Republican Self-Sabotage

 

shutterstock_193802486The latest CBS poll suggests that the Trump juggernaut continues to roll, with 35 percent of Republicans supporting him. Ted Cruz, his nearest rival, garners 18 percent. Jeb Bush, the candidate who should have been the obvious choice if conventional wisdom about money and politics were even remotely true, is dead last with 4 percent. In vain does Ted Cruz protest that Donald Trump is not a conservative. Among those who describe themselves as “very conservative,” 35 percent favor Trump versus 30 percent for Cruz, and 12 percent for Rubio.

In South Carolina, Trump is ahead among the evangelical voters Ted Cruz targeted as his savior army that would rise up to carry a true conservative to victory. According to a Fox News poll (2/18), Trump leads Cruz 31 percent to 23 percent among evangelical Christians. And while Cruz leads among those who identify as “very conservative” it’s a razor-thin edge (well within the margin of error).

As in New Hampshire, Trump leads nationally among a broad swath of voters. Not only those with just a high school diploma (47 percent), but also those with some college (33 percent), and college graduates (25 percent). He is the preference of men and women, and among all income groups including those earning more than $100,000.

Any number of theories have been advanced about the Trump voters – that they represent the downscale whites who have been abandoned by the Republican Party, or that they are enraged by Republican failure to secure the border.

But as noted, Trump does well among upscale voters too. As for the great immigration rage, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Immigration was listed last among matters that were on voters’ minds in Iowa and New Hampshire. Besides, Trump did well even among voters who said they favored a path to citizenship for illegals living here.

No, there’s a better theory for why 35 percent of Republican primary voters are ready to hand the nomination to a bullying, loutish con man who accuses George W. Bush of war crimes while promising to commit some of his own (killing the wives and children of suspected terrorists, stealing the oil of Middle Eastern nations).

For the past several years, leading voices of what Matt Lewis has called “con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

Rather than aim their anger at President Obama and the Democrats, right wing websites, commentators like Ann Coulter and Mark Levin, and many others have instead repeated the libel that “Republicans gave Obama everything he wanted.” There has been a flavor of the “stab in the back” to these accusations. But for the treachery of the Republican Party, they claim, a party too timorous or too corrupt to stand up to Obama, we could have defunded Obamacare, balanced the budget, halted the Iran deal, you name it.

Aiming fire at your own side can be very satisfying for radio wranglers, et al. They have zero influence on Obama, but they can take down Eric Cantor. They can’t do much about Eric Holder, but they can dethrone John Boehner.

This is not to say that Republican leaders were perfect or that they couldn’t have done more in some instances to put bills on Obama’s desk – even if only to force vetoes and lay down markers for the next election. But the list of Obama initiatives Republicans thwarted is very long (universal pre-K, gun control, “paycheck fairness,” higher taxes). Moreover, the bloc of conservatives in the House that refused to vote for any budget made it that much more difficult for leadership to exert pressure on Democrats. Lastly, who believes it makes no difference that Republicans control the Senate in the wake of Justice Scalia’s death?

So congratulations to those conservatives who’ve been preaching the “betrayal” of the base by the establishment. You’ve won. You’ve convinced 70 percent of the Republican primary electorate (per the CBS poll) that the most important quality in a candidate is that he will “shake up the political system.”

With all its faults, the Republican Party is the only vehicle for conservative ideas in this country. Conservatives themselves, or at least those who styled themselves conservatives, may have sabotaged it, handing the reins not to a moderate, nor even to a liberal Republican, but to a lifelong Democrat.

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  1. WI Con Member
    WI Con
    @WICon

    ‘Thank you Mona may we have another!’

    Our respective Venn Diagram circles might briefly overlap on  election days.

    • #61
  2. Quake Voter Inactive
    Quake Voter
    @QuakeVoter

    Boge: You’ve decided to do your shopping with the guy in the alley that has a slew of items that happened to “fall off a truck”.

    Is that guy at all related to the drywall crews, landscapers, roofers, plumbers and framers hiring out of the corner of the Home Depot parking lot or the alley besides Lowes?

    Is that guy perhaps selling some items off a truck stolen in Tucson?

    I am a Cruz supporter, and not a Rubio opponent, but many of you just don’t get it.

    What is so sacred about illegal aliens and visa overstayers that we needed to crack up this party on their altars.

    You know, when the wall goes up the mouths of the professional Republican class will be no less agape than the mouths of East German apparachiks when their wall came down.

    • #62
  3. LilyBart Inactive
    LilyBart
    @LilyBart

    Richard Fulmer:

    LilyBart:

    I don’t disagree with your concern. But you don’t defeat Trump by insulting his supporters, telling them their idiots and utterly discounting their complaints.

