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The real lesson of Ted Cruz's Super Saturday? Marco Rubio is a horrible failure.
The Week ^ | March 6, 2016 | James Poulos

Posted on 03/06/2016 7:58:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe Donald Trump isn't invincible, after all.

On Saturday, Ted Cruz nuked Trump from orbit in Kansas, pantsed him in Maine, and almost scored coups in the other two states, Kentucky and Louisiana, where he fell short of Trump by just two delegates in the first case and one in the second. Overall, the Texas senator trails Trump in the delegate race by a very manageable 378-295. There's an awfully long way to go to get to the 1,237 needed for the nomination.

It's enough to launch a thousand think pieces on what's become of the GOP's once-unstoppable frontrunner. But perhaps that isn't the big story. After all, Trump's still in the lead. Cruz faces a formidable challenge to beat him outright, even head to head in a cleared-out field.

To my mind, the most fascinating and important aspect of Ted Cruz's Super Saturday is what has become of the GOP's formerly sparkling golden boy, Marco Rubio. The poster child for the party's hopefulness of audacity has simply failed, limping out of Saturday night's matchups with zero wins and 13 delegates. Rubio has now competed in 19 presidential primaries and caucuses. He's lost 18 of them.

As important as it is for Republicans to comprehend why Trump and Cruz have done so well, they could benefit even more from coming to terms with why Rubio has done so poorly. For Trump's support is a mirror image of the party's full court press for Rubio.

Republicans may have finally discovered Donald Trump's Achilles heel

From the beginning, Rubio was the face of establishmentarianism today, establishmentarianism tomorrow, and establishmentarianism forever. More Dubya-esque even than Jeb, more chipper than even Lindsey Graham, he was, on paper, the perfect dauphin: Change generations and ethnicities, and pow -- no further change needed!

It is this flawed conceit that Republican voters have soundly rejected. But as the Rubio campaign floundered, it swam deeper into the depths. Gone was the candidate's bold but borderline overshare testimony to his faith, replaced by huffy digs at Trump's equipment. Instead of putting meat on the bones of his vaguely plausible yet deeply absurd claim that nothing matters if we're not safe, foreign policy substance was substituted with ever more hyped-up rhetoric -- flowery talk of Reaganesque optimism doubly unplugged from the state of the party and the state of the nation.

The post-mortem brigades will do the GOP a disservice if they chalk up Rubio's fade to the quirks of the race or, even worse, to some martyrdom theory. The party, according to some, owes Marco a debt of gratitude for his kamikaze attack on the bully who no one would punch. Certainly it seems, at first blush, they at least should owe him some thanks. On the other hand, it was Rubio's insanely arrogant belief that he was the perfect candidate for 2016 that got the Republicans into this mind-melting mess in the first place. It was Rubio who made Jeb Bush drag out his campaign out of spite, Rubio who took points off of Cruz's board while adding nearly none to his own, and Rubio who lacked the foresight to kick Kasich to the curb and out of his lane.

For all his talent and good intentions, Rubio proved that there's something much worse in this populist season than being born on third and thinking you just hit a triple. However subliminal, his sense of upwardly mobile entitlement was weirdly off-putting and perversely reminiscent of the entitled yes-kid who thinks he should get what he wants because he knows exactly how to give his teachers and school administrators exactly what they want. Rather than embodying the 20th-century Republican story of increase earned through luck and pluck, he became an avatar of the 21st-century striver whose stock in trade is his special snowflakehood.

It remains to be seen whether Rubio can overcome the caricature he encased himself in, accept his loss for what it is, and get out of Ted Cruz's way. Even if he does, there's no clear sign he could find a place beside Cruz on the ticket. With John Kasich polling better against Hillary Clinton, and better able to play copacetic foil to Cruz's stern scold, Rubio's personality as well as his policy are simply not needed on the campaign trail.

Nevertheless, a hard core of party bigs still seem convinced he's essential to the GOP's future. And left to his devices, Rubio will not drop out, before or after Florida. He will become a pawn in a grand yet tawdry game of thrones at the convention -- and in so doing, it's safe to say, put the GOP at far greater peril of being split to pieces than anything Trump and Cruz can manage together. Rubio is the face of a wing of the party that acts like the future but is really yesterday's news. And thinks it's full of winners but, so many times already, has decisively lost.

The era of Rubio is over. We live in the age of Trump and Cruz now.


