Posted on 07/31/2016 5:13:58 PM PDT by Daniel Clark
Republicans, No More: Sir Thomas wouldn't fit in today's GOP
by Daniel Clark
During his speech at the Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz congratulated Donald Trump for winning the nomination, supported Trump's idea of building a border wall, agreed with Trump's most recently stated position on Middle Eastern refugees, and thoroughly denounced Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. It was more than enough to fulfill his pledge to "support" (not formally endorse) his party's nominee. Nevertheless, his fellow Republicans roundly castigated him as some kind of traitor.
Cruz's most fervent detractor has been none other than that unimpeachable authority on political decorum, Gov. Chris Christie (campaign slogan: "I’m from Jersey! Shut up!"). Christie characterized Cruz’s speech as “selfish” and accused him of disloyalty to the party. Rep. Peter King of New York parroted Trump's baseless accusations from the primary campaign, calling Cruz "a fraud and a self-centered liar." Finding a Republican in Cleveland who was willing to defend Cruz was like playing "Where's Waldo." It took Newt Gingrich, who’s no longer an active politician, to recognize that Cruz had given a basically pro-Trump speech, even though he never said the words, "Vote for Trump."
Mind you, it was Christie, after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, who couldn’t keep is hands of President Obama during an extended photo-op, less than a week from Election Day, and at a time when Mitt Romney felt compelled to suspend his campaign in deference to the storm's victims. Obviously, his problem with Cruz cannot be that the Texas senator isn't sufficiently loyal to his party and its nominee. To get an idea of what Christie and many of his colleagues are really driving at, one might remember the alleged disloyalty of another politician, Sir Thomas More, in A Man for All Seasons.
In one scene, More's friend, the Duke of Norfolk, tries unsuccessfully to convince him to go along with the crowd in support of King Henry’s divorce and remarriage. An exasperated Norfolk finally exclaims, "It's disproportionate! We're supposed to be the arrogant ones, the proud, splenetic ones, and we've all given in! Why must you stand out?"
Christie, King, and many other Republicans who hold themselves in high regard have gone far beyond supporting Trump, but have groveled and debased themselves at his feet. Christie in particular has allowed himself to be used as a stage prop, apparently in exchange for a payoff he's never received, while dutifully referring to "Mister Trump" as required. How disproportionate must it seem for Cruz, a Tea Partier and relative political neophyte, to strut around so independently, with his insubordinate talk about voting one's conscience?
Gov. Christie behaves like a pugilistic drunk, who tries to provoke innocent bystanders with the accusatory question, "You think you’re better than me?" That's what he really means to say to Cruz, as much as he'd prefer to sound like he's defending some principle or other. Where does Cruz get off, emerging from his primary defeat with his self-respect intact, after the proud, splenetic Christie has reduced himself to the world's largest ventriloquist dummy?
Through much of its history, the Republican Party has been a place where a principled individualist like Sir Thomas might have felt at home. A man who was motivated by loyalty to God and country, and was absolutely faithful to the letter of the written law would have fit right in, even if many of his colleagues disagreed with his conclusions, or thought his methods to be unwise. That was before the GOP inverted itself, from a bottom-up grassroots party committed to government by the consent of the people, into another tyrannical, top-down party that thinks it exists for the purpose of preserving its own hierarchy.
Today's Republican Party is just another organ of the elitist harrumphing class, that openly holds its own voting base in contempt, and has become so insular that it treats a temporary, partial shutdown of nonessential government operations as if it were a fate worse than global annihilation. Anymore, a predominantly Christian group of Constitution-waving citizen activists will elicit as hostile a response from the Republican leadership as it will from the socialist Democrats. What part of their message is it that's so offensive? Exercise fiscal responsibility? Stop burdening us with so many regulations and taxes? Respect our fundamental rights to life, liberty and property?
The Republicans still make a pretense of standing for these same things, except that they give in, with remarkable and growing frequency. Nevertheless, they are arrogant, proud and splenetic, and they won’t stand to be shamed in contrast to those who so impudently stand by their principles.
-- Daniel Clark is a writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author and editor of a web publication called The Shinbone: The Frontier of the Free Press, where he also publishes a seasonal sports digest as The College Football Czar.
Here we go...
Hey David, Ted Cruz of Harvard Law School is not Constitutionally eligible to hold the office of president. He is a self serving fraud.
Sen. Ted Cruz congratulated Donald Trump for winning the nomination, supported Trump’s idea of building a border wall, agreed with Trump’s most recently stated position on Middle Eastern refugees, and thoroughly denounced Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton
********************************
If he had stopped right there, he’d have been fine, but he had to throw, vote your conscience, in there.
Ted did a political hari kari on live TV.
Your attempt to make the others look bad to make Cruz look good failed...Cruz is still the scoundrel he proved himself to be...
Sir Thomas is who?
According to Cruznadians one can be born and raised in Saudi Arabia and still be a natural born citizen as long as your mother was an American.
Born here of citizen parents = natural born citizen
Anything else brings other citizenship(s) and divided loyalty
Anyone who’s read Utopia will know that Thomas More was a socialist at heart - I certainly hope he wouldn’t be entirely welcome in the GOP.
Blog pimp
I assumed Thomas More
I voted Cruz in our primary; but when DONALD JOHN TRUMP
earned the nomination and then Cruz showed his ample rear
end at the convention - I said, “NEVER AGAIN!!”
Then, when Cruz ramped up his hissy fit the very next day
after his self-serving speech; that did it for me real good!
Cruz can fish or cut bait, which ever he wants; but I don’t
like that damned pledge-breaking and lying!!!
Almost didn’t notice the popcorn tub! Stop doing that!
I loathed Cruz before he made that speech. I voted for Calgary Ted in 2012 before when he successfully concealed the minor fact that he was a Canadian citizen from Texas voters. Cruz will not get my vote in 2018. He can go back to Canada and run for office there.
” It was more than enough to fulfill his pledge to “support” (not formally endorse) his party’s nominee. “
Uh, yeah, Daniel, I don’t think so. And you conveniently left out that parting shot by Cruz about “voting you conscious”.
Cruz is a piece of shit and the polls all show the GOP voters think the same thing, with approval ratings in the 28% range.
Why don’t you go peddle your bullshit at therightscoop, nationalreview, weeklystandard, conservativereview, or theblaze: they’ll lap your anti-Trump crap up like it was chocolate ice cream.
Wait, what? Teddy’s for a wall now? Hmmmm, that doesn’t sound like what I’ve heard for well over a year.
A wall? SMH
Great article. Thanks for posting.
Anybody bashing Trump now is campaigning for Hillary, and therefore a pro-abortion Communist.
There will be plenty of time to try to pull Trump to right, after the election.
I voted for Cruz the first time he ran...(little did I know at the time)......couldn’t vote in the primary last time but voted for his Democratic opponent and I’ll do it again in the primary AND the general. That guy gives me the creeps! Ugh!
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