Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Rough Math Facing Ted Cruz
San Diego Union-Triune ^ | April 2, 2015 | George Will

Posted on 04/02/2015 9:28:25 AM PDT by Fiji Hill

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was born in 1970, six years after events refuted a theory on which he is wagering his candidacy. The 1964 theory was that many millions of conservatives abstained from voting because the GOP did not nominate sufficiently deep-dyed conservatives. So if in 1964 the party would choose someone like Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, hitherto dormant conservatives would join the electorate in numbers sufficient for victory.

This theory was slain by a fact — actually, 15,951,378 facts. That was the difference between the 43,129,566 votes President Lyndon Johnson received and the 27,178,188 that Goldwater got in winning six states.

The sensible reason for nominating Goldwater was not because he could win: As Goldwater understood, Americans still recovering from the Kennedy assassination were not going to have a third president in 14 months. The realistic reason was to turn the GOP into a conservative weapon for a future assault on the ramparts of power...

Today, however, there is no need to nominate Cruz in order to make the GOP conservative.... When Jeb Bush, the most conservative governor of a large state since Ronald Reagan...is called a threat to conservatism, Republicans are with Alice in Wonderland.

(Excerpt) Read more at utsandiego.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; cruz; floriduh; georgewill; georgewill4dnc; georgewill4libs; gope; jebbush; rinogeorgewill; rinos4bush
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last
To: Fiji Hill

If this was written by George Will, he is one seriously -——— up person.

Why does he think it has been almost impossible to win elections since Ronald Reagan, the candidates were too Conservative?

This guy should drop off his credibility card. It has expired.


41 posted on 04/02/2015 10:37:44 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (The question is Jeb Bush. The answer is NO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill

Isn’t this the same guy who was commenting on Obama’s pant crease a couple of years ago? No thanks George, I’m sticking with Cruz.


42 posted on 04/02/2015 10:43:36 AM PDT by erod (Chicago Conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
When Jeb Bush, the most conservative governor of a large state since Ronald Reagan...is called a threat to conservatism, Republicans are with Alice in Wonderland.

I'd say Rick Perry is more conservative than Jeb Bush and that isn't saying much.

Frankly I don't need to bother reading the rest of his fantasy screed.

43 posted on 04/02/2015 11:02:43 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impy; AuH2ORepublican; Clemenza; GOPsterinMA; Clintonfatigued; BillyBoy

Reagan should’ve chosen Paul Laxalt instead for VP.


44 posted on 04/02/2015 11:04:33 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: SharpRightTurn

The GOPe wasn’t happy with Goldwater or Reagan’s conservative rhetoric in the 1960s either.


45 posted on 04/02/2015 11:04:44 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: stephenjohnbanker

You have one in AZ named John McCain.

Military people usually get a pass.


46 posted on 04/02/2015 11:09:12 AM PDT by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
When Jeb Bush, the most conservative governor of a large state since Ronald Reagan...is called a threat to conservatism, Republicans are with Alice in Wonderland.

Man, talk about a straw-man. I've never seen such an inflated bogus premise.

47 posted on 04/02/2015 11:20:10 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impy

Flake is even worse than McCain.


48 posted on 04/02/2015 11:25:46 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Vigilanteman
Thanks for the recommendation.

Actually, my own taste in fiction is for the Victorian novel. But I thought that writing something with what is only implied in Victorian novels, explicitly, might help disavow young readers that Conservative values would somehow interfere with the fun side of life.

Of course, the difference was taste. Victorians had a sense of privacy--keeping private matters private. While I really do agree with their approach, I decided on the one you describe for tactical reasons. (In my defense, however, you will note that the characters tend to develope in a constructive direction--just as in those Victorian novels.

Hope that your mother-in-law's recovery works out better from this point on. God Bless!

49 posted on 04/02/2015 11:26:15 AM PDT by Ohioan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill

Oh, goodie! Now everyone can feel sorry for him - that way he can achieve “victim” status and then the left will vote for him. Problem solved! ~ s


50 posted on 04/02/2015 11:29:47 AM PDT by Lake Living
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill

Maybe George Will should stick to what he is good at. Writing about baseball.


51 posted on 04/02/2015 11:39:15 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Signalman

Exactly.


52 posted on 04/02/2015 12:25:57 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Ted Cruz 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: EternalVigilance

I don’t get it. On the day Cruz announced, Will called him a candidate that was “as good as it gets”. Why is he suddenly so negative?


53 posted on 04/02/2015 12:42:34 PM PDT by conservativejoy (We Can Elect Ted Cruz! Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
I'm with Cruz no matter what the inside the beltway fops think.

In fact, the harder they try to marginalize him the more I like him.

54 posted on 04/02/2015 2:31:49 PM PDT by skeeter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: discostu

“much like how no GOP nominee was going to in in ‘08”

I know what you’re saying (people were tired of the GOP in 2008), but I don’t think Obama was unbeatable, had he run against a normal Republican. Hillary, on the other hand, back then would have been unstoppable, but certainly not today.


55 posted on 04/02/2015 2:59:05 PM PDT by BobL (REPUBLICANS - Fight for the WHITE VOTE...and you will win (see my home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: marron
That's why the MSM want Jeb or anybody else they know will not win.
Actually, people are so tired of the Dems that Anybody but Dems "will"
win which is why "imo" the GOP wants somebody they can control.

That control consists of doing the bidding of the Dems even while they're out of power.
They are some nasty SOB's in the GOP, traitors all.

56 posted on 04/02/2015 2:59:14 PM PDT by MaxMax (Call the local GOP and ask how you can support CRUZ for POTUS, Make them talk!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
Actually, the middle is not small, least of all in the Republican nomination process. Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center identifies “four faces of the Republican Party” — evangelicals, very conservative but secular voters, somewhat conservative voters, and moderates. He says the largest group, about 35 percent to 40 percent of the national party, are the somewhat conservatives. And in presidential years, moderates are the second-largest (25 percent to 30 percent). The somewhat conservatives “are found in similar proportions in every state” and “always back the winner.”

So if a candidate can sweep the moderates and also pick up a third of the conservatives and somewhat conservatives, that candidate can win the nomination.

It gets easier with time because voters flock to the front runner. It's not some conspiracy or evil magic.

All the same, though, I don't think Jeb will be the nominee. He's too tired and too hostile to conservatives.

That moderate group isn't what it once was either. A lot of them have gone over to the Democrats.

57 posted on 04/02/2015 3:08:37 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: x

Cruz might be able to bring conservatives back to the party


58 posted on 04/02/2015 3:10:58 PM PDT by GeronL (CLEALY CRUZ 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: BobL

There’s a difference between unbeatable and unwinnable. Obama was clearly beatable, just not by a GOP candidate that year.


59 posted on 04/02/2015 3:11:15 PM PDT by discostu (Bobby, I'm sorry you have a head like a potato.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Ohioan
Will, at best, is very confused about what happened in 1964.

A number of factors contributed to Goldwater's defeat in 1964--Goldwater's reluctance to run, strife within his campaign team, the refusal of the Rockefeller wing of the party to actively support him, etc. The election was hardly a repudiation of conservatism.

60 posted on 04/02/2015 3:38:31 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson