Posted on 01/01/2016 10:53:35 AM PST by conservativejoy
Sometimes, the best way to figure out what politician will best serve your values and interests is to look at what those antithetical to your interests are trying to force upon you. In this election, the Leftist media and the decidedly non-conservative GOP are steering conservative voters either to Donald Trump or Marco Rubio. At the same time, they are using every available tactic to destroy Ted Cruz's candidacy. This should tell us something, and the something it tells us is that Ted Cruz should be the conservative candidate of choice.
Let me start with the media's manipulations. To appreciate how subtle they're being, let me go back to Obama's longing statement a few years ago that he wished he could go full Bulworth. For those who missed the remarkably silly eponymous movie, it stars Warren Beatty as a suicidal politician who gains success when his existential despair leads him to speak the truth , in hip-hop prose. The movie message is that the electorate likes a candidate who not only doesn't lie but who actually speaks the unfiltered truth.
You realize, of course, who's the Bulworth in this election: It's Trump, who is remarkably unfiltered when it comes to saying what he thinks at any given moment. It's understandable that Americans, tired of politicians lying to them through out-and-out untruths or smarmy mis-statements, as well as disgusted by the fishwife scolds on the Left who shut down debate about relevant subjects by playing the PC card, find Trump's Bulworthian pronouncements appealing.
The problem is that his invariably self-centered faux oracular pronouncements say nothing about a "President Trump." Given Trump's big business, big government, big Democrat background, and his florid narcissism, the reality of a Trump presidency is that it will probably look remarkably like an Obama presidency. Trump will promote big business and big government; he'll be led by his ego, not the Constitution; he’ll be incapable of working with the People's representatives in Congress (which, as Obama does, he’ll marginalize); and he'll have no learning curve even as his self-centered policies fail.
The reality that Trump won't be a conservative president is nowhere made more clear than in the fact that the mainstream media is pushing him for all its worth. Trump gets more airtime than all the other candidates combined (something only the gaffe-prone Hillary appreciates). Moreover, unlike Republican candidates whose coverage tends to be limited to routine slimings and direct attacks, the media lets Trump speak for himself.
As the past two presidential elections have proven (not to mention our entire cultural shift to the Left over the past four decades), the media is not stupid. It understands how to sell a product and how to destroy a product. The media is selling Trump, knowing that dissatisfied, marginalized Americans will be so charmed by his Bulworth-like honesty that they'll fail to look behind the speeches, thereby missing the Leftist politics that he's hiding under the demagogue's American flag.
To summarize, the Leftist media is pushing Trump hard, and trying to marginalize Cruz and Rubio. Taking a page out of Groucho Marx's book, whatever the media is for, I'm against it. I disagree with the media on every political metric, so if the Leftist American media is stealthily trying to get me to vote for Trump, that's the last thing I should do.
The GOP is no better. This is the same GOP that has supported or refused to fight every single one of Obama's initiatives, ranging from abetting Obama's illegal dictates to enforce Obamacare (the GOP stopped opposing Obamacare the moment it became law), to its ineffectual opposition to the Iran deal, to its complicity in Obama’s plans to "fundamentally transform America" through immigration both illegal and marginally legal. Keeping in mind what the GOP supports (with its actions, not its duplicitous words), I'm going to assume that its favored candidate doesn't share my political values.
And which candidate does the GOP support? Leading into the 2016 edition, the GOP has made it clear that it fears Trump and Cruz, and desperately wants Rubio. To give Rubio his due, he is far better than Trump, Hillary, or Bernie. If he ends up being the Republican candidate, I will vote for him. Now, though, with a better candidate available, Rubio strikes me as being just a younger, prettier Romney. Like Romney, he has a fairly conservative take on foreign policy, but is a Democrat-lite on domestic issues and a Democrat pure and simple on immigration.
(Having said that, Rubio gets kudos for going on the record in the Senate to slam Obama's Iran deal and to spell out with frightening specificity what we can expect if the next President continues to enforce that deal.)
Because I am a wise contrarian who keeps in mind Groucho's dictum when listening to advice from those with whom I disagree, the GOP’s enthusiastic support for Rubio knocks him out of the running for me. The GOP is not conservative; it's Leftist lite, and its chosen candidates in the last two elections have been disasters. They are neither fish nor fowl, and still repel Progressives, even as they fail to excite conservatives.
And so for me, the last man standing is Ted Cruz. This isn't a stretch for me. That is, I'm not driven merely by contrarian opposition to the media or the GOP. I continue to like Cruz on his own terms.
I like Cruz's highly functional brilliance , and by functional I mean he's not an airy-fairy Ivory Tower genius but is, instead, someone who brings his considerable intellect to the real world.
I like his devotion to the Constitution.
I like his political courage.
I like his proven management abilities, including the fact that he can work with people across the political divide, provided that doing so doesn't compromise core conservative principles.
I like the fact that, instead of sneering down his critics' claims that he's arrogant, Cruz has modified his behavior so that he's relaxed, accessible, friendly, and funny, all while keeping true to his constitutional values and, often, giving people a useful lesson about how those values benefit them too.
I like his political focus on what's good for America, which is a marked difference from Obama’s "What's bad for America" policy principles and Rubio's mushy pro-American real-politik approach to foreign policy.