    And, BTW, does the GOPe still prefer Trump to Cruz?

    Where did I insult anyone? I simply listed the arguments that Trump supporters have used on Ricochet and NRO. Since when is repeating people’s arguments an insult? All I’m asking is that people respond to logical arguments with fact and logic rather than with emotion.

    I have no idea who the GOPe prefers. I’m just a computer jockey sitting here in Humble, Texas. I ain’t nobody’s idea of an elite anything.

    Sorry, Richard, I didn’t mean you personally, I was thinking of the critics in general.

    I understand that we’re just trying to noodle this out here.  I’m getting desperate about this myself.   But I don’t think the base is ready to fall back into the old pattern.

    Good grief – Mona’s still lamenting Jeb’s failure – the ‘natural choice’  apparently.  Edit:  Do you think she understands why Jeb is at 4%?

    • #63
  4. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Mona’s post is extremely insulting. I am certainly an angry conservative, and for very good reasons: the GOP plays us for chumps every election cycle.

    Which is the biggest single reason why I prefer Cruz to Rubio: anyone who has the chutzpah to stand on the Senate floor and call his own leadership out as liars and scoundrels is someone who might – just might – actually have the courage to do all that needs doing to save America as the Land of Liberty.

    To all who ask the question: “Who is ‘The Republican Establishment?'”

    You can include Mona Charen on the list.

    • #64
  5. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    LilyBart:

    Richard Fulmer:

    LilyBart:

    Richard Fulmer:I don’t give a rat’s rear-end about what happens to the GOP; I care about what happens to the country. If Trump wins the nomination, we’ll get four more years of Obama – either because Trump will lose to the Democratic nominee or because Trump will win. Either way, a crony-capitalist, big-government candidate will be in the White House.

    I don’t disagree with your concern. But you don’t defeat Trump by insulting his supporters, telling them their idiots and utterly discounting their complaints.

    And, BTW, does the GOPe still prefer Trump to Cruz?

    Where did I insult anyone? I simply listed the arguments that Trump supporters have used on Ricochet and NRO. Since when is repeating people’s arguments an insult? All I’m asking is that people respond to logical arguments with fact and logic rather than with emotion.

    I have no idea who the GOPe prefers. I’m just a computer jockey sitting here in Humble, Texas. I ain’t nobody’s idea of an elite anything.

    Sorry, Richard, I didn’t mean you personally, I was thinking of the critics in general.

    I understand that we’re just trying to noodle this out here. I’m getting desperate about this myself. But I don’t think the base is ready to fall back into the old pattern.

    Good grief – Mona’s still lamenting Jeb’s failure – the ‘natural choice’ apparently.

    I don’t think that Mona was lamenting Bush.  She was just listing all of the candidates over whom Trump has triumphed and pointing out that, according to conventional wisdom, Bush should be the front runner.  She’s just adding an exclamation point to what Trump has accomplished.

    • #65
  6. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    iWe:Mona’s post is extremely insulting. I am certainly an angry conservative, and for very good reasons: the GOP plays us for chumps every election cycle.

    Which is the biggest single reason why I prefer Cruz to Rubio: anyone who has the chutzpah to stand on the Senate floor and call his own leadership out as liars and scoundrels is someone who might – just might – actually have the courage to do all that needs doing to save America as the Land of Liberty.

    To all who ask the question: “Who is ‘The Republican Establishment?’”

    You can include Mona Charen on the list.

    Mona was not insulting conservatives.  The only person she actually insulted was Trump.  Other than that, she scolded conservative pundits who have been aiming their guns at Republicans rather than at Obama.

    • #66
  7. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    Boge:I like the analogy. But more accurately, what you’ve done isn’t move on from K-mart to Walmart or Target. You’ve decided to do your shopping with the guy in the alley that has a slew of items that happened to “fall off a truck”.

    Perhaps.

    But I have a different take on your analogy. A guy selling stuff that “falls of a truck” is yet also a salesman.

    Maybe the “falling off a truck” is a shtick, intended to generate sales. You reminded me of Jungle Jim, a talented salesman who (if I recall correctly) got his start selling produce from an empty lot.

    His store is worth a visit, if you’re near enough.

    Anyway, we’ll see what Trump turns out to be, but I have no desire to return to K-mart.

    • #67
  8. Carol Member
    Carol
    @

    Jamie Lockett:

    Petty Boozswha:As for the great immigration rage, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Immigration was listed last among matters that were on voters’ minds in Iowa and New Hampshire.

