Does Romney's capitulation insure a Royal Road to the nomination for the Crown Prince?

We now know that last week's summit between Mitt Romney and JEB! resulted in Romney getting the message.  Whether it was a carrot or a stick that did the trick, Willard is now out of the race.  That means the Crown Prince will have to contend only with Christie, and Scott Walker and the Kochs as potential likely roadblocks on the road to a donor-bought coronation in Cleveland next year.  Kasich could attempt to enter as a "viable" (meaning he might have a chance to beat Hillary) alternative to JEB!, but by then JEB! may have most of the big money on his side. And it appears that a lot of Romney's donors and supporters are now falling in line behind the Crown Prince.  Will this allow JEB! to repeat his brother's 2000 juggernaut strategy, or will he in the end wind up like John Connolly, Phil Gramm and Rudy Giuliani, for whom lots of money, fat cat support, and name recognition led nowhere? Most current GOP polls, without Romney, show JEB! in the teens with support, and barely in the lead, or just off the lead among the pack of Huckabee, Paul, etc., while Tea Party front FreedomWorks has declared that JEB! has "disqualified" himself for the nomination because of Common Core, etc.

RealClearPolitics: Kornacki: "Mitt Romney First Casualty Of Jeb Bush Strategy," Similar To What His Brother Did in 1999

USA Today: Jeb Bush doesn't have Romney's vote locked up

Daily Caller: Top Romney Iowa Strategist Defects To Jeb Bush

CNN:Reality check: Jeb Bush's conservative record

Does JEB! and Wall $treet Willard's "Apalachin Meeting" portend a political cartel agreement,or a patrician turf war?

The Blogisverse is aglow from the exploding nova of today's "summit" between Willard Romney and the Crown Prince John Ellis.  Like the meeting between then court jester Romney and King George I HW and the Dowager Queen Babs at the Bush Winter Palace in Houston in December 2011, will this Utah meeting between putative dynastic political rivals result in some sort of "gentleman's agreement" regarding campaign tone, dividing up donors, etc.?  Will Willard offer JEB! the VP spot to drop out and let him have another go?  Will Willard step aside upon some sort of offer of royal largess, or threat?

Give the slim likelihood of ultimate success by the Crown Prince in the general election (based on every poll taken to date), then Bush has little to offer Romney to entice him to bow out of the race, other than perhaps not to unleash Rove on his background and character.  Stay tuned.  The fallout from this powwow between two of today's biggest political gangsters might get interesting.

Latest national poll devastating for the Crown Prince

The most recent 2016 national presidential poll, one done by ABC/WashPost, has the same old landslide loss news for the Bush Restoration Team.  The Hildabeast destroys JEB! by double digits, 54 to 41 percent.

The Crown Prince continues his unbroken pattern of support at or near 40 percent. This coming on the heels of a recent NBC/WSJ poll showing only 19 percent of Americans have a favorable view of JEB! The Next Bush In Line may be the hottest thing going in the boardroom, on the golf course, in the clubhouse, and around the docks at the yacht club, but outside the bubble of money, he is DOA in the USA.

Romney/Bush 2016 -- Please God, Let Them Be the GOP Nominees

Despite the fact that the Crown Prince would never accept second place on any ticket (it's a full-on Bush Royal Restoration or nothing), this story has a certain appeal:

(Huffington Post) - Please God, help Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush become the GOP nominees in 2016.

Hillary Clinton has already been praying for this matchup and most Democrats would love to see another Romney campaign. In fact, it doesn't matter who is president or vice president on this potential merger of dynastic conservative families. The two names are interchangeable, and whether or not Bush or Romney get the GOP nomination for president, both men on the same ticket might ensure that a Democrat ends up in the White House.

While liberals might scoff at the notion that another Bush should be anywhere near the Oval Office, 59 percent of Republicans would like Romney to run again while 50 percent of Republicans favor Jeb Bush. According to POLITICO, both Romney and Bush top the list of GOP hopefuls in 2016. However, why would conservatives want Romney to run for a third time? Why would they want another Bush in the White House? Read more.

