CT Blue

Back in August I drafted a post that I guess I never put up, since I can’t find it on the net. The thrust of it was that the Republican candidates, other than Trump, came in three basic flavors. Here’s how I described one of those flavors:

The second group are the grifters. These are the folks who also know that they can’t win the nomination and, if truth be told, are not at all interested in doing so. They are looking to improve their brands, and cash in over the course of the next four years. Huckabee and Carson are prime examples of this sort of candidate. I’ve written before (in fact I made this point during the last election cycle) that Sarah Palin made a big mistake in 2012 by not running for President. She hurt her brand and lost all ability to play the victim. Things are so bad for Sarah that she had to make her premium channel free for the ever dwindling number of people who care what she thinks ….wait, I’m at a loss here. What’s the word for what Sarah does inside her head before words are ejected from her mouth? Carly is a bit of an outlier in this group. She doesn’t expect to be president, and she’s not necessarily in it for the money, though after her stint at Hewlett Packard she’s not likely to get a job anywhere other than Fox. She’s running for Vice President, and will probably be nominated. If the Democrats were competent, her record at Hewlett Packard would then become common knowledge throughout the land. But campaign competence is not a Democratic strong suit.

We have now arrived at the stage of the campaign where this group drops by the wayside. Their work is done, having secured another four years of grift cred that they can take out on the road. Santorum has dropped out, in the process, boarding, and perhaps sinking the good ship Rubio. Ben Carson, the greatest grifter of them all, is apparently on the way out as well, but his work was monumental. It will be years before any grifter can beat his records. Consider this:

Carson’s big cutbacks are coming even though he raised more money than any other Republican. His problem is, as David Nir wrote:

Ben Carson’s campaign has been completely exposed as a grifty fraud: It spent millions more than it raised last quarter, mostly on scammy (and expensive) direct mail fundraising. Carson’s entire operation is irrelevant at this point, except to the people he’s ripped off.

via Daily Kos

But those people like being ripped off. They must, because they will surely come back for more. Carson is set for the next four years, and in the process of renewing his lease, he made tons of money during his campaign. Life is good for some people.

I forget, is Carly still in it? I used to think she was almost a sure thing for VP, but I think she’s sunk her chances even for that. I think she jumped the shark when she tweeted that she was rooting for Iowa against her alma mater, which should, by the way, be ashamed of itself on her account.

UPDATE: I guess I missed this. Huckabee is out too, so that’s one more grifter down.