Posted on 03/11/2016 2:55:39 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Ted Cruz spent the CNN debate Thursday drawing policy contrasts between himself and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. On ISIS, trade, and immigration, Cruz said Trump speaks to voters' concerns but doesn't have solutions that address the problems America confronts. The personal attacks and shouting that have characterized the previous Republican debates were gone, replaced with somber candidates trying to hit target audiences with messages that have worked in the past. Trump was the politically incorrect straight-talker who wants America to win again. Cruz was the conservative ideologue ready to take on the bipartisan Washington cartel. Marco Rubio was once again the youthful, eloquent voice of a rising generation of conservatives. And John Kasich is the experienced governor who wants to expand the Republican coalition by reviving the tradition of compassionate conservatism.
If 2016 were like previous elections, Rubio and Kasich would be neck and neck in the delegate count and ready to give Hillary Clinton tough competition in the general election. But 2016 is not like previous elections. It features a black swan in the form of Donald Trump, the celebrity real estate mogul who is taking over the Republican party, and whose rise is evidence of a powerful anti-Washington sentiment among GOP voters. So the race isn't between Rubio and Kasich. It's between Trump and his closest rival, Ted Cruz, who is disliked by his Senate colleagues and alienated most of Washington when he shut down the government in the fall of 2013.
I doubt either Trump or Cruz is likely to win in November. But in recent days I have encountered the opinion, especially among liberals, that there is no difference between the two candidates. And this is a ridiculous idea. Cruz would make a much better president than Trump. It shouldn't be hard to see why.
For one thing, Cruz actually knows what he's talking about. If you listened to Trump during the CNN debate, you heard little in the way of policy detail. His answers begin with a few words describing how angry people are and how China is taking our jobs before ending with a demand that we negotiate better deals. Trump is full of bluster, often funny and impolitic. He's a great communicator because he reaches peoples' deepest emotions. But to call him "articulate" would be an exaggeration, and to call him a "wonk" would be delusional. You might not like Cruz's policies or the manner in which he communicates them, but there's no question he has firm convictions, a grasp of detail, and knows how to make an argument.
Then there is the question of the Constitution. Trump never mentions it. But Cruz worships it. He mentions it often in his speeches, knows its contents, is devoted to the memory of the Founders and wants to protect their legacy. I don't know how a President Trump would respond if one of the other coequal branches of government challenged his authority. Indeed, I am somewhat afraid that Trump would ignore or move against that other branch, whether it's Congress or the Court. But I don't have that worry with Cruz. He may be an ideologue, but he's an ideological constitutionalist. Trump is neither an ideologue nor a constitutionalist. His only principle is winning. And he's not talking about you winning. He's talking about Trump winning. That's all that matters to him.
The president is not only our head of government. He's also the head of state. He represents America. And I truly don't understand how one could think Donald Trump would be a better representative of America than Ted Cruz. Trump is riveting, entertaining, even charismatic. But he curses, he offends, he disturbs, he confronts, he bends and twists and pushes reality until it suits his needs. Having him as president would be like living on a rollercoaster. You wouldn't know whether you are up or down, and you are likely to wake up nauseous.
Cruz is very conservative, a Bible-believing Christian who is fiercely pro-market and hawkish (if not as interventionist as other Republicans). That might upset secular liberals worldwide. But would Cruz be as erratic, would he be as explosive, would he be as unsettling as Trump? I doubt it. The man idolizes Ronald Reagan. Well, we survived, indeed flourished under, one Reagan presidency. Not a bad model for our next president to have.
Who does Trump idolize? Himself. And his neutral and sometimes flattering attitude toward authoritarian governments ought to make you think twice about seeing him in the Oval Office.
The Oval Office seems very far away right now. It's unlikely either Trump or Cruz will be elected president. But nominating Trump would change the Republican Party in a way nominating Cruz would not. Trump overthrows the apple cart. He's already breaking one weak institution--the GOP--and there's no telling what other weak institutions he could break if elected to high office. For reasons of policy, presentation, and character, there is only remaining choice in this GOP primary. It is Ted Cruz.
The other side, of course, is that you also make it profitable for those manufactuers who are here to expand and for new American startups to fill the marketplace.
We are the best market in the world. Daewoo will come. And especially if they see their market share being overtaken by homegrown expansion and startups.
You have to admit that thing was the size of an albino Baby Ruth.
Trump at least has childhood friends who have come forward to talk about what a genuinely good person he was.
Cruz has his Princeton roommate.
Why do I have to admit that a Tic Tac is "the size of an albino Baby Ruth"?
