Well, once again, Rand Paul has won the CPAC straw poll and the hootin' and hollerin' has already begun. The conservatives have spoken and the junior senator from Kentucky has been ordained "their man." Lord knows we're still eons away from them picking "their woman." That just wouldn't be socially acceptable to the old white man's club for boys.
Anyway, what's this overwhelming win for Paul really mean? How good of a predictor of the future is this victory? Well, to borrow loosely from Texas Senator Rafael 'Ted' Cruz, you should ask former Presidents, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Ron Paul, George Allen and Jack Kemp — all of whom flamed out spectacularly in the GOP presidential primaries.
Remember the song, "War", by the legendary Edwin Starr? It was a big Motown hit back in 1969. Courtesy of Indylyrics, its refrain was:
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me...
If you replace the word "war" with "CPAC Straw Poll" you might have the true context of this "important" Rand Paul victory.
Yet if it does have any meaning as an indicator of things to come, look at the other results of yesterday's poll. Look at who came in behind Paul -- the other horses in the race according to Business Insider:
Here's the Top 9:
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — 31 percent
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — 11 percent
- Ben Carson — 9 percent
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — 8 percent
- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — 7 percent
- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — 7 percent
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — 6 percent
- Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan — 3 percent
- Texas Gov. Rick Perry — 3 percent
So the conservatives have spoken and soundly so. By nearly a three to one margin, they picked Paul over Ted Cruz. That's huge. That's so far behind that you can't even hear the band playing in the front of the hall. Then you get a neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson.
Dr. Who?
The good doctor polled even better than much ballyhoo'd Chris Christie. Seems his reputation's carrying around a few extra pounds of tarnish. Then you get the rest of the clowns who piled into the conservative car.
The GOP, at least the conservative wing anyway, has nothing much to offer up but a lot of noise and echos of former presidents past, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Ron Paul, George Allen and Jack Kemp. Now ask yourselves, conservatives, "How's that working out for ya?"
The post What Does Rand Paul Win In CPAC Straw Poll Really Mean? appeared first on The Political Carnival.