"You don't have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it'll go." Yogi Berra
March 2, 2016
By: Linda Case Gibbons
There's "Old Money," and there's "New Money."
"Old Money" doesn't want to rub shoulders with "New Money." They're afraid "New Money" won't know which fork to use, might show up wearing the wrong outfit to play tennis at their country club...Or have the gall to run for president for their Party.
You can't let that happen.
This week the Republican Establishment embarrassed itself even more than it has for the past eight years.
Instead of fixing what's wrong with their floundering Party, the back room Party brokers decided to send in their hatchet men to use every dirty trick in the book to sideline the Republican frontrunner.
It was nasty, and it was sad.
After voting for Republicans for years, after supporting Republicans for years, after waiting for elected Republicans to keep their promises, the only thing voters got was a lousy T-shirt, inscribed, "HEY! WE CONTROL BOTH HOUSES, BUT WE'RE GOING TO ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD (Continued on back of shirt) TO HELP OBAMA TRANSFORM AMERICA."
It broke the camel's back and Republican voters had had enough.
As usual, the GOP had no fist in its glove, and, as usual, it sent out the usual, tired representatives to carry the Party's message.
Newt was out there, and so was Mitt.
Gingrich appeared on FOX and Friends, but was not his usual jocular, "Mr. Speaker" self. Visibly miffed and decidedly grumpy, he accused FOX of helping Trump.
"The only reason Trump is ahead in the polls," Newt said, "is because of the endless coverage you guys are giving him."
Poor naïve Newt. He doesn't realize he could have coverage from dawn to dusk, for 365 days and people wouldn't tune in to see him...or Mitt...or McCain...or Karl Rove. They just don't want to.
And Mitt? He made a fool of himself.
When he addressed the country, he claimed he didn't want to be president, that his appearance wasn't about that, but that he wanted to advise us what a "real" conservative is, and what constitutes electability in a candidate.
It was more than ironic.
Maybe the Party forgot Mitt has asked voters for their hand in marriage twice. And voters told him, "No, Mitt! No. Hell no!"
Maybe they forgot Mitt manipulated Rule No. 40(b) specifically to shut out Tea Party candidates, other conservatives, in the 2012 Convention. A sneaky move.
And here he was again, having the audacity to call Trump a "fraud," and a "con man."
This was while networks simultaneously played sound bites of Mitt praising Trump and his accomplishments to the heavens during the time Trump supported Romney's run for the 2012 presidency.
Hypocritical? Everyone thought so. It went over like a lead balloon, just as it did when Marco did the same thing. They both ended up looking like spiteful losers.
It was not Mitt's best moment, nor the Republican Party's. After it was over, it was hard to tell their Party from the Democratic Party.
And distressingly enough for the Republican back room boys, Trump keeps rising in the polls. So there had to be a Plan Number Two: It featured Jeb.
Yes, he's back, too. This time "Sneaking-Around-Behind-the-Scenes-Offering-My-Money" Jeb, is holding secret meetings with the three remaining candidates.
Kasich, Rubio and Cruz, but not Trump. He was not invited to the Party, or to their Party.
The plan was constructed as carefully as a military strategy, like the ones at Little Bighorn, or the one for the proposed capture of West Point during the Revolutionary War.
The strategy is for Kasich to urge voters to vote for Rubio in Florida, not Kasich, and for Rubio to urge voters to vote for Kasich in Ohio, not Rubio.
The result, they hope, is a brokered convention, and supposedly the end of Trump.
It was Republican democracy in action. But the best laid plans...
After the historic military events at Little Bighorn and West Point, the names of Benedict Arnold and General Custer were never forgotten.
Arnold was branded as a traitor to his country for proposing to hand over West Point to the British.
And General Custer will forever be remembered for having foolishly risked his and the lives of 250 of his men, by disregarding his superior officer's orders. Outnumbered by the warriors of Crazy Horse, it was Custer's Last Stand.
After the Republican Party betrays its base, after it subverts the electoral process and thwarts the will of the people, it's entirely possible this will be the year the Republican Party will go down in the annals of history as "The Republican Party's Last Stand."
That would be democracy in action.
Hold the line, America.