Years ago, I was having problems with the cable and for the fourth or fifth time in a month I found myself on the phone with the cable company. The customer service woman had me push some buttons, reboot the box and report back the results. We did this a few times without success.
After the the fourth or fifth time I finally asked her why she thought another reboot would have a different result than the previous reboots. To her credit, she said she had no idea, but it was the only option she had to help me. I wondered at the time how long we would have gone on rebooting if I had not broken the loop.
I decided to cancel the cable at that point. She may not have had choices, but I had options. That event came to mind reading this story about the GOP in the Tidewater trying to run the same old scam on Trump that Fox tried during the debate.
Republican leaders in two states reportedly are plotting to make presidential candidate Donald Trump’s quest for the GOP nomination a lot harder.
Party leaders in Virginia and North Carolina told Politico.com that they are considering a push to require candidates entering their respective Republican primaries to pledge their support for the eventual nominee and not run a third-party candidacy — a pledge Trump, the current frontrunner, would not make when asked to during the Fox News debate earlier this month in Cleveland.
“Anybody who wants to seek the Republican nomination should have to commit to supporting the ultimate Republican nominee,” Virginia’s former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told Politico. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
Republican party officials in North Carolina announced a similar proposal, and told Politico they already are in talks with lawyers to draft language for a provision that asks each candidate to support the GOP nominee.
“Everything is on the table,” an official told Politico.
Party leaders in North Carolina and Virginia say they hope their ballot proposals will help convince the billionaire businessman to fully commit to the Republican Party.
The primary requirements must be submitted to the Republican National Committee by Oct. 1, Politico reports.
“Ballot access usually is regarded as a party function,” former RNC Chief Counsel Tom Josefiak told the website. “It definitely would be left up to the state party to decide how it’s going to operate.”
This is just the party pushing the same button and hoping this time they get a better result. Fox News and the GOP schemed for a month about how to box in Trump on this issue and they came up with the very lame hand raising business to start the debate. That was a flop with the voters and failed to accomplish anything. I guess we can expect state party dimwits to push the same button over and over now, thinking this time is the charm.
What we are seeing here is something you hear in sports all the time. Pressure reveals character. It’s easy to be a principled man when there is nothing at risk. Sticking to your guns when you are at great personal risk is a different matter altogether. More than a few “honorable” men have been revealed as something less when faced with real risk.
The Republican Party and its media wing are being squeezed by their donors on the one side and their voters on the other. This is not unusual as rich people try hard to buy politicians from all parties. A fundamentally sound party can rely on its organizing principles to strike a balance. Right now the party and its media arm are lurching about from one crackpot scheme to the next, unmoored from anything resembling principles.
Similarly, the media wing of the party is struggling to mount an affirmative argument in favor of their team. Instead we have been treated to childish rants that resemble a baby banging his rattle on the high chair. I used to enjoy reading some of them. Now, I’m embarrassed for them. I get the sense, reading the comments in these rants about Trump, that I’m not alone. A lot of people are learning the meaning of myötähäpeä.
Bingo, Dutch! So many just don’t get it. [Sigh…] Friends – but especially ALL but one close family member – are experiencing just this, “myotahapea,” [missing Zman’s fancy punctuation thingies (thingys?)] as they watch me cheer for, promote, stand up with, and yearn for MORE TRUMP!!!
Thank you, Roy L., for the fast definition as I was waiting for our warp-speed-challenged Gore-created interweb to locate one… [Not only were we promised “transformation,” “Electricity rates” that would “necessarily skyrocket,” but didn’t we also get as part of this butt-kissing (butt-kicking… same same with the elite we group -cough cough- elect every couple or four years or so) that “net neutrality” would allow everyone the same $hitty internet/cable service?!?]
In short, If Trump is really the big “F-you” and the middle finger to the powers that be, why do TPTB give him so many opportunities, in so many contexts, to give them the finger? They really don’t get it.
I do not know how all this will play out, but I enjoy seeing the “right people” squirm. Fox News has been unmasked as a member of the club. That is not a surprise, but it has been fun to watch them lose their cover in such an awkward fashion.
Ratings, baby! Ratings.
Every time Trump flips a media figure the bird, they get umpteen zillion views and clicks. The country is even angrier at the media — most definitely including Fox — than they are at The Establishment. But the media doesn’t see that; all they see is their numbers going up.
[That’s an excuse of sorts, I suppose, for why they don’t see what’s happening. I have no excuse at all for the GOP. I mean, I know they’re the stupid party, but this is too-stupid-to-remember-to-breathe territory].
The Republican leadership is ideologically liberal and out of step with the base. Trump is merely the messenger the Republican base has chosen. He is bringing a warning. Depending on how the messenger is treated, the base might well stay home in 2016, and the Democrats might will the Presidency and both Houses whomever they nominate. We might actually be witnessing the demise of the Republican Party.
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They would accomplish more by ignoring him.
Myötähäpeä – the antonym of schadenfreude.
There is nothing new under the sun. The wars within the parties have been with us for a while.
1944 Truman/Wallace
1948 Dewey/Taft
1952 Eisenhower/Taft
1964 Goldwater as the sacrificial lamb
1968 Riots at the Democratic National Convention
1976 Reagan/Ford
1980 Reagan/Bush
1992 Clinton as the sacrificial lamb who won
2008 Obama/Clinton
Yeah, I had to look it up. Geez, Zman don’t let this poet thing go to your head.
I read Nat Review every day. They are very upset about the trump business…its like watching people get the rug pulled out from under their feet.
I don’t much like the trump. Blowhard a……. Is the phrase that comes to mind. But he sure has struck a goldmine in the dirt pile the gop pretended didn’t exist. I was a Scott walker supporter, but he’s become absolutely flummoxed on how to bridge the gap between the big republican donors, and the angry crowd of peasants. Myself, it’s hard to just pretend it’s a joke as you watch 200 plus years of constitutional history swirl around the drain.
We didn’t even come close to Romans in longevity did we?
Tim
I’m not even sure we built better roads than the Romans
I’m thinking I should rename the blog to “Musings of the Artist Formally Known as Zman”
The GOP will die if they block Trump, our favorite media oligarch, Murdoch wants Michael Bloomberg running! If its for the GOP or Dems I don’t know.
After the weekend political shows, I don’t know if I’m more sick of seeing Jeb or Christie. I do know that I won’t vote for either one. I do notice that I pay more attention to the buying of politicians than I did pre-Trump. Did you know that Tom Steyer is buying up Latino politicians? I suspect they will be the brown verison of Sharpton and Jackson. And they will deliver about as much to their constituents.
Trump’s reply should be, “bring it”. The GOP Establishment is just not getting this. It might be a squeaker, but Trump could pull out a third party win if they try to deny him the nomination. Look at all the polls. Who would vote for Jeb? About 7% of the queried populous. He’s going nowhere and I’m already tired of seeing his earnest but-it’s-my-turn-to-be-president face.