quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
If Jeb is the nominee, it's the end of the Republican Party. And good riddance.

The "Republican Party" ended about 10 years ago.

I'm speaking literally. It will be gone right after Jeb loses.

Be careful here. Remember who is the best quarterback in the NFL.

It's the back up quarterback on a team that's been losing.

Fifteen months, gents. Think about that. I can say one thing to a certainty, and that is that in the next fifteen months a lot of stuff is going to happen and a lot of things are going to change. In terms of presidential elections, 15 months is an eternity.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Fifteen months, gents. Think about that. I can say one thing to a certainty, and that is that in the next fifteen months a lot of stuff is going to happen and a lot of things are going to change. In terms of presidential elections, 15 months is an eternity.

In this case, more than most, that 15 months WILL seem like an eternity while the God Damned Communists chip away at what is left of traditional American culture, institutions and values.

^^^ Well, that and sixteen may boil down to two or three. There's a lot to happen there.

Trashing Trump: Why the pundits are now eating their words

For a deep dive on how the mainstream media have utterly mishandled Donald Trump’s candidacy, there is no better place to start than Chris Cillizza.

The Washington Post’s “Fix” columnist is a seasoned political observer, MSNBC contributor and certifiably nice guy. And for a journalist who isn’t a bomb-thrower, he has also been unrelentingly hostile to Trump (now known as the Republican front-runner).

Back on May 13, Cillizza wrote: “Donald Trump will say almost anything to get a rise out of people. He is in the entertainment business, a professional provocateur of some renown. The business he is not in, of course, is politics.

That's a big problem for a party desperately working to prove it is ready, willing and able to take the reins of government back from Democrats…

“If Donald Trump takes the debate stage in Ohio come August, it's a big loss for a Republican Party desperately trying to prove itself anew to a skeptical public.”

So he basically dismissed Trump as a nuisance. But by June 17, Cillizza was taking pains to point out The Donald’s high negatives:

“You cannot and do not win anything when your numbers look like Trump's. I can't say it any more clearly than that. There's nothing you can say or do -- not that Trump would ever even consider going on an image rehabilitation tour -- to change how people feel about you. Republicans know Trump. And they really, really don't like him.

“Trump, of course, knows this. His goal is attention, not winning.”

In this formulation, Trump was all about building his brand and still not serious about seeking the White House. Not surprisingly, the billionaire fired back on Twitter:

“One of the dumber and least respected of the political pundits is Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post @TheFix. Moron hates my poll numbers.”

Undeterred, Cillizza made this comparison on June 23:

“Trump is sort of like the political version of the Kardashians -- people say they can't stand him but they also can't seem to take their eyes off him.”

And the columnist seemed genuinely ticked off at the people of New Hampshire after a poll there put Trump in second place. While professing his love for the state, Cillizza said: “But, seriously? Eleven percent of you want this guy?”

Those pesky voters—they’re making a big mistake!

Plus, Cillizza did a drive-by on “Meet the Press,” accusing Trump of a “car-accident candidacy.”

Now, with Trump leading in a plethora of polls, Cillizza, to his credit, is admitting he was wrong, both in print and on the air. Trump “has quite clearly tapped into a populist message that plenty of people…are responding to,” he wrote yesterday. And: “Trump has been right a heck of a lot more than I have about his rise in this race.”

I don’t mean to pick on Chris, because he has plenty of company in the media establishment. They viewed Trump as something of an alien, a sideshow, a clown (which is how he was pictured on the cover of New York’s Daily News). And there was a unified chorus of “now he’s going to implode” after each perceived misstep (the Mexican immigrant remarks, the McCain war record comments), followed by shock and amazement when Trump continued his climb in the polls.

Perhaps because I’ve been interviewing him on and off since 1987, I knew Trump was a media master and not to be underestimated (though even I’ve been surprised by the speed of his ascent).

Now we have the media elite finally trying to grapple with Trump’s appeal. After a Bloomberg focus group (cited by Cillizza), author John Heielmann said it was clear that people don’t think Trump is a summer fling, that they like his success, that he’s a billionaire seen as “one of us.”

As Heilemann’s partner Mark Halperin said on “Morning Joe,” people think Trump is “classy. The establishment has to understand that. Right now they just think of him as a joke.”

Not everyone in the media is convinced. Yahoo’s Matt Bai, who’s still smarting from writing a 1999 piece on Trump’s flirtation with a Reform Party run, says The Donald is amusing us to death:

“Oh yes, I know, Trump is a legitimate obsession because he is the 'Republican front-runner.' Look at the polls. Only an arrogant elitist would avoid covering everything the front-runner says and does just because you think him insufficiently qualified…

“Trump draws crowds because he is a genuine celebrity and a world-class entertainer. Politics is tedium and sameness, like network dramas in the age before cable. Trump is reality TV, live and unscripted.

“And let’s drop all the pretense: That’s why we in the media hyperventilate over his every utterance, too. I’m not saying, as the Huffington Post does, that Trump’s candidacy shouldn’t be covered as an actual candidacy. Only that, if there were any real proportion here, Trump would merit about half the coverage he gets, and we wouldn’t constantly be baiting him to hurl some new, headline-making epithet.”‎

I get that news outlets are in a symbiotic relationship with Trump, who produces big ratings and traffic. But what many pundits haven’t figured out is that commanding media attention is a skill, one that many candidates just aren’t much good at.

