Posted on 05/02/2016 2:30:43 PM PDT by bassmaner
I'll keep this vanity short ... Mods: please feel free to pull it if it's inappropriate.
Why have so many here on FR turned on Ted Cruz in such a vicious way?
We cheered when we first heard about Ted taking on the establishment in TX to win the primary in the race to fill Kay Bailey Hutchison's vacated Senate seat, in a bad year for the GOP
We cheered again when Ted exhorted us to 'Stand With Rand' when he offered public support for Rand Paul's filibuster over the NDAA
Once more, we cheered when he stood on the Senate floor and urged his colleagues to join him and use the power of the purse to kill Obamacare
We nodded our collective heads in approval when he openly and correctly called Mitch McConnell a liar
And we jumped for joy when he became the first GOPer to announce a presidential run!
So ... what happened? Yes, Trump announced. But at first, not too many people took him seriously. For the longest time, there seemed to be an unspoken pact between Trump and Cruz, where they occasionally said nice things about each other while bashing the other candidates.
But ever since the voting began and Trump turned on Cruz (starting with the Ben Carson imbroglio in Iowa), a large contingent of FReepers did the same and seem to be echoing RINOs like John Boehner and Peter King in their absolute abhorrence of Cruz.
Yes, we need to choose sides, but for God's sake, can't we send that kind of vitriol in the direction that it belongs, ie. Hildabeast and the 'Rat Party, and knock off the circular firing squad?
copy that...
The night he blamed the Chicago near riots at a Trump rally on Trump, he became dead to me.
/////
and I will add, then, he proceeded downward from there....yes...beyond dead....compost
Speaking just for myself, Cruz didn’t appeal to me from the first time I saw/heard him. It wasn’t what he said, just some bad vibes. In fact, when I used to hear about him from Rush, it sounded good and I was looking forward to seeing him. I was disappointed - don’t know why.
Then as you said, there was this period of mutual respect between Cruz and Trump, and I thought that was a good thing.
At some point, I began to hear Cruz say “Donald this” and “Donald that” and they were all things I disagreed with, like “Donald is afraid of Megyn Kelly, Donald is afraid to debate me, Donald will take away your 2nd amendment rights, Donald wants to keep the Iran deal, Donald supports Obamacare, Donald gave money to Democrats in the past therefore he supports a liberal agenda”
All of these things I knew to be totally untrue, - I mean does anyone really buy that crap about Trump being afraid of MK or Cruz, or anyone for that matter? So I just got sick and tired of hearing him repeat the same things over and over - finally couldn’t stand the sound of his voice.
Then one day, I was thinking- Trump should stop calling Cruz Lyin’ Ted, but then I would hear Cruz talk and I realized- its kind of true, he’s Lyin’ Ted.
Cruz may be a real conservative deep inside, but he should have just stuck to his conservative message. He had plenty of chances whenever he got asked a policy question he immediately turned it around to “Donald...”’ All of the Donald this and Donald that...it really backfired on him. Maybe he got some terrible advice or something.
For Trump’s part, he warned Cruz. He warned everyone. He said if you attack me I’ll hit you back twice as hard. I’m not saying Trump didn’t start some of the skirmishes. I think the whole wives picture thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding where a Trump thought Cruz threw the first punch, but maybe it was a super PAC that Cruz had no control over, but then Cruz could have condemned it. Trump shouldn’t have done the retweet. Anyway, Cruz should have figured out way back then he was never going to win in a food fight with Trump.
At this point Cruz stubbornly staying in the race long after he’s eliminated from the first ballot win is a slap in the face to the clear front runner.
He might as well be saying “Hillary would make a better president than Donald”. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all Cruz’s fault there is still a rift in the Republican Party. Trump is ready to make nice any time Cruz wants to quit this nonsense.
Time to resurrect the Whigs! :^)
I have to slug down some Dramamine and vote Trump over Killary in November cause, you know, he is the best we’ve got.
The Donald is a non-politician outsider New York billionaire.
Just like David Rockefeller.
Great...That first one was really good... Looking forward to the others....
Cruz had a lot going for him, and I had largely discounted the “nasty Ted” (my phrase) characterization of him by his detractors during the early going. I figured one reason a lot of people did not like him is because he called them out on what Cruz considered to be dishonest and dishonorable behavior, and in many cases I agreed with him.
