Tag: Republican Establishment

Trump, the Vichy Republicans, and the “Condescending Benevolency” of a Brokered Convention

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Final-Say-600-LADuring last night’s Republican Townhall on CNN, the 3 remaining Primary Candidates, Donald J. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, each vowed not to support the winner of the Primary Election…if it was not himself.

Given this, we may be headed toward a Brokered Republican Convention, , even if Trump receives the necessary votes to secure the Republican Nomination.

A perceived eventuality, which would please the Republican Establishment, and their chosen Vanguard, their failed 2012 Presidential Candidate, to no end.

After losing the Presidential Election in 2012, Former Massachusetts Governor and Legacy Member of the Republican Establishment, Willard “Mitt” Romney, was interviewed by the Boston Globe. During that interview, he proceeded to voice his disagreement for a position which, with Donald J. Trump well on his way to winning enough votes to secure the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate, he is whole-heartedly supporting.

Romney, who was pilloried during the GOP primaries by many Tea Party supporters, said the presidential nominating contest should be altered to diminish the influence of caucuses and encourage states to select candidates through broader primary elections.“I’m concerned that there’s an effort on the part of some to move toward caucuses or conventions to select nominees, and I think that’s a Utah, for example, longtime Senator Bob Bennett was defeated during a convention by Tea Party-backed Mike Lee.

Romney did not criticize the Tea Party specifically, “although a mistake,” Romney said.

“I think we should reward those states that award delegates to the convention based upon primaries. Primaries are the place where you see whose message is connecting with the largest number of people,” he said.

Romney’s plan would probably limit the strength of the Tea Party, whose activists have proved effective in caucuses, where they can rally their most ardent supporters. Romney said he was less concerned about diminishing the influence of Iowa, which holds strong to its tradition of having a caucus, than with other states moving in that direction.

“I’m concerned that kind of approach could end up with a minority deciding who the nominee ought to be. And that I think would be a mistake,” he said. “I think we should have the majority of the party’s voters decide who they want as their nominee.”

Romney said he is most focused with altering the presidential nominating contest, but he would also make his views known in some states that use caucuses and conventions to select Senate nominees. In ugh he did say the government shutdown strategy was “counterproductive.”

“Tea Party members will continue to have an influence in the thinking of the American people, and certainly in my party,” he said. “That, I think, is separate from the effort by a few people to move toward a shutdown as a tactic to stop Obamacare. Obviously that didn’t work.”

CNN.com reported yesterday that

In a storyline that could be ripped from a House of Cards script, John Kasich’s campaign is looking to coordinate behind the scenes with Ted Cruz’s in a mutual effort to deny Donald Trump enough delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination. They even tried to get 2012 nominee Mitt Romney to help broker it.

The only problem for team Kasich is that Team Cruz is not interested.

Kasich adviser John Weaver told CNN that Romney urged Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe to contact the Kasich campaign, but Roe has yet to do so.
 
Roe told CNN he did speak with Romney, but declined to disclose details of their private conversation. A Romney spokeswoman also declined to comment on discussions he has had with the campaigns.

So, Romney flip-flopped. I know…you’re shocked.

Please allow me to clarify Romney’s present position on a Brokered Convention.

The failed Presidential Candidate has always been, and will always be, a member of the Republican Establishment.

He was chosen by them to give a now-notorious speech on Thursday, March 3, 2016, in which he basically called Trump everything but a “Child of God”, thereby publicly starting the Establishment’s tone-deaf push for a Brokered Republican Convention.

The inimitable Mark Steyn offered the following analysis of Mitt Romney, during the 2012 Republican Primaries:

Romney’s is a benevolent patrician’s view of society: The poor are incorrigible, but let’s add a couple more groats to their food stamps and housing vouchers, and they’ll stay quiet. Aside from the fact that kind of thinking has led the western world to near terminal insolvency, for a candidate whose platitudinous balderdash of a stump speech purports to believe in the most Americanly American America that any American has ever Americanized over, it’s as dismal a vision of permanent trans-generational poverty as any Marxist community organizer with a cozy sinecure on the Acorn board would come up with.

This same “condescending benevolency” is the prevailing attitude among the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans, which is the foundation for all of their decisions, which usually are diametrically opposed to the wishes of those who voted them into office.

Their tone-deafness is “for our own good”.

As Romney alluded to in his speech, in the view of the Vichy Republicans, we would be ill-served if we select Donald J. Trump as our Republican Nominee.

While the refusal to support one another by the three Republican Candidates last night, could be brushed away as “Political Rhetoric”, the Backroom Political Shenanigans, which wandered out “into America’s Living Rooms” on live TV on March 3rd, is another matter, altogether.

That last Republican Brokered Convention was in 1860, when “the Rail-Splitter”, as he was dubbed by Party Hacks, Abraham Lincoln, beat William Seward on the third ballot, an election whose impact is still being felt, to this very day.

During a recent interview on Fox News Sunday, with its host, Christ Wallace, the Godfather of Conservative Radio Talk Shows, Rush Limbaugh, was asked  about the possibility of a GOP Brokered Convention,

“What happens if the ‘Establishment,’ as you put it, keeps [Trump] from getting the nomination?” Wallace asked Limbaugh.

“Well, you keep a sharp eye, who runs this convention? The ‘Establishment,’ these guys, whoever they are … the Republican Party, they run it,” Limbaugh said, adding that if Trump does not earn the 1,237 delegates majority necessary to receive the nomination and the GOP takes it away from him, “if that happens, there’s a walk-out. If that happens, then you’ve got utter chaos, because it will exemplify, typify exactly what has happened to the Republican Party at its base.”

This attitude of “condescending benevolency”, which I brought up before, is the Tie That Binds the Modern Republican Establishment with their Democrat Brethren, across the Political Aisle.

The attitude that they are the Intellectual Superiors of those Americans who are actually the providers of their phony-boloney jobs, is the reason that a “rank outsider” by the name of Donald J. Trump, is beating the Professional Politicians in the Republican Primary.

If the Establishment Republicans do not accept the reality that is before them, and support the people’s choice for the Republican Nomination, the Republican Party will fail to win the White House, after 8 years of Americans suffering under the Worst President in American History, proving the accuracy of the verse of scripture found in the Old Testament that states:

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: Is Ted Cruz Being “Assimilated” By the Vichy Republicans?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

th (62)Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. – Groucho Marx

The Washington Post reports that

CONCORD, N.C. — Sen. Ted Cruz stood on a stage straddling the lanes of a dragway at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, speaking directly to blue-collar workers with “calluses on your hands” and railing against the political establishment — prompting cheers and stomps on the metal bleachers.Meanwhile in Florida, a group of volunteers, including wealthy donors who supported Jeb Bush’s candidacy, was knocking on doors this weekend in Jacksonville, asking voters to cast ballots for Cruz (Tex.) in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

As Cruz hopes to land a knockout blow against Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida and narrow the primary contest to a two-man race between himself and Donald Trump, he is increasingly trying to appeal to two very different groups: working-class voters who may find themselves drawn to Trump, and voters from the traditional political establishment who want to stop him.

“For a lot of supporters I think it comes down to this sudden reality of a Donald Trump nomination,” said one of the Jacksonville door-knockers, Paul Dickerson, a Houston lawyer who supported Bush but is now backing Cruz, whom he considers a friend. Trump, he said, “would be a disaster for the country and embarrassment for the nation, and Ted is the best chance to defeat Donald Trump.”

The fit is not a natural one for Cruz, who pillories the political establishment on the campaign trail and wants to blow up what he calls the “Washington cartel” of lobbyists and special interests. He is detested in the Senate — Cruz jokes that he needs a “food taster” in the dining room there — and only one colleague has endorsed him.

But with Rubio’s candidacy sputtering and with Ohio Gov. John Kasich far behind, the establishment is warming to a man who called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a “liar” on the Senate floor. Even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a longtime Cruz nemesis, now says the party may need to unite behind him. And Neil Bush, Jeb Bush’s brother, is supporting Cruz.

Many point to Cruz’s second-place standing in the delegate race and his organized and well-funded campaign as reasons to support him.

“Most of the people that I know would not have been naturally with Ted,” said Charles Foster, a Houston lawyer who backed Bush in the presidential race and Cruz’s opponent in the Republican primary for his Senate seat in 2012. “. . . Some are reluctant because that’s not where they were to begin with, and some are still sitting on their hands.”

The establishment world is hardly foreign to the Texas Republican. Cruz; his wife, Heidi; and his campaign chairman, Chad Sweet, all worked for George W. Bush and are making overtures to people who supported Jeb Bush, Cruz backers said. Foster said Cruz called him, while Dickerson said the campaign has been quick to extend a “welcoming hand” with no hard feelings. (Cruz’s campaign said there is no concerted effort to woo Bush supporters.)

Cruz is making the same type of overture to voters on the campaign trail, asserting that he is the only candidate who can beat Trump and directly appealing to those who support other candidates. But he is also infusing more populism into his stump speeches — a direct appeal to would-be Trump backers.

The Establishment warming up to an “outsider”. Now, where have I seen this before? Oh, yeah.

In the 1939 Frank Capra Classic, “Mr Smith Goes to Washington”, naïve and idealistic Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state’s senior senator–presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his noble goal of a national boys’ camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor.

However, in this case, as the political shenanigans pulled by his Campaign Staff have sadly shown us, Senator Ted Cruz is no “Jefferson Smith”.

He is as much a Professional Politician as Jeb! Bush.

Hence, the support by Jeb!’s brother, Neil, and the reluctant embracing of his campaign by the Vichy Republicans.

The well-worn phrase, “Politics make strange bedfellows”, has never been more appropriate when describing a political alliance, than this situation.

Back on March 22, 2015, in a post reporting on Cruz’s announcement that he was running, I wrote

Get ready for the worst attempt of character assassination of a politician running for the Presidential Candidate Nomination of their Party by a coalition of the Main Stream Media and the Good Ol’ Boys in the Beltway, since Sarah Palin.

Just after Midnight, Conservative Firebrand, the Republican Senator from the great state of Texas, Ted Cruz, announced that he was in the hunt for his Party’s Nomination as their Candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America.

…I’m not shy about stating that I like Senator Ted Cruz. He is a straight shooter, who is not afraid to tell it like it is.

The Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I have dubbed them, are presently pushing potential Presidential Candidates for 2016 whose platforms are so similar to those of their potential Democrat Opponents as to be virtually indistinguishable.

Oblivious of their past failures (i.e., Dole, McCain, and Romney), while pursuing their milksop Political Philosophy, the Vichy Republicans, or GOPe, as an internet friend has named them, still cling to their mission to hold onto their cushy Seats of Power, recently given to them last November by us, their Conservative Base, by playing an old, tired political game.

Make no mistake, they will defend the Washingtonian Status Quo to their last breath, and savage anyone who threatens it, with the help of their allies from “across the aisle”, the Democrats and their minions in the Main Stream media. Look at how they have attacked Former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin, in the past, and, in recent years, Ted Cruz.

They have called them both everything but Children of God.

Little did I know that, as his campaign for the Republican Nomination progressed, this “New Maverick”, Ted Cruz, would align himself with those whom he had fought so hard against in the Senate “on behalf of the people”.

I realize that Donald J. Trump has his shortcomings, as well.

However, as a political candidate, when you promise to fight against the “Washingtonian Status Quo” and then you join forces with its purveyors, in order to get elected, you may gain some potential voters, but you also disillusion a lot of your base.

Just like Captain Jean Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, it appears that “Man of the People” Ted Cruz has been “assimilated”, with the Vichy Republicans playing the role of “The Borg”.

Only, in the case of Republican Voters,

Resistance is NOT futile.

We have a choice.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

The 2016 Republican Primaries: A Clash Between Political Elitism and a Populist Reality

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Super-600-CIPopulism – (NOUN)  1. support for the concerns of ordinary people: “it is clear that your populism identifies with the folks on the bottom of the ladder”

Liberals love to brag that they are the most intelligent and the most tolerant people in any room that they walk into.

That is a bunch of self-conceit and downright baloney. When a Conservative (the political ideology of majority of Americans) calls them on their overestimation of their intelligence, and humiliates them in public, if you will (as Legendary Professional Wrestler, the “American Dream”, the late Dusty Rhodes, used to say), they stalk them, like a hyena stalking a wounded gnu, waiting for the opportunity for revenge.

After the Political Massacre, that was the Mid-term Elections of 2014, the Main Stream Media has been waiting to get revenge of the Republican Party.

And, the arrogant obtuseness of the Republican Elite has given them that opportunity.

The Washington Post’s Lead Story today states the obvious…

Only a year ago, Republicans were congratulating themselves on having the strongest field of presidential candidates in a generation — diverse, highly credentialed conservatives who might be the salvation of a party that had lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections.

But now, the question is how close the Grand Old Party will come to annihilating itself and what it stands for.

Donald Trump — dismissed by GOP elders for months as an entertaining fringe figure who would self-destruct — has staged a hostile takeover and rebranded the party in his own image. What is being left by the wayside is any sense of a Republican vision for the country or a set of shared principles that could carry the party forward.

A substance-free shout-fest billed as a presidential debate Thursday night marked a new low in a campaign that has seen more than its share of them.

The increasingly prohibitive front-runner and his three remaining opponents spent nearly the entire two hours hurling insults back and forth, with Trump at one point making a reference to the size of his genitalia.

“My party is committing suicide on national television,” tweeted Jamie Johnson, an Iowa political operative who had been an adviser to former Texas governor Rick Perry, one of the dozen Republicans whose presidential campaigns have been incinerated by the Trump phenomenon. The latest, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, formally dropped out Friday.

Also Friday, Trump clarified earlier statements that as president, he would order the U.S. military to waterboard militants and carry out other acts that violate international law.

In a statement, he said he understands “that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters.”

In Thursday’s debate, moderator Bret Baier had asked Trump what he would do if service members refused to comply with his orders for exteme measures. The candidate replied, “If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is all about.”

Trump’s musings on torture were among the many remarks that have alarmed establishment Republicans as worrisome and reckless.

“Republicans in general tend to be a group of people who like to view themselves as serious, having decorum, being orderly, being thoughtful,” said Roger Porter, who served as a senior policy official in the White Houses of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and who is now a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Uh huh.

I guess the writer never saw President Reagan chopping wood at his ranch or Dubya clearing brush at his.

But, I digress…

The word “populism” first reappeared in the American Lexicon, when Sarah Palin almost dragged John McCain’s RINO Rear across the Finish Line, in the Presidential Election of 2008.

The Grassroots Movement, which began back then has led us to a seminal moment in American Politics.

