Posted on 04/03/2015 12:22:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Following a recent round of PPP polling which showed Texas Senator Ted Cruz firmly in the top tier of GOP presidential candidates, Allahpundit provided a lengthy and well thought out analysis of how real and durable these numbers might be. (Short version: don’t expect him to fall out of the upper ranks just because more people officially get into the race.) It’s true that Cruz saw a bump from his official announcement, but the renewed and increased media attention he’s been receiving has expanded his name recognition, and with it his potential donor pool. Liberals have predicted – in a hopeful fashion – that with a bit more scrutiny, Ted Cruz would flame out. The new reality is that they, along with their celebrity spokesmodels on cable news, are beginning to realize that they have a serious problem.
In the beginning of Cruz’s journey onto the national stage, I fully confess that I fell rather easily into the narrative which the Texas Democrats had been pushing out to the national press. All I really knew was that he was engaged in a contentious primary against an establishment figure in the Lone Star State and he was the Tea Party favorite. No matter who won that race, they would be the next senator so it really didn’t grab my attention. But the storyline being pitched was a common one: Ted Cruz was one of those crazy guys.
Even after he won his seat, the media was keeping up the drumbeat, frequently abetted by senior members of his own party. (Wacko Birds, anyone?) But long before it was certain that Cruz might run for the White House, he began defying the narrative media formula. Those of us who didn’t know him were expecting the avalanche of stories which would erode his status as a serious politician. The problem is, they didn’t happen. Where were the “gaffes” we were all promised? He was supposed to come out and immediately begin screaming about the President being from Kenya, saying that women should enjoy being raped and calling for the South to secede again.
Unfortunately for the cable news talking heads, it never happened. Cruz staked out a number of domestic and foreign policy issues and began beating the drum with his own proposals for how to meet those challenges. The media seemed to shoot themselves in the foot by tripping over each other to give the Senator air time, waiting for the expected crazy to emerge. There were times when his tactics were fairly brought under scrutiny, such as his approach to the budget battles / government shutdown situation, but that was a difference in opinion on legislative strategy, not the hoped for wild man moments. In the end, all they came up with was a recitation of a Dr. Seuss book during a filibuster, but anyone who looked briefly beyond the dishonestly edited clips on TV saw that it was actually a short message to beloved children. Not exactly the stuff of which career crashes are made.
Slowly but surely, Cruz began winning over some of the more open minded and scaring those who would like to see him fail. After a rather epic battle with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski over the letter to Iran, the panel began discussing Cruz’s viability. The all too predictable Donny Deutsch tried to immediately dismiss him as a joke, calling him “the Sarah Palin of this election.” But Mika had talked to Cruz a few times by then and was forced to take the counter argument.
“Character. Exactly,” Deutsch replied. “There’s no such thing as climate change… basically his first few years in the Senate is basically no legislation, this is a complete obstructionist, this is not what this country is all about. You’ve done nothing but run for president. I find him offensive. I find him completely against the grain of where this country wants to go.”
Brzezinski replied, “I wouldn’t underestimate him. I think he’s really really smart,” before adding, “I don’t agree with a single thing he says.”
Mika wasn’t the only one. Cruz has not shied away from the press one bit, no matter how much of a lion’s den he’s entering. Rather than hiding out and only doing shows on Fox News, he’s taken the battle into the enemy camp. And so far, as near as I can tell, nobody has landed a glove on him in a significant way. Now he’s moved up into the front runner category, and the press is beside itself.
What can one do about Ted Cruz if he stubbornly refuses to implode? Stay tuned. I’m starting to think that this race is going to be a lot more interesting than I originally suspected.
The media hates the “ smarting up “ of intelligent conservative candates because it shows them for the ignorant fools that they truly are..
There is no “ weak chink “ for the enemy to get their spear of dagger in Ted Cruz’s armor...
Echo chambers and bottomless pits..
That funny feasco of all those reporters hyperventilating running after Hillary’s Scooby Van reminds me of that gif or graphic of those people running towards a huge sink hole bottomless pit and jumping in it.
Nice one.
Hillary hates Latinos Hispanics ?.... Just getting ready and practice for it...
Glad you like it. I think you are the only one who got it.
That’s her Achilles Heal , it’s no wonder that they are isolating her from answering media questions...
Need to take advantage of that weakness and exploit it.
a RINO blogger starts to have the scales removed from his eyes.....
All Ted has to say is, "If you can't stand up to a competitor in a debate, then how do you expect to stand up, when it does in fact matter, to a foreign aggressor? Oh that's right, you already didn't."
This technique can be worth an enormous amount of free publicity, enabling the candidate to get far more effect for every dollar spent than his opponent.
Agreed..
They are not as smart or intelligent as they make themselves out to be.
All they are full of is Marxist liberal indoctrinated mumbo jumbo..
They are legions of robotical indoctrinated useful idiots.
Our thinking is more organic and spontaneous, it’s living g and breathing, able to adapt...
That is because American values were derived directly from actual experience. This distinguished the understanding of the Founding Fathers from that of much of the earth's peoples.
Understanding that distinction is the key to better dealing with that "mumbo jumbo" to which you refer.
More “Wacko Birds”, less “rinos”.
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