Joe Scarborough can't understand JEB!'s lack of appeal

PMSNBC's resident former GOP "1994 Republican Revolution" barricade barista Joe Scarborough, who does not hide that he is a big fan of the Crown Prince, is perplexed that American voters massively reject the idea of President Jeb Bush. Commenting on his signature show, Morning Joe, on Tuesday, Scarborough seemed flummoxed that all the adulation and positive press JEB! was getting from corporate media sources wasn't translating into massive or universal popular support for his putative candidacy.  In fact a recent NBC/WSJ poll (about as establishment as you can get) found that only 19 percent of Americans generally (as opposed to GOP clubhouse donors, former Florida GOP congressmen, or media insiders) had a positive rating of the Crown Prince.  Even Wall $treet Willard scored higher.

Maybe Joe ought to get out more.

Chief GOP Nativist: Third Romney Run "Good for Our Country"

JEB! and GOP: Open Borders and Closed Minds!

Iowa Rep. Steve King, probably the most prominent "hard" nativist in the GOP House, has come out publicly in favor of a third run by Wall Street Willard.

Romney, who took a hard line on open borders himself in 2012 in an effort to pander to the nativist GOP base, was well know for his "self deportation" idea as a solution to the million of undocumented Bush-era workers in the US. RealClearPolitics tells the tale:

“Mitt Romney sees the picture on what it takes to get elected to the presidency,” King said. “He’s run campaigns in Iowa twice in the past, and if it’s in his head and his heart and he’s driven to do this, then that’s going to be good for our country that we will have the debate that will come from this.”

King is set to play host this Saturday to a slew of potential Republican White House hopefuls who are descending on Des Moines for an event co-hosted by the conservative group Citizens United.

The Iowa Freedom Summit will be the first major cattle call of the 2016 Republican campaign with likely White House contenders including Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Ben Carson among those scheduled to speak to conservative activists in the nation’s first voting state.

King said he had invited Romney to attend but was initially told that the 2012 Republican presidential nominee would not be able to make it.

“We’ve re-offered the invitation and hope that he can logistically find a way,” King added.

A longtime aide to Romney did not respond to an inquiry about whether he might make a last-minute decision to attend the event.  

Is JEB! doomed in 2016?

It's my turn! You can't deny your rightful prince his place!

Las Vegas Sun-LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 

It appears that Jeb Bush has given out signs of running for President in 2016.

Consider the failed presidency of his brother George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, losing the election to Bill Clinton in 1992.

George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush had failed outcomes with their Iraq wars, which they left unfinished for others to sort out.

Jeb Bush also appears to be smarter than his brother and might have made a decent president had his brother not held the office first.

I don’t think the country is ready for another Bush in the White House. And Jeb is paying the price of having his father and brother in the Oval Office before he decided to throw his hat in the ring.

The JEB! delusion continues

Some people can believe anything, and apparently a handful believe JEB! can become president. Thomas Suddes, a poor, misguided blogger at cleveland.com believes it.

Suddes has some tenuous grip on reality:

Jeb Bush is the likely nominee because the Republican Establishment is behind him. The Establishment isn't ... comfortable ... with the so-called tea party, in Columbus or Washington. And the Establishment, except in 1964, when insurgent conservatives nominated Barry Goldwater, picks ... reasonable ... nominees. 

"Reasonable" was Suddes word choice. But reason is something that Suddes lacks when he then lets the hope of his delusion get the better of him:

As for the Party of Lincoln and Reagan, ex-Florida Gov. John Ellis (Jeb) Bush will likely be Republicans' 2016 nominee. If so, Bush could carry Ohio. If he does, Bush becomes president. 

Suddes is not alone.  A guy named Carl Hiasson, down in Florida (where else?) thinks (apparently without laughing) Jeb could ruin Hillary's political run.  According to Mr. Hiasson:

Jeb is definitely not whom she wants to face in the election.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/carl-hiaasen/article7033457.html#storylink=cpy

Don't bet on that, Mr. Hiasson. 

While forwardprogressives.com is an obvious left-wing website, and they probably harbor delusions of their own (such as believing Elizabeth Warren can win the 2016 Democratic nomination) they are firmly grounded in reality when it come to the Crown Prince: Republicans are Delusional: Jeb Bush Doesn't Stand a Chance at Becoming President.  They offer the obvious:

But now Jeb Bush has sprung onto the scene and seems all but certain to be ready to throw his proverbial hat into the 2016 presidential ring. It makes sense; he was governor of Florida so they think he can carry a key swing state, he’s married to a Hispanic so they think he can lure in some of the Latino vote, and he has name recognition which is huge in politics. Though there’s just one key element Republicans seem to be missing: The American people have had enough of the Bush family. Let’s think about this realistically for a moment. His father George H. Bush failed to get re-elected and his brother George W. Bush only won the popular vote in one of his elections and left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in U.S. history. So it’s not as if the American people are in love with the Bush family. Besides, his own mother essentially said she doesn’t think he should become president. And do Republicans really think that on the ballot box if the two last names they have to choose from are Clinton and Bush, that they’re going to choose Bush?