A “Citizen Statesman”, such as our Founding Fathers envisioned, is on track to be the Republican Candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America.

The American People are speaking, loud and clear.

A Candidate has to build a coalition, in order to win the Presidency.

But, how does a Candidate accomplish that?

Ronald Reagan figured out in 1980, that, in order to win the presidency, you had to bypass the Republican Establishment and go directly to the American People.

That is exactly what Donald J. Trump has done.

As the article from the Washington Post shows, both the Republican and the Democrat Elite, alike, are having trouble wrapping their heads around the reality of Trump’s Insurgency.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, broke it down for us, during his program on February 10, 2016…

This is what the Republican Party’s been telling us they need to win.  I’ve had ’em come to my office.  I’ve told you.  I’ve had Rand Paul here, Mitt Romney’s here.  One thing they’ve all said in common is that Republican Party can’t win with Republican votes alone anymore.  We have to branch out, we have to reach out.  This is what they were telling me to prepare me for some of the campaign tactics that I was gonna see. That they were gonna have to reach out and immigration was one of the ways of reaching out, supporting amnesty. Well, all along Trump has built that coalition the Republican Party claims to want and they’re out there badgering it and bashing it.  It’s exactly what they claim to want.  They could have had it.  The Republican Party could have had the Trump coalition.  They could have had it at health care.  A majority of Americans opposed Obamacare from the get-go.  The Republican Party could have seriously attempted to form an alliance with the Tea Party and the anti-Obamacare people and been a dominant majority party on that issue alone.  And then on subsequent issues to come down the pike the Republican Party could have formed an alliance with majorities in other areas of opposition, and they didn’t.

Reagan’s Attorney General, Ed Meese, in an article about reforming the Reagan Coalition from 2006, written for the Heritage Foundation after the Republicans blew the Mid-term Elections, stated that

Republicans failed to be the champions of the middle class; Republicans failed to be reformers, particularly on ethical mat­ters; and Republicans became the party of big cor­porations and big corporation welfare-all of which tended to expand government and certainly increased the spending of government.

Since then, the Republican Establishment kept on repeating those same mistakes.

Now, Trump is riding the crest of an ever-growing anger over the inaction of Professional Politicians, whom, after being voted into National Office by their constituents back home, have literally bitten the hand that feeds them, tossing Ma and Pa Kettle aside for Big Money Donors and the Political Prestige of “reaching across the aisle”, i.e.. “selling out”.

By the way, I understand the frustration that Cruz Supporters feel right now.

I like him, too. In fact, during his ongoing quest against the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans, I’ve stood by him 100%.

If you would have told me, before Trump entered the race, that he would not be the Primary Leader, I would have disagreed with you.

Trump changed everything.

The problem is, Moderates and Democrats, for whatever reason, do not trust Cruz. I wish that they did.

Holding one’s breath until they turn blue, or telling Christian American Conservatives, such as myself, that they are somehow condemned to Hell and are Unpatriotic, for pointing out the reality that Trump is the Undisputed Leader in the Republican Primary Race, is not going to change the reality of the situation.

Neither will staying at home and not voting this November, if Trump receives the Republican Nomination.

That’s been tried before.

That is how we got stuck with Petulant President Pantywaist.

Actions (and Inactions) have consequences.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

March 3, 2016: The Day That The Republican Establishment “Mooned” Its Base

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

GOP-Great-600-LI-1Indeed, we gave birth to an entirely new concept in man’s relation to man. We created government as our servant, beholden to us and possessing no powers except those voluntarily granted to it by us. Now a self-anointed elite in our nation’s capital would have us believe we are incapable of guiding our own destiny. They practice government by mystery, telling us it’s too complex for our understanding. Believing this, they assume we might panic if we were to be told the truth about our problems. – Ronald Wilson Reagan, March 31, 1976

In the middle of a day which saw the Grand Old Party attack its own Political Primaries Front-runner, with a savagery unseen during the 7-year reign of Petulant President Pantywaist, the following self-serving example of the Vichy Republicans’ oblivious nature broke on CNN.com:

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney’s inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee’s advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising. 

“It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention,” said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump’s delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney’s request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party’s banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee. Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate in 2012. 

You don’t have to read too far between the lines of the speech Romney gave Thursday at the University of Utah to see the imprint of this plan. He urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states — saying he’d back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump’s strongest foe.

“If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism,” Romney said.

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention. So the only way to rob Trump of a victory would be to keep him from reaching that magic 1,237 number.

For those of you who don’t know, a brokered political convention comes about when no single candidate has secured a pre-existing majority of delegates (whether those selected by primary elections and caucuses, or superdelegates) before the first official vote for a political party’s presidential candidate at its nominating convention.

In other words, the Leaders of the Political Party choose their Presidential Candidate, regardless of the wishes of the American Voters.

In Former Governor and Presidential Election Loser. Mitt Romney’s scripted attack on Trump yesterday, he spoke, to a great extent, in the same didactic tone in which Barack Hussein Obama has insulted, cajoled, and lectured us in for the past 7 years.

The day-long attack continued last night, during the Republican Candidate Debate, held by Fox News at the historic Fox Theatre, as The Washington Post describes:

Billionaire Donald Trump entered Thursday night’s GOP debate as the race’s front-runner — but he spent much of the night on the defensive, struggling to explain his positions to skeptical moderators, arguing with his rivals, even trying to drown out their arguments with shouted insults.

“I won 10 states,” Trump said at one point, reasserting his dominance on a night when it seemed to be under assault. “I am by far the leader!”

Throughout the debate, both Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) returned to the furious attacks they had mounted on Trump a week before. Rubio, as before, assailed Trump with an eye toward moderate voters — asserting, again and again, that Trump was an unserious con man who was simply telling them what they wanted to hear. Cruz made a different pitch: Aiming at conservatives, he repeatedly sought to assert that Trump was a closet liberal, who had donated and befriended conservative enemies such as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump replied, as before, that he was beating them both. Which he is. With the anti-Trump vote still split between Cruz, Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it will be hard for a single challenger to pass Trump.

…The debate reflected the degree to which Trump has changed the GOP’s discourse — at one point, he made an unprompted joke about his genitals — but also the degree to which the other candidates have mimicked his style. Cruz often treated Trump like a child with a temper tantrum, urging him to “breathe” with mock concern. Rubio repeatedly interrupted Trump, as Trump had interrupted others, saying “False. False,” as Trump tried to make a point.

Kasich, as he did in the last debate, did not participate in the attacks on Trump. Instead, he seemed to be holding his own private event at the side of the stage, ignoring the fighting next to him and trying to speak directly to voters.

At the end of the debate, all four candidates onstage refused to break the last taboo of a party debate. The other three said they would vote for Trump, if he became the GOP nominee. Trump said he would vote for one of them, if the nominee turned out to be somebody else — a vow he has made, and then reconsidered before.

But first, Trump mocked the idea that he might have to face the choice at all.

“Even if it’s not me?” he asked, as if the idea were something he hadn’t thought of before.

The way that the Republican Establishment is orchestrating their failing attacks on Donald J. Trump reminds me of “Blazing Saddles”:

We must protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen! Hrumph!

During his speech yesterday, Mitt Romney said,

I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose, and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good.

Pardon my bluntness, Governor, but

You guys don’t understand squat!

