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Ted Cruz’s ‘Donnie Jr.’ Strategy
The Daily Beast ^ | November 25, 2015 | Michael Tomasky

Posted on 11/25/2015 8:36:38 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

By running as a more palatable version of Trump, Cruz is now in a good position to win the GOP nomination. If you’re a liberal, this news should make you very excited.

Cue the scary-minor-key power chord: Ted Cruz is within the margin of error of Donald Trump in Iowa. It’s Trump 25, and Cruz 23, but as we will see further down, other numbers from the poll suggest that Cruz is well positioned to win what might now be a two-man race in the Hawkeye State.

This is just awesome news. One can now begin to see how this may all be shaping up. I tweeted it last Friday. Trump becomes the crazy, not-really-electable, neo-fascist candidate—the choice of a good chunk of the base, but one the establishment can’t live with. Marco Rubio, the guy the establishment is most comfortable with, becomes the establishment candidate—but by definition that will make him unacceptable to a sizable chunk of the base. And so emerges Cruz—the “compromise” candidate! (That the scenario of Cruz as compromise candidate is not at all implausible is one stark measure of what Trump’s presence has done to the GOP.)

Cruz is now running—and smartly, it must be said—what you might call the “Donnie Jr.” strategy. Be like Donald, but not as...Not as out there. Not as openly racist. Not as extreme. Differentiate where principle absolutely demands, as Cruz did on the question of religious ID cards for Muslim Americans, which Cruz ruled out as Trump did not. But basically, be the acceptable Trump....

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


TOPICS: Campaign News; Parties; Polls
KEYWORDS: cruz; rubio; tedcruz; trump
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Comments?
1 posted on 11/25/2015 8:36:38 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Get your barf bag out before you read it.


2 posted on 11/25/2015 8:39:21 AM PST by the_boy_who_got_lost (ThingsITrustMoreThanHillary.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cruz beating Trump makes liberals happy?

Swell.

Just what I want.

:-\


3 posted on 11/25/2015 8:40:04 AM PST by Salamander (My soul's on fire...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh man, the Daily Beast can’t see beyond their own prejudices.


4 posted on 11/25/2015 8:40:15 AM PST by struggle
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Nonsense. Either Trump or Cruz would thrash Hillary in the election. I think the left is underestimating the tenacity of Ted Cruz. They’ll do their usual hit pieces and smear jobs as Cruz continues his rise in the polls, but he knows how to hit back at them. In a debate where it’s just he and Hillary Ted will crush that programmed robot into the ground.


5 posted on 11/25/2015 8:45:35 AM PST by dowcaet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Consider The Source...

Daily Beast one of the minions of the progressive liberal democrat/rino communist uni-party, they would just as soon have every republican candidate dead.


6 posted on 11/25/2015 8:45:53 AM PST by PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Keep Iowa in perspective. It is basically an overhyped beauty contest with no actual delegates awarded until much later. Rick Santorum's win here in 2012 did not translate into a single delegate.

The Iowa caucuses is basically a GOPe vision of how all elections should be held: Lots of hype. Lots of participation. Lots of media attention. The bosses decide the actual winners some months later based on the "advisory" vote from the beauty contest, subsequent events and mostly their own preferences.

7 posted on 11/25/2015 8:48:08 AM PST by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Beware of what you want, Beast... you just might get it.


8 posted on 11/25/2015 8:48:36 AM PST by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

GAG a maggot. Cruz was Cruz with his views long ago. The whiny baby has fluctuating views on everything all the time. As Sabot said, there will be tons of stuff to use for negative Trump ads.


9 posted on 11/25/2015 8:48:40 AM PST by libbylu (Cruz or lose)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Because Cruz is so damn smart I think he can thread the needle and win this thing


10 posted on 11/25/2015 8:49:38 AM PST by woofie
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Trump will get the Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich treatment. They will attempt to drive his negatives so high that only Trumps' hard core supporters will vote for him. This strategy pretty much always works with enough effort. And of course supporters of GOPe candidates (the entire field other than Trump) will cheer form the side lines hoping to inherit voters that will no longer vote Trump. However the not trump candidates that sat on the side lines cheering the smear campaign to trash Trump will never get the hard core supporters of Trump and consequently lose in the general election. Right now Trump has a firm 25% of GOP voters and likely a firm 25% of independents. That is a lot of voters to royally piss off.

But the Uniparty does not care they will be perfectly happy with anyone other then Trump. Hillary, Cruz, Rubio, Jeb are all acceptable to the globalist ruling class. Only Trump threatened their gravy train. Only Trump is not owned by billionaire donors, Chamber of Commence, Club for Growth, and the Wall St bankers. The rest not so much.

11 posted on 11/25/2015 8:53:51 AM PST by jpsb (Believe nothing until it has been officially denied, Otto Von Bismarck)
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To: jpsb

Yeah, Ted Cruz is a GOPe candidate. What are you smoking?


