QOTD:
I think a lot of the fault, actually, belongs to the conservative intellectual leadership of America that you see in this issue of "National Review." The conservative cause that animates the Republican Party, we don't appeal to young people, we don't appeal to millennials, we don't appeal to young women, we don't appeal to minorities. We appeal to only cranky old white guys like me. - Alex Castellano, THIS WEEK
The dam has broken and the Conservative pundits are drowning in the mess they've made of the GOP. The top two candidates that are leading the polls are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and both are hated by the Conservative illuminati and Republican politicians equally.
Alex Castellanos, a long time conservative consultant to many Republicans, lowered the boom on the NRO and the entire "conservative intellectual leadership of America," for not doing anything to blunt the rise of Donald Trump, sooner.
The NRO's Rich Lowry was on ABC's THIS WEEK along with Alex, to defend his magazine's ridiculous cover article that trashes Donald Trump, in an effort to stop his rise in Iowa.
ALEX CASTELLANOS, CHAIR, PURPLE STRATEGIES: Well, I think as much as I love "National Review" and thank you for making me the conservative I am today, I think they've shown up at the war long after the last shot's been fired here. They -- they're telling the Republican Party to pull its rip cord long after we've hit the ground and gone splat.
Just seven days to go before the Iowa caucus and "National Review" is saying we should be the party of Ronald Reagan, not Donald Trump.
Well, that's great, but I checked and Reagan is not on the ballot.
The choices we've been left with, it appears, are Ted Cruz, who's thrown the conservative cause under the bus for his own political gain many times, and Donald Trump, who some voters, I think, are beginning to see as, well, he's not Ronald Reagan, he's not the long-term future of the Republican Party, but maybe he's the turnaround CEO, the interim leader who can clean up our books, keep the country from going bankrupt and stop the Russians from kicking sand in our face.
Both men looked tired and defeated as Martha Raddatz questioned them. Lowry started by trying to defend the NRO for their decision to take on Trump:
LOWRY: Yes, the reason, Martha, we did this issue, we wanted to make two points.
One, Donald Trump is not a conservative. He's shown no interest, really, in a limited government, liberty, "The Constitution," these animating causes of conservatism.
And two, we wanted to make the point that it's not the so-called establishment, necessarily, that's opposing Trump. In fact, as we speak, you have elements of the political establishment among Republicans hiding under their desk, figuring out how they can possibly co-opt or deal with Donald Trump.
We wanted to make the point that it's principled conservatives who oppose Trump. We want to win this election. We want to do it with a conservative. And we think we can.
Lowry's arguments are late and in this election cycle, voters do not seem to care what the stalwart's of the party say or do. The base voters just want a candidate to kick immigrants to the curb and out of the country.
And of course, Alex Castellanos fails to take any responsibility for helping the most extreme right wing elements in the GOP, rise to prominence in the party when Obama was elected, which is dragging Republicans to Hades itself.
LOWRY: I have no idea. I hope it won't be Donald Trump. And I would just urge Alex to reject his fatalism. No one has voted yet. There are good conservatives in this contest. Don't surrender to Alex -- Alex, to Trump just because...
CASTELLANOS: They're at 3 percent...
LOWRY: -- you couldn't -- just because you couldn't muster these Republican donors to go with you, because they were too gutless...
CASTELLANOS: I wish they'd shown up earlier, Rich.
LOWRY: -- and feckless to stand up. Conservatives are going to stand up, Alex. We are going to stand up. Just because your donors wouldn't go with you doesn't mean you have to surrender to...
CASTELLANOS: No.
LOWRY: -- Donald Trump before a shot has been fired.
CASTELLANOS: Rich...
RADDATZ: That's a perfect way to end.
Grab the popcorn and enjoy the show.