The anger that you are witnessing, that has propelled an outsider to the undisputed lead in the Republican Primaries, is one which has been building since January of 2009, when a Lightweight, who seems to have as much in common with us as a Martian would, was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

That anger, a result of his anti-American actions and resulting policies, which have affected Americans’ daily lives, has been exacerbated by you out-of-touch, pompous professional politicians that comprise the Republican Elite, whom, in your desire to “reach across the aisle” and “go along to get along”, have distanced yourselves from the average Americans, here in “Flyover Country”, who elected you to Congress in the first place.

Meanwhile, average Americans, like myself, remain mired up to our necks in an abysmal swamp of bills and taxes, living paycheck-to-paycheck, afraid to make a move, for fearing of drowning in an ocean of debt.

Seemingly forgotten, among all of your self-righteousness and empty promises, are the 94 million Americans, who are no longer, largely through no fault of their own, participating in our Workforce.

You want to talk about anger and frustration?

Try looking for work, when you are over 55 years of age.

It makes you want to give up…daily.

But, I digress…

Anger has played an important part in the forging of this great country, which will be lucky to survive Obama’s final year in office.

It was anger that formed our country….an anger over being held captive to “Taxation Without Representation”…an anger which, as a prime example of history repeating itself, Americans are experiencing, even as I type this blog.

It is this anger, which has propelled Donald J. Trump to his lead in the Republican Primary Race…and those, like yourself,  who prefer your beloved “Washingtonian Status Quo” know it.

Hence, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s alluding to it in her Rebuttal to this year’s State of the Union Address, something which has never been done before.

When delivering a Rebuttal to the SOTU Address, the Opposition Party’s Spokesperson is supposed to discredit the sitting President, not one of their own.

In conclusion, concerning the “Mantle of Anger”, I, like Trump, wear it proudly.

And, judging by the reality of Trump’s overwhelming lead in the Republican Primaries, I am not alone.

It is an American’s Right…and Heritage.

And…it shows that you and your fellow Vichy Republicans, don’t have a clue.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

A KJ Op Ed: Vetting The Republican Candidates – Going After the Wrong “Enemy”

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

ctax=Campaigns^Expose^Viewers^Placement%2035743%20-%20Viewer (2) Sward-StoneFor those of us Conservatives, who are considering which candidate to vote for in the 2016 presidential Election, our cup runneth over.

We literally have a smorgasbord of candidates, who are still campaigning, less than 10 months from the big day.

And, therein lies the problem.

While candidates seem to be more interested in attacking each other, than the Democrats, potential Republican Voters are following suit, and attacking each other, all over the World Wide Web.

To quote the Master of Malapropisms, the late, great Yogi Berra,

It’s deja vu, all over again.

During the Presidential Elections of 2008 and 2012, while we were busy “vetting” the Republican Candidates, in search of their “bonafides”, Liberal Democrats were solidly behind their Great Black Hope”, the “Clean and Articulate” (Biden’s words, not mine) Barack Hussein Obama, which resulted in an unvetted, untested, incompetent, petulant, anti-American metrosexual assuming the role of “Leader of the Free World”.

Why have we and why are we “eating our own”?

  • Unlike the present-day version of the Democrat Party, which has moved to the Far Left of the Political Spectrum, Republicans, both Conservative and “Moderate”, still think for themselves. We all have our own opinion on the criteria necessary for a successful American President. Democrats, like the Proletariat of the old Soviet Union, possess a “Hive-Mind” mentality, voting en masse for whoever is deemed “good for the Party”.
  • There is a Generational Gap, in regards to morality and ethical behavior, which is a determining factor as to each Republican’s own definition of “Conservatism”, which is a determining factor as to whom their candidate of choice will be. For example, in my case, as a 57-year old Reagan Conservative, I judge Presidential Primary Candidates, and those who vote for them, by the following criteria, as defined by Matt Barber…

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds true conservatism. The legs are represented by a strong defense, strong free-market economic policies and strong social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight.

A Republican, for instance, who is conservative on social and national defense issues but liberal on fiscal issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative socialist.

A Republican who is conservative on fiscal and social issues but liberal on national defense issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative dove.

By the same token, a Republican who is conservative on fiscal and national defense issues but liberal on social issues – such as abortion, so-called gay rights or the Second Amendment – is not a Reagan conservative. He is a socio-liberal libertarian.

Put another way: A Republican who is one part William F. Buckley Jr., one part Oliver North and one part Rachel Maddow is no true conservative. He is – well, I’m not exactly sure what he is, but it ain’t pretty. 

  • Another problem, which Republican voters are facing, is the fact that there are no Perfect Candidates. Ronald Reagan is not running for President. Each of the Top Tier Candidates all have their own  good points. Unfortunately, they all have their weak points, as well, just like we voters do. Voters support those candidates whose stance of the important issues most closely resembles their own, a fact which helps to explain why Trump and Cruz are leading the pack.
  • Our defensiveness toward the Republican Candidates comes from the fact that the Republican Establishment has, in several instances, abandoned and betrayed those who placed them in office: average American Voters, living out here in the heartland (or, as those up in the Halls of Power refer to it as, “Flyover Country”). The reaction of Republican Voters in this Primary Season, is, above all else, a repudiation of betrayal of the Republican-held House and Senate. While compromise is, indeed, a part of Washington Politics, capitulation to the opposition party is not. Because of the actions of the Republican Establishment, average Americans have become hyper-vigilant to discrepancies in what a candidate says in the present, and, their actions in the past.

And that, gentle reader, is why we, as Conservatives and potential voters for the Republican Candidate, are allowing the Main Stream Media to lead us around by the nose, “vetting” our candidates, by cause more consternation and infighting, than a bunch of texting teenage girls on Prom Night.

Because of our concerns that whoever winds up as the Republican Candidate for the Office of President of the United States of America represent US, the average American Voter, we are literally, presently, at war with one another, mirroring the infighting going on between the candidates, using the platforms given to us via Political Websites and Facebook Pages.

While vetting the candidates through the use of the New Media is a good thing, it must not be used to tear down each other and destroy our opportunity to undo the damage that years of “Progressive” Political Control in DC has done to our country.

Our mission, now, as Americans, is to decide our own destiny. 

We must not let the Political Elite, on BOTH sides of the aisle, nor the Main Stream Media, pick our candidate for us.

Ronald Reagan once said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

A charge to keep WE have.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

It’s On! Trump Vs. Clinton: Best Two Out of Three Falls. Lumberjack Rules. Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

 

WJ-images-Trump-v-Clinton-poll-913x512-800x449America has been waiting for Republican Presidential Hopeful Donald J. Trump to turn his attention to the Democrat Front Runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Be careful what you ask for.

USA today reports that

Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for her comment that he has become the Islamic State’s “best recruiter,” her campaign said Monday.

“Hell no,” said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon. “Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for correctly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps ISIS recruit more terrorists.”

Trump had said he would “demand” an apology from Clinton for her claim about the Islamic State, telling NBC’s TODAY show. “She lies about emails, she lies about Whitewater, she lies about everything. She will be a disaster about everything as president of the United States.”

Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States until the government gets a better handle on the terrorist threat.

During Saturday’s Democratic debate, Clinton said the U.S. needs to make sure that “the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don’t fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.”

While counter-terrorism analysts say the Islamic State could use Trump’s comments to support their claim that the West is waging war on Islam, fact-checkers say there is no evidence of any ISIS videos featuring the Republican front-runner.

