Gentlemen, It’s Time to Do Your Sad Duty

 

Over at The Weekly Standard today, Bill Kristol put up poll results from South Carolina. Although the pollster wished to remain anonymous, Bill explained, he was unaffiliated with any of the campaigns and is both “honest” and “competent.” Here’s where his work indicates that matters now stand:

  • Trump 32
  • Cruz 26
  • Rubio 20
  • Bush 10
  • Carson 7
  • Kasich 2

In re which, a friend left this note in my inbox:

If Bill’s friend’s numbers are right, Jeb needs to get out of this race … for the good of the Republic.

Things are getting serious — and the phrase “for the good of the Republic” does indeed apply, does it not? And it goes without saying that if the moment has come for Jeb, then it has come as well for Dr. Carson and Gov. Kasich.

Gentlemen, it’s time.

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  1. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    First off. DON’T PANIC!!! Were at what South Carolina. My god people I can read a book and see that people used to enter the race after Florida and they would still be credible.  I remember watching Newt winning SC last time around, and that was after Lindsay Graham and Nikki Haley barnstormed the state with Mitt Romney.

    We have a lot of states to go before the Panic should begin. Lets see how Trump reacts when loses most of the SEC primary to Ted Cruz.

    What was it two weeks ago I remember you all panicking over Trumps certain victory in Iowa. Who got that prediction right hmm?

    However I will say Trump goes to the General election, he will crush the Democrats. He will win NY and put California in contention.  He will win at least 20 percent of the black vote.  I have seen his kind before.

    In Canada you will be hard pressed to find a more Liberal city than Toronto.  Rob Ford ran anti ‘Gravy Train’ populist uprising right into the Mayors office.  He won 59 percent of the vote in a race against a Gay Former Liberal Cabinet Minister who was very popular.

    • #91
  2. Frank Soto Member
    Frank Soto
    @FrankSoto

    ToryWarWriter: However I will say Trump goes to the General election, he will crush the Democrats. He will win NY and put California in contention. He will win at least 20 percent of the black vote. I have seen his kind before.

    All available data says this is wrong.

    • #92
  3. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Guruforhire:After SC it maybe to late to turn to the only hope the party has: Gilmore.

    Never too late. Feel the mania.

    • #93
  4. Frank Soto Member
    Frank Soto
    @FrankSoto

    BrentB67:

    Guruforhire:After SC it maybe to late to turn to the only hope the party has: Gilmore.

    Never too late. Feel the mania.

    gilmania

    • #94
  5. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    ‘All available data says this is wrong.’  And 99 percent of climate change scientists agree.

    All available data is made by pundits who have never seen something Trump before.

    There riding there preconceived notions.  Right into the ditch.

    • #95
  6. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    Or are these all the people who said that the only person who could beat Barack Obama was Mitt Romney?

    I thought political correctness was king, and you could never insult Veterans, Women or Minorities?

    How many of these people have actually run successful election campaigns?

    • #96
  7. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    If you have data to contradict the mainstream data, you are welcome to present it.

    • #97
  8. Frank Soto Member
    Frank Soto
    @FrankSoto

    ToryWarWriter:Or are these all the people who said that the only person who could beat Barack Obama was Mitt Romney?

    That Mitt Romney lost is not evidence that someone else would have one.

    I thought political correctness was king, and you could never insult Veterans, Women or Minorities?

    What point are you trying to make here?

    How many of these people have actually run successful election campaigns?

    Mike Murphy has run many.  I suspect you are not in his camp this go around.

    • #98
  9. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    I’m so depressed. Bush will not drop out until Murphy has squeezed the last consultant’s fee out of him – it will be like his brother sacking Rumsfeld a day late and a dollar short to do any good. Cruz cannot win – even here at Ricochet, let alone among the general public, the guy goes over like Joe McCarthy without the affability. It should be hard to lose to Hillary this year, but it really looks like we’re  going to pull it off.

    • #99
  10. Mike H Inactive
    Mike H
    @MikeH

    Here’s my response to this post.

    • #100
  11. Sash Member
    Sash
    @Sash

    Why not just support Cruz if we are afraid of Trump?

    Because Cruz’s devotion to ideology in the face of doing something really damaging to the party and the nation was  demonstrated too clearly with his filibuster.  Cruz stopped Conservatives from being able to do any good thing by driving the public away from Conservatives.  Cruz did not accomplish anything, and kept others from being effective too.

    Cruz is polarizing.  Cruz thinks he knows what is right and will  stick to it no matter the evidence to the contrary.

    Trump may be able to get more done for Conservatives without driving the country away from the whole movement.  Because  Trump is not at all conservative.  He just agrees on a couple of issues.  But better those than nothing, which is what will likely get with Cruz, or we shove it down the throats of our fellow Americans, the way the Democrats did to us.  I’m not interested in forced conservatism.

    Rubio is really the only choice that is both conservative and helpful for the conservative movement long term.

    • #101
  12. Mr. Dart Inactive
    Mr. Dart
    @MrDart

    Mike H:

    wmartin:First real poll out of SC just came out, from Opinion Savvy (pollster with a pretty good record). Big lead for Trump at 36%, Cruz and Rubio way behind at 19% and 15%.

