Well, it’s time to choose another Republican presidential nominee, and so it’s time for Establishment Republicans to warn against nominating a conservative.  The most frequent target of the Establishment masterminds is my candidate, Ted Cruz.  He’s a purist, too extreme, too conservative, too radical, too disliked to be elected.  He’s a “false leader”, a “fraud” who engages in “governmental terrorism.”  Mind you, these are things that Republicans have said about Ted Cruz.  It’s not surprising.  Ted Cruz is a threat to what he rightly refers to as the Washington Cartel.  The Washington Cartel is the ruling cabal in our Nation’s Capitol, comprised of representatives from both Parties.  The Cartel members, who were elected to represent the people, actually hold office for only two purposes:  to get themselves reelected; and to provide government support for the interests that finance their campaigns.  Simply put, the Cartel serves only corruption and cronyism, and it matters not which Party is in control.  Case in point, just yesterday, the Republican controlled House passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill, that funds all of Il Duce Obama’s extra-constitutional projects, and gives $622 billion in tax breaks to interests friendly to the Cartel.  As a threat to this corrupt business as usual, Ted Cruz must be attacked.  You see, although the Establishment Republicans would like to win the presidency, winning is not essential to the Cartel.  So the Establishment is content to offer yet another good loser as the Republican nominee.  Only Gerald Ford can win; only Bob Dole can win; only John McCain can win; only Mitt Romney can win; and now, only Jeb Bush, John Kasich, etc., etc., can win.  The fact that none of them ever win is not important to the Establishment.  So, Ted Cruz is too radical to win.  If you are under 50, that might not sound familiar, but if you are over 50, you have heard it all before.  In 1980, these same lemmings told us Ronald Reagan couldn’t win.  He was too conservative, too radical, too old, an “amiable dunce.”  In 1980, Reagan only won 43 of 50 States; he won 49 of 50 in 1984.  No matter, the Establishment knows better.  They even use the same words.  George Will described Reagan supporters as “the kamikaze conservatives.”  Now, Kim Strassel derides the Ted Cruz “kamikaze caucus.”  He can’t win, you see.  The Establishment even pulled out its big gun:  a Ted Cruz candidacy will be Goldwater all over again.  The only problem is, that makes as little sense as the prediction that Reagan couldn’t win.

The invocation of “it will be 1964 all over again” is sad, because it is proof positive that the Establishment doesn’t care if a Republican is elected in 2016.  They would rather deal with Hillary Clinton (shudder) than any conservative.  But let’s indulge them, is 2016 more like 1964 or 1980?  Let’s see.  In 1964, the country was not far away from 8 years of Eisenhower, which culminated in the 1960 election of JFK, a fresh face, the first President born in the 20th Century, the New Frontier, Camelot … you get the picture.  Less than a year before the 1964 election, JFK was assassinated.  LBJ became President, promising to carry out the JFK agenda.  The economy was good, LBJ promised tax cuts, Vietnam was not yet a problem, and LBJ was supremely popular, his 1964 approval rating topping out at 79%.  In short, no Republican was going to be elected President in 1964, the proof of this being the fact that the smartest Republican of that time, Richard Nixon, did not consider running.  In 1980 Jimmy Carter presided over a woeful economy, high interest rates, inflation, and trouble in the Middle-East, the Iran hostage crisis.  Carter’s approval average was in the mid-40% range throughout his presidency.  Does any of this sound familiar?  We are now in the last year of Obama.  Democrats face Obama fatigue, much as the Republicans faced Bush fatigue in 2008.  Obama’s approval is in the mid 40’s, not the 70’s.  And Hillary’s approval rating is 42%.  In addition, lie as he might, the Obama economy stinks, with more than 90 million Americans out of the workforce.  We have trouble in the Middle-East (Iran again), terrorists running wild over there and killing Americans over here, and this President’s refusal to control the borders has made illegal immigration a hot issue.  In 1964 there was no call for a change.  In 1980 just as now, Americans are crying out for change and are thirsting for leadership.  2016 looks decidedly more like 1980 than it does 1964.  So let’s call a spade a spade, the Establishment isn’t worried that Ted Cruz can’t win, it is scared to death that he will win, and put a stake in the heart of the Washington Cartel.  Let’s help him do it.  I’ll get the stake, you get the hammer and President Cruz will do the rest.