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A Trump nomination would change the GOP
omaha.com ^ | 1-8-2016 | Michael Gerson

Posted on 01/07/2016 11:27:31 PM PST by Citizen Zed

Edited on 01/08/2016 1:08:04 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]

Every Republican of the type concerned with winning in November has been asking the question (at least internally): "What if the worst happens?"

The worst does not mean the nomination of Ted Cruz, in spite of justified fears of political disaster. Cruz is an ideologue with a message perfectly tuned for a relatively small minority of the electorate. Uniquely in American politics, he has made his reputation by being roundly hated by his colleagues - apparently a prerequisite for a certain kind of anti-establishment conservative, but unpromising for an image makeover at the convention. Cruz's nomination would represent the victory of the hard right - religious right and Tea Party factions - within the Republican coalition. After he loses, the ideological struggles within the GOP would go on.


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


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 2016election; election2016; elections; immigration; newyork; trump; trumpwasright
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To: Citizen Zed

The Bushies, particularly Jeb! have been stuck on stupid in an overly sentimental rich guy sort of way, when the rich guy in question is giving away other people’s stuff. They can hardly claim to have Lincoln as a forebear because Lincoln wasn’t an idiot.


21 posted on 01/08/2016 3:01:52 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Proud member of the "vulgar unwashed masses")
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To: AdaGray

GO TRUMP GO!


22 posted on 01/08/2016 3:03:34 AM PST by Guenevere (If.the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do....)
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To: Citizen Zed

Lincoln sided with an oppressed minority who gave blood, sweat, and at times their very lives to this nation and had done so for generations. He put his life on the line making a complex decision because it was the right thing to do, not because of hubris and a bunch of unexamined assumptions.


23 posted on 01/08/2016 3:14:12 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Proud member of the "vulgar unwashed masses")
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To: Citizen Zed
the party was set by Abraham Lincoln: human dignity, honored by human freedom and undergirded by certain moral commitments, including compassion and tolerance.

Lincoln was the leader of the new 'radical republicans'. He was a white supremacist who supported the American Colonization Society that wanted to send free blacks back to Africa. Lincoln was a lawyer by trade and a shrewd politician that perverted the Constitution to achieve his agenda. Lincoln was the architect of a bloody war that resulted in the slaughter of over 600,000 Americans; hardly a compassionate gesture.

24 posted on 01/08/2016 3:23:07 AM PST by cowboyway (We're not going to be able to vote our way out of this mess.)
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To: Citizen Zed

Did you catch the part where he floated forming a third party if Trump gets the nomination?


25 posted on 01/08/2016 3:25:35 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Proud member of the "vulgar unwashed masses")
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To: Citizen Zed

He says that like it’s a bad thing.


26 posted on 01/08/2016 3:51:44 AM PST by Company Man (Keep Calm and Carry)
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To: Citizen Zed
The worst does not mean the nomination of Ted Cruz, in spite of justified fears of political disaster. Cruz is an ideologue with a message perfectly tuned for a relatively small minority of the electorate.

If Cruz wins the nomination, then it wasn't really "a relatively small minority of the electorate" after all, was it?

-PJ

27 posted on 01/08/2016 3:57:52 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: Citizen Zed
It is impossible to predict where the political contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton would end up. Clinton has manifestly poor political skills and Trump possesses a serious talent for the low blow.

What happened to the notion that Hillary runs away with it if Trump is nominated?

BTW, wasn't the Adams/Jefferson election of 1796 supposed to be the epitome of low blows? And that was between two of our greatest Founders and Statesmen!

-PJ

28 posted on 01/08/2016 4:05:48 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Not necessarily. He would only need to be a lesser evil in most cases. The Bushies could still do business with anyone else in the field, Cruz included, but apparently Trump represents such an existential threat that this writer is talking about forming a Jeb! friendly third party.


29 posted on 01/08/2016 4:07:56 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Proud member of the "vulgar unwashed masses")
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To: Citizen Zed

“I have spent 25 years in the company of compassionate conservatives, reform conservatives, Sam’s Club conservatives, or whatever they want to call themselves, trying to advance an agenda of SOCIAL JUSTICE in America’s center-right party.”

