Posted on 02/02/2016 4:20:09 AM PST by IBD editorial writer
To many of those who tuned in, Donald Trump’s three-minute remarks after finishing second in the Iowa caucuses appeared remarkably humble. He even congratulated Ted Cruz, whom Trump had called almost every name in the book in the days before.
Clearly, Trump’s strategy of attacking his rival’s character didn’t work. But Cruz’s strategy of attacking Trump on his views apparently did.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Trump and Cruz need to stop attacking each other and spend all their time and energy attacking Hillary. That is the way to win the hearts, minds, and votes of true Republican voters. whoever can make the best argument for doing that in the primaries will be the successful standard bearer for the party in 2016.
Didn't quite work out that way, did it?
I would argue that Trump was an old school D (at best)
there are no old school democrats, they are dead or independent or Republican
“Rubio is a GOPe bomb ready to go off.”
absolutely. the GOPe will unite behind Rubio to take out Trump or Cruz. hopefully, Jeb is toast.
Conducting of voter participation events like primaries and caucuses is a tool to fool the public into thinking it has more power over choosing its leaders, than it really has.
One of the pillars of our current system, "universal suffrage," is shown, historically, to be a death sentence for any country. Give the public the privilege of voting (it isn't a right), and it will eventually vote money for itself out of the public treasury. We're there.
Polls showed a close race in Iowa, with Trump in the lead recently. NH polls aren’t close. If Trump was leading by 20% + in Iowa in the polls and this occurred then I could agree that the NH poll lead doesn’t account for much, but that wasn’t the case.
“but unless they can grow the appeal of the anti-party candidate beyond 30% in the Republican Party they’re not going to take over the party”
—
May be true, but the GOPe cannot win a general election without the Southern Conservatives.
I’m not sure what your anti-party candidate is, but it is clear that the Anti-Big-DC is a winning perception.
And no one is taking about the cross-over of Dems to GOP in the IA primary. That was a major contributor to the outcome in IA. Was that engineered by Trump followers, or the ComDems themselves? Or both? Remember Thad Cockran?
“Cruz is a politician and Trump is a manager. We don’t need politicians...we need managers.”
we do need a politician to win, and then hope that same person is a good manager.
I think Trump’s private polling must be much better than the media’s. He left Iowa early, and as he left he stated that Iowa had a very poor record of picking the eventual winner, so he knew what the results would be.
Maybe Donald is getting the idea that making America great DOES need to be more than shallowly personal pot shots, which also drag the entire national conversation down. He can afford to shoot bull about a building, which if it fails he can always erect another one. But this is for keeps.
I think many evangelicals who believed he could deliver (and I still do) still wished he wouldn’t carry on so arrogantly. This might be the lesson teaching him not to, while yet not damaging him fatally (he gets one less delegate than Cruz).
Cruz is not out of the woods yet with respect to his NBC shadow. All pontificating notwithstanding, what is going to matter may simply be what is going to go down, and Democrats are known for being pretty ruthless. I haven’t seen anyone yet try to take the Bellei issue by the horns, a case that proved in 1970 that if Congress had granted your citizenship by legislation concerning your birth, Congress could also deny it to you later, in circumstances that parallel Cruz until the point of his later presence in the USA. That’s not being natural born.
Anyhow. The death notice of Donald Trump has been highly exaggerated.
The impotence of primaries is a self fulfilling prophecy.
Is Iowa even Iowa anymore? And a winner decided by a coin toss?? To me, these wins/losses don’t mean very much....
I Agree.
As long as Cruz or Trump stay at the top...
It will be a refreshing change that the voters cram their preference down the throats of the Republican Establishment for a change.
Since Bush is still dragging, it seems AmnestyRubio is once again their go-to guy.
8 - Cruz
7 - Trump
6 - Rubio
1 - Carson, Paul, Kasich,
Bush, Fiorina, Huckabee
0 - Christie, Santatorum
I beleive it will split out as follows:
Carson, Bush, Huckabee to Rubio for 9 at convention.
Paul, Kasich, Fiorina to Cuuz for 11 at convention.
Trump 7 at convention.
Or
Carson, bush, Huckabee, Paul, to Rubio for 10 at convention.
Kasich, Fiorina to Cruzz for 10 at convention.
Trump 7 at convention.
I believe all three could still be in play at convention.
The battle has begun!
In my opinion, the caucus is a waste of time...Even the two parties do the caucus differently...
Just do a primary vote like other states do...It’s clearer and simpler...
For the 'Rats, Sanders was favored in the urban areas.
Kinda late getting here, but my take is the biggest loser in the Ioway caucuses is Chuck Grassley and the biggest winner is Steve King.
Grassley is a huge ethanol pimp and King endorsed Cruz and the anti-ethanol side.
What, you don't like Amnesty Boy? Mr. Junior Establishment-Hugger Gang of Eight?
Listen to the rustling of all that Karl Rove-steered Establishment money rushing to fill Marco Rubio's already well-greased bucket (Bob Schieffer of CBS is already blaring that theme out on their morning show, fresh from the watering holes of DC just last night).
“The establishment will coalesce around Rubio in short order.”
And once it does, he will be a very formidable candidate because he stands a good chance of picking up all the tidbits the marginal candidates will leave lying around once they drop out. That, in turn, will make for the very nightmare we had here in TN when the vile RINO Corker was elected instead of one of two very good conservatives because they beat each other to a bloody pulp, letting him win. At this point I plan to wait to vote until the last minute and vote for whomever is stronger, Cruz or Trump, to try to defeat the Rube. Right now, I’m very pessimistic.
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