Bad news for JEB! 2016: Poll shows support for Romney to jump in race, outpacing the Crown Prince

Tampa Bay Times - CBS News poll released today:  

Fifty-nine percent of Republicans would like to see Romney jump into the 2016 race, while only 26 percent believe he should stay out. 

Fifty percent of Republicans would like to see former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on the campaign trail as well, while 27 percent disagree. If both Romney and Bush run, analysts expect them to wage a competitive battle for the allegiance of the Republican establishment. Read more.

Is Romney betraying the Crown Prince, or fulfilling his "gentleman's agreement" with the Bush Royal Family?

Back in December 2011, then prospective presidential candidate Willard Mitt Romney ventured down to the Bush Winter Palace in Houston, sought and obtained an audience with King George I HW and the Dowager Queen Babs.  It led if nothing else, to some ridiculous photos that are made more forthcoming with a little enhancement. One other thing that also probably came of that meeting was an understanding.  The Family will bless your run next year (but not help you beyond that), and if you fail, you will honor the Crown Prince's entitlement option on the nomination in 2016.  Willard's latest moves reported in the press that he is planning a 2016 run would suggest he has betrayed the old King and Queen.  Perhaps not. Plutocrat press organ, BloombergView, has an article, How Mitt Romney Helps Bush, that suggests Romney's prospective 2016 candidacy is really about running interference for the Crown Prince, much like "Unready" Fred Thompson did for McCain in 2008.  If Romney is not making a serious run, and this is a backhanded way of fulfilling his obligation to the Royal Family instead of challenging them, what will Romney get out of it?  How about a big tax cut, and the Ambassadorship to Mongolia?

The Supreme Court just killed JEB! 2016

In a huge historical irony, the US Supreme Court, which elected George W. Bush president in 2000 with its jurisprudentially contortious  Bush v. Gore decision, has announced today a decision that will destroy brother JEB!'s 2016 presidential ambitions.  Compounding this irony is that George W. Bush's 2004 reelection was determined by the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage (the first in the nation at the time) which gave W. the demagogic issue he needed to spike "values voters" by opportunistically running against gay marriage, and thus save his presidency from being a one term failure like his father. Instead he turned out to be a monumental two term failed president.

The US Supreme Court has agreed, today, to decide, on certiorari, the issue of whether to legalize gay marriage nationwide via a Loving equal protection standard.  The likely author of the looming opinion, coming almost certainly before the 2016 election and most likely later this year, would be Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy, a past stalwart support of gay rights.

If Kennedy's imprint is on a Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide, probably by a 6-3 margin with George W. Bush corporatist appointee John Roberts joining the majority, such an action could fracture, perhaps permanently, the coalition between the Republican establishment and evangelical voters that Lee Atwater and Karl Rove carefully crafted over a 40 year period.  This is made more likely given that the Crown Prince is desperately running from the issue, and would be put in the extremely awkward position of having to weigh in on the Court's ruling during the presidential campaign.  He likely will support the ruling in his efforts to appear "moderate" and appeal outside the reactionary base of the GOP, yet doing so could, and likely would, prove fatal to his presidential ambitions.

Compound that with likely GOP candidate William Jennings Huckabee who will run strong on an anti-gay marriage position, force JEB! to take a position in primary debates, and who has threatened to leave the Republican Party if it embraces gay marriage.  What would Huckabee do if JEB! endorsed a GOP authored Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, and JEB! then picks Rob Portman as his running mate, something not unlikely?  Would Huck run rogue?

For anyone dreading even the idea of a third Bush presidency, this is great news.

Uh, I believe firmly...
in a state's right to choose!

Biloxi-Gulfport Sun-Herald: Jeb Bush choose expedience when it comes to gay marriage

Bradenton Herald: Gov. Jeb Bush's stance on marriage equality examined

Detroit Free Press: Jeb Bush's grudging OK on gay marriage

seattlepi.com: Same-sex marriages begin in Florida, Jeb Bush straddles the issue

Daily Beast: Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails

Recent polls should encourage Mutts4Mitt2016, and give the Crown Prince, and his consiglieri, pause

Can JEB! ever poll over 40 percent?

