The Second Flight

Looks like things are getting shaken up in Republican Party Land!  It is like Candyland, save they are the ones bringing the Monopoly money over to get dibs on some of the best spots to land... the spots marked 'massive debt'.  It appears that the concept of Republican Party Establishment 'electability' that has gotten us such winners as McCain, Dole, and to a degree H.W. Bush is now taking it on the chin.  Getting to the headline thread at Hot Air sees that support in FL, where Romney has been campaigning for well nigh five years, has done a switcheroo after SC.  Remember now, Romney has saturated the airwaves, put out tons of robocalls (up to five a night in some households between the official campaign, the local campaign and the various PACs) and the man is now trailing... Newt Gingrich?  OK, it is alternate universe time as something is going on... and taking that to light here is what I wrote... given as is, barely getting breakfast finished and my first cup of coffee is STILL in front of me...

Now which alternate universe did I wake up in today?

Is it the one where a staunch fiscal conservative is ahead in the polls in primary? Hmmm… no… a couple of government tweakers and streamliners lead…

Is it the one in which a candidate is looking to rollback government power? Hmmmm…. no… just a couple of good managers for an authoritarian State, each with their own little cubbyholes and idosyncracies.

Is it the one in which a candidate will actually look at the Constitution word by word, sentence by sentence, clause by clause as it is written and then put that into place as the restricted and enumerated powers that the federal government is granted? Ooooo… nope… still not in that universe… yet…

Is it the one in which the base has gotten fed up with the elites and have decided that 2010 was only the beginning and a kamikaze mission is needed at the highest level to wake everyone up from their dreamland of thinking that getting rid of Obama is the ONLY thing that needs to happen? Hmmmm… you know… hmmmm… COD, Whitman… hmmmm… why yes! What happens when a political party decides to ignore the warning signs in a major interim election that was clearly telling it that it must support candidates who will STOP THE SPENDING? Why a kamikaze du jour to start the break-up of the establishment’s power in the party, to shatter its aura making of ‘electability’, to remove the final shreds of its credibility of being able to lead a National party that actually will PROTECT the Constitution and the Nation.

Yes, that appears to be the universe I woke up in this morning.

2010 redux, the second flights of the kamikaze attacks as the Republican leadership and its supporters have been bashed over the head with a simple cluebat of STOP THE SPENDING and haven’t listened. And this time the attack is only tangentially going after the officially approved-of candidate: the real target is the facade of power of the old Rockefeller Republican section of the party. Their new and improved, yet old and indifferent 5 year running candidate is suffering the merest blow-by of the attack… he is as unprepared as the establishment is for this kamikaze attack. Gingrich isn’t winning because of anything more than his willingness to fight and he is being fueled because his direction, his bombast and his rhetoric will hit right at the old establishment heart of the party. Mind you, that doesn’t mean he gets the nomination or the election, but he will serve his purpose.

The Republican party has had 2 Years to clean up its act.

It didn’t do that.

Is anyone surprised at these results?

ajacksonian on January 23, 2012 at 7:58 AM

Elections, as they say, have consequences.

I would expound a bit more on that, but I was more or less just enhancing the fact that Newt Gingrich's support isn't coming because of his POSITIONS nor because of his POLICY outlook.  Nope, not much difference between Romney and Gingrich, and blessed little between those two and Santorum... Ron Paul is in another reality all together, and if he wants to make an impact on the party during the nomination process, he should concentrate on the place he will get traction which is economic policy.

Newt Gingrich is the happy kamikaze, and we had a lot of those in 2010, and they weren't the most electable, the most stable, the most pure of candidates.  Some 'lost' races that an Establishment Republican might have 'won', but they would then be representative of a the Establishment, not the party base.  You can't win for losing that way, so you might as well send in an expendable candidate.  And the secret is that sometimes those expendables will win, which doesn't make them perfect or even good, but they do drive a message home and if they decide to flip on policy they will find the next kamikaze is coming at them.

That is this time around: the Second Flight of the Kamikaze Attacks Upon the Republican Party.

The Party had two whole years to mend its ways.

It didn't do so and didn't even try, what with the internal spending and extravagances that went on pretty much flying in the face of those who wanted money frugally spent.  Apparently there is a faulty receiver system in the Republican Party, and because I once sent money to that benighted organization I get calls to send them more money... and my original $25 was ill-spent... so I let them know my money is staying home and going to worthy candidates.  Not through an organization that skims off the top for fancy retreats and expensive dinners.  If they flew coach, stayed at a Red Roof Inn and ate at McDonald's and didn't go to the swanky bars and strip clubs, they might have gotten the clue or at least put on appearances of same.  It is STILL a big spending party on the Establishment side.  And their happy holiday retreat on the party member's money is now getting a high level kamikaze attack headed their way.

No I don't support any of these guys.

But someone needs to get the message driven home and Newt Gingrich is, at least, generally on target although he is coming from a quarter that doesn't really work, at least he has a clue as to what the target is.

Fuel him up, give him another ton of bombast to carry, and send him on his happy way.

The rest of us will concentrate on putting a Counterweight in place.