Category Archives: GOP 2016

The FIX is in

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The fix is in and I’m not talking about Hillary’s garnering most of the New Hampshire delegates while only winning a third of the votes. No, I’m talking about the GOP establishment fix for Rubio. 

I’ve been watching the GOP manipulate the GOP Presidential race for a while. My first inkling was last summer when I received emails asking me to support Jeb Bush for Prez. It gave all the usual reasons—only he could beat Hillary, only he could get the “independent” vote, only he could get the Hispanic vote, only he could, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The emails were from different groups, PACs mostly, but all originating from a common internet address, one that I finally traced back to the RNC.

When Bush tanked, I started getting emails supporting Rubio. Again supposedly from different sources but again from the same internet address—the same address that was used for Jeb emails.

There has been other signs of the RNC selection of Rubio. For instance the despicable spectacle of the South Carolina debate where Reince Priebus packed the audience with establishment activists to boo everyone except Rubio.

Another sign is various establishment officials, such as Sam Brownback announcing their support for Rubio, who need the establishment to remain in office or owe the establishment for their last election.

I’ve also received some emails from Missourians asking me to support Rubio while claiming Cruz is unelectable, citing a number of reasons starting with the false claim of Cruz not be eligible, through all the lies spewed by Trump.

I remember how the Missouri establishment rammed Romney through the 2012 Caucus. I was a Newt support in that caucus. In the end, I was duped into voting for Romney by a friend who later apologized to me for doing so. He was a Romney campaign worker who later regretted supporting Romney.

Cruz seems to have strong support in Western Missouri. Eastern Missouri, however, is the establishment stronghold and Eastern Missouri is pushing Rubio. The southern portion of the state appears to be following the Narcissist.

Missouri’s caucus timing will be after Super Tuesday. It’s possible the overall decision will have already been made and once again Missouri’s caucus will be a futile effort that results in nothing meaningful.

I understand why the Missouri GOP prefers the caucus. It is supposedly to prevent sabotage by libs and third parties. I’m unsure if those fears are valid. I suspect not. If they were valid, why not have the GOP controlled legislature change state law and require registering by party. Then, in a primary, you could only vote for your party’s slate.

No, that would make too much sense. The real reason why the Missouri GOP still has a caucus is control—control by the state establishment to block interlopers—like Cruz.

Yes, the fix is in. In Kansas and Missouri, the fix is in for the establishment candidate, Marco Rubio, the country be damned. Illegal immigration and open borders will be safe.

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Cruz #1 in FOX’s Power Index

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I get a number of newsletters each day from a number of sources. Most of them are repetitive and duplicate one another. One is from FOX, their Fox News First Daily Politics newsletter.

I have a growing distaste with some of the FOX mainliners, mostly Brit Hume and Charles Krauthammer. Both are GOP establishment propaganda artists. However, the mainline reporting of the news on FOX is still “Fair and Balanced.”

One feature of this daily newsletter is their political power index—which candidate has the most potential coming out #1 for the GOP nomination—the survivability factor.  I admit, I’ve been skimming this for a while. But today, FOX actually gave a brief explanation of the index.  It’s worth reading and the same for their analysis.

The article begins with an analysis of Jeb’s campaign and his reported long-term plans—mainly to be a disrupter hoping to still be around when the dust settles. His recent attacks against Marco Rubio were examples according to the article.

But is it possible that Bush can knock out Rubio, Kasich, Christie and Carly Fiorina and be the last man standing to face the surviving member of the Donald Trump–Ben Carson–Ted Cruz tontine?

One of the reasons that Cruz continues to lead the index is that just such a scenario looks likely: An establishment candidate who emerges badly damaged by Bush’s attacks – or is Bush himself – proves unable to contend with the well-funded, well-organized Cruz, who continues to look best situated to survive his bracket.

Bush’s strategy involves winning a civil war within a civil war before March. And then face not some late-breaking Huckabeatific candidate scrambling to raise funds and build out staff but rather a juggernaut with cash reserves. Carson raised $10 million last month alone and is building a sizable campaign. Cruz may have close to $100 million when all is said and done.

But is it technically possible that Bush could survive the second civil war and destroy the conservative wing’s candidate or that the conservative would belatedly self-destruct? Yes, technically.

After that long ugly slog, though, what are the chances that Bush would be able to turn and pivot to fight a successful general election campaign against Hillary Clinton? She’s wrapping up her nomination now, and would be ready to unleash hell on her fellow dynastic claimant.

An establishment candidate without an electability argument for the general election is like a turtle without a shell: squished too easily. And that’s why the donors who made Bush into the $100 million man will now withhold the money he needs more desperately than ever.

1) Ted Cruz; 2) Marco Rubio; 3) Ben Carson; 4) Carly Fiorina; 5) Donald Trump; 6) Chris Christie [+2]; 7) John Kasich; 8) Jeb Bush [-2]; 9) Mike Huckabee [+1] ; 10) Rand Paul [-1]

On the radar –Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Jim Gilmore

— Fox Newsletter, November 2nd, 2015.