But certainly in the past few weeks when it has become apparent that a pathway to the nomination is slipping out of his grasp, he has not shown “grace under pressure”.
Seems irreconcilable.
Oh well, this was a perfect opportunity to try to turn things around.
The night he blamed the Chicago near riots at a Trump rally on Trump, he became dead to me.
*****************************************
That was the pivot for many.
You're going to have to factor in the amount of abuse tossed at us from Cruz supporters. That's not something that can be turned off until Ted drops out. Cruz supporters started the war of insults and continue it even in this thread. Until they and Ted stops you can't expect peace.
Your side started the war so it's up to your side to end it.
Then, he voted for the TPP, and offered no straight answer why.
Then, he voted for the Corker / Iran bill, and offered no straight answer why.
(Or did one of these come before the other? Oh well.)
That's what made me look elsewhere.
That's also what made me hold him up to just a little scrutiny, that's all it took, about his birth and Canadian citizenship. That's when I began to have a serious problem with this guy other than just not being willing to vote for him.
I was trying to give Ben Carson consideration, and that's about when he, Ben Carson that is, said something really really stupid...
Then I looked at the rest of the field. All RINOs... except - well, okay, I support Trump then. Let's let him have a try at it, and if he messes it up then let's just shut it down and start over. (Yes, that's what I mean to say.)
About that time, the Trump rally in Chicago got shut down by thugs, and Cruz blamed it on Trump for being an @$$#01e or some such thing. That's when I said OK, it's time to seriously detest this guy (Cruz, that is, and that's the nice word) now.
Let's just say that his stock has never gone back up since then.
Cruz is, and always has been, an insufferable arrogant asshole. Nothing to do with FR, everything to do with the highly flawed and unlikeable candidate.
LOL... :o)
1) First, there is no “circular firing squad.” This happens every single election. Jim will confirm that the debates over other candidates have been every bit as bitter with the “I’ll never vote for x” group present. There ARE people, not just here, but the idiot “neverTrump” dolts, on National Review, who are fine with Hillary being president. But you had the same thing from the other side of the spectrum with Mittens: many here either did not vote for President or didn’t vote at all when it came to Romney.
2) Now, as to what caused the Cruz change? I was a Cruz supporter in March of 2015. But Trump seemed to be more focused and, well, believable on the issue of immigration. To me that stood out as far more significant than ANY other issue, because if we don’t control the borders, and soon, there won’t be a nation left to argue about the other stuff.
I still had planned to support Cruz if he won, and looked forward to a Trump/Cruz ticket. But then Cruz started his attacks on Trump-—some of which was inevitable, but some were just unnecessary for Cruz to win. Then came the “dirty tricks,” the vote fraud, the Carson stuff, the porn star on his ads, the Rubio “drops out” lies.
What became increasingly apparent was that while Cruz ran (especially in IA) as “St. Ted” and clothed himself in this holy language, he was responsible for the dirtiest of tricks under the table. It was hypocrisy. The “delegate stealing” was over the top.
Understand what Cruz did was legal, and within the rules-—but a politician has to ALWAYS be aware of appearances. St. Paul once said that it was fine for him to eat meat, but if a would-be believer thought it wrong to eat meat, he wouldn’t do it due to appearances. Cruz should have known how the delegate stealing would look-—like an attempt to abrogate democratic processes and deny people their votes.
Finally, allying with Glenn Beck’s crazy comments and then saying that Trump was “responsible” for the Chicago violence did it. He will never be president.
A lot of people overlooked “Asshole Ted”, which he is.
Trump is the only one caught lying. He lies so much it is almost knee jerk for him to do so.
Did you actually say, “You started it?” Wow.
Like I said - Seems irreconcilable. Too bad.
Because they can’t explain Trump’s Democratic record, and his constant knee jerk lies, that they have projected all the faults of Trump on Cruz, with whom they can find little fault.
I see it as just the opposite. January, and the dirty tricks in IA, sealed St. Ted’s doom. And it is NEVER about who is the most “doctrinaire,” or who is purest. It is about who can actually get things done that we want done. When the history of this campaign is written, yes, January will be the turning point, but for what Cruz did, not what Trump did.
Unlike Trump? Really?
Because Cruz has turned out to be a lying, scheming, snake-handling weirdo.
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