Throwing in the towel after Super Tuesday, 64-year-old retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson faced the music after eleven fifth-place finishes with less that 10% of the vote. Once neck-and-neck last November with 69-year-old GOP front-runner real estate mogul Donald Trump, Carson had high hopes that his low-key message would resonate with voters tired of the bickering and partisan gridlock. When voters took a hard look at Carson when he pulled even with Trump, it became clear the former neurosurgeon’s ideas about domestic and foreign policy made little sense. When Ben said Nov. 13, 2015 in a Fox Business Channel debate that China played a key role in the Syrian conflict, the wheels came off Carson’s campaign. Drilling down into Carson’s personal views it became clear that he knew little about foreign and domestic policy, certainly not enough to be president.
Carson’s decision today to suspend his campaign upends his “We The People” movement, trying to take back government from lobbyists, special interests and billionaires “I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” said Carson, insisting that he’d still back the “We The People” movement. Carson’s withdrawal raises possibilities of a VP pick or, as Rubio retires from the Senate later this year, a possible run for Senate in Florida. Whether either of those possibilities happens is anyone’s guess. If Carson can’t make it as a presidential candidate, it’s doubtful any nominee would pick him as VP. His quiet, ambiguous communication style worked as long as voters didn’t ask too many questions, leaving him no choice today to drop out. Unlike other GOP candidates, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Carson swallowed hard.
Rubio and Cruz delivered rousing victory speeches after Trump won seven primaries last night, to only one for Rubio and barely three for Cruz. Cruz at least boasted he held serve in Texas, winning Oklahoma and distant Alaska. Rubio finished the day winning his first primary bagging Minnesota. Rubio and Cruz believe they can deny Trump the nomination by staying in the race, preventing him from winning the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s, who dropped out after South Carolina Feb.20, “Right to Rise” Super Pac headed by Mike Murphy promised to stay in the race to defeat Trump, including helping Cruz and Rubio. Last night Cruz told supporters that we can’t let Trump win because it would set back the so-called “conservative movement.” Today’s voter revolt directly relates to a revolt against Cruz’s “conservative movement.”
If voters weren’t so disgusted with Washington’s self-destructive demagoguery, with both parties fighting like cats-and-dogs, they wouldn’t back a candidate like Trump promising to do things differently. Cruz and Rubio have now rerouted their campaigns to defeat Trump’s attacks on the “conservative movement.” Even Liberty University’s Jerry Falwell Jr. told evangelical voters that he’s not concerned with Cruz and Rubio’s conservative agenda, backing only pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage or ending Obamacare. Falwell admitted he’s concerned today about the survival of the country in an untenable partisan atmosphere. When Trump took on Fox News President Roger Ailes Jan. 27, skipping the Jan. 29 Iowa debate, he took on the conservative establishment. Since starting the Fox New Channel Oct. 7, 1996, Ailes pulled the Republican Party to the extreme right.
Ailes had his heyday after “compassionate conservative” former President George W. Bush took office Jan. 20, 2001. Ailes fashioned the Fox News Channel after Rush Limbaugh’s conservative talk radio brand, mercilessly going after liberals, assembling a bevy of Limbaugh clones to host his 24/7-show lineup. When Bush crashed the U.S. economy in 2007, after years of excessive defense spending on Afghan and Iraq wars, Bush gave rise to President Barack Obama, leaving office Jan. 20, 2009 with a 22% approval rating, the lowest in modern history. Bush hit the conservative brand with a wrecking ball, giving rise to Obama and now Trump. Rubio and Cruz hope to salvage what’s left of a tainted conservative brand, associated more with the Great Recession than the long-gone 1980s Reagan Revolution. Morphing into a referendum on the conservative movement, Cruz and Rubio march on.
Carson’s decision to call it quits comes with misgivings, watching the Cruz campaign perform dirty tricks before the Feb. 1 Iowa primary. “I’m not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Sen. Cruz,” said Carson, promising to work hard to end shenanigans practiced by both parties. “As I’ve had an opportunity to study our system, it has become a little bit discouraging seeing all the relationships that exist there,” Carson said, reacting to the endless lobbyists, special interests and big money that influence elections. Carson’s campaign was all about “We The People,” giving more folks a voice in their own government. Cruz and Rubio have stated for the record their campaigns, for better or worse, are about preserving the Rush Limbaugh-Fox News brand of conservatism. Trump bucked the system, telling Roger Ailes that the Republican Party is more than his brand.
