Fuck the Establishment! That Means Fuck You, Not Me!

Be careful, or you could end up supporting an Establishment candidate!


Defining ‘Establishment’ Down

Everyone—even you—now counts as The Establishment, by some definition.

By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
Jan. 21, 2016 6:37 p.m. ET


Game: Who Is “The Establishment”?

Players: 1 to 320 million.

Age: Political rookie and up.

Object: To demean and sideline your opponents, by deriding them as part of The Establishment.

Rules: Set your own.

Winner: See the Iowa caucuses.

***
Washington conservatives received some uplifting information this week. For years this crowd had been losing the political class’s latest parlor game. They had, through little fault of their own, been branded The Establishment. And, as we all know, The Establishment is not cool.

The good news from the presidential campaign trail? They are not alone. Turns out, the more the politicians play this fun game, the more losers there are! Turns out we are all The Establishment now.

That’s the neat thing about word games; it’s all in the phrasing. Not so long ago, The Establishment was defined as that lazy class of entitled Republicans who earmarked and logrolled, who put re-election above principle, who slept with big business, who were too weenie to confront tough issues.

They got routed. Dozens of conservative reformers, backed by grass-roots organizations like the Club for Growth, ousted them in 2010 through pressure and primaries. The Establishment’s candidate for Senate in Florida, Charlie Crist, fell to a brassy upstart by the name of Marco Rubio. State capitals were swept by Republican agents of change with names like Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker.

Then Ted Cruz came to town, with a new definition. The Establishment became anybody who didn’t do things the way he did. Not in favor of a government shutdown? Establishment! Don’t support a showy filibuster of an antigun bill that was never going to pass anyway? Establishment! And presto, those new House reformers, Mr. Rubio, all the governors, the Club for Growth, dozens of conservative advocacy groups, and even James Madison (were he still alive), became, overnight, Establishment Duds.

Only guess what? Ted Cruz is The Establishment! Donald Trump isn’t using the “E-word” precisely, but he is pointing out that Mr. Cruz took “low-interest” loans from Goldman Sachs to fund his Senate campaign, and since Goldman Sachs is absolutely a foundational member of The Establishment, Mr. Cruz is clearly part of the, well, you know. Worse, Mr. Trump says, The Establishment “owns” Mr. Cruz. Ouch.

Mr. Trump’s only problem is that he, too, is part of The Establishment. Because Mr. Cruz has engineered another novel definition. According to the senator’s campaign, you are The Establishment if guys like Bob Dole support you. Guilt by Establishment association. And since Mr. Dole likes Mr. Trump more than he likes Mr. Cruz, Mr. Trump is now The Establishment.

The Texas senator insisted in New Hampshire this week that “we’re seeing the Washington establishment abandoning Marco Rubio and unifying behind Donald Trump.” This provided Mr. Rubio with an opening to un-Establish himself, by pointing to Mr. Cruz’s words and explaining that The Establishment is all those high-dollar GOP donors funding ads against him.

There are yet other definitions. Mark Levin says The Establishment includes any Republican who would rather let Hillary Clinton win than support a constitutional conservative—which he defines only as Ted Cruz. Erick Erickson says The Establishment is those who circle the wagons to protect their own. Glenn Beck says it’s the folks who support Donald Trump, because they, like Mr. Trump, are in fact progressives. Rush Limbaugh says The Establishment is anyone who thinks conservatives are “hayseed hicks, pro-lifers running around in pickup trucks with shotguns in the back, bitter clingers.”

All this can get muddled pretty quickly. By Mr. Erickson’s definition, Mr. Levin is The Establishment. By Mr. Levin’s definition, any pundit who supports a candidate other than Mr. Cruz is. By Mr. Limbaugh’s definition, The Establishment is Barack Obama. And by Mr. Beck’s definition, it is every Bernie Sanders supporter.

Meanwhile, since to support an Establishment candidate is to be The Establishment, and since every Republican contender qualifies by one definition or another, the entire conservative electorate is The Establishment.

This game has become so fun that even the left is getting in on it. Asked by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow the other night why he had failed to win the endorsements of prominent liberal activist groups like Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign, Bernie Sanders wrote off these outfits as part of “the establishment” that supports Hillary Clinton. This inspired the Human Rights Campaign to tweet that it “has proudly taken on the establishment for years.” How dare anyone accuse the Clintons—one of the nation’s most powerful and pre-eminent political families—of being The Establishment?

They are. We all are. Trump, Sanders, Cruz, Hillary, Washington, think tanks, grass-roots groups, writers, voters. The Establishment is dead. Long live The Establishment.

You know what comes next?

You know what comes next? Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

???

Another ad for your new line of pink toilet paper?





Fuck off, asswipe. Go spam someone else's thread.

That was an excellent article that our Tea Bunkers will not understand....Iffy is part of the establishment!



.

???

Another ad for your new line of pink toilet paper?





Fuck off, asswipe. Go spam someone else's thread. Originally Posted by lustylad

Priceless!

Priceless! Originally Posted by bambino

Who are you supporting for President bambino and is he/she part of the establishment?



.

Who are you supporting for President bambino and is he/she part of the establishment?



. Originally Posted by WTF

Peyton Manning, the insurance salesman. Why do you ask Limpy?

Did you lose a couple grand on Brady?

Chicken Parm you taste so good.

Peyton Manning, the insurance salesman. Why do you ask Limpy?

Did you lose a couple grand on Brady?

Chicken Parm you taste so good. Originally Posted by bambino

Nope...I won on Manning because I hate Brady.

I lost on Arizona because I was a dumbass betting against Cam.

Didn't take much to get IBJunior to shit his own thread...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Nope...I won on Manning because I hate Brady.

I lost on Arizona because I was a dumbass betting against Cam. Originally Posted by WTF

Jump on Carolina -3 1/2. Vote for Trump, anti establishment, pro choice, against the Iraq war since 2003. He's right up your alley.

That was an excellent article that our Tea Bunkers will not understand....Iffy is part of the establishment!



. Originally Posted by WTF

I'm an established 0zombie blaster, WTF the cRat...

That was an excellent article that our Tea Bunkers will not understand... Originally Posted by WTF

Oh, they get it all right...

It's sad... WTFagboy used to rail against the establishment back in the '60s when he smoked pot with Abbie Hoffman... now he just rails against the Tea Party and his doctor because his ED drugs don't work.

Oh, they get it all right...

It's sad... WTFagboy used to rail against the establishment back in the '60s when he smoked pot with Abbie Hoffman... now he just rails against the Tea Party and his doctor because his ED drugs don't work. Originally Posted by lustylad

You posted a article which points out that evetybody is the establishment. ..