Posted on 03/29/2015 3:15:21 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The left lost its collective grip last Monday, when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas announced he was running for president.
Really, it was the mirror image of the visceral way Republicans react to Hillary Clinton. It’s no overstatement to say that Cruz is absolutely hated by the left, loathed as the embodiment of right-wing insanity.
Which, of course, makes conservatives love him even more.
Following Cruz’s announcement, lefties comforted themselves by reassuring everyone within earshot that Cruz has no chance of winning.
“It will never happen,” was the title of a post on the Talking Points Memo blog by Josh Marshall. Jon Stewart pounced; Salon.com pointed out that even the Wall Street Journal doesn’t see a path to victory for Cruz, maybe the first (and last) time Salon has ever quoted the WSJ approvingly.
See? He can’t win. What a clown. Why is he doing this? He doesn’t have a chance!
Does he?
Well, no. No, of course Cruz isn’t going to win the Republican presidential nomination.
But that’s not why he’s running.
I’d wager Cruz himself realizes he’s not going to take the nomination. He may be an egomaniac but there’s little to suggest he’s stupid.
Instead, I suspect Cruz jumped into the race, and his backers wanted him to jump into the race, for one very specific purpose:
To push the Republican Party to the right.
If the eventual nominee is Jeb Bush — and really, who else could it possibly be? — right-wingers will not be pleased. Despite their vocal defense of our last Republican president, George W. Bush let them down, didn’t govern conservatively enough. Jeb is perceived to be even squishier, lukewarm (at best) on sealing the border or rolling back Obamacare in its entirety, and not really committed to social conservatism or the idea of cutting government spending.
Cruz, obviously, has been a champion of all those things, so he appeals immensely to those who think them important. That constitutes a pretty sizable portion of the Republican base, the Tea Party types and the “fundagelicals,” as my old buddy Pastor Dan put it, fundamentalist evangelicals.
(Quick aside: On Facebook last week I saw several assertions that the Tea Party and religious right are one and the same. They aren’t, and in many cases, they loathe one another; the Tea Party right really isn’t interested in abortion, and is willing to say “whatever” on gay marriage. But despite the animosities, Cruz appeals to both, which could paper over the differences — for a while, at least).
So Cruz could have a strong showing in some of the primaries. He could put fear into the heart of his more-moderate opponents, and that’s the entire reason for him being in the race.
Because if Cruz does relatively well in the primaries, it will force Jeb, or whomever, to tack harder to the right than they otherwise might. And Cruz, being the ideologue he certainly appears to be, could force Jeb to actually be more conservative, rather than merely appear more conservative.
In fact — you read it here first, maybe — it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Cruz were to wind up the GOP vice presidential nominee. Just like 2008, when moderate John McCain tapped Sarah Palin, a Bush-Cruz ticket might be palatable to both the extreme right wing and squishier Republicans; Jeb could reassure the general electorate that It’s going to be all right, really, I’m just normal, moderate old Jeb! while Cruz slings the red meat to the frothing faithful.
How potent would the combo be? Hard to say; I know a lot of Republicans who dislike Cruz intensely. The question is, whom do they hate more — Cruz, or Hillary Clinton?
None of this should be taken as some sort of endorsement of Cruz, but while the left nervously reassures itself that Cruz can never win, all he has to do to “win” is force the Republican Party kowtow to its right wing. And — realistically — that goal is well within his reach.
During his speech at Liberty University announcing his candidacy, Cruz spoke of how America has always had “God’s providential blessing” and called school choice “the civil rights issue of the next generation.” He backed a hardline stance that could only lead to war with Iran, talked of the need to defend the “sanctity of human life” in one breath and the need to make sure Americans can always get their mitts on guns and ammo in the next. And here’s the thing: He really believes all these things. He’s not a poseur.
And that, I think, is what really frightens the left. With Cruz, what you see, or hear, is what you get. And even if he doesn’t win the nomination, if he’s able to throw his weight around, we may indeed get it — good and hard.
As long as they are giving him print and air time, I figure it’s a good thing. He can more than weather their criticism. It may actually catch the interest of people who haven’t been paying attention. Never underestimate the “rebel factor”. These pundits underestimate the degree of disgust with the status quo in Washington.
“He may be an egomaniac”
That’s certainly the meme. The reasoning seems to be: “gee heez smart”, “he noez heez smart”, “wot an egomaniac”. QED.
1. We need to make sure that we don't go through another nightmare like we did with the Obama presidency because no one wanted to dig deep into candidate's Obama background before it was too late, and before Obama locked his personal records like his college records so that no one could find out who the real Obama was or is.
2. I was thinking about this amendment as I was thinking about how the recent suicidal German pilot was legally able to hide his mental problems before it was too late and before he murdered 150 people in the plane crash into the mountain.
3. As we know, United States presidents like Obama have the enormous power to kill many more than 150 people like the German pilot did, so we need to know as much about our presidential candidates like Cruz, Clinton, and Rubio as we can.
Constitutional Amendment, something like this:
"A presidential candidate must provide/release the following records when he registers to run for president in each state:
1. He must provide all physical and mental medical records.
2. He must provide all elementary, high school, undergraduate, and graduate records. "
Absolutely. Now any other conservative can move up in the party leadership by making noises like he or she might follow suit if they do not get something substantial in return.
“It will never happen,”
No way would Cruz accept VP on a Bush ticket. He would destroy his credibility and he knows it. The RNC will have to find somebody else if they manage to get Jebster nominated.
Liberals are showing they have no reasoning power and only tired scare tactics.
Pray America is waking
I totally agree
FK U JebHole...
I can't wait to see the level of hysteria when Cruz starts to accumulate delegates on his march to win the nomination.
Jeb being forced to tack to the right is utter bullshite.
Love the 5 stages, had to post that one on FB, I say they are in the “Anger” stage now.
I also dare say there are many that may never reach the “Acceptance” stage while still of this world...
They have literally come the rest of the way unhinged.
The way I sees it-—Cruz has already won. 1. He gets the nod and runs as the GOP pick or 2. he goes to the debates and forces the party to the right and maybe gets in as VP or 3. He’s knocked out but becomes well know for his views so he can run again in the next cycle—He can’t lose. He becomes a force within the right wing of the Party. He is still a young man—he could be Governor of Texas, or serve in the cabinate of a Republican President. He is the future of the party—like it or not.
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