Posted on 04/04/2015 8:51:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced his 2016 presidential campaign last month, making him the only current official Republican candidate — for now. All of that is expected to change next week as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul make their own announcements, and likely push Cruz into the presidential background.
But it’s not just me who believes that Ted Cruz has no shot of being the party nominee, much less the eventual President in 2016. Here are four pretty persuasive groups who also say that President Cruz is never going to happen.
1. His fellow Texas politicians
It’s pretty hard to fight for the party nomination when you don’t have the support of your own party members. It’s even worse when you don’t have the support of your local party leaders. Texas Republican Congressman Rep. Pete Sessions told Politico that he doesn’t think Cruz can rally the Texans behind him, saying, “We need someone who can win the state of Florida, can win the state of Pennsylvania … and can win the state of Ohio. We can have favorite sons. … There is nothing wrong with that, but Republicans want to win before we want an ideological [candidate].” Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, another fellow Texan, also said he won’t be behind Cruz, at least, not right now. “You know, we’ve got a lot of Texans who are running for president, so I’m going to watch from the sidelines,” he told Politico.
2. News outlet political pundits
It’s not just his fellow lawmakers shooting him down, either. The political pages of numerous media outlets think he’s a no-go, too. The L.A. Times called him a “Sarah Palin with a high IQ,” which is supposed to be flattering but still shows he doesn’t have a prayer, saying, “Because most Americans are not keen on going back to the 18th century, chances are reasonably good that Cruz will be no more successful in national politics than Palin has been.” U.S. News and World Report’s politics column refers to him as “The Imaginary President,” all rhetoric and no results. “While he likes to imagine himself the heir to Reagan (the good parts, anyway) Cruz’s rhetorical style seems to have served him far better than any legislative ideas he might have come up with. (Abolish the IRS? The department that collects the money that pays for roads, schools, cops and wars?) And considering he’s a member of arguably the least productive Congress in modern times, it’s not like there’s an actual record for him to run on.”
3. Policy folks who are supposed to know this sort of thing
What are Cruz’s chances, according to the Hinckley Institute of Politics? Pretty near zip. “I give him almost zero chance of winning the nomination,” said Kirk Jowers, with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, told a Utah news station, adding that Cruz is a “dangerous candidate” for the Republican Party. He said that “safe money” is on Jeb Bush, but a Marco Rubio candidacy has the best shot if Hillary Clinton ends up with the Democratic party nomination.
4. The IRS
So how do people who work in the government feel about Cruz’s chances? One agency most likely to be impacted by a President Cruz would be the Internal Revenue Service, since Cruz claims that his administration would get rid of the whole thing. Current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says that is never going to happen – and is completely unrealistic to boot. ”Politics are politics,” he told Bloomberg News. “It is interesting to me. When you say you’re going to abolish the IRS and everybody will fill out a small card, somebody has to collect the money.” He then addressed Cruz, saying, “You could call them something other than the IRS if that made you feel better.”
So, sorry, Senator Cruz, it looks like 2016 isn’t going to be your year. Maybe you should focus on 2020 instead. Feel free to make an early announcement whenever you feel most comfortable.
*****
Robin Marty is a freelance writer and editor who focuses on women's rights, reproductive rights and politics. She spent the previous three years working with a national progressive online news network and currently consults for a reproductive health news organization.
Is that Roger Ebert. I mean now.
No - Ted Cruz won 41% of the TEXAS Latino vote in 2012.
By the way - according to Latino Decisions, a well respected national polling organization based in Texas, Cruz won only 35% of the Texas Latino vote.
In 2004, George W. Bush won 49% of the Texas Hispanic vote.
In 2004, Bush won just 40% of the national Latino vote.
In 2004, Bush beat Kerry by just 2.4% of the popular vote.
Immigrant and non-white voting has increased dramatically since 2004.
White voters:
2004 - 77%
2012 - 72%
Non-white voters:
2004 - 23%
2012 - 28%
The Democrat Party, at this moment, has enough ELIGIBLE voters to beat the Republicans in every national election for the foreseeable future.
They do not need to cheat.
All they have to do is turn out their eligible voters at the same rate we turn out our voters, and they will win EVERY national election.