12 posted on 11/25/2015 8:59:39 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (TED CRUZ. You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Note the use of the word “neo-fascist”

This seems to be the emerging, coordinated meme coming from the left.


13 posted on 11/25/2015 9:04:33 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I think the analysis is generally correct except for the motivation they*re attributing to Cruz. Cruz is what he is, which may be perceived as **Trump Lite** by liberals.

But Cruz hasn't attacked anyone from the beginning of the race and he has fought the good fight for the entirety of his career.

Cruz* grand plan has always been to emerge as the Conservative Candidate against the Establishment Candidate. But it looks like Cruz will emerge as the Conservative Candidate against the Conservative/Populist Candidate.

Let's face it folks. This isn't just the best possible scenario, but it far exceeds all of our hopes going into this primary season.

14 posted on 11/25/2015 9:07:03 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Comments? I guess it makes sense from that point of view.

While they can't stand either Trump or Cruz, they know that Trump has cross-over appeal and currently has the potential support of many in their party.

Cruz, otoh, is completely and thoroughly despised. They can and do call him every negative label they can think of and all such labels are accepted without question.

That's not a universal truth for them with Trump like it is with Cruz.

Plus, Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father. While anchor baby citizenship is a given in that camp, it's going to be hard for them to "officially" accept born in Canada Cruz as a natural born American until after the election.

For the higher ups, the best part here is that Conservatives running Cruz for President means the end of the NBC debate forever and opens the door to all sorts of future Presidential possibilities.

If you like obama's fundamental transformation, stay tuned!

Win or lose, Cruz is a winner for the demonrat party and for the GOPe.

Just like with Reagan's efforts, "they" can undo anything a President Cruz might do, too, but once the Constitution has been rewritten with the Republican's "Cruz for President" candidacy, it won't ever be undone and the conservatives rewrote it for them!

Impressive. Didn't see that comin'...

15 posted on 11/25/2015 9:09:00 AM PST by GBA (Just a hick in paradise)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The GOPe does not like Cruz personally but come crunch time on major issues he mostly votes with GOPe (TPA, Patriot Act). He is also soft on immigration which is another plus for our globalist ruling class. While Cruz is not the GOPe preferred candidate (Jeb, Rubio), Cruz is acceptable if the choice is Cruz or Trump. Hillary is acceptable if the choice is Hillary or Trump. Trump can’t be bribed or intimated which means he is the only candidate the ruling class fears.


16 posted on 11/25/2015 9:11:41 AM PST by jpsb (Believe nothing until it has been officially denied, Otto Von Bismarck)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Depending on how Cruz and Trump treat each other we will see what kind of deal they have going.

Trump/Cruz have some kind of deal going. Don’t know what it is but they do. We will see how they treat each other.

If in the end they do a tag team and they end up working together they will be unbeatable and like the strongest steel there is.

I’m waiting to watch how these two treat each other which will reveal their real plans. Remember Trump is very unpredictable for the better.


17 posted on 11/25/2015 9:12:57 AM PST by GilGil
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...running as a more palatable version of Trump...

Ummm I have to throw a flag here for total BS. The election is not a referendum on Trump, it is not about the Donald but about the country. Cruz has been the same for his adult life, he has not reinvented himself for the campaign he is not some sort of campaign conservative. If anything the Donald Trump has been flexible and evolving running as the more acerbic and abrasive Ted Cruse.

Cruz is the best hope for the preservation of liberty!

18 posted on 11/25/2015 9:31:27 AM PST by DaveyB (Live free or die!)
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To: GBA
Win or lose, Cruz is a winner for the demonrat party and for the GOPe.

Total defeatism BS. A Cruz victory spells the end of the GOPe and a devastating loss for liberals. Cruz will mop the floor and clean the toilets with Hillary as his brush. The reason conservatives lose elections is that conservatives stop voting conservative and compromise for the ever elusive expedient win. They either lose with moderates who or they have Pyrrhic victories and get betrayed by the cartel of corruption. Only when conservatives vote for the conservative does conservatism wins.

Cruz is the best hope for liberty and the restoration of the constitution. Your red herring NBC argument has already been debunked, it has as much weight as the moron trying to keep Trump off the ballot in New Hampshire. Cruz is the man! GO Cruz!

19 posted on 11/25/2015 9:44:04 AM PST by DaveyB (Live free or die!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
We on the other side aren't supposed to gloat. Cuz, you know, you never know. You just never know what can happen. But come on, it's really, really hard to see Cruz getting more than about 180 electoral votes. So I say keep it seemly, tuck it back in when necessary, but, for the time being, gloat away!

This arrogant prick wouldn't need a double tap, wouldn't even make good target practice. But since I do doubles from reflex action, I guess it would just have to be, waste, waste, waste.

20 posted on 11/25/2015 9:48:14 AM PST by USS Alaska (Exterminate the terrorist savages, everywhere.)
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