The plutocracy, including its media leader Mr. Murdoch, are furious with Mitt Romney for apparently tearing up his "gentleman's agreement" with King George I HW, double crossing the Royal Family, and proceeding to take on the Crown Prince in a third presidential effort. There is no honor among thieves, so while the betrayal should not come as a surprise, it could cause real trouble for the Bush Restoration machine.

Murdoch, with all the weight of FOX BNN (Bush News Network), Rove, and their backers will surely try to derail the Mutts For Mitt 2016 express before it gets out of the station yard, but polls show they will have their work, and their disinformation campaign, cut out for them.  A most recent Iowa caucus poll, conducted between January 5 and 7, showed Romney (now factored in) with 21 percent support, and the Crown Prince with only 10 percent.  In all national polls between November and now, when Romney is factored in with the Crown Prince, he handily beats the Crown Prince in every poll. Name recognition can't account for JEB! underperforming at this point because, as a royal Bush who is universally known for his role in the 2000 election, JEB! is as well known as any potential Republican nominee, including Romney.  So well known, in fact, that 49 percent in one recent national general election 2016 poll stated they would never vote for him under any circumstance.

With a crowded field including Romney and William Jennings Huckabee, JEB! may not, under a worst case scenario, start to successfully purchase the nomination outright until he gets the home cooking in the Florida primary. Consider that either Romney or Huckabee could win in Iowa, and Romney win in New Hampshire (one of his many "home" states).  In a crowded field, with establishment support split, Huckabee could pull out a narrow plurality win in South Carolina, much as Newt did in 2012. Florida will certainly belong to the Crown Prince, and even if he loses everything up until then, a solid, predicable victory in Florida would allow all big media outlets to anoint JEB! as the inevitable nominee at that point.

Conservatives Are Already Raising Money to Derail JEB!'s 2016 Bid: Genuine effort to stop Bush—or fundraising ploy?

Mother Jones- The 2016 Iowa caucuses remain more than a year distant, but conservatives are already using former Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's potential presidential candidacy to raise cash—not to support a Bush bid, but to thwart one. Over the weekend, an outfit called the Constitutional Rights PAC blasted out an email promoting the website EndJeb2016.com and soliciting donations. Federal filings show that the PAC is connected to a Beltway lawyer who led one of the most significant money-in-politics Supreme Court cases of the past five years, and to a media firm that's helped to stoke the Benghazi scandal, the Obamacare repeal campaign, and an effort to rename Washington, DC's football team the "Washington Tea Party." Read more.

NYT: Can Jeb Bush Defy the Tea Party and Win?

The plutocracy is not happy with Wall $treet Willard. Murdoch voices their frustration, and the coming Rovian destruction of Mittens if he doublecrosses the Crown Prince

Ok Mitt, go back to the car elevator and shut up!

Politico said it with humor:  "Mitt and Jeb (as in Mutt and Jeff) in the golf bag together:  The GOP establishment lifts its weary head."  Rupert Murdoch, the mouthpiece of American plutocracy and economic royalism put it more bluntly, and weighed in on the 2016 presidential race during a public appearance at the Manhattan Institute on Wednesday (appearing to wear lipstick from the Getty photo accompanying the article), praising Jeb Bush and writing off Mitt Romney as "a terrible candidate." "He had his chance, he mishandled it, you know? I thought Romney was a terrible candidate."

Asked if he had a favorite candidate yet, Murdoch replied, "No." But he did say, "I like Jeb Bush very much."  Meaning, "GOP nominate the Crown Prince.  If you let the tea party run the show, I will come out for the Hildabeast." Read more.

CNN: Why Mitt Romney wants in on 2016

Business as usual at the Florida Versailles: Host of first JEB! 2016 fundraiser tied to Florida pay-to-play lawsuit

The American voter is stupid, and I will prove it just like my brother did!

Would it be possible for an entitled Crown Prince to run a campaign to buy the White House for his personal sinecure and the benefit of his crony courtiers, and his family legacy any other way?

Washington (CNN)The Wall Street veteran whose multi-million dollar mansion hosted the first fundraiser for Jeb Bush's newly created political action committee held a top job at an insurance brokerage that was sued by the state of Florida for swindling clients while Bush was governor.

