Is the Establishment GOP Still Relevant?

Recently Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was heckled in his home state and in response has apparently begun a crusade to purge the Tea Party from Arizona.

I'd like to don my political commentator hat and remind the senator of a few facts. Nothing to do with the Tea Party however, just a few points for perspective. Senator, when you first went to Congress:

• There were only two Star Wars movies
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day was not yet a holiday (and wouldnt be in Arizona for another decade)
• "Wheel of Fortune" was not yet syndicated
• New episodes of "MASH" were still on TV every week
• Target stores were only in California
• Nobody had a cell phone
• Michael Jackson hadn't moon walked yet
• Lotus123 was the coolest thing on computers and to share a spreadsheet with a friend you had to save it to 5.25" floppy disk and drive it to their office.

My best advice for Sen. McCain would be to please go ahead and retire with your dignity somewhat intact lest you go down the road of Robert Byrd.

I have been saying for almost a decade that John McCain did more to elect President Barack Obama than moveon.org. And I believe it was Mark Twain who said, "history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme."

As such, it begs the question: is the establishment GOP so fractured, so out of touch, so disconnected from their base that 2016 may just repeat 2008?

Yes, historically this country rarely elects the same party to the White House for three consecutive terms. But it looks as though whomever gets the GOP nod will be up against either Hillary Clinton, in the highly unlikely event that her health holds out, or Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

So I ask you, TheBlaze reader, given the possible candidacy of Jeb Bush (running on name recognition), Mitt Romney (who couldn't beat an incumbant with a record worse than Jimmy Carter), Slick Rick Perry (if he's acquitted), Chris Christie (it's the economy [in New Jersey], stupid), Ted the TexaCanadian Cruz, Rand Paul (hey, that's interesting)...who amongst these men can offer a serious challenge to the first woman president of the United States in the history of the republic.

Don't underestimate the number of people who, "just wanted to vote for the first African American President," as Anna Applebaum put it in her post-election piece from the Telegraph. It would seem most people vote based upon emotion. The choice of a brand. How else do you account for the fact that since the ubiquity of television the candidate with better hair has won. Or the fact that in 2008 Candidate Barack Obama didn't just beat John McCain. He beat Apple, Zappos, Benetton, and Nike to win AdAge's Marketer of the Year.

If the Democratic National Committee has proved anything, it is that they can rerun a winning play. And if the establishment GOP has proved anything, it is that they really don't seem to care as long as the money flows.

Dave welcomes your questions and comments. On twitter: @davepeavy, Facebook: Email: davepeavy@gmail.com

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