The Republicans
have one single chance to win the presidency in 2016. One big chance. Chris
Christie.
The
larger-than-life-size politician, the governor of New Jersey, won his
re-election by about 20 points – a Republican landslide in a Democratic state –
and he did it by winning a majority of votes from all minority caches, women,
gays, Hispanics and blacks, Heck, he even polled 38 percent of Democrats.
And, of course, in
the present anti-tolerance mode of the ultra-conservative wing of the GOP,
Christie was attacked for not being conservative enough. His retort was
priceless: “I don’t like labels, that’s the game they play in Washington. Maybe
those folks ought to come up to New Jersey and see how it’s done.”
Touche!
It’s hard to
understand the hard stance of folks like slap-happy Rick Perry, my
way-or-the-highway-Rand Paul,
I’m-thinking-about-staking-out-my-position-in-the-party Marco Rubio and
take-no-prisoners Ted Cruz. The GOP, with the party’s present stances on social
issues, will not – repeat, WILL NOT – be able to win a national political race.
The numbers for a
GOP candidate to win the presidency in 2016 simply don’t add up. The party has
poked its thumb in the eye of women, gays, minorities of any color and culture
… and without a goodly number of those voters, winning a national election is
impossible.
So, what’s the
plan, eh?
That’s the point:
There is no plan. There is no coordination of message. There is no common platform
to bring minority voters into the Republican camp. There are no negotiations to
come up with a moderate live-and-let-live party philosophy that a majority of
the people of this country can embrace.
It is blatantly
obvious that politicians of both parties are bought servants of big money
interests, with payoffs strewn about by liberal and conservative
candidate-mills alike.
Rich folks who
think gays and lesbians should be burned on the public square and the event
televised for all to see will pony up ungodly amounts of funky money for a
candidate that will espouse that belief. Stop immigration? How much money do
you need to stoke that fire? Anti-abortion advertisements? Here’s $50 million,
buy the television time!
Fat cat
left-leaners will help pad the political party payroll for any candidate that
will lambast the hardline tactics of the Republicans. Balancing the budget and
reducing the deficit are side issues to these politicos; it’s all “what’s in it
for me?” and “how can I get re-elected?” mentality.
The hypocrisy in
Washington-on-the-Deficit is appalling. One conservative lawmaker will lament
the deficit, and then add a $2 million dam project in a non-related bill. A
liberal lawmaker chides the military for spending too much money on armament, and
then pushes through committee a bill tobuy military plans the military swears
it does not want.
It’s a fact:
Government is not working. And the sad thing about this scenario is that there
are those that call themselves conservatives that are enamored with demagogues
like Ted Cruz, intelligence-challenged stumble-bums like Sarah Palin and Rick
Perry, political switcheroos like Marco Rubio, and weasel-word-pontificators
like Rand Paul.
Assuredly, this is
not the best we can do.
If the GOPers are
smart, and from the last national election, there is no proof of that, Chris
Christie will be the Republican nominee. He is the only one thus far that has a
proven record of reconciliation and appeal across the nation’s demographical
landscape. (Note: He could be the nominee IF he is not devoured by those of his
own party who would rather lose a national election than win one.)
At this point, he
is the only one that has a ghost of a chance in whipping the de facto
Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. In opposition to the GOP, the Dems
stable of viable political candidates are fairly slim: Hillary Clinton … and a
bunch of who-are-they? echoes.
Chris Christie vs.
Hillary Clinton in 2016 Mark it down. It would be the battle for the ages.
