Posted on 04/14/2014 5:58:04 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
MANCHESTER, N.H.—Rand Paul has been methodically planning his run for president. Now Ted Cruz could come along and spoil the whole thing.
Both senators have a path to the Republican nomination that rests on the support of the Tea Party. And when forced to choose, that segment appears to prefer Cruz, whose speech to an activists' gathering here over the weekend was the more enthusiastically received of the two.
Saturday's Freedom Summit, billed as an early audition for potential 2016 candidates, provided a rare opportunity for right-wing activists to directly compare the Texan and the Kentuckian. The senators spoke practically back to back, and the crowd clearly loved them both. But Cruz's theatrical delivery wowed them more than Paul's comparatively cerebral appeal, and his rhetorical focus on conservative red meat found more favor than Paul's detours into libertarian concerns.
"I like Rand Paul, I agree with a lot of what he says, but as far as charismatic leadership, I've got to go with Ted Cruz," Robin Parkhurst, a state-government worker from Newbury, New Hampshire, said after hearing both men speak at the event. "Ted Cruz has the ability to deliver a message that resonates with people."
Parkhurst was one of several at the summit to echo that sentiment. It was a dramatic demonstration of a dynamic political watchers have speculated about—Cruz's ability to steal Paul's thunder if both seek the 2016 GOP nomination.
And seeking the nomination is something both men seem inclined to pursue. Both headlined weekend events with the New Hampshire Republican Party in addition to appearing at the summit, which was sponsored by Citizens United and Americans for Prosperity. (Yes, the Supreme Court plaintiff that helped deregulate
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Ted Cruz will be the first Historic President since Reagan.
Its time to coalesce around a candidate now.
TED CRUZ IS THE GUY TO GET THE JOB DONE.
The longer we wait to decide, the worse...TEA PARTY/Conservatives pick TED !
I haven’t settled on a candidate yet. I just want a good conservative this time. Ted Cruz is one of the ones on my short list. Rand Paul is not.
he is gonna rock the world come debate time! will make the rest seem like amateurs! (well,except Rand).
can anyone imagine Cruz debating Hillary? we wont stop laughing!
“Go and read the comments to this piece ...... or don’t if you don’t want to get depressed.”
Not depressed. Only leftists read the Atlantic. That comment section is akin to going to a dinner party on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Mitt was not enough to spare us from four more years of misery.
Please let's make sure we have a candidate who can win next time.
Rand Paul is palling around with McConnell here lately. What does that tell you?
The doormat won’t debate.
Cruz 2016!
Not to mention that Rand is turning to to be Ron Paul. He has shifted his views considerably over the past year. He is dangerously close to the leftists on too many issues and wants to declare that the values leg of the 3 legged stool is not necessary in the platform. He could not be more wrong. Values are what made America itself, apart from the valueless countries it was in competition with. Judeo-Christian values that set the love of God and loving your neighbor as yourself in high regard. Shoot, if we ALL lived like that, we would have no crime, but now the elites and the libertarians say we don’t need values to win. Well, play that game and you will see that the outcome will not be pretty. And it will be over for the GOP forever, as no one will ever trust them to actually be conservative ever again.
Cruz will not run. He knows that he is ineligible to the office of president or vice president.
I like CANADA, been there many times. I drink Canadian beer. I want my president to be born in AMERICA, not CANADA!
It’s bad enough that we allowed someone born in Kenya to become president, but we can’t continue to bastardize the office of president by allowing ineligible people to continue to occupy that office. Even when they are good guys and we agree with them on issues.
Primary opponents will make it an issue, Democrats will make it an issue. It will be a HUGH distraction.
Is it not fundamental that the president be born in the U.S.A.? Even low information voters will understand that the president needs to be born here.
Ted Cruz is a great American. I love the guy, he’s just not eligible. I wish he was.
CRUZ/WEST
"I like Rand Paul, I agree with a lot of what he says, but as far as charismatic leadership, I've got to go with Ted Cruz," Robin Parkhurst, a state-government worker from Newbury, New Hampshire, said
This is written by a Democrat with the usual spin, code words and memes. The audience is 'right wing'. Cruz is 'theatrical', delivering 'red meat'. Squishy conservative Paul is 'cerebral', compared to that Neanderthal Cruz who is 'charismatic'. The author outs the state worker as a Cruz supporter, noting exactly where she works. I wonder how long her government job will last?
well,worst case scenario,she will either hire a “Deaf Interpreter”,or a “Progressive Ventriloquist Dummy” to take her place.
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