    Mona I agree with the general thrust of your argument, but disagree that those of us that are furious with the K Street cabal are duped by Coulter and Beck. As to your pooh-poohing our rage at our immigration system, the reason it was listed last by voters is because terrorism was listed as an alternate choice. After Paris and San Bernardino illegal [and fatuously vetted legal] immigration and terrorist threats are so conjoined and intertwined in the minds of common folk that choosing one is the same as choosing both.

    I don’t think you give the “common folk” enough credit. They’re perfectly capable of distinguishing between the two issues, and nothing would stop them from listing immigration a bit higher than last…

    I think immigration is less of an issue for Iowa and New Hampshire because they have fewer immigrants.

    • #68
  9. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    LilyBart:It seems to me that the republican ‘leadership’, over time, calculated that they could neglect the interests of own base to some degree in favor of other interests – and the base would still continue to support them – after all, where could they go? But they’ve pushed it too far – and have provoked their base to anger.

    Can it be repaired? I don’t know. Is the leadership even willing to compromise?

    Exactly.

    I still recall Mike Murphy saying on one of the early ricochet podcasts that the base always shows up, so the establishment pays no attention to the base.

    Perhaps they should have.

    • #69
  10. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Richard Fulmer: Mona was not insulting conservatives. The only person she actually insulted was Trump. Other than that, she scolded conservative pundits who have been aiming their guns at Republicans rather than at Obama.

    Oh, I disagree! She wrote:

    For the past several years, leading voices of what Matt Lewis has called “con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

    This insults me because it assumes that I am a mere ruminant, incapable of thinking for myself.

    We HAVE been betrayed. Republicans folded on Iran. On Obamacare. On taking on the Executive Orders. On prosecuting all the corruption and wrongdoing.

    Cruz said it – but many people here were saying it beforehand. So was, in the main, the entire Tea Party movement.

    • #70
  11. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    We cannot stop Obama – our elected representatives can. And they have not done so. So our recourse is not to attack Obama, but to attack the wimpy spineless wonders who make it to DC and decide they would like to play patty-cake and settle in for the long haul.

    • #71
  12. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Ed G.:

    Richard Fulmer:

    katievs:

    BThompson:

    katievs:I hate this trashing of the base and the caricaturing of their concerns.

    To the extent the base sees Trump as the answer to it’s concerns, one has every right to question the base’s commitment to it’s principles as well as the validity of it’s concerns.

    Those of us who know Trump would make everything worse ought to be busy explaining that and showing how Cruz or Rubio isn’t more of the same, not heaping more contempt.

    Facts and logic don’t seem to work with Trump supporters. The reply is usually some variation of: So you’re for Jeb!, huh? / RINO! / You just don’t get it! / We’re angry, so your logic means nothing to us / The GOPe is getting what it deserves / We’re going to burn down the GOP and build a real conservative party on its ashes.

    If you or anyone else knows some way to get through, please tell us.

    I’ve been on many of the Trump threads on Ricochet and I don’t recognize most of these responses. Outsie of Ricochet? I can’t vouch for the outlanders.

    Then you haven’t been reading very carefully. These responses are on this very thread!

    • #72
  13. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Richard Fulmer:The point of Charen’s post is to describe the destruction caused by the Republican’s circular firing squad and to suggest that it should stop. The response is largely: “How dare you criticize us!” The irony is that this response is coming from supporters of the candidate that used the last GOP debate to re-launch the left’s “Bush lied, thousands died” campaign.

    We know how to read, and that’s not her point.

    • #73
  14. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Ball Diamond Ball:

    Richard Fulmer:The point of Charen’s post is to describe the destruction caused by the Republican’s circular firing squad and to suggest that it should stop. The response is largely: “How dare you criticize us!” The irony is that this response is coming from supporters of the candidate that used the last GOP debate to re-launch the left’s “Bush lied, thousands died” campaign.

    We know how to read, and that’s not her point.

    That’s the point I took from the piece.

    • #74
  15. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    Unless a miracle happens, we are going to end up with Bernie, Hillary, or Donald in the White House. This will be an epic disaster for the GOP and the country. Kyrie eleison.

    • #75
  16. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Ball Diamond Ball:

    Richard Fulmer:The point of Charen’s post is to describe the destruction caused by the Republican’s circular firing squad and to suggest that it should stop. The response is largely: “How dare you criticize us!” The irony is that this response is coming from supporters of the candidate that used the last GOP debate to re-launch the left’s “Bush lied, thousands died” campaign.

    We know how to read, and that’s not her point.

    Then maybe I don’t know how to read.  What do you think her point was?