I am a Cruz supporter. I also like a number of the other candidates—Carson, Jindall, Fiorina and more distantly Rubio. I can accept any of them as the GOP candidate.

The power index has Trump as #5. While I can understand why he’s popular—and I agree with many of his statements, he’s become an artist of hyperbole and when pressed for specifics, doesn’t answer. I do applaud his tax plan. At least he has one and many others don’t. I like a flat tax—as long as there are no exceptions in the plan, nor specific taxes on a particular segment of taxpayers.

Ben Carson knocked Trump out of the lead in Iowa. It’s one state and too early to tell if it is a trend in other states.

One of Carson’s strengths, as well as for Trump, is that he’s seen as a Washington outsider. That is also true of Cruz. Yes, Cruz is a sitting Senator. He’s also been that lone voice speaking for the country and conservative values with occasional support by Rand Paul and to a lesser extent from Marco Rubio.

Cruz has an enviable track record. That’s a steep hill to climb for Carson or Trump, even for Rubio whose credentials are not, from a conservative viewpoint, as good as that of Cruz. Rubio is still tainted by his pronouncements on illegal immigration and favoring open borders. The whole immigration and open border issue will be critical in the coming years. We’re being invaded and Obama and the democrats are allowing that invasion. Rubio is on the wrong side of the issue.

So, for me, it’s Cruz all the way…and according to FOX’s Power Index, he has the funds and determination to win through to the nomination. I’ve seen nothing to say or indicate otherwise.

 

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5,361

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Five thousand three hundred sixty-one miles. That was how many miles Mrs. Crucis and I put on the Great Blue Beast from July 13th through July 27th, 2015. In those fifteen days we visited twelve states, five national parks, three national monuments and one New Mexico state park. Two weeks on the road.

We used 2-lane, non-interstate highways as much as we could, maybe two-thirds of the roads overall were not on an interstate. With all that windshield time, we had a lot of time listening to the radio…when we could pickup a station. AM works in the mountains, FM not so well. I should have subscribed to XM but…I didn’t think of it before we left.

There was a single topic on talk-radio that we heard continuously—Donald Trump. Politicians of both parties railed against him. The ‘Pub establishment plotted against him. Pundits, members of the DC ruling class, chastised him.

Through it all, Trump continued to rise in the polls and the media and the dem and ‘pub establishments were dumbfounded. They, none of them apparently, have a clue to Trump’s success.

The reason for Trump’s success, regardless of some of his political views, is a simple one. He says what he means and is unapologetic for his statements. Not only that, when he is attacked, he counter-attacks with everything he has available—some severely. The other candidates mill around in confusion…all but one or two of the GOP candidates. Huckleberry understood Trump as did Cruz. None of the others, including the so-called great populist Rand Paul, knew, and continue to know, how to respond.

Trump was right in many of his statements. John McCain was a hero—once. He isn’t today. He is a traitor to his heritage. Now, some are investigating McCain’s time as a POW, looking at some contradictions that has been kept hidden under lock and key for nearly fifty years. Lindsay Graham, aka, Lindsay Grahamnesty, reminds me of a small yap dog barking around Trumps ankle and when Trump finally notices him, Graham scurries for cover, quivering like a coward.

Trump is a fighter. I, and many, many others like me, like candidates who fight. That is one reason why I was a Gingrich supporter in 2012. Not only is Trump a fighter, he says what many of us believe. The waves of illegal immigration is nothing more than an invasion of barbarians.

We could end that invasion simply by enforcing existing law. Cut all benefits to illegals, eliminate the rule for anchor-babies and require at least one parent to be an American citizen before granting citizenship on those born within our borders.

Cut all public benefits. No welfare, no in-state tuition. No free healthcare. No free education. Absolutely nothing for anyone here illegally. Enforce the existing law against employing illegals. Make citizenship verification a no-exception policy. Any employer who is found to violate those restriction should have ruinous fines imposed and face jail-time.

End all federal funding to sanctuary cities and to the states that allow those cities to exist. Illegals would soon find life getting harder. When Missouri imposed welfare restrictions against illegals, they fled to Kansas where pickings were easier.

Within months we would see a constant stream of illegals leaving the US for easier climes. Parasites, and that is what so many of them are, will always take the route of least resistance. When life becomes hard, go where it is easier.

Add to all that no more catch-and-release for criminal aliens and the imposition of maximum penalties for crimes committed by illegals. Do that and the invasion of illegals would end. Not immediately, but the trend would be reversed in a short period, less than a year.

Trump says what so many of us believe. He is not the perfect candidate. He isn’t my first choice; I’m still a Ted Cruz fan. I do understand why Trump is on top of the polls. Will he remain there? I haven’t a clue.

Huckleberry, one whom I despise almost as much as I do McCain, Bush and Graham, has copied Trump’s tactic. It worked. Will other GOP candidates adopt Trump’s tactics? Maybe. They could not do worse.

Think my logic is flawed? Rasmussen doesn’t. Here is a column by Thomas Sowell on the Rasmussen website:

The Trump Card

A Commentary By Thomas Sowell, Tuesday, August 04, 2015

With Hillary Clinton’s multiple misdeeds coming to light and causing her political problems, reflected in her declining support in the polls, both she and the Democratic Party have reason to be concerned. But both of them may yet be rescued by “The Donald,” who can turn out to be their Trump card.

