he sure stepped in it-- up to his eyebrows! And the smell... 
is sure going to linger.
Posted on 07/20/2016 11:35:24 PM PDT by Piranha
Cruz killed his political career tonight. He became personally embittered about Donald Trump and found himself temperamentally unable to endorse Trump for President. By doing this, he strengthened Hillary's campaign and the potential for the destruction of America.
Cruz didn't have to do this. He could have stayed true to his convictions, as misguided as they are, and still endorsed Trump.
As Cruz noted, the Republican Party was established in order to abolish slavery and free black people in America. Abraham Lincoln was our first President.
People may be unaware of this, but midway through the Civil War the Grand Army of the Republic (the Union forces) suffered huge losses at the Battle of Shiloh. It was the bloodiest battle of the war up to that time, and eventually was won by the Union.
Lincoln was under enormous pressure to replace Grant. According to accounts, he heard all of the discussions, sat contemplatively for several moments, and then said, "I cannot spare this man. He fights."
Just as Cruz had his differences with Trump, he should have endorsed Trump for President. We have no third choice. It is either Clinton or Trump, and we all know what is at stake here.
As another example, Menachem Begin and David Ben-Gurion, both founding fathers of Israel, were bitter rivals and personal enemies. Yet when war clouds were gathering over Israel before what became known as the miraculous Six Day War in June 1967, a delegation of Members of Knesset (parlement members) travelled to Ben-Gurion's home to try and prevail upon him to renounce his retirement and once-again assume the mantle of leadership by becoming Prime Minister again. He looked at the delegation, and was stunned to see Begin among the group. He asked him, "You, too?" Begin agreed. Ben-Gurion said that he wished that he had known this over the years, and that their personal relationship might have been much different.
Cruz obviously doesn't like Trump. But unless he thinks that America can afford a Hillary Clinton administration, and that she is better for America than Trump would be, he should have endorsed Trump -- not because they are friends or he particularly respects Trump, but because the future of the United States of America hangs in the balance and this election is the most important in the history of the country.
Instead, Cruz put himself in front of country and lost the respect of everyone but his most ardent supporters. What a shame.
Cruz didn’t help Hillary. He tried, yes. But all he really did was destroy himself and validate Trump as the right candidate. That’s why Trump let him speak, already knowing what he was going to say.
Ted replayed the scene from The Deer Hunter but with six bullets.
IF Hillary should win, then her judicial nominations will guarantee no republican will ever win again
see tagline
he sure stepped in it-- up to his eyebrows! And the smell... is sure going to linger.
I agree that Cruz destroyed himself and validated Trump as the right candidate. I also agree that Trump let him speak, already knowing what he was going to say — Trump said as much.
I hope you are right that the existence of this rump group of Republicans doesn’t end up giving some strength to Hillary, or motivate Republicans to sit out the election. There are some states (North Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in particular) where it looks in July 2016 like the November election will be close. We need a large-enough margin of victory for Trump to overcome the inevitable vote counting fraud that will occur as the Democrats cheat. Particularly in Virginia, where everyone is so politicized, it is very important to keep the Republicans motivated. Cruz’s behavior provides an excuse, though not justification, to those who don’t want to align themselves with Trump.
Tell me, why should anyone care at this point?
He could have swallowed his pride and got with the program.
But no.
I agree in general that it would have been better to hear an unambiguous endorsement. However, I don’t think it gives Hillary Clinton any real opportunity because if she tries to exploit the Cruz ambivalence, it will lead back to what Cruz said about Obama and Clinton (I don’t have a transcript handy but I’m pretty sure there was a bleak overview of what a Clinton presidency would mean).
I really have no idea what Ted Cruz is really trying to signal to his “ardent followers” who have largely made the trek over to Trump Central already anyway. Perhaps it was a thinly veiled plea to write Ted’s name in, or to vote for some as yet unknown alternative. I don’t think the Libertarian option is what we’re meant to assume here.
But also he left some room for future clarification by saying that one could and should vote the entire ticket up and down. That technically means an endorsement of all nominated Republicans. He could tweet or otherwise signal down the road that he was misunderstood and meant that as an endorsement. Maybe he’s trying to force Trump to declare more openly his views on the limitations of power.
But the one place where I disagree is that Cruz will have much impact on the outcome. This will fade from view rather quickly and become part of the general background noise about mainstream old school Republicans not flocking to support Trump. The public have generally turned the page on the old school Republicans by now. It’s not that the party has deserted Trump, more like the party has evaporated in a cloud of its own irrelevance and ineffectuality, and Trump has replaced it. What we see now is the Trump Party, and the only thing that really fits from the past is the elephant symbol.
I believe that this new Trump Party will retain the name but perhaps it should become an eyebrow-raiser to use the terminology GOP because this is no grand old party, it is a grand new party with new priorities. Yes, vote your conscience by all means, but engage your brain too. This would be my response if I were lucky enough to be a Trump.
See my post no. 8. As of today, it looks like several swing states are going to have a close result. At least until last night Cruz had some supporters in some of those states, especially in Virginia, and possibly Colorado. If Cruz got fully behind Trump it would have helped.
On the other hand, Cruz had support among the Utah delegation and it is hard to see Utah support Hillary.
We have to fight. We cannot be cavalier about certain states the way that Mitt Romney was in 2012, and write them off without trying. Well, California and Hawaii maybe, but nowhere else.
This Canadian Cruz was planning a 3rd party run to get Hilliary elected. His vote your consience was a signal to his supporters to vote for him. some here have said they received emails after the speech or calls before the speech asking for donations looked like fund-raising campaign to run now.
Don't know if tonight changed that hopefully stopped him
A “Sign From Above”? Trump Plane Trolls Cruz Accidentally!
http://investmentwatchblog.com/a-sign-from-above-trump-plane-trolls-cruz-accidentally/
They are all about 2020. They literally do not care what happens the next 4 years, only that it somehow helps Cruz. The level of selfishness and delusion is borderline demonic.
Knowing that trump knew what he would say makes me wonder if it was allowed on purpose to unite the base and put to bed the never trumpets forever. I was a Cruz guy early, I voted trump in Ohio to block that bastich kasich. But I don’t think Cruz would agree to end his career, he’s shown how selfish he is before this, to help trump - and that’s what he did tonight. But trump played chess again and this will be the talk until he gives his speech tomorrow - how the base essentially threw out the runner-up and cemented the party behind Trump. Been a wild primary cycle that’s for damn sure.
Ted Cruz had one ambition - 2020. Period. He put his political future over the country.
Should we start calling him The Walken Dude?
He pretty much validated all the concerns I had about him from early on.
You don’t tbink he has a chance in 2020? Do you?
I doooon’t.
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