In response, as he always does, Trump had a not-so-subtle response for the “Queen of Mean”, per The Washington Post,

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump used vulgar language as he attacked Hillary Clinton during a rally on Monday night, saying her use of the restroom at the last Democratic debate was “too disgusting” to talk about and that in 2008 she got “schlonged” by Barack Obama when he defeated her in the Democratic primary.

Standing before a crowd of 7,500, Trump recounted how Clinton was seconds late to the Democratic debate stage on Saturday night following a commercial break. Trump asked the crowd four times where Clinton had gone.

“I know where she went — it’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” Trump said, screwing up his face, as the crowd laughed and cheered. “No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.”

Later in the night, Trump told the crowd that he could not picture Clinton as president because she never wins at anything. He then brought up the 2008 Democratic primary, which Clinton lost to Barack Obama.

“She was favored to win, and she got schlo**ed,” Trump said, turning a vulgar noun for a large penis into a verb.

Trump has repeatedly faced criticism for the language that he uses to describe women, including his female rivals. During the first GOP debate in August, Megyn Kelly of Fox News brought up some of Trump’s more controversial comments and asked him: “Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?”

Trump has called that question unfair and launched a vicious attack against Kelly. During a CNN interview after the debate, Trump said of Kelly: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” Trump later said he meant to say “ears,” but many assumed he was saying that Kelly was menstruating.

This isn’t the first time Trump has attacked Clinton using phrases that some of her supporters have labeled as sexist. In recent weeks, he has repeatedly commented on her pantsuits, said she lacks the “stamina” and “strength” needed for the presidency, and accused her of sleeping too much. Clinton is 68, and Trump is 69.

This latest attack seems to be in response to a comment Clinton made about Trump during the Saturday night debate: She said that the Islamic State terrorist group has used video of Trump’s controversial comments on Muslims to recruit new members, a claim that has drawn questions and skepticism from fact-checkers. Trump has demanded an apology, which Clinton has refused to give.

“She’s terrible,” Trump said during the rally. He then impersonated Clinton’s comments at the debate, using a rather snotty voice: “Donald Trump is on video, and ISIS is using him on the video to recruit.”

“And it turned out to be a lie — she’s a liar!” Trump said to roaring cheers. “And the last person she wants to run against is me.”

Clinton was not the only woman mentioned on Monday night. Trump also said that Caroline Kennedy is too “nice” to be the ambassador to Japan and is no match for their “brutal, brilliant” negotiators.  And he questioned why Time picked German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its “Person of the Year” instead of him.

“They gave it to a woman who has not done the right thing for Germany,” Trump said, as the crowd booed Merkel. “Nice woman. I like her, I like her. I better like her — I may have to deal with her. Look, hey, Putin likes me, I want her to like me, too.”

Trump used that reference to Putin as an opportunity to chide the Russian dictator for allegedly killing journalists.

“I hate some of these people, but I would never kill them,” Trump said of the journalists who cover him. “I would never kill them. I would never kill them… I would never kill them, but I do hate them. And some of them are such lying, disgusting people.”

More than a dozen times, Trump was interrupted by protesters, including one who called him a “bigot.” Late in the rally, a woman began screaming at Trump.

“Yes, darling? Yes?” Trump said to the woman, who was quickly escorted out. “Well, she doesn’t sound very tough. That’s a very weak voice. Go a little louder, we can’t hear you, darling. Wow.”

Well, there’s a word that you don’t hear everyday during a Presidential campaign.

Both the Internet and the Main Stream Media will be buzzing , once again today, at what “The Donald” said last night.

…And, that is exactly what he wanted to happen, when he said that little vulgarity.

Their reaction will be predictable.

With sputtering tongue, Liberal Pundits and Politicians alike, today will declare,

Why…why…you can’t talk about the Former Secretary of State that way! Why, she’s a lady!

That’s no lady. That’s Hillary.

The Main Stream Media have become victims of their own sensationalism…used against them.

Why do I believe that Donald J. Trump is still the frontrunner among all the Republican Presidential Candidates?

This brash, unabashedly American, business entrepreneur and quintessential showman has dominated the media for the past several years.

The popularity of his reality program on NBC and the catch phrase that came leaping out from it, “You’re fired!”, spread across America like wildfire.

Now, his Presidential Campaign continues to do the same.

It is not just his flamboyance that has caught the eye of Americans.

The fact is, after almost two terms of an Administration taking the great country in the world on a scenic tour of the Highway to Hell, Donald Trump is the only Republican Candidate shouting, “Hit the brakes, you idiots!”

Trump’s straightforwardness has struck a chord in the hearts of average Americans, tired of the wussification of America, being so relentlessly pushed by both modern political parties.

This is what I don’t understand about the Republican Establishment, especially after the gargage that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the rest of them just pulled on Republican Voters with the passage of the horrible Omnibus BIll:

They run around telling everybody how Conservative they are, when in reality, they actually hold the same beliefs as Liberal Democrats.

Ronald Reagan gave a famous stump speech about the fact that the Republican Party at one time, needed “bold colors, not pale pastels”.

From what I’m seeing out of a lot of the Republicans right now, they’re not even presenting Americans with pale pastels.

…Except for Donald Trump.

They are showing their color to be Liberal Blue, while they claim to be Conservative Red.

It is almost as if they believe that the Political Tsunami, which resulted in Republicans holding both Houses of Congress, came about because they made themselves look like Democrats.

They need to come down off of Capitol Hill every now and then.

And, visit Realityville.

Average Americans, like you and me, living from paycheck to paycheck in America’s Heartland, do not need another Democratic Party.

If we wanted to continue to put up with their Liberal Stupidity, we would have left all of them in office.

Instead, last November, we showed them the door.

If Jeb Bush and the rest of the Vichy Republicans actually believe that they will win over the Mexican vote, or the rest of the Hispanic Vote, if by then those who are now illegal are allowed to vote, in 2016, then I have two bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis to sell them.

The overwhelming majority of average Americans want Conservatives whose blood runs red, not Liberal squishes, who have more in common with the Democrats in the Northeast Corridor, than they do with average Americans in the Heartland.

If the Republican establishment does not come to that realization very soon, they will go down to defeat again in 2016.

They will never achieve victory by trying to push the Jello of “Liberal Moderation” up a hill.

In summation, the American people are tired of Political Correctness and anti-American political expediencies being forced down our throats by both political parties and trumpeted by their lackeys in the Main Stream Media.

Donald Trump, for all of his brashness and braggadocio, is a breath of free air and, quite frankly, an anomaly. He’s not a professional politician. He is a businessman who wants to become a public servant.

Now, where did I hear that before?

Oh, yeah.

That’s the way the Founding Fathers envisioned our system of government, led by citizens, who served their term s as public servants…AND THEN WENT HOME.

But, I digress…

You know what tickles me the most about “The Donald”?

He reminds me of one of my favorite movie characters.

He actually has a backbone.

Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.” – Jack Burton, Truck Driver (Kurt Russell) “Big Trouble in Little China”

…and that, boys and girls, despite his vulgarity last night, is still a refreshing change.

(And, it makes for great blogging material. …I’m just sayin’.)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The 2nd Republican Debate: After a ” Wrestling Battle Royal” Trump’s Still Standing in the Ring

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

th (27)Last night’s Republican Presidential Candidate Top Tier Debate got rather heated, at times, as most of the other Presidential Hopefuls attacked Donald J. Trump, trying desperately to chip away at his massive lead in the National Polls.

