Predictions or wishful projection?

Did you know that there were originally 38 candidates that announced for the 2016 GOP presidential race? As it turns out there were 21 candidates that the media never talked about. The media never mentioned any candidates other than the original 17 that had some amount of name recognition.  Maybe we should have been looking closer at some of the others. Maybe we could have found an actual Conservative in that group instead of trying to project Conservatism on the 12 we have left to choose from. There is so little coverage of the "no-names" I have no idea how many of the 38 have dropped out.

I suppose my personal problem is I have been trying too hard to find the perfect Conservative and not looking for the most Conservative. In my book I scolded Republicans for not sticking to their Conservative base principles. I may have to abandon some of my own principles in order to support a candidate in the current lineup. There are no perfect Conservatives. That statement also pertains to me even though I adhere to more conservative principles than any of the candidates we currently have to choose from. On a side note, I may have another mea culpa coming soon but that will be reserved for a later blog.

At any rate, there are still 12 remaining candidates that are media worthy. I have not mourned the withdrawal of any of the five candidates that have left the race at this point. I was especially glad Lindsay Graham dropped out. He made my skin crawl. I felt like I needed a shower each time I watched him on TV and listened to him whine. In my opinion he has sunk so low in the Conservative rating that he no longer qualifies to be on my RINO list and should officially switch to democrat! I hoped Scott Walker would show better but he folded like a cheap suit.

Here we are on February 1 for the first primary in Iowa. There may be a couple more of the remaining 12 drop out but it is more likely the “hangers-on” will stay engaged for at least the next two primaries in New Hampshire on the 9th and in South Carolina on the 20th. I believe the first three primaries will eliminate at least five of the remaining 12 (Carson, Fiorina, Gilmore, Huckabee, and Santorum). After the March 1 primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia you will see Rand Paul, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush gone. That leaves Cruz, Rubio, and Trump. As far as the other unmentioned candidates I will make no predictions about when they will shutter their campaign headquarters but I will predict that none of those 20 will be our next president. That’s a real commitment on my part, huh?

If Cruz or Trump win the most state delegates over the next five months you can make book on the fact that there will be shenanigans at the GOP convention. Jeb Bush and the establishment Republicans considered him to be a “shoe-in” for the nomination. He was handed the “dirty” end of the stick just as Obama did to Hillary in 2008. Bush and his followers are still in the shock and denial stage of his candidacy’s rejection. Bush is such a Putz that he may hang in there with his 3% approval rating all the way to the Republican national convention in Cleveland in July in the hopes that the delegates will “see the light” and hand him the GOP nomination. That may seem unlikely at this point but don’t underestimate the lengths to which the establishment Republicans and the Republican lobbyists/donors will go to to ensure the status quo in Washington.

You now have my predictions for the winners and losers over the course of the next month. They may or may not be accurate but based on the antics exhibited thus far by the GOP candidates my predictions will very well be as accurate as even the big time, Beltway, political pundits. That remains to be seen. But the wait will be short. The results in Iowa this evening will either support or rebuke my soothsaying abilities. Who has more fun than someone like me who can’t be held accountable for his ignorance!

God Bless America!!!