The Cruzers can keep dreaming. Cruz shows no leadership skills in the Senate! Can’t get anyone to go his way. He can be lead by the nose though when it comes to supporting obama’s TPP.
“Cruz missed an opportunity to point out the Chinese slave labor is cheap now but it’s going to become expensive soon because Chicom slaves have been forbidden to reproduce.”
That’s an interesting point and cautionary tale to ponder. By 2030, the average age in China will be 50. The ChiComm apes have aborted their future.
OTH, the average age in India will be 30 by that same date. Guess where investments will be heading in the next 20 years. Private equity firms have been rolling out of China in droves since 2011.
It’s my opinion that the economic and military window for China is rapidly closing, thus the reason for its saber rattling. But it’s too late, ChiComm morons. Abortion will destroy China. India will be the economic and military powerhouse throughout Asia by 2030 and beyond.
No, no, no. I agree that it makes no sense to write someone off if you disagree on an issue. For example, I don't agree with Sowell on Trump but I still hold him in high regard.
That said, this is a poorly written, poorly reasoned article by the Editor-in-Chief of the paper...not some flunky. WTF?
I keep hearing that Trump is such a pi$$-poor candidate. It ought to be simple to make a coherent case against the man.
This isn't it...not by a long shot.
We don’t know that.
Harry Truman was viewed as rough, crude, and not at all up to the job of being President.
In hindsight he turned out to be one of the better ones we ever had.
Conversely lots of Ivy League educated eggheads with high IQ’s and tons of political experience have fallen flat on their faces.
Just not easily predictable.
You resort to trashing Reagan as if the world economy and in fact the US manufacturing base were exactly the same as now which is nonsense. His decisions were based on protecting industries that were still making product here. Trump is talking about bringing a manufacturing base back that has already left. I don't expect you to understand that because your lead example of Beretta does not help US manufacturing, it helps US labor.
If your solution is solely to have foreign companies build here then you have addressed the jobs issue somewhat but that only goes so far. Foreign gov’ts now are not simply going to let their manufacturing base leave to promote one company's profit.
Maybe read some Friedman in between voting for Trump on Drudge.
I wonder in your Daewoo example though if they coming here to manufacture, while would certainly create jobs and allow for better currency management, would not have the diametric effect of say crimping Caterpillar to the extent of rousing that lobby to prevent it.
It can cut both ways I suppose.
The proper word for such is "staff."
Excellent snark.
Cruz is undoubtedly a NBC Canadian. He would be a better president of Canada than Trudeau. If this POTUS thing does not work out for him, maybe Ted can go home and try there. He will probably have a lot of free time on his hands after the Senate election in 2018.
Thank you. It’s truly astonishing....akin to the hipsters “Deez Nuts for President” meme.
Ted.... is the master of the CRUZebo Syndrome, which causes unTRUMPiness
Plus post a lot of trash you can find on Trump hoping something sticks. One thing people need to know is that Cruz is a political insider having worked to get Bush 41 elected. Both he and his wife worked for the Bush family. Heidi Cruz worked for Condi Rice. The million dollar loans were from Goldman Sachs and Citicorp. Ted has PAC after PAC trying to KO Trump as he has the owner of the Cubs and Wrigley field, His wife, plus brother. Add Goldman Sachs, a number of other wealthy types like several who made billions fracking, add the Koch brothers, and the list goes on. I and many are tired of being told this will change. Cruz is no different as he is bought and paid for and owes what he and his wife have to politics/PACS. both Cruz and Rubio voted for fast track. I wonder how senators get 1.2 million now plus they get much better health care then us veterans who put our ass on the line for this country while they vote according to who pays them the most. We have perhaps this one last chance to get this country back. We have got to cut the size of the federal government and get rid of the lying civil service types that we run into all to often at the VA. Only Trump has a plan that all Vets are free to see any MD who accepts Medicare. That is most private MD’s. I have had VA MD’s flat out tell me they have been told no more of this medicine as the VA just switched to this. Examples are COPD meds like foradil and even flomax for prostate. The VA will not write flomax now unless one tries alfuzosin. As most vets know the VA wanted vets under 300 MGs equivalent a day of morphine. That was May 2015. Now they want vets under 100 morphine equivalents a day. They have clinical pharmacologists running pain clinics at the VA. Vanderbilt could not believe that. The VA is not what it once was and never will be until one can flat out fire civil service types. Cruz is not going to take on that union or it’s PAC.
Very good chance of that, IMO.
you never answer to what was said you just attack the person who said it.
Population in China in the 1970s was around 900 Million, today its about 1.3 BILLION.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#/media/File:ChinaDemography.svg
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