Saturday Afternoon

++The Donald closed the week dominating the media with his madness. The latest Ipsos poll had him at 35% with JEB! nearest him at 16%, followed the Dr. Ben Carson at 8%.

++The Donald ventured into George Wallace country to draw 20,000 all-white rally goers. People in the crowd said they liked the Donald because "like George Wallace, he told it like it is."

++The Donald is aiming at a southern sweep now that he has taken the lead in Texas. He has stolen operatives from Rick Santorum's last campaign in Iowa and the tea party chairman in New Hampshire.

++Ted Cruz reportedly met with the Donald to talk about campaigning together. Cruz who has lost altitude now trailing the Donald in Texas was hailed as God's choice by his Iowa campaign leader.

++JEB! sent over 60,000 letters out to Iowa voters with his head photoshopped on the body of a black man. Sure to win voters in lilly white Iowa.

++A right-wing Iowa radio host advocated making Mexican farm workers slaves. 

++After Jimmy Carter held a press conference announcing he had melanoma in his brain, he was attacked by Ted Cruz and Chris Christie.

++Proving his critics' point about his football allegiance, Chris Christie is attending a fund-raiser held by the owner of the Dallas Cowboys.

++Rand Paul's campaign seems about finished. He sent fund-raising letters to those of the Liberty Campaign on his father's 80th birthday. He has finagled a way around Kentucky's prohibition against running for both the Senate and the Presidency. He also persuaded Kentucky to hold a GOP caucus.

++AEI's Professor Orenstein, a veteran observer of the Republican Party, has an article in this week's Atlantic magazine about how far right can the GOP go? Pretty far. He writes that the endurance of a Trump candidacy may force us to re-write what we know about presidential politics.

++George Will, of all people, says the GOP might lose because of the viciousness of their nativism. 

++JEB! will not disown his criticism of "anchor babies" as the party slides into the ditch.

++Republican establishment operatives are concerned that Rinse Penis' plan to have the nomination wrapped up by March doesn't seem to be working. The idea is to have the Super Southern Primary in March and then have it all end with the winner-take-all Florida primary. 

++The concern is that the Trump candidacy has upended this scenario with candidates like Christie and Kasich not even qualifying for the next debate.

++The establishment operatives believes that the Donald can last through February and even beyond. 

++The other problem is that the Donald is drawing support from the base voters and forcing an all-ready to the right field even further right.

++The Washington Post, who leans Republican these days, tut-tutted about the Donald's immigration plan and reminded its readers that it would be very costly and inhumane.

++But the Donald keeps marching on. Business Insider has a piece just about the brilliance of the Donald's caps "Make America Strong Again." 

++One GOP operative said that the JEB! better watch out if the Donald starts spending money on ads. JEB! is planning on a $10 million campaign to show that the Donald is a liberal.

++New York magazine has an article about people close to the Donald speculating on how long the Donald can keep going on. The author interview the Donald who said that he had nothing left to do with his life and that he is enjoying his time on the campaign trail. The Donald has been offered millions from Hedge Fund operator and lobbyists but has turned it down. 

++Surprisingly,evangelical Christians have found the Donald refreshing and have given him his lead in Iowa. They cite that they have been lied too , just too many times by the GOP establishment and gotten nothing. At least, The Donald is being honest about his relationship to God and how he became "Pro-life".

++Trump hasn't backed asway from his criticism of George W. Bush on both the economic collapse and the Iraq War. W has begun sending out fund-raising letters on behalf of his brother JEB!

++Trump allies say the Donald's beef with JEB! is personal. The Donald blames Jeb! and his wife Colomba of getting Univision to cancel his Miss Universe pageant.

++Under the Donald tide surfaced the story about JEB's relationship with Lehman Brothers and how they obtained Florida's pension funds and blew it in the crash.

++Scott Walker ,who positioned himself, as the tea-party alternative to JEB! has found himself floating downward in Iowa. His chief of staff quit yesterday because of his dreary poll numbers. His approval rating in Wisconsin has dipped below 40% and the Marquette poll shows him losing in the state to Hillary by 17 points.

++The Donald and JEB! barnstormed New Hampshire this past week with JEB! losing out in terms of media coverage and crowds. But again he was saved because he came out for the complete "voucherization of our public school system". This was to counter the right's criticism of his support for Common Core curriculum.

++Meanwhile as their favorite sons seem to be sinking, the Koch Brothers have been pouring money into Senate races. 

++Bill Maher went after the Donald for his immigration policy and pointed out that the Donald seems to marry immigrants. 

++The blogger "The smirking chimp" wrote a column saying that America in his lifetime has never become so ugly as it has now. He fears a genuine fascism takeover with the rhetorical stances of the GOP candidates. Norm Ornstein and he would get along fine.