    It’s basically a duplicate of the most recent poll before that. I wonder if that’s really how the race stands or they were eyeing that poll strongly when they were in the field.

    The Augusta Chronicle/ Opinion Savvy poll was taken on 2/10 & 2/11 and has a +/- of 3%  It was a landline and cell phone poll.

    1. Trump 36.3%
    2. Cruz 19.6%
    3. Rubio 14.6%
    4. Bush 10.9%
    5. Kasich 8.7%
    6. Carson 4.7%
    7. Undecided 5.2%                                                                                                                                        The only thing surprising about it to me is the Kasich and Carson numbers. I thought they looked reversed. But they aren’t.
    • #102
  13. Jim Kearney Member
    Jim Kearney
    @JimKearney

    Douglas:

    … There can be only one!

    Have you been watching Billions? They used that line last week. Great new show. My favorite Showtime program, even better than Penn & Teller’s Bulls…!

    • #103
  14. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Bob Laing:

    Guruforhire:So what is the message here for the 35-40% of the party that supports Trump?

    Go away? Shut up and send money? This isn’t really a coalition, you work for us, now shut up? Interesting, and you guys call trump a fascist.

    You don’t think the 30% (It’s not 35%-40%) of the party that supports Trump isn’t doing the same thing? I think we have reached an impasse. I’m truly starting to believe that Cruz is the reasonable compromise between Rubio and Trump.

    Ding ding ding ding ding.

    • #104
  15. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Kate Braestrup:I think it’s interesting that race (and, for that matter, class) relations are so bad after eight years of Obama. Has anyone explained the phenomenon? If I were Obama (or H or B) I’d really be doing some soul-searching on this. Making black people at least feel better if not actually be better is what the left is supposed to be all about. I wonder if they would go on getting worse under either Hillary or Bernie, and might they actually get better (perhaps the economy, too?) under the GOP? (Is this something only I worry about?)

    I take it that you are not familiar enough with Alinsky, and Obama’s association with him, to believe that this is a feature, not a bug of the community organizing methodology.  Nonetheless, as you make your way from left to right, I am certain that this central horrible truth about the designs of people who hold power, and the nethods by which they obtain and maintain it, will emerge from the fog.

    You are far from alone in worrying about it, but you will see no help on the left.  They need it this way.

    • #105
  16. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Fake John/Jane Galt:

    Kate Braestrup: I just don’t get the Trump part of Trump-Appeal.

    “to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”

    That is what the Trump part is about. The plebes realize they are losing the fight and are going to make it hurt as much as it can.

    Some days.  The plebes also realize that we are in charge, not the pigs who sleep in beds, and are launching one of our own through the window.

    How thorough is the base/establishment split that we see Trump as one of our own?  Well, more so than the establishment can understand, that’s apparent.  Which is *why* argument about merits is pointless.  We have little to discuss until the establishment comes around.

    Either we the people are in charge, or elections are the wrong way to go about effecting change.  And that’s the way it is.

    • #106
  17. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Sash:Why not just support Cruz if we are afraid of Trump?

    Because Cruz’s devotion to ideology in the face of doing something really damaging to the party and the nation was demonstrated too clearly with his filibuster. Cruz stopped Conservatives from being able to do any good thing by driving the public away from Conservatives. Cruz did not accomplish anything, and kept others from being effective too.

    Cruz is polarizing. Cruz thinks he knows what is right and will stick to it no matter the evidence to the contrary.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/361655/art-impossible-andrew-c-mccarthy

    I invite your attention to a well-put refutation of the “Cruz screwed us” meme regarding shutdowns in general and the 2013 ObamaCare event in particular.

    • #107
  18. J. D. Fitzpatrick Member
    J. D. Fitzpatrick
    @JDFitzpatrick

    Ball Diamond Ball:

    Sash:Why not just support Cruz if we are afraid of Trump?

    Because Cruz’s devotion to ideology in the face of doing something really damaging to the party and the nation was demonstrated too clearly with his filibuster. Cruz stopped Conservatives from being able to do any good thing by driving the public away from Conservatives. Cruz did not accomplish anything, and kept others from being effective too.

    Cruz is polarizing. Cruz thinks he knows what is right and will stick to it no matter the evidence to the contrary.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/361655/art-impossible-andrew-c-mccarthy

    I invite your attention to a well-put refutation of the “Cruz screwed us” meme regarding shutdowns in general and the 2013 ObamaCare event in particular.

    Lincoln was polarizing enough to prompt a secession. But he was what the country needed in the White House after years of fecklessness on the single matter that needed resolution.

    From Andy McCarthy’s article that BDB linked to:

    it is not an exaggeration to say the GOP establishment is more sympathetic to Obama’s case for the centralized welfare state than to the Tea Party’s case for limited government and individual liberty. And it is not an exaggeration to say that Beltway Republicans are more worried about what the media will say about them today than what the Tea Party may do to them every other year.

    Amen. Let them burn in their own poll-painted palace.

    • #108
  19. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Peter Peter Peter . . . don’t fret.  My wife and I are voting for Ted Cruz, so soak your sweaters in Woolite and relax.

    And if Trump wins, call us for counseling . . .

    • #109
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