New Hampshire and the Myth of Electability

The GOP Establishment is bound to be looking at New Hampshire, a state where they perform well, seeing Donald Trump coming away with a major and distant first place, and weeping to themselves that their party has gone so terribly awry. There are a couple of things I’d like to say to them, but in the interest of keeping things family friendly, I’ll let Marlon Brando do the talking here.

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You see, the Establishment earned tonight. They earned their asses getting handed to them in what is essentially their home field. They should accept this, taking their lumps like a man, and learn from it. Luckily, you cannot see me laughing as I type that out, because it’s highly unlikely that they will do any such thing. Given that their initial preferred candidate, Jeb Bush, appears set to come into (an admittedly close) fourth place behind Ted Cruz, you would think tonight they drink and heave a great sigh. This little thing they call electability isn’t working. At all.

New Hampshire shows us just how big a myth electability really is. Electability is a fairy tale we tell ourselves when we support one good candidate over another. It is a lie. We know it’s a lie because we believe in electability when we win, and when we lose it’s clearly because the electorate is filled with dumb people doing dumb things and pulling the lever for insanity.

John McCain was electable once. Mitt Romney was, too. Jeb Bush is considered electable. John Kasich is seen by folks like the New York Times as the most electable. If electability were real, however, then the top four (in no certain order) would be Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio. We didn’t get anywhere close to that. What we got was confirmation that the loudest voices do make a difference. That’s what puts Trump at a very, very big first place and keeps Ted Cruz in the top three.

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If electability where a real thing, Bernie Sanders would be a blip on the radar, and Hillary Clinton would have beaten Martin O’Malley 57-42 (Sanders would have gotten one percent – and that’s with being a neighboring state’s senator).

Electability is a lie, pure and simple. Stop telling yourselves that’s what makes your guy better, and start paying attention to what voters are actually saying.

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