Charles Davis was the vice chairman of Marsh and McLennan Companies during much of the time that Florida officials accused the company of taking kickbacks and rigging bids. Read more.

A signal of distaste for dynasties bodes ill for JEB!, Hilldog

There's dynasty, then there's DYNASTY

Washington Post - It’s been a good few weeks for Jeb Bush, who has been setting the pace among prospective 2016 presidential candidates — at least in the view of some in the elite world of political donors, strategists and commentators. But even before the news that Mitt Romney is thinking about a third campaign, a dissenting view on Bush was registered here Thursday night.

A dozen Denver-area residents spent two hours dissecting the state of the country and its politics. The 12 participants — Democrats, Republicans and independents — are weary of political dynasties. They were dismissive, sometimes harshly, in their assessments of Bush, the former Florida governor. Read more.

Red State: Against American Monarchy. Prevent The Coronation of Bush III: The Bush Dynasty Still Lusts For The Throne

It's a JEB! 2016 media love feast on The (Mc)Laughin(g) Group

McLaughlin(g) Group's eclectic crew includes Monty (the original metrosexual) Clift's sister-in-law, Eleanor, self-loathing former silk-stocking-cum-neocon, Mort Zuckerman, and of course PAT! Buchanan, the original Southern Strategist. PAT!, having drunk more of his own than the Bush party-line kool-aid over the years, is the only one who withheld an endorsement.

Clift considers him "sane" and "moderate" and believes the Bush name won't hurt him, and that American's are "comfortable" with the Bush "brand." Maybe in her toney DC neighborhood full of brownstones and lobbyists.

Zuckerman, from his media empire bubble, called the Crown Prince "extraordinary" and "phenomenal,"  and according to Mortie, a room full of plutocrat donors gathered recently for a donation shake down by the Crown Prince "knew it." Zuckerman all but wants to make love to JEB! At that point PAT! had enough, and asked the smitten neocon suitor to "gesture toward him."  PAT! conceded the Crown Prince was smart to announce his Restoration effort early, but heaped no more more praise on the royal.

Old man McLaughlin was the only one not drinking the house tipple, and dared to ask the group how much of "non-aligned" America would vote for another Bush.  PAT! rose to the occasion and pointed out one recent poll that indicated 49 percent would not, under any circumstances, vote for a Bush in 2016.

That message probably won't ever make it to Georgetown, Park Avenue, Lenox Hill, or the Hamptons.

Looks like JEB! 2016 might not be such an effortless buy. One can only hope.

Surprise! Surprise!  I'm BACK!

Look Mittens!  It's MY TURN!!

With recent news that Scott Walker is gearing up a 2016 presidential effort, and now word that "Wall $treet Willard" is seriously considering scraping his December 2011 "gentleman's agreement" with King George I HW and the Dowager Queen Babs and entering the race against the Crown Prince, it looks like Rove will have to work overtime for JEB! in order to buy him the Republican nomination. Can he and the Crown Prince lock down all the major money sources and freeze out Walker and Romney to such an extent that they cannot compete?  A hard task and "Job One" in the Restoration effort at this point. And then there is the Big Elephant ready to bolt into the tent.  Rove may have dump a third party Jumbo hit on the Feds over Bridgegate to stop that charging bull in its tracks.

JEB! and Co., meanwhile, are baiting friendly media (in this case CNBC) with Wall Street surrogates like Starwood Capital chief Barry Sternlict, who is advertised as a "past Democratic voter," to tell speculator class peers how "fantastic" a president JEB! would be.  For them, indeed, he would be fantastic, no doubt.  For everyone else, get used to $5.00 a gallon gas, more war in the Middle East, and exploding education costs.

JEB!'s royalist PACs should be called "Right to Rule"

http://alltherightsnark.org/hussein-youngman-royal-family/

Washington Post-Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and his supporters launched two new political action committees on Tuesday as he moves closer to a 2016 presidential campaign, underscoring his desire to get a head start on his potential rivals on both fundraising and organizing.

The official formation of the new leadership PAC Right to Rise, the plans for which were announced by Bush in December, will serve as a holding area for staff and a policy shop until Bush formally decides on whether to run. It will also serve as the focal point of Bush's political efforts, from commissioning polls and producing ads to making hires for his digital team.

A Web site for a super PAC with the same name also launched Tuesday. Read more.

JEB! the stealthy neocon

He backed his brother's wars. Now he's listening to George W.'s advisers, too.