Fox News reports that

Donald Trump once again found himself the lightning rod of the Republican presidential race Wednesday, as he tangled with a debate stage full of rivals trying to position themselves as the best alternative to the GOP front-runner.

The second Republican primary debate veered into serious policy territory – covering everything from Iran to Russia to Planned Parenthood to immigration. But, at times to the visible frustration of candidates trying to stick to those issues, few segments passed without a sparring session between Trump and one of his opponents. Almost every time, Trump hit back – and it was unclear whether any candidate would be able to dent his front-runner status.

The candidate perhaps most eager to knock the billionaire businessman down a peg was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who lost his lead to Trump over the summer. Repeatedly, Bush challenged Trump on his record and past comments.

He told Trump to apologize to his wife for suggesting her being from Mexico makes Bush more sympathetic to Mexicans – Trump refused.

He accused Trump of once giving him money as he sought casino gambling, unsuccessfully, in Florida.

Trump denied it, and when Bush criticized Trump for bragging about demanding Hillary Clinton attend his wedding, Trump teased him, saying: “More energy tonight, I like that.” (Bush answered back at the end of the debate – asked what his Secret Service codename would be, Bush said, “Very High Energy, Donald,” and the two shared a high-five.)

…Some of the most heated exchanges at the CNN debate also came between Trump and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, both business leaders.

After Trump called her former company a “disaster,” she cited his repeated bankruptcy filings and questioned why America should trust him to manage its finances.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie interjected and said middle-class Americans “could care less about your careers.” He told the two to “stop this childish back and forth.”

Fiorina also got her chance at the debate to respond to Trump’s controversial jab at her, where in a magazine article he said: “Look at that face – would anyone vote for that?”

Asked to respond, she said, “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.”

Fiorina received loud applause for the line, and Trump added, “I think she’s got a beautiful face, and I think she’s a beautiful woman.”

Despite all the attention on Trump, his dominant lead in the polls means his rivals may be battling at this stage for runner-up, for now.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson currently holds that status after vaulting into second place in the polls – yet was able to avoid the fray for most of Wednesday’s debate.

He took one light-hearted jab at Trump, after Trump discussed his views on vaccines and said there are cases of children getting sick – and having autism – after getting them.

Asked about Trump’s medical opinion, Carson said, “He’s an okay doctor” – in reference to a comment Trump recently made about him. Carson went on to say there’s no documented association between autism and vaccines, but doctors are probably giving too many vaccines in a short period of time.

After the exchange about George W. Bush, Carson also noted that he did not want Bush to “go to war” in Iraq. He added that radical jihadists now are an “existential threat to our nation” and leaders can’t “put our heads in the sand.”

Aside from the sparring with Trump, the candidates did have a chance to stake out their positions on a range of policy issues.

…Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said of the agreement with Tehran, “I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich urged against going that far.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also focused on foreign policy, warning about China’s military build-up, and “gangsters in Moscow” meddling on the world stage.

On this, Rubio challenged Trump’s global affairs knowledge. Trump vowed, “I will know more about the problems of this world” as president. And he criticized Rubio for missing votes.  

Trump’s fitness to be commander-in-chief was a common theme for his rivals.

Fiorina said, when asked if she’s comfortable with Trump controlling America’s nuclear weapons: “I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer.” She said “judgment” and “temperament” will be revealed “over time and under pressure” in the race.

Trump answered: “I may be an entertainer. … but I will tell you this. What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman.”

Trump also went after Sen. Rand Paul, saying he shouldn’t even be on the stage.

“There’s a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump,” Paul answered, but he added he’s concerned about him being in charge of nuclear weapons. Paul chastised Trump for his “visceral response,” including attacking people on their appearance which he likened to “junior high.”

Trump said he never did that to Paul, quipping: “Believe me there’s plenty of subject matter right there.”

An unexpected clash also broke out at the end, when Paul made a veiled reference to Bush having smoked marijuana years ago as Paul challenged federal marijuana policy.

Bush acknowledged Paul was talking about him and said: “40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it.”

Paul then claimed people with “privilege” don’t go to jail for marijuana, but others do.

…But with Carson and Trump attracting the support of roughly half of primary voters, the other 14 candidates are fighting for relative scraps. Trump’s national lead now tops 30 percent.

As I have written before, I believe that the main reason that Trump is leading among the other Republican Candidates, is that he, while sparse on details on of his platform, is empathetic on what he personally believes.

He is “flying” BOLD COLORS, while the other candidates are “flying” PALE PASTELS.

For example, while others up on the CNN Stage last night, watched, Trump boldly stated that “we speak English in America”, referring to the unprecedented accommodations that Liberal Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, have made for Illegal Aliens, here in a country whose very sovereignty they have violated.

This is what I don’t understand about the Republican Establishment.

They run around telling everybody how Conservative they are, when in reality,they actually hold the same beliefs as Liberal Democrats.

As Ronald Reagan said in his famous speech, given so long ago, today’s Republican Party needs to be “flying” “bold colors, not pale pastels”.

From what I’m seeing out of a lot of the Republicans right now, they’re not even presenting Americans with pale pastels.

They are showing their color to be Liberal Blue, while they claim to be Conservative Red.

It is almost as if they believe that the Political Tsunami, which resulted in Republicans holding both Houses of Congress, came about because they made themselves look like Democrats.

They need to come down off of Capitol Hill every now and then.

And, visit Realityville.

Average Americans, like you and me, living from paycheck to paycheck in America’s Heartland, do not need another Democratic Party.

If we wanted to continue to put up with their Liberal Stupidity, we would have left all of them in office.

Instead, last November, we showed them the door.

That is why, Donald J. Trump, even with all his faults, leads the rest of the candidates in the Republican Presidential Primary Race.

Average Americans are looking for someone who thinks and speaks like we do.

Someone who can communicate their thoughts and ideas in a straightforward manner, which strikes a chord in the hearts of the overwhelming majority of us, living here in “Flyover Country, as the Elites so derisively refer to our hometowns.

We refer to it as “America’s Heartland”.

We are not asking for “special treatment”, as seems to be given out so freely to special interest groups, by the Professional Politicians, for the sake of Political Expediency.

We just want OUR AMERICA BACK and OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS PRESERVED, for the sake of our children’s and grandchildren’s future.

If Jeb Bush and the rest of the Vichy Republicans actually believe that they will win over the Mexican vote, or the rest of the Hispanic Vote, if by then those who are now illegal are allowed to vote, in 2016, then I have two bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis to sell them.

The overwhelming majority of average Americans want Conservatives whose blood runs red, not Liberal squishes, who have more in common with the Democrats in the Northeast Corridor, than they do with average Americans in the Heartland.

If the Republican Establishment does not come to that realization very soon, they will go down to defeat again in 2016.

They will never achieve victory by trying to push the jello of “Liberal Moderation” up a hill.

If you doubt me, please refer to the present popularity of Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald J. Trump.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Popularity of Trump and Cruz Surges After Debate

On By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

Trump-n-CruzWell, the latest poll, taken after the Republican Debate, shows some results that both the Democrats and the Republican Establishment will not like at all.

NBC News reports that

If Donald Trump’s comments about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly are hurting his standing in the Republican primary, it’s not showing in the numbers.According to the latest NBC News Online Poll conducted by SurveyMonkey, Trump is at the top of the list of GOP candidates that Republican primary voters would cast a ballot for if the primary were being held right now.