    • #76
  17. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Another Mona piece where she again says Cruz is no better than Trump. This is once a week now. I don’t dare listen to her podcasts anymore. I don’t see how she can stand to talk to Jay, since he has some pro-Cruz stuff. Her contempt for those of us who support Cruz makes it sound like she would like to splash her drink in our faces.

    I do not support Trump. I do not support the lying Rubio who was part of the Gang of 8. I do not support Jeb! or the Democrat in Republican clothing Kasich.

    Guess who that leaves?

    • #77
  18. Redneck Desi Inactive
    Redneck Desi
    @RedneckDesi

    We have been betrayed by the American people and not the GOPe. The American people re-elected Obama and continue to support him at greater than 48% which is astonishingly high given where our country is. Outside of immigration, the GOP has opposed Obama to varying degrees of success. Democrats and the their followers blindly approve of his policies, even obviously flawed policies like his Iran policy. It is not GOPe guys, it is the limits of congressional power, the unified democrat party, and a successful demagogue which has led us to our current predicament.

    • #78
  19. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Richard Fulmer:The point of Charen’s post is to describe the destruction caused by the Republican’s circular firing squad and to suggest that it should stop. The response is largely: “How dare you criticize us!” The irony is that this response is coming from supporters of the candidate that used the last GOP debate to re-launch the left’s “Bush lied, thousands died” campaign.

    I support Cruz. I guess that to you, supporting Cruz is the same as supporting Trump.

    • #79
  20. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    Suspira:Unless a miracle happens, we are going to end up with Bernie, Hillary, or Donald in the White House. This will be an epic disaster for the GOP and the country. Kyrie eleison.

    Believing that, I suggest you work fervently to elect Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, much as people who had similar doubts were once directed to work to elect Mitt “Mittens” Romney as preezy.

    Trump will be the one on the Republican ticket.

    • #80
  21. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Mona Charen:
    For the past several years, leading voices of what Matt Lewis has called “con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

    Richard, this is an attack on Cruz supporters. Period. There is no other way to read it. She is blaming Cruz along with the “con$ervative” media and the Heritage Foundation for Trump.

    I am tired of being lectured too my my “betters”.

    Further, Ms. Charen is totally scared of us all. She makes a post, and does she “join the conversation”? Nope. Hit and run. Insult me for supporting Cruz, then run.

    • #81
  22. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Bryan G. Stephens:

    Richard Fulmer:The point of Charen’s post is to describe the destruction caused by the Republican’s circular firing squad and to suggest that it should stop. The response is largely: “How dare you criticize us!” The irony is that this response is coming from supporters of the candidate that used the last GOP debate to re-launch the left’s “Bush lied, thousands died” campaign.

    I support Cruz. I guess that to you, supporting Cruz is the same as supporting Trump.

    No, not at all.  Where did I give that impression?  My candidate was Jindal.  He’s long gone, so now I’m trying to decide between Rubio and Cruz.  Clearly, neither is perfect, but both are preferable to Trump.

    My dilemma is that it’s not obvious to me that Trump any better than either Clinton or Sanders.  It’s not clear that Trump’s actions would be much different from theirs.  All three support big government.  Trump and Clinton both support (and profit from) crony capitalism.  Clinton at least seems to support international trade, while Trump’s proposed tariffs threaten to shut it down.

    • #82
  23. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Bryan G. Stephens:

    Mona Charen:
    For the past several years, leading voices of what Matt Lewis has called “con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

    Richard, this is an attack on Cruz supporters. Period. There is no other way to read it. She is blaming Cruz along with the “con$ervative” media and the Heritage Foundation for Trump.

    I am tired of being lectured too my my “betters”.

    Further, Ms. Charen is totally scared of us all. She makes a post, and does she “join the conversation”? Nope. Hit and run. Insult me for supporting Cruz, then run.

    Charen mentioned Cruz almost in passing, and said nothing about his supporters.  The shot she took at Cruz was true.  He did go after fellow Republicans – that’s why they hate him so much.

    • #83
  24. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Richard Fulmer:

    Bryan G. Stephens:

    Mona Charen:
    For the past several years, leading voices of what Matt Lewis has called “con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

    Richard, this is an attack on Cruz supporters. Period. There is no other way to read it. She is blaming Cruz along with the “con$ervative” media and the Heritage Foundation for Trump.

    I am tired of being lectured too my my “betters”.

    Further, Ms. Charen is totally scared of us all. She makes a post, and does she “join the conversation”? Nope. Hit and run. Insult me for supporting Cruz, then run.

    Charen mentioned Cruz almost in passing. And she’s right, Cruz did go after fellow Republicans – that’s why they hate him so much.

