How daft is the GOP base? This daft:
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (14 percent) leads businessman Donald Trump (11 percent) in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary contest, according to a poll from the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
Trump's second-place 11 percent is well within the 4 percent margin of error. For all we know, Bush is trailing the Donald. Meanwhile, Trump leads every other GOP candidate, and "Among self-identified conservatives, Trump (13 percent) topped the field by besting Walker (11 percent) and Bush (10 percent)."
The manifest truth of the matter nearly screams at us: Much of Trump's support is the support of protest. But what, exactly, are these likely GOP primary voters protesting? They have every conceivable breed of contemporary Republicanism — from pretend gravitas to profound screwballism — to choose from. They have the relatively "smart" brother of America's dumbest, most incompetent president ever; they have a sleepy-eyed, Koch-headed nitwit of a union-buster; they have a subcontinental Indian Cajun who is the perfect replacement for Mr. Rogers; they have a Great White Whale who simply will not relent from his Ahabian Quest, come hellish indictments or not; they have a marvelously intellectual-looking Texan of absolutely no learning as well as short-, medium-, and long-term memory loss; they have two Cuban-American Gen. Pattons who have as much familiarity with Clausewitz as does a horsetail fern; and they have at least three Billy Sundays.
It's a splendid, even ideal conservative buffet to move one's tray along. Whether one yearns for the paradisiacal days of the Bush II administration, or the theocratic ramblings of an Elmer Gantry, or simply the cold demagoguery of a Wisconsin imbecile, the GOP presidential self-eatery is open for business — and it has exactly what every right-thinking primary voter could ever want. So I ask again. What's with their hunger strike?
Paging Dr Frankenstein! Please report to Emergency. An electable Republican candidate is urgently needed. Some assembly is required.
Posted by: Peter G | June 23, 2015 at 12:38 PM
And you just know that the "brain" will be supplied by A. B. Normal...
Posted by: shsavage | June 23, 2015 at 02:14 PM
There's no hunger strike. They just don't all feed at the same time. One by one the splinter groups reach toward their guiding light and surface on the candidate pool where they float until crowded out by another. It's an organic process like algae blooms; no real thinking involved.
Posted by: Bob | June 23, 2015 at 02:42 PM
I think it's just that he's the shiniest object in the field right now. Dangle some keys in front of their faces, and it too will be within the four point margin of error that could actually leave Jeb trailing.
Posted by: Anne J | June 23, 2015 at 04:25 PM