That doesn’t mean Trump will win the nomination. It doesn’t mean he would be a good president. But it does mean he is running circles around a press corps that made the yuuuge mistake of treating him with disdain.

Trump is taking Olympic wrestling and turning pro.

And, again- what happened to the controversy and outrage over his remarks about McCain and the behavior of illegals? Trump said "Tough shit if you don't like it", and moved on. All the normal tactics of the press aren't working with this guy.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
And, again- what happened to the controversy and outrage over his remarks about McCain and the behavior of illegals? Trump said "Tough shit if you don't like it", and moved on. All the normal tactics of the press aren't working with this guy.

It is truly amazing to see. The MSM are having a fit trying to figure out a way to trip him up. I am thoroughly enjoying the show.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
And, again- what happened to the controversy and outrage over his remarks about McCain and the behavior of illegals? Trump said "Tough shit if you don't like it", and moved on. All the normal tactics of the press aren't working with this guy.

Not to mention his poll numbers improved after those remarks about McCain, even with veterans.

And 15 months is a long time. 15 months of the Republican candidates eating their young and 15 months of Obama burning more pages of the Constitution.
I don't think we have seen the worst from Obama yet.
In this way Obama will fuel more of the fire that has become Trump. The more outrageous Obama becomes the louder the Trump chant will become.

I'd love to see him come out of Thursday's debate with a doubling of his lead over the others, pulling Pct away from the Santorums and other bottom dwellers eliminating their funding sources would go a long way to cleaning up the GOP nomination process.

We have about 10 too many candidates...

I love it. Just heard on the radio coming home today another interview with Trump where they asked him how much income tax he paid per year. His answer...As little as absolutely possible given he was a businessman looking out for the best interests of his companies and his employees. He also noted he disliked how the government was wasting his taxes, so he didn't want to give them any more money than required by law.

This is exactly the approach I'd advocated for Romney when he ran instead of the apologetic mealy mouth nonsense he offered up to his attackers. Trump's still batting 1,000 on my scorecard.

It's great watching the politicians suddenly grow a backbone and start rebelling. Probably wouldn't be happening except for Trump calling out the party.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-g...m-speaker-last-week/

Exclusive–John Boehner Embarrassed: His Whip Team Couldn’t Find Votes to Reelect Him Speaker Last Week

Too long for me to re-post.

quote:

The more outrageous Obama becomes the louder the Trump chant will become.

I agree. And why might that be? Because Trump is the only political figure (as he now has become) who will take Obama head on, no holds barred. Boehner and McConnell -- it would be better if they were just standing around with their thumbs up their butts. But they keep both hands free so that they can help and assist Obama at every turn.

Main stream politicians and pundits have no idea-- zero-- totally clueless-- about how pissed off people are. Trump is their rude awakening.

My suggestion for a campaign slogan for the Donald:

The Trump Revolution

Join the solution or remain part of the problem.

^^^

they can't take Zippy head on - they're too busy giving him a blow job

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
^^^

they can't take Zippy head on - they're too busy giving him a blow job

LMFAO.......sad but so true

Trump is resonating with the American voter, because he is the only man standing up FOR the American voter.

All the other candidates wanna piss on my back & tell me it's raining.

I know Trump is not a conservative, & he doesn't believe in firearm ownership as strongly as I do (same as the other candidates/politicians), but at least he ain't a pussy like Boner & McTurtle, & the majority of other Repubs.

How long are we gonna have to put up with Santorum, Perry, Pataki, Kasich, & other pussy Repubs who have no shot at winning, but want to bad mouth Trump? I hope they tank in the polls the more they talk shit about Trump, & I hope none of them get another elected position again.

As an aside, I'm so sick & tired of Rick Perry saying he will fix the border. He had a chance to, for a long time, & of course didn't do shit. FO Rick Perry.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
^^^

they can't take Zippy head on - they're too busy giving him a blow job

This is ridiculous. Opposition does not mean ill conceived political suicide, and rude confrontation. A great many of the results we have seen were from cold political calculated realities. As I point out time and again, if you don't have the votes, you do things their way.

What does it accomplish to have a majority vote on a measure that will certainly be vetoed, with no hope whatever of override?

When Senator Cruz did his filibuster, the one that shut down the government, so it was claimed, what good did it do? The government didn't actually shut much, except the tourist attractions that voters had planned to visit. Government employees got some time off with full pay, and the media tub thumping made it sound like an ill-conceived political stunt.

Those of you who are unhappy that the Congress hasn't been more effective in shutting down some of Obama's program don't understand how the rules and procedures work, or apparently realistically gauge political support for these antics. You just want what you want, much like the people who wanted civil rights laws for decades before there was sufficient support to get a meaningful bill through over the firm opposition. Until you have the essential parts in place to make it stick, it is merely tilting at windmills, squandering marginal support, demoralizing staunch support and shooting your own leaders.