TRUMP DUMPED?

GOP PLANNING TO DUMP TRUMP?

It looks like the Wingnut Meme-maker Matt Drudge has officially soured on the idea of tea-bagged entrepreneur Donald Trump’s candidacy.  For most of last night and early this morning, Drudge ran a link to a 3 year old interview The Donald gave to news station NY1 in which he called George W. Bush ‘evil’ and praised President-elect Obama.  In a transparent attempt to mislead readers Drudge titled the linked video “YESTERDAY: TRUMP PRAISES OBAMA; BUSH 'EVIL'...”

Clearly, Drudge is going out of his way to portray Trump as a flip-flopper and political opportunist.  It is also worth noting how rare it is for the GOP media to criticize a Republican celebrity – especially one that is currently sitting atop a field of uninspiring candidates.  So Drudge’s turn surely has deeper motivations.

This morning he added links from Real Clear Politics which chronicle Trump’s past declarations that Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, AND Barrack Obama are ‘the worst’ presidents in American history.’

Why would Drudge turn on Wingnutistan’s man of the hour?

One reason could be that he has seen the great glee with which the Democrats have received the prospect of the Tin-foil Comb-over’s candidacy.  The tea-bagger base may be infatuated with the prospect of Trump running, but very few outside of the base see him as a serious candidate.   The American public is also more focused on Job and the economy then they are on the birther issue, and rightly so.

Indeed, while people like Sarah Palin are praising Trump’s one-trick-pony act, many others within the GOP are more than a little concerned that Trump is damaging the GOP’s chances in 2012.  These fears were clearly evidenced by Bill O’Reilly’s thorough debunking and dismissal of Trump’s birther claims.  Note to Republicans:  When Fox’s number 1 rated talking head turns on you, you know you have trouble.

O’Reilly even seemed a little insulted that the ‘myth’ of Obama’s foreign birth, as he termed it, is still an issue, saying recently; “A "Factor" investigation also showed Mr. Obama was born in a Honolulu hospital and we stand by our reporting.”

Take that Donald!

 Herman Munster Romney also took the opportunity to appeal to the remaining sane people in the ‘big tent’ by declaring publicly that he believes that Obama was indeed born in the USA.  It’s amazing what passes for moderation in the new GOP.

Even Neo-Con kingmaker and noted Turd Blossom, Karl Rove is warning Republicans that the birther infatuation will hurt the party, saying “Within our party, we’ve got to be very careful about allowing these people who are the birthers and the 9/11-deniers to get too high a profile..”  And this is coming from a man who never met a lie he didn’t like!!

Why is the GOP establishment also turning on the Donald?

A fresh poll, published today shows Trump trouncing his potential GOP competitors;

“Trump garnered 26% of the vote, followed by Mike Huckabee (17%), Mitt Romney (15%), Newt Gingrich (11%), and Sarah Palin (8%.) Ron Paul earned 5%, while Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty took 4% each.”

OUCH!

Republicans are desperate, not matter what they say.  Following the tea-bag revolution of 2010, the wheels have come off of the bus and the public is seeing the ideological lunacy that has seized control of the party.  John ‘Captain Orange’ Boehner has almost completely lost control of his caucus and his own approval numbers have plummeted in only 100 days.  The GOP governors swept into office by the Koch brothers have dramatically overreached in their zeal to please their corporate masters, energizing their opposition and complicating the electoral map for the party nationally.  And the field of potential Presidential hopeful is rife with crazies who have zero realistic chance in the general election.  The prospect of Trump throwing hundreds of million of his own money into a primary campaign threatens to deplete the party’s coffers in a year where Barrack Obama looks to be in position to raise a billion dollars.  This greatly worries party officials.

To make matters even worse, Trump recently threatened to run as an independent and potentially siphon crucial votes away from the eventual GOP nominee should Republicans fail to nominate him.

Yes folks, Trump is ballsy for trying to extort the GOP nomination, but the attempt is quite likely to cause his political demise as the party establishment cannot allow him to single-handedly torpedo their hopes of winning in 2012.

So, expect more attacks from Drudge and the GOP media to ensure that even if Trump decides to go independent, he won’t get much support from Republican voters.  The takedown will be interesting, to say the least.


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ANATOMY OF A FAILED MEME

Yesterday, Matt Drudge attempted to fabricate a scandal out of thin air.  And bless his little black heart, he tried his darnedest, but it doesn’t seem like its sticking.

So, here’s the story.

Yesterday at around 4 pm Eastern time, the Drudge Report did something he rarely does – actually file a report rather than simply repurposing another news agency’s reporting with a sensational partisan title.   

Anyway, the entry they filed was titled. “Michelle Campaigned Inside a Polling Place?”   The implication is that the First Lady violated election laws.  The evidence provided by Drudge?  This line from a pool report of the First Lady’s trip to cast her ballot.  After she voted, she paused to take a photo with a fellow voter and supporter who then relayed what she told him:  "She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," 

You can almost hear the arm twisting, right?

Well, Drudge must have popped a boner thinking that he had uncovered a scoop, so his website led with the blaring red headline convicting her of a crime.   To support his evidence, he sited Illinois election law and provided a quote from an unnamed Ilinois State Board of Elections official who allegedly proposed ignoring the law for the popular First Lady – a subtle swipe by Drudge at what he loves to term ‘Chicaoland’ politics.

The problem is that even with the strictest interpretation of the law; this is hardly a precedent setting occurrence.  The image of a politician or their spouse casting their ballot and making a statement is a very common one.   They all do it.

For example, here is a report on George W. Bush casting his 2004 ballot at a firehouse in Texas.  Bush said this after voting;  "The issue is, who do you trust? Who do you trust to secure this country? Who do you trust to lead with firmness and steadfast resolution to protect the American people? Who do you trust to adhere to the values, the values that most people agree with? Who do you trust to keep this economy growing?  I've got a clear view about how to lead ... We'll see what the people say. Now's the time for the people to express their will. I am confident in the judgment of the people."

THAT sounds like electioneering to me.

So why wasn’t this ever mentioned by Drudge as a violation of election laws?  In fact, why didn’t the ‘liberal’ mainstream media may hay about this?   That because, it’s a bunch of nonsense.   Only in the right wing world of ‘Let’s freak out over everything the Obamas do,’ does this constitute a ‘scandal’.  Perhaps they didn’t notice this ‘scandal’ because they were too up in arms about Mrs. Obama urging supporters to ‘pray’ for the President.  After all prayer is the exclusive domain of the religious extremists of the GOP, right?  

Drudge closed his brief entry with the teaser “Developing….” clearly hoping that he could encourage others to pick up the subject, but so far no one has seemed to take the bait.   FauxNews and the lesser satellites of the Murdoch Neo-Con press have so far ignored the non-story, as have most of the down the middle political press. A Google search of ‘Michelle Obama Violates Election Law’ returns hits from only the most extremist wingnut blogs and bulletin boards.  So, more than 20 hours later this ‘BREAKING’ scandal has failed to gain any legs.   It remains to be seen if hate-radio beats this drum during drive time today, but thus far, no word from Wingnutistan.   You win some, you lose some Mr. Drudge.  It seems this one, you lost.

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