Which Party’s Fringe Is a Threat to Victory in 2016?

[Valin]

Power Line:

John Hinderaker

July 20, 2015

 

I haven’t said much about Donald Trump, other than to note that he was right about the problem of illegal immigrant crime. This is because I don’t take Trump seriously as a presidential candidate.

 

His rise in the polls was fueled in part by his willingness to talk bluntly about the key issue of immigration. But even more important, in my opinion, was sheer celebrity–i.e., name recognition. Most Americans know a lot more about television than they do about politics. This is because they devote much more time to television. Trump, having appeared for years on TV in a starring role, was therefore familiar to many millions of voters who had never heard of any of the other Republican candidates (although that Jeb guy seems familiar somehow…). This naturally gave Trump a head start in the polls.

 

(Snip)

 

Reporters love to cover the Trump campaign because they think it hurts the GOP. They are probably right, but in my view the Trump phenomenon has little long-term significance (assuming, of course, that he doesn’t run as a third-party candidate). In contrast, what is happening on the Democratic side of the campaign has gotten much less attention, but is both more sinister and more important to the eventual dynamics of the campaign.

 

Steve wrote on Saturday about the rather shocking events at the annual “Nutroots” convention in Phoenix. Both Martin O’Malley’s and Bernie Sanders’s appearances were interrupted by “Black Lives Matter” protesters who, rather than being ejected from the hall, were invited to share the stage. These are the same bullies who invade restaurants in New York and other cities, shouting racial slogans at diners. This video is 22 minutes long, so you probably won’t want to watch all of it. But it is worth a few minutes of your time to see how crazy the scene was. It is the same kind of thing that worked so well for the Democrats in 1968:

 

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So in one of America’s two major parties, it is not permissible to say that “all lives matter.” Such a controversial sentiment is too hot to handle. The Democrats have gone off the deep end, and seem to be fully in thrall to their most extreme elements. Maybe there is an opportunity here for Hillary Clinton to show some political courage by denouncing her party’s far left. But when has Hillary ever shown political courage?

 

(Snip)