I was most impressed by Ted Cruz tonight. He could go all the way. The guy really knows how to debate. Trump has accepted the Troll mantle, of his own accord. Rubio has turned mean. He’s going to get put down, I think. Carson is comic relief. His answers are so far out it’s amazing. Christie is a bulldog, but he’s got no chance this year. This is the year of super-anti-Liberalism.
This is, by the way, why I was so happy about the opinion piece saying that the SOTU basically laid out a vision of crushing reactionaries. The GOP Presidential field is heavily reactionary right now. The Republican Party has long been the party of reaction since the New Deal, and in many ways has been shaped by that. The Democrats are the Center-Left party, the party of Government. Most government major government programs (with some notable exceptions under Eisenhower and Nixon) have been created under Democratic administrations, at least since 1932.
Anyways, Kasich came across especially well tonight, I thought. He sounded reasonable for a Republican. I do rather like his consistently calm, reassuring tone. Jeb! was pretty good too, if you discount the fact that he seems totally weak. I applaud him for soldiering on, but I don’t think he’s fooling even himself at this point.
I went into the debate tonight still thinking that Trump would be the nominee, but I’m starting to think it will be Cruz after all. He knows how to talk like a President. His tax plan is completely irrelevant, because Paul Ryan will be writing the Federal tax code next year. Although I could possibly imagine the abolition of the IRS.
If Cruz wins, and I think he might have a good shot against Clinton. Against Sanders, Cruz would win in a landslide. Did anyone notice that Rubio talked about the possibility of Sanders running like it was almost a joke. They take Clinton seriously, but Sanders isn’t even a threat. This is because they’re conservatives, and the election of a socialist is literally unthinkable for them.
This year is going to be nuts.
samuel barbour 