Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
It is possible. I think Romney was the best GOP candidate in a long time, and it is a shame that he isn't giving it one more go this time around.
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Much of the GOP establishment doesn't do itself any favors. They really dislike Trump and Cruz (for good reason) but ever since Nixon and the southern strategy they have to court the what amounts to the evangelical christians and, well, quite frankly the bigoted elements of the party. They can't afford for the Tea Party to actually split and form a second right of center option so they pander. But they don't really like to. Many don't want to go down the Cheney war hawk path again either.
So what seems to be happening is the establishment selects a firmly center candidate (McCain, Romney) to be their nominee and then they select a more right wing running mate to satiate the Tea Party wing. But the Tea Party has quickly learned they have teeth and basically own the republican party because of it right now. The obstruction in congress and constantly putting stuff into bills so the president vetoes is the Tea Party. While the minority of the GOP, they hold the party by it's balls as without them the GOP has no hope of winning anything ever.
The GOP establishment is scrambling a bit right now. They initially consolidated around Bush but he made too many missteps out of the gate and well he's not a good candidate. Now they seem to be pushing Rubio forward and he's gaining some traction but he's no where near the quality candidate McCain and Romney were. I'll be honest, if people opened their ears and listened instead of voting party lines the election would be a landslide if a potato ran for the democrats.
No idea what will happen but right now only about 25% of registered republicans are paying regular attention according to 538. Opinions right now are swayed by whose face they see on TV the most and that's Trump. As people pay attention (usually a week or so before they have to vote in the primaries) I think you are still likely to see big losses for Trump and Carson and big gains for Rubio.
In the end this election does show everything that is wrong with the US political system. You have a bunch of candidates who will just say anything in the hopes they get elected. They don't really have a concern for the country or an actual vision. Certainly true on the GOP side. The democrat side at least has Bernie who while he certainly still panders is one guy who for the most part has spent his elected life trying to help.
And all this happens right around another solid jobs report for the US. Another 200k+ jobs added in November, unemployment at it's lowest levels since 2008, and average wages are increasing. Yes the growth is still somewhat sluggish however there are no recession signs at all so the economy can just continue to grow. Despite all the BS they continually try to throw at the administration, they can never get around the fact that the administration shepherded the country through a very deep recession and brought them out just as good the other side and likely better. And you'll notice that for the most part the GOP is not even really touching the economy right now beyond a week or so of complaining about the APAC free trade deal. It's all about who is going to save you from the big bogeyman that is terrorism (and as has been pointed out by many pundits you'll find that the not completely bat #### crazy candidates approach to this issue really doesn't tangibly differ from the Obama administration. No one is going to put boots on the ground.)