A) Hillary Clinton will not be the Democratic Party nominee. Write that down. (B) If every type of voter that stayed home in droves for Romney and McCain shows up to vote in 2016, we won’t need 41% of the Hispanic vote. (C) If Cruz can make a 10% or more inroads into the black vote, which I believe he can, we again will not need 41% of the Hispanic vote.
Why are you pushing facts in face of feel good thoughts most of us are enjoying?
I have watched Hillary on TV many times.
I have also watched Martin O’Malley many times on TV.
O’Malley worries me more than Hillary.
He is very good at twisting facts and is quick on his feet.
Watch him rise in democrat party after Iowa & first few primaries. Write that down.
Maybe someday significant numbers of democrats will admit that what they thought was an accomplishment from 2008 to now turned out to be the worst mistake ever made by a political party.
Who in the blue Biden is this twit ? More copy and paste spewage from the moonbat peanut gallery.
I’m a Conservative.
I deal with political reality.
Even if Ted Cruz wins the election, his immigration policies will ultimately doom the Republican Party.
To me, it is shocking that so few Conservatives are aware of Cruz’s public statements and public actions in support of more foreign workers, in support of legal status for most illegal aliens, and in support of our current level of massive legal immigration.
Sessions is an empty suit. I hard him speak after the 2008 election. He is about as inspiring as dishwater. He will be in Congress until he dies,
Careful, sounds like you’ve been hoodwinked into believing a nonsense criticism of Ted Cruz.
I might be the only person in the world who has actually done the math on the “Conservatives Stayed Home” claim.
2008 - White Voters - 97.1 million
2012 - White Voters - 92.9 million
2012 - White Voter Decline - 4.2 million
McCain - White Voters - 53.4 million
Romney - White Voters - 54.8 million
Romney - 1.4 million MORE white voters than McCain!
2008 - Obama White Voters - 41.7 million
2012 - Obama White Voters - 36.2 million
Obama - 5.5 million LESS white voters than in 2008!
In other words, ALL the white voters who stayed home in 2012 voted for Obama in 2008!
From the Houston Chronicle:
Advocates 5X increase in “high skill” foreign workers.
Advocates work permits - but “no path to citizenship” - for all illegals currently living in the USA.
From the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/us/cruz-tries-to-claim-the-middle-ground-on-immigration.html?_r=1
Work permits for all illegals.
Green Card 100% increase.
More guest workers for Texas ranchers and farmers.
I encourage you to Google on this issue.
There are at least another half dozen sources for my statements.
I’ll bet they’re a real hit at the coed gay bars.
Might could make herself more attractive if she wanted to. Huge chip on shoulder.
Why would this write care about “reproductive rights”? You have to find a man that’s attracted to you before you have any concerns.
Also, how can this ‘object’ have ANY IDEA of what goes on in the Republican Party?
“The Democrat Party, at this moment, has enough ELIGIBLE voters to beat the Republicans in every national election for the foreseeable future.”
Then why did EVERY statewide Republican in Texas win by 20 points in 2014, when our state is more minority than the country at large (whites are 55% of Texans)
I’ll answer for you. You’re making the assumption that whites will continue to split their vote. Here in the South, THEY DO NOT (hence my tag line and home page here). They now VOTE AS A BLOCK, and they typically pick up quite a few Hispanics...but when you win by 20 points, you don’t need many. But the Democrats have moved SO FAR LEFT that they barely got a majority of Hispanics (55/45, pathetic for them) either.
Republicans are FAR FROM DEFEATED nationally, but they will have to STEP IT UP A BIT and not shy away from trying to attract white voters, even if they are called things like ‘divisive’ by the media and the Democrats.
If 65% of white vote Republican, then the entire Midwest opens up for Republicans and Dems won’t know what hit them.
You can give up, I will not.
“All of that is expected to change next week as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul make their own announcements, and likely push Cruz into the presidential background.”
“There ain’t no cure for stupid” Ron White. :-)
“Robin Marty is a freelance writer and editor who focuses on women’s rights, reproductive rights and politics”
Translation: Robin Marty a LGBT activist focuses on and promotes homosexuality, abortion and gay marriage.
The premise underlying your entire argument on this is wrong.
One EMP from an Iranian nuke, and we WILL be “going back to the eighteenth century”. We need a President with a spine...CRUZ OR LOSE!!!
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