the new Buchanan
There is this amusement to be had in contextualizing one way and another that big Donald Trump Iowa caucus triumph. Not a big vote, they say. It never is, the weather was rotten, and the contest was half a contest. The biggest margin of victory of any contested Iowa caucus, bigger than the Dole smash of Robertson in 1988. Yep. Served Dole well. But wait! The guy is basically an incumbent and 50 percent as an incumbent sure is not good. Sure. Now we have to go by these new standards, and I have to look up how Buchanan did against Bush in 1992. The Iowa republican caucuses were cancelled, it tells me — I want to know why — setting up Pat Buchanans showing in New Hampshire, which depending on whether we set this as an incumbent or contested election — means Haley either has to clear Buchanan’s percentage with New Hampshire or win something. To be sure, the Buchanan analogy comes to play with some Republican Trump surrogates acting as pundits on … CNN or one of the networks … making the case that after all these years of “us” stomaching and being urged to pull the vote for the Romneys and the Bushes and the Doles and the McCains, it is up to the Romneys and the Bushes and the Doles and the McCains to do the deed for their guy in Trump. That would make for a static electorate if no one she’d away from different nominees of the parties and no breaking point existed with selling from the other guy. But. Haley is not even bothering to do against Trump what Buchanan was doing with Bush, and won’t even get the same consideration of a primest time convention speech for her efforts.