes it nearly impossible for the conservative Democratic candidates to win because even if they are not espousing left wing ideas, they are painted as if they are. Which makes them look like Republican lite and why vote for Republican lite when you can have the Republican?

        Add in the voter suppression efforts, the difficulty recruiting candidates, dark money and exhaustion by the current batch of activists, and you have what we have-the eventual win of the Presidency by the Democrats but no movement in Congress or the state houses.

        At least, as you pointed out, independent redistricting commissions are going forwards which should help eliminate some of the worst gerrymandering.

        • Very interesting. So if I’m understanding you correctly, because of exhaustion by activists (people who go door-to-door and explain to the politically disengaged how liberal ideas can benefit them), the disengaged voter supports “centrist” candidates. Yet since any Democrat is labeled as Red Menace by the true-believer right, the right base will always come out for elections out of pure terror. While the Dems who can get nominated don’t motivate voters in non-Presidential years.

          Am I getting the gist, more-or-less?

          • More or less. The Democrats are the ones who pride themselves on being independent thinkers so trying to canvass them is like taking your boss’s exhausted, loud, and cranky five year old to the dentist. You still have to be nice to the kid even though you just want to smack the little monster.

    • It is no way to run a country. I’ll check out the article as soon as I can. I’m way behind on work because of my niece’s wedding.

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