TOPICS: Florida; New York; South Carolina; Texas; Campaign News; Parties; Polls
KEYWORDS: 2016election; cruz; cyrusthegreat; election2016; endtimes; florida; gop; gope; kasich; koresh; lindseygraham; marcorubio; messiahmania; moderndaycyrus; newyork; persianempire; republicans; rubio; southcarolina; tedcruz; texas; trump
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To: bramps

Rubio is not a failure if his function is to piss off Trump enough to get him into a carnival sideshow at the debates and move votes to other candidates for future nefarious purposes.

Trump better be preparing with some very good advisers for Thursday night’s debate. The last debate DID hurt him.>>> these are not debates. no candidate should show up. i don’t watch and i hope real people don’t as well.


21 posted on 03/06/2016 9:46:50 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
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To: Bobalu

i think trump had his vest on and cruz didn’t for some reason. that day is over. and i’m sad about it.


22 posted on 03/06/2016 9:48:26 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
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To: kvanbrunt2

it is not cruz’s suit. the sleeves are way to long. very funny yes.


23 posted on 03/06/2016 9:50:44 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
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To: kvanbrunt2

I understand your sentiments but at the end of the day we have to make a choice between these guys. It sure ain’t pretty though.


24 posted on 03/06/2016 10:05:42 PM PST by bramps (It's the Islam, stupid!)
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To: kvanbrunt2
I'm also very sad about this :-(

I don't expect men running for president to be totally honest or morally perfect. Such things are nearly impossible for powerful Alpha Males under such circumstances. The times and the challenges we face require us to seek out a strong Alpha Male to rise up to fight the evil that has taken hold of this nation.

As Winston Churchill said long ago in a speech before parliament. "Do not hesitate to raise up a flawed man if circumstances require it"

Today circumstance certainly do require us to raise up a flawed man! There are unquestionably men who are better in many ways than Trump or Cruz, Ben Carson is such a man. I admire Dr Carson greatly! but he is not the warrior that is needed to face the challenges before us at this time.

I pray that somehow Trump and Cruz can against all odds come together to form a partnership to save this nation! Two very powerful but also flawed warriors... they are the required strong medicine to cure a sick society.

The evils of abortion, greed and corruption in high government office will require all of us to do our utmost and pray our hardest to overcome such evil.

When I look back on the world as it was when I was a child and compare it to how things are today it seems impossible that we have all come to this sorry state of affairs :-( Not that things were perfect in the 60's because they were not... but at least people did not revel in their madness, greed and immorality.

Let's all pray a little harder for wisdom and guidance. I feel so small and the problems we face seem so overwhelming :-(


25 posted on 03/06/2016 11:36:12 PM PST by Bobalu (I'm spitting on my hands, and hoisting the black flag!)
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To: bramps

What about cruz’s horrible super Sunday? Knocked out 12 hours after getting all that momentum. Kinda telling.


26 posted on 03/07/2016 1:55:11 AM PST by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: Bobalu

I don’t want Cruz and trump to team up. Trump should have no part of Cruz. He’s a sneak who should not be trusted. Trump can find a very good VP.


27 posted on 03/07/2016 1:57:43 AM PST by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: napscoordinator

You know your guy is stick-a-fork-in-him done when his supporters start talking about coopting his rival. Two weeks ago, Trump supporters were saying The Donald should be his own Vice President. Now they are looking to get a boost by suggesting the rising Ted Cruz for the job.

That is Loser Talk, and it is pathetic.

In a couple of weeks, they’ll be talking about how Trump deserves a spot on the bottom of the ticket.


28 posted on 03/07/2016 3:22:39 AM PST by Haiku Guy (Admit you were conned / This means you are good and honest / There's no shame in this)
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To: Haiku Guy

His own VP....surely they were joking. Anyway. The next two weeks are critical no matter who anyone supports.


29 posted on 03/07/2016 6:34:00 AM PST by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: Bobalu

Cruz screwed up attacking Trump. Everyone hoped the team would be Trump/Cruz. Trump because he has the fire and Cruz could have served as the conservative bonafide that could deliver the south. But Cruz seems to have a reputation of a back stabber and in the Senate. He is hated in the Senate not for his conservative views but his tactics.


30 posted on 03/07/2016 6:45:32 AM PST by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said.)
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To: Bobalu

Don’t know if you know Lance Wallnau but he is a christian motivational speaker and he calls trump the “wreaking ball” and king cyrus of persia.
he is entertaining
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LanceWallnau/?__fns&hash=Ac0WKSZYPON8_8z9
twitter: https://twitter.com/lancewallnau?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author


31 posted on 03/07/2016 5:20:28 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
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