Donald Trump has virtually no chance of becoming even the Republican Party’s candidate in 2016, much less being elected President of the United States.

The reason is not hard to understand: Republican voters simply do not trust him, as the polls show. Nor is there any reason why they should trust him, given his chameleon-like changes in the past.

Why then is he the “front-runner” in the polls?

One reason is arithmetic. When there is a small army of Republican candidates, each with a tiny set of supporters, anyone with enough name recognition to get the support of a fifth or a fourth of the Republicans polled stands out, even if twice that many Republicans say they would never vote for him.

When both kinds of Republicans are counted, Donald Trump is both the “front-runner” and the leading pariah. The danger is not that he will get the nomination, but that his irresponsible talk will become the image of the Republican Party, and that his bombast will drown out more sober voices that need to be heard, thereby making it harder to select the best candidate.

More is involved than arithmetic, however. Many Republican voters are so disgusted with their party, especially over its repeated betrayals of them, and of the country, especially when it comes to immigration, that they are immediately attracted to anyone who voices the outrage they feel.

The column continues. Sowell is not a Trump fan. He does understand, however, why Trump is in his current position.

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Let’s take a look at…

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…Carly Fiorina. She announced her candidacy for President yesterday. She wasn’t present at the NRA Annual Meeting last month, but she did sent a video which is more than Rand Paul could bother himself with and many present wished Jeb Bush, Lindsay Grahamesty and the Huckleberry had done.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eNYiMAokXVs/maxresdefault.jpg

Carly Fiorina, 2016 GOP Candidate for President

She was applauded at the NRA meeting in Nashville as were all who spoke there. I should note the applause for Jeb and Grahamesty was more perfunctory. All in all, Fiorina’s topics from her video was complementary with those of the other conservative speakers.

Today she is making the rounds of the talk shows. She spent some time with Glenn Beck this morning and, I believe, she’ll be with Hannity this afternoon.

I was in the shower, listening, when she said something that I’ve heard no other candidate, certainly not Jeb, Grahamesty nor Huckleberry say. She said the government should be placed on a zero-based budget like the private sector.

What is a zero-based budget? It is a budget where every penny spent must be justified—every penny. No increase from last year. Every year, every penny spent, regardless of the project, must be justified. And if the expense cannot be justified, it is cut!

A business knows how much it can spend. It has a reasonable expectation of its income, and it knows every penny that will be spent. Spending cannot exceed income. Unlike the government, a business cannot arbitrarily print off a few billion dollars if the treasury is low.

I retired from Sprint a few years ago. One of the exercises we expected every Spring was budget submissions. The process was this. The board allocated funds for the company. The executives broke that down by divisions, then to departments, continuing down the the project and, in some cases, the individual.

Next came the project that the business side wanted done. From that point a winnowing process began between the business side that wanted products and the development and operational side who would build, implement and maintain those products. As each product was analyzed and and expensed, those projects went up the management chain to be justified. If the project couldn’t be justified, it was allowed to be resubmitted with a reduced cost or cut. The project cost also includes the cost of the employees who develop, test, implement and maintain the product.

When this idea has been floated before, one complaint is that the process ‘takes too long.’ Yes, it does take a while. Sprint built next years budget, this year. It took about a quarter to get it done and approved. But, during that quarter, we also performed our regular jobs. No missed delivery dates allowed just because we had to work on a budget. In addition, our product cycle from concept to development to production was often much less than a year.

When one is employed in the private sector, you quickly learn what ‘multi-tasking’ really means. It means you deliver all your projects on time and on budget—or you’ll soon be escorted out the door.

Carly Fiorina proposes to do the same to the Federal government. Just imagine the same rules applied to all departments and agencies of the US government! I wonder how well the IRS, EPA, FCC, the NLRB and many of the other departments, like Education and HHS would fare? I would not be surprised if many withered away or were consolidated, at a reduced level, into a governmental department.

I hope other candidates take up Carly’s idea. The country desperately needs it. I have no doubt our federal debt would not last long if Carly’s budgetary rules were imposed on the national government.

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Some interesting statistics are coming out after the Baltimore riots. One statistic that I saw said that over 20% of the employed in Baltimore, worked as government employees. Just image what that percentage would be if you included everyone on the welfare rolls. Are not welfare recipients paid by the government? They should be included, too. When you examine the demographics of Baltimore, you will find that half of the Baltimore police are black and most of the elected and appointed officials of Baltimore are black.

With those facts on the table, where is the white oppression? The whites aren’t in control of the city and hasn’t for over thirty years.

The feds have given Baltimore billions, yes, billions with a ‘B’! Where has those billions for education, jobs and infrastructure improvements gone? I wonder how much slithered into private political pockets.

Add to that mess, is this item I came across this morning. The Baltimore PD went to the DoJ for funding of a training program for their street officers. Holder turned them down—but Obama claims it’s all the ‘Pubs fault. One more lie by Obama and the democrats.

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