Posted on 10/09/2015 8:28:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Via Politico, skip to 12:00 of the clip below for the key bit. Oh, it’s on. Or is it? Normally, a candidate for president claiming that he’s going to peel away his opponents’ supporters and win the nomination would be so banal that it wouldn’t qualify as news. It’s the ultimate “dog bites man” story. Of course Cruz believes this. If he didn’t, why would he be running? But these aren’t normal circumstances. Cruz is the only Republican in the field who has yet to utter a critical or discouraging syllable about Trump, part of his talk-radio-ish strategy not to say or do anything that might annoy the many newly minted Trump fans in the GOP base. But now he has, and Trump being as thin-skinned as he is, there’s no telling whether he’ll shrug this off as a routine expression of confidence by an opponent or some sort of attack that warrants dismissing Cruz as an ineffectual loser who’s probably not eligible to be president in the first place.
The question is why, after having steered so far clear of criticizing Trump to this point, Cruz has suddenly allowed himself to talk openly about picking up Trump’s voters once they realize who’s done the most in the field to stand up to Washington. I think Peggy Noonan’s got the answer:
[Trump] continues with high negatives. But for all the dopey, damaging dramas he’s gotten himself into the past few months he’s maintained his position. Imagine if he’d been disciplined.
The first act was “I’m Here and I’m Yuge.” Now Act II: “I Mean It and I’m Staying.”…
The wisdom now, and it’s not stupid, is that as time passes the field will narrow. More candidates will drop out, voters will begin to coalesce behind other front-runners, and suddenly one of them will be polling at 27% or 32%. Various powers will throw their weight behind front-runner No. 2 or 3 or 4. But this year has reminded us to expect the unexpected. Maybe not enough candidates will drop out to make a difference. Maybe the splintered field stays splintered. How then do you stop Mr. Trump? Maybe—again—only Trump stops Trump.
Yeah, the lesson of the last three weeks of polling is that while Trump is no longer rising, he’s not falling much either. He’s still in the mid- to high 20s after a pre-debate high in some polls in the low 30s, but that’s been good for first place in every national poll save one. Cruz may have been expecting the Trump fade to have begun by now, freeing up lots of disaffected anti-establishment voters just in time for a Cruz-led challenge to Obama this month over the debt ceiling. Hasn’t happened. This floor speech, for instance, was aimed directly at Trump voters, I think. Listen to the clip below and you’ll hear him note that he was the only candidate running who was willing to risk a shutdown in the name of defunding Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, according to the last national poll taken, Trump is still 20 points ahead of him. Just this morning, Trump told MSNBC that he’s never getting out of the race. Cruz may have finally concluded that Trump’s not going to jump off the cliff himself. He’s going to need a little push.
Which brings us back to one of the great mysteries of the primary: Is Cruz right that he’ll end up inheriting most of Trump’s support if/when he drops out? The numbers don’t support that (yet), but that may be because another “outsider” candidate, Ben Carson, is momentarily in Cruz’s way. Once he and Trump have both faded, voters looking for an anti-establishmentarian may reconcile themselves to Cruz. Whether that happens, I think, depends mainly on what ends up mattering more, his message or his mien. No one can deliver anti-Washington red meat like Cruz, but he’s every inch the polished, Harvard-trained lawyer when he talks. He and Trump couldn’t be more different in that respect. And of course, Cruz is a conservative ideologue whereas Trump is, er, not. How much of an obstacle, or benefit, is that conservatism among Trump voters? Stay tuned.
This is a non-story, in my opinion. Anybody who doesn’t think they have a chance of winning shouldn’t be in the race. It’s like sporting events when the athlete says he thinks he will win.
“Anybody who doesn’t think they have a chance of winning shouldn’t be in the race.”
And yet look at all the one-percenters still in the game simply to try to destroy Trump before their $$ run out and they exit.
Misleading title and he didn’t say he would not be the nom or he would be it.
Misleading title and he didn’t say he would not be the nom or he would be it.
Tangling with DT seems to be the kiss of death for many candidates.
So far Cruz has avoided that strategy. He would be well advised not to abandon it.
I would not declare the truce over. Cruz is in it to win it. Trump is in it to win it. Cruz’s people are likely to go to Trump and Trump’s people are likely to go to Cruz. After a few primaries the handwriting will be on the wall.
They are both sending out the same message. Only one of them will win.
As I posted yesterday:
Cruz didn’t call Donald bad, evil, stupid or wrong.
Trump thinks he can win it.
Cruz think he can win it.
Fair enough, gentlemen. Propose your candidacies to the voters and we’ll decide. No need for personal attacks.
Cruz is noting for the record that should Trumps supporters fall away for any reason, he Cruz is most well positioned to appeal to their sensibilities.
Quite right, that.
Oh please!
This is an totally stupid question. What he suppose to say” Oh yeah, Trump is going to win, I don’t know why any of the rest of us are running”
Don’t fall of this transparent attempt by the Junk Media to get the Conservative opposition shooting at each other instead of the GOPe candidates
wrong move Ted.
True that, you woofed at The Big Dog, now lets see you Tango!
And the Big Dog will bite back
Silly really, internal battles like this clearly expose an Ideological divide, or consensus across the board in a given party, the Intent of their Hearts clearly shows through
Are you for or against this Republic??
Now look them over and using your OWN hearts and minds, not polls or posts and make a decision
Choose...
And stop dragging the fight down past the point of integrity and into vengeance...
So McCain to do that....
Oh please. He did not “tangle” with DT. He answer a completely stupid question from a media clown. Don’t fall for this junk media game of “get the Conservatives fighting among themselves”.
Oh please!
This is an totally stupid question. What he suppose to say” Oh yeah, Trump is going to win, I don’t know why any of the rest of us are running”
Don’t fall of this transparent attempt by the Junk Media to get the Conservative opposition shooting at each other instead of the GOPe candidates
I wonder if Cruz is intentionally goading Trump so that Trump attacks him, where such an attack would turn off weak Trump supporters and “Cruz is my #2” supporters in an effort to get them to his side.
RE: wrong move Ted.
Let’s look at the other picture ... if Ted Cruz is NOT the nominee... will his supporters flock to Trump?
To do what needs to be done the candidate needs a network outside of the professional political class. That IMO is what Cruz doesn’t have to the extent Trump does. I’d love to see Cruz in the administration in some capacity but not without Trump.
Cruz has a far greater chance of getting steamrollered by the status quo than Trump.
Attack your fellow republican opponents on POLICY not hairstyle or bombasity(? a new word!).
The Donald on Fox with his passionate Eminent Domain screed is a perfect “in” for Our Man Ted. Attack the faulty, misguided and dangerous policy, use it as a “window into the soul” of your opponent.
Attacker looks smart, capable and measured against the rantings of a lunatic.
Sen Cruz needs a Chutzpa boost or The Donald will roll over him. We like fighters who can take-it-outside, not just those who can win the rhetorical argument.
I know. The media is trying to provoke a lot of crap.
I think Cruz is way too shrewd to get into a pissing contest with Trump.
Cruz can’t very well say trump will be the nominee and keep his donors.
Stupid article.
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