January 13, 2015
Would the New England Patriots let the Indianapolis Colts call their offensive plays for quarterback Tom Brady in this upcoming Sunday’s AFC Championship showdown?
No, of course not!
So why do the Republicans allow the media and leftist pundits to dictate the narrative for who will or should be the GOP nominee for president in 2016?
We wish the answer was as easy as calling the party stupid, though there is some validity to that argument.
This past weekend, billionaire leftist Mort Zuckerman, he of U.S. News and World Report and The Daily News fame, appeared on “The McLaughlin Report” and said this about potential 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush:
“He has real talent. He was an extraordinary governor and an extraordinary speaker…He was phenomenal, and everyone in that room knew it. Jeb Bush is totally informed about the issues facing this country. He is not a right winger in the Republican party.”
Mr. Zuckerman went on to say that Mr. Bush will be the Republican nominee in 2016.
As for the comment Mort makes about Jeb “not being a right winger in the Republican party”? Well, those squishy moderate, non-right wingers the GOP nominated the past two presidential elections certainly worked out well, huh?
Despite the high praise for the former Florida governor, who do you think he will vote for in 2016: Hillary or Jeb?
Sounds like to us that Mr. Zuckerman is actually opining who he hopes the GOP will nominate, not someone he really fears.
Sure, one can pass this incident off as just a commentator voicing his opinion and it means nothing.
But does it?
During the lead up to the 2012 GOP presidential primaries, the narrative from the media and pundits, both left and right, was that only Mitt Romney could defeat President Obama.
In fact, not surprisingly, Mr. Romney used the line in February of 2012 in Detroit when asked if he thought he was the best candidate to beat Mr. Obama. He said, “I don’t think if I have the best chance, I think I have the only chance.” Did he mean it or was he just repeating a talking point?
Granted, Mitt was still in the midst of a contested and feisty primary season so of course he was going to say that.
But how many other times did you hear the line “only Romney can defeat Obama” from both the media elite and the Washington establishment?
The Republican Party establishment and the media isolate one candidate, prop him or her up, and then use the word “only” as a way to scare you into thinking that all the other candidates in the field would lose so you better back Candidate X.
Of course in this case and so many others, Candidate X, the moderate Mitt Romney, was soundly defeated and the country was left to face another four years of Marxist government.
The Jeb Bush Anointment
Check out these recent headlines: “Two Reasons Why Democrats Should Fear a Jeb Bush 2016 Presidential Run”; “Jeb Bush Can Win It All”; “It’s Over: Jeb Bush Will Be the GOP Nominee in 2016”.
The first headline was from an article written by former Bill Clinton special legal counselor Lanny Davis who admits in the opening line of his opinion piece that he would never vote for Jeb Bush because he is too conservative. Let us know when you stop laughing.
The second headline was from CNN, the news organization always looking out for the interests of the GOP, ahem.
The last headline comes from an article by The Week’s Damon Linker, who, to be fair, seems disgusted that Jeb Bush will likely be the nominee but you have to read the article in order to conclude this. A headline like this can say a lot to low information voters.
The same “only” storyline that was established (no pun intended) during the last presidential lead up is once again coalescing around the same type of moderate, establishment candidate who will face strong headwinds from a conservative base.
This time, however, Jeb Bush will have the albatross of Common Core around his political neck instead of Obamacare. As 2016 likely presidential contender Senator Rand Paul stated back in October, any GOP candidate who supports Common Core will not be the nominee.
Mr. Bush is going to have to explain why he is so supportive of a federal education program that is a successor to No Child Left Behind, another debacle created by his brother, President George W. Bush.
And let’s not forget about amnesty.
The former Florida governor is a big open borders and pro-amnesty politician.
These stances will not help him when it comes to winning over the base during the primaries.
So how do you combat that?
If you are the establishment, you trump up the narrative of “sure, Jeb may have a few issues that will complicate winning the nomination, but his positions will play well in the general election and he is the only one who can beat Hillary.”
Or they will point to the fact that as the son of one president and a brother of another, he will be able to outraise his opponents by tapping into the donor class that helped the previous two Bushes.
On the first narrative, one has to only look at recent history. Mitt Romney had a state-run version of Obamacare on his resume that did not play well during the primaries. Obamacare, an issue that singlehandedly drove the GOP to a landslide victory merely two years prior, was now off the table during the general election. You can’t criticize a law that you yourself implemented in your own state as governor a few years earlier. Credibility lost.
As for being able to raise money hand over fist, Mr. Romney far outraised his primary opponents and yet despite this ability, no amount of money could help him become likable to the conservative base, many of whom stayed home on election day.
In our opinion, the storyline of 2016 should the anointed Jeb Bush become the nominee will be the same one from 2012, 2008, 1996, 1992 and 1976: Republicans lose another presidential election by nominating an establishment moderate.
The same playbook is just dusted off and being used again by both the left and the establishment right.
The left writes glowing articles showering praise on a Republican candidate (Jeb) by saying he is the one to beat and that Democrats should be fearful if he is nominated.
The establishment right identifies one of their own (Jeb), anoints him the “only one who can beat Hillary” far in advance of any vote being cast and then proceeds to trash conservatives like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and others who are likely to run.
It’s as if both sides of the political aisle are working together, yet, it is the left, unfortunately, who are the smart ones.
While the establishment right has its head buried in the sand and refuses to learn from history, the left is calling the plays for them by praising someone they know will be unelectable in the general election.
If you watch football this weekend, imagine this: one team is the political left and the other team is the establishment right.
The defense (the liberals) shouts out the play call they want the offense (establishment GOP) to run and the quarterback is then subsequently sacked. The next play, they do it again.
The GOP: the stupid party.
