Peggy Noonan Begs Jeb not go Go After Rubio

So look at this. Suddenly I'm a Jeb Bush Democrat. Who'd have thunk it?

"There have been reports Jeb Bush’s PAC is considering going after Marco Rubio. If it does, Mr. Bush will look like Al Pacino in “Scarface,” with his allies wielding all that super PAC dough and saying: “Say hello to my little friend.” The Pacino character took out all his enemies, but what’s so memorable about that last scene is that he shot up the entire mansion, pretty much brought the house down, and of course went down himself, in the end."

http://www.wsj.com/article_email/republicans-are-ready-to-rumble-1447374852-lMyQjAxMTA1MDEzMzUxNDM3Wj

This appeal of hers makes sense. That's why we can count on the GOP to ignore it.

Of course, if you're Jeb this isn't necessarily compelling either. You want to win. You're less interested in any establishment candidate winning though that's your preference than you are in winning yourself.

Then again, it's personal between Jeb and Rubio. Jeb was the mentor and Rubio made him look like a fool in front of millions in that third debate. Simply spite could come to play-remember it's not him but his super PAC we're talking about. In principle candidates aren't allowed to even speak to a super PAC who is supporting them. So they could do it against his will. He may not be looking for this to be done but may not strongly oppose it being done.

What gives me a lot of hope is that in the comments section, you had base folks saying things like we can easily deport 11 million and that the real number is more like 25 million. 

Meanwhile the GOP establishment is getting very nervous.

"Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them."

"Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands."

"The party establishment is paralyzed. Big money is still on the sidelines. No consensus alternative to the outsiders has emerged from the pack of governors and senators running, and there is disagreement about how to prosecute the case against them. Recent focus groups of Trump supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire commissioned by rival campaigns revealed no silver bullet."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/time-for-gop-panic-establishment-worried-carson-and-trump-might-win/2015/11/12/38ea88a6-895b-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76_story.html

The party donors don't know which establishment candidate to get behind. They don't know that the old standby of negative ads will work against Trump and Carson either.

When you go negative that can work but even if it does, there;s no guarantee the former supporters go to you. The big story is how far Trump has gone without tv ads.

"For months, the GOP professional class assumed Trump and Carson would fizzle with time. Voters would get serious, the thinking went, after seeing the outsiders share a stage with more experienced politicians at the first debate. Or when summer turned to fall, kids went back to school and parents had time to assess the candidates. Or after the second, third or fourth debates, certainly."

"None of that happened, of course, leaving establishment figures disoriented. Consider Thomas H. Kean Sr., a former New Jersey governor who for most of his 80 years has been a pillar of his party. His phone is ringing daily, bringing a stream of exasperation and confusion from fellow GOP power brokers."

“People usually start off in the same way: Pollyanna-ish,” Kean said. “They assure me that Trump and Carson will eventually fade. Then we’ll talk some more, and I give them a reality check. I’ll say, ‘The guy in the grocery store likes Trump. So does the guy who cuts my hair. They’re probably going to stick with him. Who knows if this ends?’ 

I don't know, Peggy. Maybe the party's over.