    She went after him after using negative slur (con$servatives). Ms. Charen is a professional. If she did not mean that slur to be attached, then she should not have put Cruz there. She is attacking Cruz, and until Ms. Charen herself comes back into this thread to clarify, I am going to assume she is attacking Cruz, and anyone who supports him.

    • #84
  25. Dietlbomb Inactive
    Dietlbomb
    @Dietlbomb

    Trump’s support has nothing to do with the conservative movement or principles of any kind. His base is reacting to the Democrats’ total lack of any principles other than the lust for power. The Democratic Party’s coalition is based on identity politics: they fight to win power for their constituents over those who are not their constituents. And when they won in 2012, they gloated about how their constituents were going to permanently outnumber Republican constituents.

    The Republican base has had enough. Trying to fight fairly for conservative principles has given them zero victories, either moral or political. They just want to win something for themselves now.

    This situation is awful, but this is a democracy, and there was no way to prevent the debate from degenerating into pure power politics.

    If the Democrats hadn’t defected from the equilibrium by bringing in ringers to bolster their voter base, maybe Republicans would remain satisfied with whatever token wins they achieve by following the rules of honest debate (1 Reagan every 30 years is all we ask). But no, the Democrats had to flood the nation with 30 million Central Americans in order to rub our faces in diversity (and to swing every national election toward the coalition of the handouts). There was no incentive for the Democrats to play by the rules: they believe in universal human equality. There are no rules.

    The base supports Trump, not because he is right, but because he is on our side.

    • #85
  26. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    Xennady:

    Suspira:Unless a miracle happens, we are going to end up with Bernie, Hillary, or Donald in the White House. This will be an epic disaster for the GOP and the country. Kyrie eleison.

    Believing that, I suggest you work fervently to elect Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, much as people who had similar doubts were once directed to work to elect Mitt “Mittens” Romney as preezy.

    Trump will be the one on the Republican ticket.

    I could not in good conscience “work fervently” for Trump’s election. Maybe someone could persuade me to vote for him in extremis, but it would not be easy. The situation is not remotely similar to Romney’s candidacy. He was a conservative and a decent man, so voting for him would not sully any Republican, however much they may prefer another. Not so with Trump.

    Trump at the top of the Republican ticket would be the effective end of the party as a vehicle for conservatives on the national scene. It’s going to be interesting (in the Chinese curse sense).

    • #86
  27. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Mona Charen:No, there’s a better theory for why 35 percent of Republican primary voters are ready to hand the nomination to a bullying, loutish con man …

    “Con$ervative” media, along with groups like Heritage Action, and politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz, have ceaselessly flogged the false narrative that the Republican “grassroots” have been betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington.

    Rather than aim their anger at President Obama and the Democrats, right wing websites, commentators like Ann Coulter and Mark Levin, and many others have instead repeated the libel that “Republicans gave Obama everything he wanted.” There has been a flavor of the “stab in the back” to these accusations. …

    Aiming fire at your own side can be very satisfying for radio wranglers, et al. They have zero influence on Obama, but they can take down Eric Cantor. They can’t do much about Eric Holder, but they can dethrone John Boehner.

    So congratulations to those conservatives who’ve been preaching the “betrayal” of the base by the establishment. You’ve won. You’ve convinced 70 percent of the Republican primary electorate (per the CBS poll) that the most important quality in a candidate is that he will “shake up the political system.”

    Mona clearly sees only the elites as possessing agency.  The rest of us are their clay.  This is the beginning and end of the GOP’s problem.  They take the base for granted, and having run out of support, now seek a new base.

    • #87
  28. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    Jager:

    Mona Charen: So congratulations to those conservatives who’ve been preaching the “betrayal” of the base by the establishment. You’ve won. You’ve convinced 70 percent of the Republican primary electorate (per the CBS poll) that the most important quality in a candidate is that he will “shake up the political system

    If you can only convince 30% of your own voters that you are doing a good job, you are doing politics wrong.

    nixon

    • #88
  29. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    katievs:

    Those of us who know Trump would make everything worse ought to be busy explaining that and showing how Cruz or Rubio isn’t more of the same, not heaping more contempt.

    Explaining how Trump will make everything worse is considered to be heaping contempt by his supporters. I know, I’ve tried.

    • #89
  30. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    LilyBart:

    Good grief – Mona’s still lamenting Jeb’s failure – the ‘natural choice’ apparently. Edit: Do you think she understands why Jeb is at 4%?

    I don’t believe that’s what Mona meant. Rather, I think she meant that if money were all that mattered Jeb would be the candidate, but it doesn’t matter that much, and he isn’t the candidate.

    • #90
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