“Social Justice” is NOT the type of term that ANY CONSERVATIVE would ever support. The only reason that I know and understand the term is because I have studied the left for many decades, and you have to get to know their language, in order to fight them.

As to what “Social Justice” means - it is basically a code word used by the left for Communism. It means the systematic looting of the ‘haves’ by the ‘have nots’, and if violence is needed to achieve that end, so be it. The term was developed by the left in response to the McCarthy Hearings, so that they would have a way of speaking to each other without others really understanding what they meant.

The fact that Gerson uses that term in the same sentence as describing conservatism IS JUST PLAIN SCARY.

I realize that a lot of people here are turned off by Trump, for many reasons, but people like Gerson simply NEED TO BE STOPPED. By using the term “Social Justice” he is beyond redemption and I suspect pretty much the entire party is beyond redemption. I do, however, agree with his analysis about Cruz, while Cruz is clearly the most conservative in the race he still hasn’t shown any signs of being able to reach beyond the conservative base (certainly compared to Trump), so he probably would lose in November, which means nothing changes in the Republican leadership (and we lose the Supreme Court for a generation)...and I agree that Trump can win, and can probably shake off a Third Party run, if he has Cruz or someone like him on his ticket.


30 posted on 01/08/2016 4:58:22 AM PST by BobL (Who cares? He's going to build a wall and stop this invasion.)
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To: Irenic

“Social Justice”

You caught that too. I go into a bit of detail on that in Post 30. As bad as the Republicans are, I am in SHOCK having seen them use THAT TERM. I am stunned.


31 posted on 01/08/2016 5:00:08 AM PST by BobL (Who cares? He's going to build a wall and stop this invasion.)
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To: Citizen Zed

This guy should stick to writing about what he knows. This isn’t it.


32 posted on 01/08/2016 5:10:34 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: erkelly

-— I would like to see these people, of every ideological stripe, have to prove the terrible things they say in a court of law. -—

Maybe Trump should take this advice. He is a master at innuendo.

“Do many evangelicals come from Cuba? I don’t know... I’m a Presbyterian!” While literally waving a Bible.

“I don’t know about those Seventh Day Adventists... I’m a Presbyterian!” Which branch, Donald? Do you know? I hear that one branch is wacko liberal.

“Cruz’ citizenship is a question. Maybe he should take it to court to clear his name.”

This from a guy who settled a sealed lawsuit (after 20 years of appeals) where 150 mostly illegal Polish immigrants were hired at $5 per hour, without benefits and hard hats (!) to build a skscraper for him.

Don’t cry for him, Argentina.


33 posted on 01/08/2016 5:13:09 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: Citizen Zed

We tried Republican. They betrayed us.


34 posted on 01/08/2016 5:39:15 AM PST by IC Ken
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To: Citizen Zed

I hope Trump crushes the GOP as it’s currently constituted in Washington DC. It needs to die. In it’s place I want to see a party of American patriots who will always put American interests first!


35 posted on 01/08/2016 5:56:40 AM PST by pgkdan
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To: Citizen Zed
Ultimately, these political matters are quite personal. I have spent 25 years in the company of compassionate conservatives, reform conservatives, Sam’s Club conservatives, or whatever they want to call themselves, trying to advance an agenda of social justice in America’s center-right party.

Here you have, for me, the real cause for the demise of the Republican Party. Thank you very much George W Bush.

36 posted on 01/08/2016 6:03:31 AM PST by pgkdan
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To: jonrick46
Gerson's narrative regarding "invading Hispanics and Muslims" is being destroyed by current events in Europe. The truth is coming out about those "refugees", and it isn't pretty.

Beltway insiders are locked in their own bubble. Their fear about losing their influence, and the bucks that result from that, is well founded and a welcome development for this country.

37 posted on 01/08/2016 6:09:38 AM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi! My vote is going to Cruz.)
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To: jonrick46
The huge inflow of illegal drugs have created Latin drug gangs and the associated violence.

Actually, demand for illegal drugs created the gangs, who created the inflow and the violence - but either way we've got them all now.

38 posted on 01/08/2016 7:17:35 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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