The overnight poll was conducted for 24 hours from Friday evening into Saturday. During that period, Donald Trump stayed in the headlines due to his negative comments about Kelly and was dis-invited from a major conservative gathering in Atlanta.

None of that stopped Trump from coming in at the top of the poll with 23 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz was next on the list with 13 percent.

During the Fox News debate Thursday evening, Trump was the only Republican candidate to say he would not rule out a run as an independent candidate. According to this poll, that’s just fine with over half of his supporters. 54% of Trump supporters said they would vote for him for president, even if he didn’t win the GOP nomination. About one in five Trump supporters said they would switch and support the eventual Republican candidate.

The surprise result from the poll might have been businesswoman Carly Fiorina’s performance. 22% said she won the debate, besting Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio and Cruz. In overall support, she came in fourth with 8% of Republican primary voters saying they would support her in a primary or a caucus. This may not seem like a lot, but she had a gain in support of six points, which was the second highest in the poll. Fiorina may have benefited from stepped up media coverage due to her performance in the so-called “Happy Hour” debate that aired on Thursday before the prime-time event.

The NBC News Online Survey was conducted online by SurveyMonkey from August 7-8, 2015 among a national sample of 3,551 adults aged 18 and over.

While I do not personally believe that Trump will win the nomination, I believe that he is serving a purpose.

As both he and Senator Ted Cruz’s popularity show, the Political Pendulum is swinging back to the right…and it is leaving the restrictive fascism of Political Correctness and those who worship at its altar, behind.

And, whether Trump wins the nomination or not, he has drawn attention to issues which other Republicans have been loathe to discuss, much less take a stand on, that disagrees with their friends across the Political Aisle.

I’m have never been shy about stating that I like Senator Ted Cruz. He is a straight shooter, who is not afraid to tell it like it is.

The Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I have dubbed them, are pushing potential Presidential Candidates for 2016, like Jeb Bush, whose platforms are so similar to those of their potential Democrat Opponents as to be virtually indistinguishable.

Oblivious of their past failures (i.e., Dole, McCain, and Romney), while pursuing their milksop Political Philosophy, the Vichy Republicans, or GOPe, as an internet friend has named them, cling to their mission to hold onto their cushy Seats of Power, recently given to them last November by us, their Conservative Base, by playing an old, tired political game.

Make no mistake, they will defend the Washingtonian Status Quo to their last breath, and savage anyone who threatens it, with the help of their allies from “across the aisle”, the Democrats and their minions in the Main Stream media. Look at how they have attacked Entrepreneur and Showman Donald J. Trump, and Republican Senator, Ted Cruz of Texas.

They have called them both everything but Children of God.

However, they are not the first Republican Politicians, who appealed to the Conservative base, to be attacked in this manner, in this generation.  That honor belonged to the greatest United States President in our lifetime, Ronald Reagan.

On March 1, 1975, the Great Communicator and Future President of the United States, spoke the following words at the 2nd Annual CPAC Convention. He may as well have been speaking yesterday.

I don‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

Timeless Advice.

Here’s some from ol’ KJ, if I may be so bold: you members of the Republican Establishment need to climb down off of your bar stools at the Congressional Country Club, and travel outside the Echo Chamber of the Beltway, where actual, average Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to provide for their families, while attempting to make a better life for their children and grandchildren.

Come on down to Mississippi and sit a spell and have some barbecue, sweet tea, and ‘nana puddin’ with us average Americans, instead of hanging out with Obama at the White House and partaking of Arugula and Wagyu Beef.

You want to know why Donald J. Trump, and Ted Cruz are so popular with average, real-life Americans?

The fact is, after almost two terms of an Administration taking the great country in the world on a scenic tour of the Highway to Hell, these two have the gumption to shout,

Hit the brakes, you idiots!

Their straightforwardness has struck a chord in the hearts of average Americans, tired of the wussification of America, being so relentlessly pushed by both modern political parties.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Republican Debate: Was the “Fix In”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

thQUXT2EGX

Alright, you old Sesame Street Viewers, sing along,

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things, just “doesn’t belong”.

Last night, during the Prime Time Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, it seemed as if the Republican Establishment had called in a favor, as the only non-professional politician, “brash interloper” Donald J. Trump, was the focus of attacks from not only his fellow candidates, but the Fox News Moderators as well.

For example, courtesy of realclearpolitics.com

KELLY: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However that is not without its downsides, in particular when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your twitter account

TRUMP: Only Rosie O’Donnell.

KELLY: For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.

TRUMP: I’m sure it was.

KELLY: Your twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’ looks. You once told a contest tent that it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how do you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?

TRUMP: The big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don’t win anymore. We lose to China, we lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. Frankly what I say and oftentimes it’s fun, it’s kidding, we have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly, Megyn if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you although I could probably not be based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldn’t do that. But you know what? We, we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That I can tell you right now.

The Republican Establishment just can not seem to figure out why Donald J. Trump is currently the frontrunner among all the Republican Presidential Candidates?

This brash, unabashedly American, business entrepreneur and quintessential showman has dominated the media for the past several years.

The popularity of his reality program on NBC and the catch phrase that came leaping out from it, “You’re fired!”, spread across America like wildfire.

Now, his Presidential Campaign is doing the same.

It is not just his flamboyance that has caught the eye of Americans.

The fact is, after almost two terms of an Administration taking the great country in the world on a scenic tour of the Highway to Hell, Donald Trump is the only Republican Candidate shouting, “Hit the brakes, you idiots!”

Trump’s straightforwardness has struck a chord in the hearts of average Americans, tired of the wussification of America, being so relentlessly pushed by both modern political parties.

Last night, it was painfully obvious that “the fix was in” and, that the Republican Establishment is “concerned”, to the point of feigning embarrassment, over the words and actions of the famous entrepreneur.

This is what I don’t understand about the Republican Establishment.

They run around telling everybody how Conservative they are, when in reality, they actually hold the same beliefs as Liberal Democrats.

Ronald Reagan gave a famous stump speech about the fact that the Republican Party at one time, needed “bold colors, not pale pastels”.

From what I’m seeing out of a lot of the Republicans right now, they’re not even presenting Americans with pale pastels.

…Except for Donald Trump.

Trump upsets the status quo.

The Establishment Republicans are showing their color to be Liberal Blue, while they claim to be Conservative Red.

It is almost as if they believe that the Political Tsunami, which resulted in Republicans holding both Houses of Congress, came about because they made themselves look like Democrats.

If Americans were enjoying the Washingtonian Status Quo, we would not have given the Republicans control of the House and Senate in the last two Mid-Term Elections.

If we wanted to continue to put up with their Liberal Stupidity, we would have left all of them in office.

Instead, last November, we showed the Democrats and, those , who were not doing their jobs, the door.

The Vichy (Establishment) Republicans need to come down off of Capitol Hill, every now and then.

And, visit Realityville.

Average Americans, like you and me, living from paycheck to paycheck in America’s Heartland, do not need another Democratic Party.

We know how to spend our hard-earned money, just fine, thank you.

And, we don’t want it spent selling the body parts of  babies slaughtered in the name of personal convenience.

Trump has found his popularity, whether it lasts of not, by saying the things that Americans are thinking and feeling.

Americans are fed up with Political Correctness and the professional politicians’ sacrifice of America’s Traditional Values, for the sake of political gain and political expediency.

