3 sentences that explain just how clueless establishment Republicans are about 2016

[Bigun]

3 sentences that explain just how clueless
establishment Republicans are about 2016

By Chris Cillizza October 26 at 3:01 PM

The dirty little secret in Republican politics these days is that the longtime pillars of the party — politicians and expoliticians,
major donors and the consultant class — are further removed from the views of the GOP base than at any
time in modern memory. They simply do not understand what the heck is happening within and to their party.

John Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor and longtime GOP hand, is one of the few who is willing to admit
just how clueless he is about, among other things, the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Here's what Sununu
told the New York Times's Jonathan Martin:

I have no feeling for the electorate anymore. It is not responding the way it used to. Their priorities
are so different that if Itried to analyze it I’d be making it up.

Sununu is far from alone in GOP ranks. Think about how most establishment Republicans saw this race playing out:
Jeb Bush gets in, raises a ton of money and blows everyone else out of the water. By this point in the year, most of
the consultant class would have predicted that Bush would be solidly in first place in most of the early states and
simply polishing his policy résumé for the general­election fight to come.

But the truth that Martin exposes via Sununu is that the old ways of doing things in the Republican Party have
changed significantly since even George W. Bush was elected in 2000 — running, it's worth noting, essentially the
same campaign his younger brother is right now. Strategies — get big (in terms of organization), tout electability and
inevitability, keep yourself close enough to the center that you can be viable in a general election — that once were
fail­safe just don't work in this electoral environment where the dominant sentiment of voters is anger about
everything.

For months and months and months, establishment types have counseled patience. Trump (and others) would go up
and would come down, Jeb would be steady. That worked right up until Jeb raised $7 million less than Carson over
the past three months and had to cut staff to stay afloat. And, oh yeah, Bush (and almost every other "establishment"
candidate) is in single digits in polls in every early state that matters.
It's not just at the presidential level either. Remember how Kevin McCarthy was going to be speaker of the House?
Sure, there might be some opposition — especially from the tea party­aligned Freedom Caucus — but he had plenty

More at link https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/26/3-sentences-that-explain-just-how-clueless-establishment-republicans-are-about-2016/

[andy58-in-nh]

John Sununu lives about a mile from my house, as the crow flies.

Funny, though: I never see him around town; not in the Harvest Market, or in the Dunkin' Donuts shop, or in the cleaners, or at Walgreen's pharmacy. And that's too bad, because I suspect that if he ever set foot out of his gated estate back there off of Rte. 101, he might actually have a chance to listen to what people are talking about, and frankly, are worried sick about.

And it has nothing to do with what the GOP leadership, their consultants, their donors, or the lobbyist class are concerned about. In point of fact, those groups and the people around here could not disagree much more about a host of things.

[Bigun]

John Sununu lives about a mile from my house, as the crow flies.

Funny, though: I never see him around town; not in the Harvest Market, or in the Dunkin' Donuts shop, or in the cleaners, or at Walgreen's pharmacy. And that's too bad, because I suspect that if he ever set foot out of his gated estate back there off of Rte. 101, he might actually have a chance to listen to what people are talking about, and frankly, are worried sick about.

And it has nothing to do with what the GOP leadership, their consultants, their donors, or the lobbyist class are concerned about. In point of fact, those groups and the people around here could not disagree much more about a host of things.

He is but one example of a syndrome common to many!