Posted on 01/15/2016 4:38:45 PM PST by conservativejoy
They're framing this, cleverly, in Trumpian terms. Trump likes to say that he never attacks, he only counterpunches. A man who attacks without provocation is a bully; a man who counterpunches is simply defending himself. We're the ones counterpunching now, though, says Team Cruz. It was Trump who hit us below the belt by attacking Cruz's eligibility. The bully wanted a fight and now he's got one.
Buckle up.
"If Donald wants to have honest, open policy contrasts, we're ready for that," campaign chairman Chad Sweet said. "If, on the other hand, he's going to engage in discussions over nonsensical issues, over birther issues or who's the real evangelical-which, by the way, someone from his background should be careful about questioning the faith of our candidate," something Trump has also done recently.
Asked what he meant by Trump's "background," Sweet continued, referencing a Trump appearance at a cattle call in Iowa last summer. "I think it's interesting that Trump ... basically said at [a] family values forum he's never asked for forgiveness, but yet he is Christian. I would ask most Christians the question, 'What is the first thing you do to become a Christian?' Christians know what the answer to that question is."
"A thrice-married man is going to come into South Carolina expecting to be the Republican nominee?" [Charlie] Condon asked incredulously. "He's pro-choice. He's pro-gay marriage. He's against traditional values. He's New York, and he's got to talk about that."
Newt Gingrich was "thrice-married" when he won South Carolina in 2012 but Gingrich's conservative record is a bit sturdier than Trump's is. Million-dollar question, then: Why now? Cruz has spent six months scrupulously avoiding perceptions of conflict with Trump in order to stay on the good side of Trump fans. His spokesman tells Politico that they think they can maintain their second-choice status among Trumpers based on the fact that it was Trump who started this, not Cruz. I don't know - attacking him as a pro-abortion, pro-SSM phony Christian is about as rough as it gets in a primary. There won't be many Trump fans shifting from Cruz to Rubio as a second choice, I assume, but there may be some who, when the dust settles, decide that they'd rather stay home now if Trump's not the nominee than go to bat for Cruz.
I think Matt Lewis is right that this is more a matter of timing than anything else. Cruz sat back for months on end waiting for Trump to fade and for his fans to stampede over into Camp Cruz when he did. It didn't happen. Now he has to choose: Continue to hold his fire and risk losing Iowa, which may ruin Cruz's chances at the nomination and render the "second choice" issue moot, or throw the kitchen sink at Trump and hope that Trump fans forgive him for it later this spring? (If and when Trump fades, Cruz's conciliatory charm offensive towards Trump and his fans will, I assume, be completely, obsequiously insufferable.) He can't afford to hold back any longer now that Iowans are starting to make up their minds. At least if he loses he can tell himself that he left it all on the field. Imagine if he had continued to hug Trump and ended up in second place because of it.
There's some truth to this too:
Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, and Lindsey Graham hit Trump repeatedly when they were polling a combined three or four percent in the polls. It was a plea for attention and may have been seen as desperate by voters. Cruz is strong enough in Iowa and elsewhere that he can do it without fear of being accused of a publicity stunt. He's attacking Trump alpha to alpha. I wonder if, a few months from now, Trump will look back and wonder why he didn't start attacking Cruz much earlier, explicitly in terms of his beta-male toadying. Oh well.
Exit question: Will this start a pile-on of Trump among the rest of the field? So long as Cruz (and Jeb Bush) are taking the brunt of Trump's wrath, there's really no reason for Rubio not to join in. Via BuzzFeed, Rand Paul is now saying things like "my every waking hour is to try to stop Donald Trump from being our nominee." That's a sentiment widely shared among Republican pols.
GO TRUMP.
Gays in the military and partial-birth abortion. He says he fully realizes they are not Iowa values.
Bkmrk.
Sen. Cruz is showing his inner Goldmann Sachs.
Does Cruz honestly believe he’s telling us something we don’t know? Well, he is actually. I thought Cruz was a nice guy.
Cueing Trumpet claims that the Donald has changed /s
Caveat Emptor Baby!!!!!!!
Ironic that this story is coming from a news site called “Hot Air”....
Trump is right about this, again. Cruz is not a ‘Natural Born Citizen.’ See Ann Coulter for details, “We’re all Ruth Bader Ginsburg now,” http://www.anncoulter.com/.
Cruz would be wise to keep his powder dry.
His nice guy meme was just as phony as he is. I knew sooner or later his true colors would shine through - and they have. I wish he’d just go back to Canada and leave American politics to Americans.
So how much did Senator Cruz accomplish in the Senate?
Trump is out there today still harping on the birther issue. Don’t try to make out that he is not provoking a counter attack.
I guess you never saw Mr. Smith goes to Washington have you? One man with principles can not change that cess pool known as congress.
Is that the same Ann Coulter that said Cruz was a natural born citizen before Trump entered the race?
Cruz should have addressed the birther issue directly. If he’s the great debater, and the great Constitutional Attorney he’s cracked up to be, and I’ve no doubt he is, he should have explained in detail why he IS an NBC.
Instead, he chose last night to treat the issue as trivial. No one believed that when it applied to BO. Why is it now?
I’ll vote for him in a heartbeat, but Trump is right. The Dems ARE going to make it an issue.
"We stopped the Gang of Eight bill. Ted Cruz led the fight against the establishment would be living under amnesty right now if Cruz had not succeeded." - Rush Limbaugh
"It was that close to being passed... and I think I can say this with integrity. Without the vigorous opposition of Ted Cruz, this bill likely would have passed." - Sen. Jeff Session
Ironic that this story is coming from a news site called "Hot Air"....New to conservatism are we?
We can’t let the Dems get away with picking our nominee. There were dozens of lawsuits on the birther issue against Obama. So What?
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