A spoonful of sugar helps the cyanide go down, the cyanide go down, the cyanide go down.
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.
This writer is wrong on almost every point. Polls show that TEA partiers ARE also social conservatives.
Some of these idiots think that the Tea Party is a Ron & Rand Paul front group.
Amazing the volume of “journalists” writing pieces sayi g he can’t win.
Hillary has a 20 year history of unindicted criminal behavior. Ted Cruz does not. There is no parity.
They sure spend a lot of time writing about a guy who they think can’t win.
Ted Cruz, that's who! HAAAA!
Clue me in on your “Stage 5” meaning.
The 5 Stages of Loss and Grief
http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617
Here's my favorite quote:
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.Just as these libs are stumped by his refusal to compromise, the fact that Cruz is not a poseur and truly holds and believes that conservative principles work is the greatest reason I have for supporting him. All the rest, including Walker are poseurs and compromisers compared to Cruz. Perhaps they would have done well before Obama, but after 8 years of him we need someone who can help pull us from the edge of the cliff. Posing and compromising won't get it done.
Hey thanks.
It’s Hogwash to say Cruz doesn’t believe he will win. These people are hilarious. What will really be sweet is how many of them will have to eat their words!
If Cruz doesn’t win the country is finished. You read this editorial and imagine the authoritarian leftist government we are, this moment, constructing.
It’s like feeling Kevlar for the first time. Or like going out in the sun after being sick for a long time.
There’s no way to describe the lightness and wonder that you feel enveloping your heart when you heard those words.
If they really did not think he could win, they would not waste as much ink on Cruz as they have.
Stupid reasoning... how does it do conservatives any good to force a moderate like Bush to PRETEND to be more conservative to win the nomination, if after he were to get into office he just reverted right back to their REAL feelings on issues.
Misnomer of the year.
Another Jeb pusher with nothing to say. We will vote for Sen. Cruz for president, by writing his name in if need be. We are not going to vote for anyone else.
So, the only two choices are to let Iran go nuclear, or go to war with Iran? How about going to war with a nuclear Iran?
A spoonful of sugar helps the cyanide go down, the cyanide go down, the cyanide go down.
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