I read the following article from Bloomberg in a near state of shock. This is saying the same thing I wrote about Rick Perry several weeks ago.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-09/rick-perry-s-chances-are-better-than-trump-s
Everyone expects Perry to drop out, but in reality he remains the candidate with the best credentials for doing the job. I hope he does not drop out, but fear that is likely to happen. I was beginning to question my own judgment when I said he still had a chance. It was a shock to discover that someone else actually agrees with me. Will wonders never cease?
Donald Trump has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. For a long time I thought he had zero chance of actually winning the nomination. However, after his incredible ability to survive major mistakes almost anything seems possible. I still suspect that at some point he will self-destruct. In the meantime he is literally trashing the field. He has already destroyed Jeb Bush and all of the other top tier candidates, other than Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, look pathetic . I am not sure Donald Trump can win this, but he can certainly destroy a lot of other candidates in the process. The big advantage for Rick Perry at this point is that Donald Trump is ignoring him as insignificant. Sometimes being ignored is a good thing.
Ted Cruz has figured this out, which is why he hasn’t attacked Trump. Trump is too smart to take on Ben Carson. Everyone else is fair game. The next debate is likely to be a hot mess. I expect all of the other candidates to be on a mission to destroy Donald Trump. Trump will play the Trump card with a lot of skill. At a minimum it will be fun to watch.
The person who has the most to lose is Carly Fiorina. The expectations for her are sky high and she may have trouble delivering. Keep in mind that she was trounced by Barbara Boxer when she ran for the Senate. While she did a nice job during the first debate, she actually wasn’t all that spectacular. It was just that people were expecting next to nothing and they were shocked at how well she performed. That won’t happen again.
In the meantime, Perry will be on the second panel and he is likely to do pretty well. He actually did well in the first debate but no one noticed because all the attention was on Carly Fiorina. He won’t have that problem this time. At some point, hopefully, the silly season will end and Republicans will start looking for a candidate actually qualified for the job. It is hard to be optimistic about this when considering past choices like John McCain and Mitt Romney, but I am reminded that Democrats still consider Hillary Clinton to be a good candidate. Even RINO Republicans have a difficultly reaching that level of stupidity.
On November 7, 1962, Richard Nixon gave a press conference after losing the California Governor’s race to Edmund Brown. It was beyond pathetic and the next day Howard K. Smith hosted a documentary titled “the Political Obituary of Richard Nixon.” No one, including Richard Nixon, thought he would even try to win another election. He was a dead as a candidate could ever be. Yet somehow Nixon recovered from this and went on to win two elections as President of the United States. It is a reminder that it’s never over until it’s actually over.
TDM