Lionel Sosa is a San Antonio marketing executive and political consultant who as a Mexican-American Republican was more than a bit of an insider. As you can read in this piece from the website of the San Antonio Express-News,
My belief in the Republican philosophy paid off many times over. They opened the doors of opportunity so wide, all I had to do was walk right through. In ’78, Republican Sen. John Tower chose my ad agency to produce all re-election advertising even though we had no political experience. He and his staff just liked our ads and the fact that two of our four partners were Latino.
When Tower won, he rewarded us with an introduction to Reagan, who hired us for his Hispanic outreach. When Reagan won, he introduced us to George H.W. Bush. After he won, he introduced us to his son, George W. Bush, and a young skinny kid with lots of hair by the name of Karl Rove.
From 1978 until 2008, our team had the honor of working in the big arena of presidential politics. Five of the six campaigns were winners. And so were we. My wife, Kathy, and I were invited to lunch at the White House, several White House Christmas parties and, among many other things, a state dinner where, for one unforgettable night, we rubbed elbows with Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, movie stars, famous politicians and corporate giants. Yes, opportunity courtesy of the GOP abounded.
He follows that by his praise of the series of Republican Presidents. I mention that to demonstrate how strong his Republican connection is.
You should note that he begins by quoting Ronald Reagan, saying that he did not leave the Democratic Party, the party left him. That is relevant to this piece: he does not like where he sees his party going, and for him the final straw is Donald Trump:
So, if my party winds up electing Donald Trump, I’ll have to bid farewell, hoping that one day soon, it comes to its senses. Here’s my thinking. This madness could be temporary because our nominee is not really a Republican. Nor a real conservative. He’s just a shark, a self-promoter out to see how far his out-of-control ego can take him.
Here’s my quandary. If my party’s left me, where do I go? What should I do when there isn’t a horse in the race that stands for the core values of the party that I loved? I may just go for the devil we know instead of the lunatic we don’t know.
In the words of Paul Ryan, “I can’t defend the indefensible.”
Note carefully these words:
I may just go for the devil we know instead of the lunatic we don’t know.
Today we got Brent Scowcroft’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton. There will be other Republican figures of note, particularly those concerned with national security and international relations, who will clearly disavow Trump, whether or not they endorse Clinton.
But this is a man who made his very good living working for Republican candidates.
And he is publicly indicating that he might be willing to vote for Clinton — because he cannot support “the lunatic we don’t know”
Donald Trump — aka the Lunatic. I like the sound of that.
Hope this brightens your day.
Oh and in case you are wondering, I did check. This is a legitimate piece from the website of the San Antonio paper.