The Presidential primaries are in full swing and New Hampshire provided no surprises. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders finished first for their parties just like the polls predicted and by a large margin. Ohio's governor John Kasich's second place finish on the republican side should be no surprise since he sits a little outside the republican mainstream.
The cable news networks and their pundits were all over the lot as to why Trump and Sanders won and are acting like New Hampshire was the "big test" to future primaries. Their notion that the vote for Sanders was a vote against the establishment is a fairy tale. Sanders has been a member of the establishment for over 25 years as a member of congress. He also votes with the democratic majority on most issues and serves on various democratic committees.
Trump is not of the republican establishment because he has never been in an elective office. But that is not why Trump won New Hampshire. With no conservative credentials he has been able to attack his fellow republicans successfully pointing out his opponents lack of success of getting things done and accomplishing very little. Democrats have rightly pointed that out many times over for many years but the republican base and the news media took that as partisan politics which it is not. So Trumps charges carry more weight since it comes from another republican. Trump has managed to have his republican opponents attack each other and disregard Reagan's 11th commandment of never speaking ill about a fellow republican.
The New Hampshire primary took two more republican casualties in New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina who withdrew and or suspended their campaigns. Carson may well be the one who follows. The next republican debate may well end up with only five debaters, Trump, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio and Bush. So look for all five to really attack each other while campaigning in South Carolina. It could get ugly.
The best thing that could happen to the republican party is to have Trump and Kasich in the driver's seat because Trump is no conservative and Kasich does not rely on a conservative ideology in most of his decision making process. The republican party as it stands today is a right wing conservative party whose ideology is unAmerican in nature and has lost the ideals of Americanism. What should be troubling to the party is that a person like Trump has emerged instead of a true republican willing to stand up to the right wing that started long ago with Newt Gingrich.
On the democratic side of the New Hampshire primary this writer does not agree with the pundits, especially those at MSNBC who are pushing Senator Sanders as an outsider and not a part of the establishment. His signature issue concerning the wall street banks and campaign contributions are not new issues that make him an outsider. Hillary Clinton served in congress 8 years and was the appointed Secretary of State for 4 years. Her time in Washington in positions of authority are much less that Sanders 25 plus years in congress.
This writer is willing to let the results of the primaries speak for themselves. At the end of the process the real story will be told and the majority of the talk by the news media between now and then will make a lot of pundits look silly.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