And, lastly, I like his elegant ability to avoid falling into the media's traps.
Ted Cruz: Vote for him because the media and the GOP hate and fear him, and because his virtues stand on their own merits.
Ted Cruz IS a crony capitalist. His wife works for Goldman Sachs. Got to spell it correctly so the spelling police don’t get all twisted up.
Trump is only candidate that can’t be bought. Period.
I’m (obviously) a Cruz supporter—and Trump. One thing I’ve realized is that should Cruz win, the senate will do anything and everything it can to deny him success as President. Little mitch (rhymes with) and friends will have the sharpened long knives out.
Trump, however, has billions at his disposal, and is master of the bully pulpit. Little mitch (rhymes with) will try something once and Trump will hand him his puckered turtle ass and from then on Trump rules the senate. Trump can destroy a politician by backing his opponent, not to mention all else The Wrath of Don brings. Cruz simply doesn’t have the same arsenal.
Cruz knows this, as does Trump. Which is why, when he and Trump met in the Trump Tower many moons ago, they made a pact, imho. Trump for Prez, Cruz for VP. That’s what it will be. Preordained.
‘Trump for Prez, Cruz for VP.’
We can only hope.
wow, I wish I would have said that. Perfect nutshell.
Only thing that makes sense. This is a once in a life time opportunity and Trump can shake up the status quo establishment big time. Cruz may be a better man for a later time—this is Trump’s time.
Got sick of all his emails begging for money. Now have his emails blocked as spam
________
Cruz campaign payments of 2.4 million to CAMPAIGN SOLUTIONS, TARGETED VICTORY and others alone plus another $750,000 for “Donor Modeling” to the Beverly Hills Firm, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA. What does all this mean? Un”Like” Ted Cruz on Facebook and stop following on Twitter so that you stop getting spammed.
no he is not they will eat him for lunch.
Yep.
That is what it would be like without Trump.
//If he could be Palinized, they would have done it by now.//
on the contrary, they are biding their time, focusing on Trump hoping Cruz gets the nomination so they can slaughter him in the general (which they will starting with him being born in Canada). Get your head out of the sand CJ.
Bingo. Yeb is their first choice, but Cruz will serve the establishment purposes just as well. They have already shown that they will front a loser to keep the status quo (Dole, McCain, Romney)
LOL
Agreed about GS, That company is bad news, Why didn’t she quit?
The left fears a Cruz presidency more, to be sure. He’s a died-in-the-wool conservative. Trump is a centrist on most issues and has exhibited a willingness to change his views on any issue.
But the left fears a Trump nomination more. It doesn’t know how to run against him and is desperately afraid he mobilizes large numbers of disaffected white working class voters in swing states while black voters don’t get riled up against him.
The left is SUPREMELY confident in how they run against Cruz. They just take the Obama / Kerry / Gore playbook of nasty right wing man who wants women in the kitchen, blacks to the back of the bus, gays in the closet, God back in the classroom, and working people struggling for scraps from the rich man’s table. If it works against squishes like Romney and McCain it is going to crush a true blue like Cruz.
You greatly underestimate Ted Cruz.
quote: If he could be Palinized, they would have done it by now.
I respectfully disagree. Cruz could be the most feared, but he isn’t a big enough threat yet to receive the full Palin treatment. Most democrats, GOPe and the media detest Cruz, but for them it’s still anyone but Trump, so Cruz rises as Carson did. If Cruz ever becomes the front runner, THEN he would get fully Palinized, plus slapped down by Trump. IMO, only Trump has the deep support and attitude to handle a total onslaught.
We have Christmas company here in Maui... my niece and granddaughter.
Niece, daughter and I veered onto politics ... a total no no in our family. It happened because she is a Human Resources Director for a firm on the Island and remarked as to how Obama care is playing hell with their benefit system.
I just remarked that Obamacare would be repealed if either Cruz or Trump were elected.
To my surprise both of them were ... ugh, I hate Trump... I can’t stand him.
Immediately after this outburst, my daughter put down the no politics rule again so nothing more was said, but I was surprised as my daughter is conservative and my niece is ... an unknown factor.
Getting tired of these “fear Cruz most” threads. They’re bogus and annoying.
Cruz is a good person; I would vote for him if he were the nominee but I think it is Trump who is feared the most by far. It is Mr. Trump has the power behind him, of the outraged giant who has awoken with fearful and terrible wrath. This what the elites fear, the united and determined power of the American people (the outraged giant.) I do not think there is anyone else who could do this. I think God has prepared Mr. Trump, with all his flaws and his sins, for this day. And I think even those weaknesses will shown to be strength against the battle for our country that is now beginning.
And BTW, I am not anti-Cruz. I’ve been a big Cruz supporter from the start, but slowly over time I realized Trump is The MAN.
Both Cruz and Trump are feared/fearless and both are expert fighters. The difference to me is: Cruz ensures a patriotic, dogged fight against the status quo using his impressive mind, debating skills, his knowledge of the Constitution and how government works. I will be happy with him as president some day.
The media focuses on Trump’s acerbic manner, but his message is very positive: promising a greater country using his unique experience, moral compass-like instincts, personal contacts and nearly limitless personal funds. There has to be a positive message to win. Trump is not just a fighter, he is a doer.
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