Hand-Wringing in GOP After Donald Trump's Remarks on Megyn Kelly

Okay, following-up from earlier, "Donald Trump Attacks Megyn Kelly: 'There Was Blood Coming Out of Her Wherever...'"

I don't like Trump's comments, obviously. But I'm not ready to kick him to the curb either. For one thing, I can't stand Erick Erickson. He's exactly what's wrong with so-called movement conservatives: they're afraid of their own shadows with stultifying political correctness. So this particular round of right-wing infighting reminded me that we do this every four years, most notably over conservative reactions to Mitt Romney in both 2008 and 2012. So I tweeted:

Ah, I remember. We're entering the stage of the four-year political cycle where the right 'sphere blows its collective brains out.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 8, 2015

And now here's the New York Times to trumpet the news, "Donald Trump Disinvited From Conservative Event Over Remark on Megyn Kelly" (via Memeorandum):

Donald J. Trump’s suggestion that a Fox News journalist had forcefully questioned him at the Republican presidential debate because she was menstruating cost him a speaking slot Saturday night at an influential gathering of conservatives in Atlanta. It also raised new questions about how much longer Republican Party leaders would have to contend with Mr. Trump’s disruptive presence in the primary field.

With Mr. Trump at center stage, the event Thursday shattered television viewership records for primary debates: Nearly 24 million people watched. But any hopes that he would try to reinvent himself inside the Cleveland arena as a sober-minded statesman, or that he would collapse under scrutiny and tough questions, vaporized in the opening minutes.

By the weekend, as Mr. Trump’s latest eruption rippled through Republican circles, the conversation had turned to whether the party, and his rival presidential contenders, should continue to accommodate his candidacy, quietly hoping that this would be the moment he burned out — or should try to run him out on a rail...

It shouldn't be up to party elites, obviously. It should be up to the rank-and-file, and for the life of me I have no idea how Trump will fare in this next batch of polls. If they're anything like the Drudge poll, Trump should be flying high. But if those focus groups turn out to be a harbinger, then Trump's going to be dropping like a rock. Meanwhile, as Rick Perry's not catching fire, with a mediocre debate performance making things worse, I'm pretty much firmly in the Carly Fiorina camp now. Just imagining her as the first woman president is so fantastic I can hardly see straight. She's so smart and articulate it's ridiculous. I'm really exited for her.

Lots more at Memeorandum.