Politico- In the late 1990s, a group of conservatives issued a manifesto calling for a stronger, “Reaganite” American foreign policy. The 25 signatories to the founding statement of the Project for the New American Century — a new think tank urging larger defense budgets, democracy promotion and bolder American leadership — consisted of several leaders of the emerging neoconservative movement, including Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Bill Kristol.

One signer stood out for his near-total lack of foreign policy experience: Jeb Bush, then a candidate for Florida governor. Read more.

Politico: JEB! attempting to strangle any potential GOP challenge to his entitlement in its crib with a heavy blanket of fund-raising activity and big money.

Despite his lack of an official announcement, recent developments leave little doubt that former two-term Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is running hard for the White House.

Just three weeks after announcing he is "actively exploring" a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush's "actively" has morphed into intense activity.

Bush has leaped ahead of the other Republican nomination front-runners, getting an early start on fundraising and setting up a leadership PAC and a super PAC to enable him to steal the lead in the vital march for campaign contributions, Politico reports...

A veteran GOP fundraiser told Politico, "Everybody was saying Jeb didn’t know how to campaign in the modern day, but he is moving on the fundraising side much more aggressively and much more effectively than everyone else in the field put together.

"By going early, he has really made it much harder for a lot of these other guys in the establishment wing of the party."

Read more.

HUCK 2016 can both guarantee JEB! the nomination, and his landslide defeat to the Hildabeast

Now that William Jennings Huckabee looks poised to run away from FOX and join the GOP's Greatest Political Show on Earth for its big tent 2016 tour, let's examine how a Huckabee run can both assure the Crown Prince the nomination, and then, if events fall into place just right, how Huckabee could be the patriot that saves the nation from a Bush Restoration attempted in the service of cronyism and royalism.

1.  Huckabee will be a big addition to the already divided "anti-Bush" alternative vote, and further split it between himself and the likes of Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Ranger Rick Perry. In fact a Huckabee candidacy will make it not just plausible, but actually probable that JEB! can pull out a plurality first place finish in the trifecta of New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida, and essentially lock up the nomination by March 1. Likewise, Rob Portman's little-noticed and recent decision not to enter the presidential race most likely indicates that he is positioning himself to be JEB!'s running mate, if JEB! is ultimately willing to go that route.

2. Huckabee has to know he has no chance to win the Republican nomination.  He knows he will get little to no corporate or "fat cat" money, and simply will be unable to compete once the race quickly moves out of the "retail" states of Iowa (which he could win), and New Hampshire (where his cultural conservatism will not fare well, and where he cannot win).

So why is he running?  To have some control over the primary campaign message, and force a debate over "values" issues, particularly and specifically gay marriage.  Huckabee has essentially already said as much, and even pointedly threatened to leave the Republican Party if it wavers on the issue.

Huckabee as a candidate will ensure that same-sex marriage, and the evangelical base's strong opposition to it, get a full airing and recognition in upcoming national primary debates, something JEB! desperately wants to avoid.  His focus on this issue, and JEB!'s likely waffling (by taking the position that each state should decide the issue on its own) will further alienate the evangelical base from the Crown Prince.  Also expect Huckabee to attack JEB!, and the GOP establishment, over crony capitalism.  He can do to JEB! (and for Hilldog) much the same as Newt did to Romney in 2012.

3. In a desperate effort to separate himself from the "legitimate rape" image of the hard right element in the GOP and further appeal to the growing portion of the national electorate that now views strident opposition to gay marriage as reactionary, will JEB! then confront Huckabee in a "Sister Souljah" moment over gay rights? Consider that if JEB! follows such a path, and then picks Portman to be his running mate, an establishment neocon politician (very much loved by the plutocracy) and who now favors gay marriage after learning his son is gay, such an action might provoke Huckabee to take the next logical step. And there is the potential that the US Supreme Court might take up an equal protection case by 2016, and let Republican Anthony Kennedy write a "Loving" decision legalizing gay marriage nationally.

4. Would Huckabee, faced with a GOP that on some level in 2016 embraces the idea of gay marriage as both acceptable and legitimate, then destroy the 30 year old alliance between the Republican Party and evangelical voters and run as the Third Choice appealing to nativists, anti-cronyism, and cultural reaction in order to prove a fatal point to those Republican party elites who have for decades used the "Southern," then more broadly, the "Values" Strategy for their cynical gain?

The prospect is both fascinating, logical, and a karmic delight.