Steve Benen @ MaddowBlog points to a new column out by GOP pundit Irving Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, suggesting that the GOP field really needs a surprise candidate:
Shouldn’t Republicans be open to doing what Democrats are now considering? That is: Welcoming into the race, even drafting into the race if need be, one or two new and potentially superior candidates? After all, if a new candidate or new candidates didn’t take off, the party would be no worse off, and someone from the current field would prevail. If the October surprise candidate caught fire, it would be all the better for the GOP–whether he ultimately prevailed or forced one of the existing candidates to up his game.
Who could such a mysterious dark horse be? Well, it’s not as if every well-qualified contender is already on the field. Mitch Daniels was probably the most successful Republican governor of recent times, with federal executive experience to boot. Paul Ryan is the intellectual leader of Republicans in the House of Representatives, with national campaign experience. The House also features young but tested leaders like Jim Jordan, Trey Gowdy and Mike Pompeo. There is the leading elected representative of the 9/11 generation who has also been a very impressive freshman senator, Tom Cotton. There could be a saner and sounder version of Trump—another businessman who hasn’t held electoral office. And there are distinguished conservative leaders from outside politics; Justice Samuel Alito and General (ret.) Jack Keane come to mind.
Particularly interesting is the suggestion of Justice Alito, and not only for the question of whether or not a sitting SCOTUS justice could also hold the Presidency, but also why would the GOP base be enamored of him? Trump is leading the polls, but not because of any intellectual flare – he appeals to the xenophobe, he appeals to the voter who wants a dictatorial leader who’ll do this, that, and the other thing – no matter whether it falls within his responsibility. Subtlety and nuance are not his forté, nor is relevant experience – despite Trump’s claims that it’s all about management. Despite his education, he does not come off as an intellectual, but as someone with little impulse control, and a base nature. He’s willing to point his finger of blame at anyone who’s not a member of the GOP base.
Does Justice Alito (Princeton, Yale Law School) really fall into this category? Indeed, any of his suggestions? Until he ventures into “another businessman” territory, which his quite vague, he’s mostly mentioning GOPers with domestic experience – just what the base doesn’t want. He’s talking about people who might use their judgment to come to a conclusion unacceptable to the base.
But let’s take a step out into left field here. When I’m wearing my software engineer hat, there”s a certain feeling you get when you’re working in a well-designed system. It doesn’t just meet the specs, have good performance, and scale well, but every time you’re asked to add something to it, it’s easy – there’s no mad hacking, when you find you need an algorithm to do something, it’s there and easy to use, and the whole thing comes together with an ease and a feeling of rightness because certain principles were followed in the base design. (Let’s not talk about those principles further as they’re not relevant and I couldn’t enumerate them if they were.)
Let’s pull this idea out of the constricted field of software engineering and into real life, of which politics is a pale reflection. I suggest, with absolutely no embarrassment, that a leading principle of life and politics should be truth, and its ally, honesty. The interesting application of these principles is the GOP judgment of President Obama, which, to this independent, appears to be deliberately and dishonestly wretched in its assessments. In virtually all he has done, the current President has performed at the highest levels and adhered to our best traditions. Certainly, we can nitpick – why didn’t he prosecute the previous Administration for war crimes, for example? But in the main, he’s been excellent.
But the GOPer, unless his name is Colin Powell, is obligated to condemn as feeble, or incompetent, or any denigrative adjective of his choice, the work of Obama. Thus are the orders from on-high.
So, how does the matter of good principles interplay with the sordid behavior of the GOPer? Think about it: can the GOP candidate for anything deviate from the anti-Obama script? This is team politics, and now we see the dark side of this phenomenon: you can’t deviate, you can’t dispute what’s gone before. What do you do?
The Iran Deal is the same as sending the Jews to the ovens.
Medicare needs to be rubbed out because no one likes it.
Paul Ryan’s budget devoid of rational mathematics.
The ACA is resulting in wrack and ruin.
The GOP has to walk on the wild side, because any tick of rationality, of agreeing with political opponents on anything substantive, will get you branded a RINO. Here’s the thing about pig-headed anti-intellectualism – you eventually discover that the dishonesty you’re indulging in forces you to either recant and get kicked out of this big national party where you have coveted influence – or you can go farther afield as your predictions fall afoul reality. As Benen notes here, now they’re flirting with the madness of slavery.
All because they put party loyalty, party purity, ahead of simple truth and honesty. The importance of good principles for life is paramount, folks. The GOP is becoming an object lesson. How many can learn from it?
