Is The Republican Establishment So Desperate That They'd Try To Draft Willard Again?

Friday, Carly Fiorina was happy to not have to fight with PolitiFact about another of her "Pants-on-Fire" Lies. Instead, she went to the safety of her Facebook page to attack Donald Trump and defend the honor of the falling apart Dr. Ben campaign. Solidarity of the outrageously mendacious?

Of course, it only took a few hours for Trumpy to strike back. His nearly 5 million Twitter fans were soon reading a typical Trumpian diatribe against Fiorina, although he has savvied up enough to not allow her to win sympathy by over-doing it. Before moving on to exploit the horrific tragedy in Paris to boost his own campaign he spent about an hour on Fiorina and her dismal, failing campaign:

Later in the day the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely Republican primary voters showed Trump surging 17 points, despite-- or because of-- his shocking attack this week on Dr. Ben's obvious mental problems. Watch the astounding video at the bottom of the post. Trump's great leap forward came since Nov. 6 when he and Dr. Ben were tied at 25%. Trump is now at 42% and Dr. B. stayed the same. Worse news for the seemly impotent Republican Party establishment is that their newest white knight, Marco Rubio, at 10%, doesn't seem to be going anywhere... other than ahead of their last white knight, the poor Jebster, now bumping along at 4%. All that bullshit praise the GOP pundits heaped on Rubio after his sophomoric debate performance didn't impress the voters. And the fierce fascist? Cruz's always touted debate performance leaves him with an unimpressive 8%. So... panic-time in Republicanville again. How panicked? Now they want to bring back proven loser Mitt Romney. No... really.

Some in the party establishment are so desperate to change the dynamic that they are talking anew about drafting Romney— despite his insistence that he will not run again. Friends have mapped out a strategy for a late entry to pick up delegates and vie for the nomination in a convention fight, according to the Republicans who were briefed on the talks, though Romney has shown no indication of reviving his interest.

...Many of Romney’s 2012 National Finance Committee members have sat out the race so far, including Peter A. Wish, a Florida doctor whom several 2016 candidates have courted.

“I’m not a happy camper,” Wish said. “Hopefully, somebody will emerge who will be able to do the job,” but, he added, “I’m very worried that the Republican-base voter is more motivated by anger, distrust of D.C. and politicians and will throw away the opportunity to nominate a candidate with proven experience that can win.”

The apprehension among some party elites goes beyond electability, according to one Republican strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about the worries.

“We’re potentially careening down this road of nominating somebody who frankly isn’t fit to be president in terms of the basic ability and temperament to do the job,” this strategist said. “It’s not just that it could be somebody Hillary could destroy electorally, but what if Hillary hits a banana peel and this person becomes president?”

Angst about Trump intensified this week after he made two comments that could prove damaging in a general election. First, he explained his opposition to raising the minimum wage by saying “wages are too high.” Second, he said he would create a federal “deportation force” to remove the more than 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

“To have a leading candidate propose a new federal police force that is going to flush out illegal immigrants across the nation? That’s very disturbing and concerning to me about where that leads Republicans,” said Dick Wadhams, a former GOP chairman in Colorado, a swing state where Republicans are trying to pick up a Senate seat next year.

Said Austin Barbour, a veteran operative and fundraiser now advising former Florida governor Jeb Bush: “If we don’t have the right [nominee], we could lose the Senate, and we could face losses in the House. Those are very, very real concerns. If we’re not careful and we nominate Trump, we’re looking at a race like Barry Goldwater in 1964 or George McGovern in 1972, getting beat up across the board because of our nominee.”

...There are similar concerns about Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is gaining steam and is loathed by party elites, but they are more muted, at least for now.