If Jeb Bush and the rest of the Vichy Republicans actually believe that they will win over the Mexican vote, or the rest of the Hispanic Vote, if by then those who are now illegal are allowed to vote, in 2016, then I have two bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis to sell them.

The overwhelming majority of average Americans want Conservatives whose blood runs red, not Liberal squishes, who have more in common with the snooty Democrats in the Northeast Corridor, than they do with average Americans in the Heartland.

If the Republican establishment does not come to that realization very soon, they will go down to defeat again in 2016.

They will never achieve victory by trying to push the epitome of “Liberal Moderation”, known as Jeb Bush, down the throats of their Conservative Base.

American Conservatives, here in the Heartland, are not changing our time-honored American Faith and Values for a bunch of mountebanks who act as if they care about our opinions come Election-time and, then, ignoring us, until they seek re-election.

Even buying off Fox News, will not change that fact.

Please reference their Facebook Page, where they caught you-know-what, all night long, for their obvious duplicity.

In summation, the American people are tired of the anti-American political expediencies being forced down our throats by both poltical parties.

Donald Trump, for all of his brashness and braggadocio, is a breath of free air and, quite frankly an anomaly. He’s not a professional politician. He is a businessman who wants to become a public servant.

Now, where did I hear that before?

Oh, yeah.

That’s the way the Founding Fathers envisioned our system of government, led by citizens, who served their term s as public servants…AND THEN WENT HOME.

But, I digress…

You know what tickles me the most about “The Donald”?

He reminds me of one of my favorite movie characters.

He actually has a backbone.

Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.” – Jack Burton, Truck Driver (Kurt Russell) “Big Trouble in Little China”

…and that, boys and girls, is a refreshing change.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Boehner Keeps Speakership. Starts “Paying Back” Conservatives.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

AFBrancoNoBoehner162015Well, so far, it appears that the Republican Establishment has misread, or are intentionally ignoring, the results of the 2014 Mid-Term Elections.

Politico.com reports that

After he secured his third term as speaker Tuesday afternoon, losing 25 votes on the House floor to some relative-unknown members of the House Republican Conference, Boehner moved swiftly to boot Florida Reps. Daniel Webster and Rich Nugent from the influential Rules Committee.

The reason was simple: Webster ran against Boehner for speaker, distributing fliers outlining his candidacy and talking about how he would better adhere to the House rules than the Ohio Republican. Nugent supported his fellow Floridian in the quixotic endeavor, which garnered the support of 12 lawmakers. Webster didn’t even give Boehner a heads-up that he was running, although leadership was aware early Tuesday morning that it could happen.

With Webster openly offering himself as an alternative to Boehner, the GOP leadership thought seats on the Rules Committee were a plum that the pair no longer deserved. It didn’t take more than a few hours for Webster – a legendary former Florida statehouse speaker and state Senate majority leader – and Nugent to find themselves on the outside of a power structure they were once very much a part of.

Members are already making noises about reversing any punitive action by Boehner and the leadership, although the speaker’s allies warn that further retaliation could be on the way. The removal of Webster and Nugent was meant to provide a clear demonstration that what Boehner and other party leaders accepted during the last Congress is no longer acceptable, not with the House’s biggest GOP majority in decades.

The House Republican leadership is carefully reviewing the list of members who voted against the speaker and those who opposed a procedural motion in December on the so-called “crominibus,” the $1.1 trillion spending package to keep the government open through to September.

Subcommittee chairmanships might be stripped and other perks could fall away, top Republican sources suggested, in a process that could take months to unfold.

On September 29, 2011, Rush Limbaugh made some very pertinent points concerning the difference in political ideology between the Conservative Base and the NE Moderate Republicans’ Club:

This is fascinating. I spoke earlier in the previous busy broadcast hour about Reagan’s campaign for governor in California in 1966. It is instructive because of this battle here between American conservatives and the Republican establishment, and believe me, they’re two different things. Now, George Will says there’s no Republican establishment and there hasn’t been since, what, 1966. But there is. The Republican establishment for all intents and purposes for the sake of our discussion here, is made up of what you would call RINOs.

The Republican establishment is northeastern Republican conservatives. They’re right on the fiscal side of things most of the time, but they don’t want any part of the social issues. They can’t stand it being part of the party platform. They don’t want to talk about it. They have no desire to be part of that discussion. They think it’s going to lose elections, all that kind of stuff, plus they do tend to believe Washington is the center of the universe. Republicans win elections. They’re in charge of the money. They like that. They tend to believe that an energetic, powerful executive wielding financial powers, spending money for the national good with conservative instincts is a good thing. So if government grows under that rubric, then it’s fine.

We, of course, as conservatives, don’t see things that way, and there is the divide. And the Republican establishment is made up of a lot of powerful people with a lot of money, and they want to win. Just like we do. They employ whatever muscle they have to see to it that they do. They want their candidates to be representative of what they want, all of which is understandable. So there’s this battle going on. The added intensity this time around is another point of disagreement. That is the Republican establishment doesn’t really think the country’s threatened. They don’t like Obama. They think Obama’s a disaster, but the country’s not in any danger here of real long-term damage. I mean, it’s just overblown, all this talk about saving the country, it’s not that bad. All we gotta do is get our people in there and put us back on the responsible fiscal track and everything will be fine.

They don’t see the Democrat Party the same way we do. They don’t see the Democrat Party as basically socialist liberal, and they cringe at such talk. And these people never really were enamored with Ronald Reagan. They never really liked him. They just lived on edge every day: What’s this guy going to do that’s going to embarrass us? What mistake is he going to make? What stupid thing is he going to say? They actually had this view. Tip O’Neill was not the only one who thought that Ronald Reagan was an amiable dunce. There were in the Republican establishment who thought that before Reagan ever ran for office and after he won the presidency. And they thought that back in 1966. After all, he was just an actor, introduced GE Theater.

…He was talking about the Goldwater campaign of two years past. This is ’66; the Goldwater campaign was ’64….Reagan said, “We don’t intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals of our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all,” and the traitors he was referring to were the Rhinos of his day who had undermined the Goldwater conservatives during the 1964 campaign. And Reagan was saying: Over my dead body is the Republican Party going to be turned over to those people. We’re only going places if we conservatives run this party, if we take it over and if we are unified.

Just as they underestimated Ronaldus Magnus, I truly believe that the Country Club Republicans underestimate their Conservative Base.

Reagan Conservatives are the bedrock of this nation. We pay these bozos’ salaries, and get shafted in return.

You know what I want for the 23% (soon to be 40%) of my hard-earned money, which I send to our nation’s capital to pay for Obama’s and Congress’ Revenue?

I want Conservative Leadership. I want somebody to stand up on their hind legs and tell Obama the way the cow ate the cabbage. I want someone to actually give a hoot ‘n holler about the average American, not the special interest groups, not the lobbyists, not “the smartest people in the room”…me.

I want an American President and competent American Congresspeople.

I want a dadblamed budget, first. I want them to be good stewards of MY money. Not their “revenue”. I want someone to stand up and be a MAN…or a WOMAN.

I am so dadgum tired of mealy-mouth squishes and political niceties and expediences, I could spit. Too many Americans are out of work and doing without, while the Three-Ring Circus performs unabated under the Big Top on Capital Hill.

The American people are tired of cleaning up after the donkeys and the elephants.

Until He Comes,

KJ