Posted on 03/12/2015 6:18:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
(AUDIO-AT-LINK)
Former New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen is preparing to host a meet-and-greet at his Granite State home for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — but said firebrand Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz represents “everything that is wrong with the Republican Party.”
“Ted Cruz is someone who will not darken our doorstep ... He doesn’t seem to be very interested in campaigning to all of Americans but only seems to be interested in appealing to a fringe,” Cullen said during an appearance this morning on Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” program. “I think he has been irresponsible in Washington and I think he is sort of everything that is wrong with the Republican Party in Washington these days — so he’s not welcome.” Cruz is due in New Hampshire for campaign events on Sunday.
When pushed by hosts Jaclyn Cashman and Hillary Chabot to elaborate on why Cruz was among the 2016 presidential hopefuls who wouldn’t be invited to schmooze voters at his home, Cullen said “I’ve got no patience for his approach to politics.”
“Politics is a team sport and No. 1 you have to be able to get along with your teammates and Ted Cruz clearly does not play well with others and is proud of that,” Cullen said. “If you just want to be a bomb-thrower, be a bomb-thrower but if you’re running for office and you’re serving in the United States Senate, I expect you to want to actually get things done and not just to be going from cable TV news appearance to speaking engagements across the country to rile people up without actually trying to do anything.”
Cruz went up against members of his own party to spearhead the government shutdown in 2013, making him an instant Tea Party darling but also a symbol of Washington gridlock and a magnet for the ire of congressional leadership.
Cullen said Bush’s planned appearance is an indicator that he is going to take a different approach to wooing New Hampshire voters than his brother, former President George W. Bush.
“Obviously Gov. Bush comes into this process with a famous name but he doesn’t have personal relationships with elected officials, with party leaders, with activists and so part of what they’re clearly signaling is the kind of campaign he is going to run I think will be different from (the one) that his brother ran,” Cullen said. “It was much more of a coronation when George W. Bush ran, it was characterized by big events with a thousand people — he did not do many house parties at all, he did one town hall meeting and people didn’t appreciate that, and that’s part of why John McCain was able to defeat George W. Bush in New Hampshire and do so handily back in 2000.”
Getting face time with Granite State voters will go a long way toward launching Jeb Bush’s presumed run for the Oval Office, Cullen said.
“He’s made it clear, I think, in his early going that he is his own person,” Cullen said, “that he has his own record that he is going to be running in a different style than other Bushes people are familiar with.”
Yeah, y'know, that fringe that actually respects the Constitution and expects our elected leaders to keep their oath. Nice to hear that Mr. Cullen is a former GOP head, though.
Duly noted.
Ted Cruz was a backbencher of the minority party and they still want to blame him instead of Harry Reid who was running the Senate.
I’ve never heard of this Fungus Cullen loser, but in the future Ted Cruz will be long remembered as one of the greatest U.S. presidents of all time.
“Politics is a team sport and No. 1 you have to be able to get along with your teammates”
OK, when Ted wins the nomination, will you be a “team” player, and get along with him?
If Ted wins the nomination, he will almost be an independent since the GOPe will undermine him
Ted is every bit as entitled to be there as Jebbie is.
NHGOP chairman Jennifer Horn said, “We are pleased that Ted Cruz has agreed to address our summit and share his vision for the future of our country. I look forward to welcoming him to New Hampshire.”
http://nhjournal.com/latest-big-name-confirmed-for-nhgop-fitn-summit-in-april-ted-cruz/
This guy bills himself as a “pragmatic conservative”.
In other words, he’s a conservative when it benefits him, and something else when it doesn’t.
Sounds a lot like “compassionate conservative”.
Fergus?? Fergus???
I keep hearing Dean and Jerry saying “Melvin”.
Hear, hear. I won’t vote for Jeb. There’s no point. Might as well stay home and water my garden, and wait for The Only Party to take over our country.
Is it me? Is it Cullen?
And what is Cruz's party, then?
If it isn't Cullen in the wrong party, then voting for moderate Republicans is now an act so risky that it's an outright liability.
I hope and pray Cruz or whatever limited government Christian conservative with the prayers and poise to reclaim the faith of legal voting on-the-ground Americans, has the courage to go third party for the presidential in 2016. It's the only risk worth taking.
The GOP, if mindsets like Cullen's are prevalent in selecting a presidential candidate, is a sure bet to fail America.
The better risk is to go third party in that case, which is likely. This "leadership" in the GOP isn't going to do an about-face in two years. So the only way to win it is to leave them out of it altogether.
That is EXACTLY what most of us here, including yours truly, said about John McCain in 2006-2007.
EXACTLY.
Not me.
I still say it is an outside chance at best. Lots of Bush fatigue in the Republican Party.
Contradicts what another thread on FR says...
The other thread says Cruz will be a speaker at the NH gathering.
...Also amazing is that even GOPe pols continue to blame Cruz for the sequester that led to Obama shutting down ~17% of gov’t. operations for a short time. It was the Dems that caused the sequester.
It doesn’t “contradict” the other thread. This guy is having a campaign-related political shindig at his house where Jebbie is welcomed with open arms and Ted Cruz is most certainly not welcome.
I’ll write in Ted Cruz..otherwise I’m totally done with the GOP.
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How do we do that, when our voting is done electronically?
It sure is...this is the reason the GOP wants an 'open primary'...they actively encourage Democrats to 'cross over' to select the GOP nominee...they have been doing this for years. The Republican winner in the soviet Red Hampshire primary should raise a red flag to conservatives everywhere. He/she is the GOP choice to lose in November.
Yep, and it’s disgusting.
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