Andrea Mitchell: Senate’s Dislike of Cruz Should Have Made Candidacy ‘a Non-Starter’

Newsbusters ^ | November 26, 2015 | Curtis Houck

[Isara]

Closing out the Wednesday edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell remarked how the presidential candidacy of Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Tex) would have been sunk and declared “a non-starter” under so-called normal circumstances due to so many of Cruz’s Senate colleagues having a disdain for him.

Mitchell was speaking with former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman and MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele when she exclaimed: “The conventional wisdom has always been that Ted Cruz had so alienated all his colleagues that he was a non-starter to be a national candidate, but this year, that could be an advantage.”

Watch the video.

Steele wholeheartedly agreed and elaborated on the idea that this “was something from the very beginning as far as Cruz was concerned” with the premise that “the less the folks in D.C. liked him the better.”

He also predicted that the absence of support from his colleagues and D.C.-establishment types will “benefit him going forward because he truly is outside both the establishment and what Washington has been talking about the last couple of years.”

So, the lesson here, folks, is rather simple: Liberals like Mitchell are growing more and more leery of conservatives and their opportunities to employ their liberal thought process are drying up.

The transcript of the segment from MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on November 25 can be found below.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports
November 25, 2015
12:52 p.m. Eastern

ANDREA MITCHELL: Ted Cruz is moving on up in the Iowa Quinnipiac poll, pulling ahead of Ben Carson, who’s dropped to third. Marco Rubio competing with Cruz to be the alternative to Donald Trump and Carson, if and when the race gets real, so let's talk about that with MSNBC political analyst, Michael Steele, former Republican National chairman. What do you make of Ted Cruz moving up in Iowa? It seems as though he's got more ground troops on the ground. 

MICHAEL STEELE: He does. 

MITCHELL: A better organization, I should say, than Marco Rubio. 

STEELE: Yeah, he does and I’d say probably better than most of the other candidates. The one thing about Ted Cruz that I find very interesting and smart is while everybody has been focused on the bright shining object that is Donald Trump, he has been methodically laying the ground for just such an occasion, to sort of move into a position to challenge for the lead and it's not — it's not about the national polls as you well know, Andrea, national polls mean absolutely butt kiss right now. They mean nothing. It's exactly what is going on in states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada that matter most and that's what he's focusing his energy on and he’s gaining the benefits from it. 

MITCHELL: So, Rubio now trying to stake his claim to be the alternative if Ben Carson and Donald Trump fade away, but Cruz and Rubio really are the logical competitors for that role. 

STEELE: They are. They have similar appeals to the base. You know, I think Ted has a stronger conservative advantage across the spectrum. He has been the one who has been in the well, fighting the hardest and the loudest so much so that his colleagues in the Senate don't like him and publicly have stated such. Rubio has baggage that he carries on immigration, and certainly even in terms of the war footing that he's claiming, there's going to be some challenge, not just from someone like Cruz, but also as you saw in the last debate with Rand Paul, which is, again, reflective of what is going on inside the party. So, Cruz has put himself, I think, in the best position to take on Donald Trump leading into the next debate in December. 

MITCHELL: The conventional wisdom has always been that Ted Cruz had so alienated all his colleagues that he was a non-starter to be a national candidate, but this year, that could be an advantage. 

STEELE: Oh, absolutely. In fact, that was something from the very beginning as far as Cruz was concerned that didn't matter to him. He didn’t — in fact, the less — the folks in D.C. liked him the better and that's going to benefit him going forward because he truly is outside both the establishment and what Washington has been talking about the last couple of years.

[mosesdapoet]

That argument in RINO quarters should be expected. This is why conservatives in certain states should be focusing on Senate candidates who do believe in controlling the purse and getting the government out of our bedrooms, kitchens, backyards, churches, and schools.
\
Even if it meant resorting to defunding and government shutdowns.

And by campaigning using those issues and asking why the go along, get alongs bipartisans refused to use these tactics which should have been applied with this bunch of socialistas bent on destroying this country .

[RobbyS]

All Cruz needs is a bow and a quiver of arrows.

[Carry_Okie]

Mike Lee has been just as stalwart on his votes, but somehow has avoided the bile. Cruz rubs their noses in their hypocrisy. Both are needed.

[LegendHasIt]

So, by the same token, FReepers dislike of Andrea Mitchell should make her media employment a non-starter.

[cripplecreek]

A Cruz/Lee ticket would be awesome.

[blondiegoodbadugly]

Love your Ted Cruz post.

Hope you don’t mind me sharing it. :-)

[cripplecreek]

Go right ahead.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I don’t like Andrea Mitchell, either, but she is still a propagandist.

[Ann Archy]

Hey Fugly.....that’s WHY WE LOVE HIM!!!

[Ann Archy]

Hey Fugly.....that’s WHY WE LOVE HIM!!!

[bonehead4freedom]

The Washington political and New York media establishments both hate Cruz then that tells me he’s got the right stuff to lead this country.

[altura]

A surprisingly good article.

[altura]

An interesting article which most posters apparently did not read but just reacted to the headline.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Andrea always sounds like she could use a couple glasses of Metamucil."

Her and Diane Sawyer (now departed from news anchorship). DS always had a facial expression reminiscent of severe constipation.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Very true.

[uncitizen]

Guess what Andrea baby? You pukes in the media and Congress don’t make the rules for us anymore. So go F off!

[jimfree]

She can be such an incredibly stupid woman.

[Future Snake Eater]

Our masters don’t like him, therefore no one should like him. What an impossibly stupid woman.

[jimfree]

I spoke too soon. She does understand that running against McConnell is a positive to so many of us.

[Defiant]

In Reagan’s day, he had almost no support in the Senate, too. It was led by the Howard Baker/Bob Dole faction, and they hated the Senators who did support Reagan, people like Jesse Helms and Paul Laxalt. Support for a conservative by Republican US Senators is meaningless, and opposition from the establishment is a plus, as you note.