Posted on 10/28/2015 7:18:06 AM PDT by jstaff
By almost any metric Ted Cruz is the most conservative candidate we have running in the primary. In 2008 and 2012 there was a large voice that said "No more RINO's", "Give me a conservative or I won't vote", and my favorite "It's not about electability, it's about principles". Millions stayed home rather than vote for the lesser of two evils, allowing a wishy-washy moderate Republican to lose to a hard core, fire breathing, far left Democrat. It was a matter of principle, they said.
I wonder what principle is at work here now, that causes so many Freepers to jump, with both feet, on the Trump bandwagon. The arguments I hear are:
-Cruz is too inexperienced, he should wait a few years. (Trump has zero experience.)
-Trump is a rich, successful businessman. (So are George Soros and Tom Steyer.)
-Trump is more electable because he appeals to both sides. (John McCain likes to reach across the aisle.)
-Trump is not afraid to tell it like it is. (Almost nothing he says is original thought, it's all been said before, many times.)
So, fellow conservatives, in the spirit of helping a senile old man to understand, I ask "why?" To keep things simple for us old people please just pick one of the choices below.
a. You changed your mind about only supporting a conservative.
b. You were joking about only supporting a conservative.
c. You think Trump is the only conservative.
d. You forgot what a conservative is.
e. You just want to stir stuff up.
I respect everyone's right to speak their mind and make their own choices based on whatever criteria they choose.
But, I just don't get this one.
Prepare for incoming.
Got my Geritol right at hand, let ‘em flame.
Trump is not a conservative.
He is running as a populist.
there is often a lot of overlap between populist and conservative.
I’m not demeaning your want of a true conservative to vote for. And, my personal choice BTW IS Cruz. I can only relate to you what I have seen and know with respect to Cruz and his feelings on Trump.
It boils down to this. As long as Cruz isn’t worried about Trump, I am not, either. Further, there have been recent reports that Cruz has said Trump’s candidacy has been good for him. How can you argue with that?
So, while my end game hopes for a Cruz win, I am not about to fall prey to this Trump hatred and constant hand-wringing about if he is or isn’t a conservative and “lordy me, what are we to do about it.”
We have enough deranged nuts (not you, BTW) on this forum who try daily to slip in some Trump hatred thread that are mainly vile, divisive and diversionary - most without some real other options, and when they don’t get their way, they say “you’re voting for Hillary, then.” Rubbish.
You and I and some other Freepers hate the GOP E, but we love the truth and we love the country more than we hate the GOP E. A lot of folks obviously hate the GOP e more than they care about the truth. It feels good to support the guy who seems able to shove it back in the face of the GOP e more than anyone.
But ironically, he has been left of the GOP e on most things until very recently, and he still swerves that way if you listen carefully to what he says.
And then there’s the cult of personality thing to consider.
I’m 100% for Cruz. But I can support Trump.
The key is to defeat Rinos. We must first defeat the close enemy before we can attack the far enemy.
Trump uupsets the whole d.c. applecart. That is likely a net good.
1. Trump can win. There are polls showing him beating Hillary. There are no polls showing Cruz doing the same.
2. Cruz will not deport the illegals. Trump will. Cruz has repeatedly refused to give a straight answer, only to say “we’ll have the conversation.” Which means no.
3. Trump is more shrewd when it comes to dealing with the GOPE. Cruz keeps losing to them over and over.
4. Trump can get people of all races and religions to vote for him. Cruz can only appeal to Southern Christians.
Cruz was Solicitor General of Texas and argued in front of the Supreme Court 11 times. How anyone can think he is not experienced is just crazy.
Nutshell ;-)
Trump is not going to deport millions of illegals and
he is already backing off on that.
I don’t know about that, but he sure is more shrewd when it comes to dealing with YOU.
He’s going to have one hell of a time getting me on board; Trump comes off to me as a complete charlatan and big-government buffoon. I don’t trust him one inch, and I sure wouldn’t want to trust him with the Presidency.
You selected a group of answers that ignores the prime reason for Trump support, IMO.
He clearly threatens the very GOPe that has been backstabbing conservatives for years.
No flames from me, but I perceive that you misunderestimate (which probably isn’t a real word) the anger in conservatives.
I have been seeking a way to fight what is, in my experience, a false & contrived dichotomy, for over half a century. It hurts us in so many ways--including preventing those with similar philosophies, patriotism & American roots, from actually getting things done in Washington.
I hesitate to list specific instances, because those with the priorities of one faction, at any one time, will rush in to defend their avoidance of another faction's priorities--even though they are based in large measure on kindred values--by denouncing some aspect in that other factions approach. But I will give an example of what happens when we do come together.
Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980 was based on a coming together of the Goldwater Conservatives in the Republican Party & the Reagan Democrats (who were basically those Democrats who had supported George Wallace in 1968 & 1972. William Rusher, the publisher of National Review, but more pragmatic than the founder, Bill Bucley, wrote a book in the mid-1970s, on the potential for that coming together, which correctly predicted the dynamics that followed.
We need to understand that different styles, different emphases, different support groups, must not be allowed to make us fail to recognize opportunities to work together to take America back from those who are destroying it.
Populism is the result political leadership gets when they dis-serve their constituents.
Let’s put the r.i.n.o. Romney shoe on the populist Trump foot.
If Trump is the nominee, who will stamp their feet, and stay home or vote for Queen Hitlery?
You?
Trump is not going to deport millions of illegals and
he is already backing off on that.
I don’t think he’s backing off.
Did you happen to catch his speech last night? He talked about just that subject. He referred to Dwight Eisenhower’s program, from the ‘50’s.
He went into a bit of detail explaining how it didn’t work at first. But, that it did, eventually, after improving the program (returning them deeper into Meheeco).
I never said, nor did I imply, that.
My question was simply why have so many people who proclaimed that they would not support any candidate because there was not a conservative in the race, are now choosing to support a moderate populist when there IS a proven conservative in the race. Can you answer that question for me?
“I just don’t get this one.”
It’s not that complicated, old-timer. Here are the Cliff Notes:
My representative is Luke Messer. He replaced Mike Pence.
Both are fairly conservative Republicans.
Messer is in the tank for Boehner having accepted a committee chairman job from him.
And Boehner is a GOP-e, Demfriend, weak sister lick-spittle.
These are our heroes.
Whatever Trump is, he’s raising hell with both Dems and Repubs, or Uniparty.
The only other Republicans challenging the Obamanites or for that matter, the McLame wing of the GOP) are Darrell Issa and Trey Gowdy, and a handful of others, Sessions & Co. and—except for a lot of stuhrm und drang—neither one has accomplished jack.
Opinion,
Trump is probably paving the road for Cruz, but even if he isn’t I’ll take him over Heb, Rubi Scooby Doo or any of the other Beltway establishment picks.
Ronald Reagan was a Democrat until late in life, and most of us were GOP until, like Reagan, our party left us.
McCain and Romney were bad choices then and now.
Kind of a mish mash, but okey dokey?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.