Posted on 11/30/2015 7:44:46 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
None of us knows how this election is going to play out, but the one thing that we can say is that this has been the most entertaining presidential primary season ever. By far the most amusing part has been the utter state of panic the GOP establishment has been in since the voters took a look at their "electability" candidate, Jeb Bush, and started laughing. Since then one nightmare has followed another. If I'd had the foresight, I could have financed my children's college expenses by selling brown trousers to the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP Senate caucus.
Right now the GOP establishment is panicking over the specter of a Donald Trump candidacy. But if that wasn't sufficient to get those panties wetted, now a fear of Sen. Ted Cruz is setting in.
Mainstream elected Republicans now see Cruz as a bigger threat than Donald Trump or Ben Carson to clinch the nomination - but equally damaging to their party's chances of winning the White House and keeping the Senate next fall. Rubio would be a much stronger general election standard bearer, they believe.
This, of course, is patent nonsense. For the first time in my memory none of our top tier candidates has an "electablility" issue. Rubio does poll stronger against Clinton, but Clinton is either behind or in a statistical tie with the top six GOP hopefuls.
Cornyn, Thune and Coats have not endorsed in the presidential primary, and lawmakers interviewed for this story said many senior Republicans do not want to embarrass long-shot presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham by endorsing Rubio while the South Carolina senator is in the race. They're also aware that endorsements from top GOP lawmakers at this point in the primary wouldn't help Rubio's cause with the Republican base.
This is the most delicious part of the entire season. Though the establishment is very unhappy at the thought of Trump or Carson or Cruz, they know they are so toxic with GOP primary voters that their endorsement will sink their candidate. So they are forced to keep quiet, stand on the sidelines and hope for the best.
Cruz scoffed at the notion that Rubio is more electable, telling POLITICO that that's precisely the logic that paved the way for Democrats to win five of the past six popular votes for the White House.
"Democrats also told Republicans Bob Dole was more electable, Democrats also told the press Sen. John McCain was more electable, Democrats also told the press Mitt Romney was more electable," Cruz said. "Then the Democrats were quite happy to go to their inauguration balls."
Cruz predicted that millions of blue-collar Democrats would rally behind him in a general election, like they did with Ronald Reagan three decades ago. Rubio's earlier support for comprehensive immigration reform - or a "massive amnesty plan," in Cruz's words - would preclude that kind of crossover appeal, the Texan said.
But congressional Republicans say the truest indicator of Rubio's strength is the abuse he's getting from Democrats. They've been pounding him daily over missed votes and briefings, while dissecting his policy plans. Cruz, by comparison, has been getting kid-glove treatment, to the extent Democrats mention him at all in opposition dumps from the party apparatus and outside liberal groups.
This last paragraph is meaningful only if you assume that Sen. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer know what they are doing, electorally. There has been precious little evidence that any Democrat senator has a good grasp on the mood of the nation given their drubbing in 2014. Rubio is attacked because, until now, he has been the highest ranked traditional Republican candidate. As Cruz rises in the polls they will begin attacks on him. Right now, you will note, is the attacks on Rubio are focused not on his conservative credentials but on the times he has voted with the Democrats.
The fundraising reports show that Cruz is running a savvy campaign that is both frugal and results oriented - very much like how we'd like the federal government to operate. Nearly alone among the non-Trump candidates, Cruz is financially positioned to fight the battle to the end. He is in that position because he is not acting as a life support system to RNC endorsed consultants that are sucking the other candidates dry.
The establishment is right to panic over Cruz. There are five or six others who could be more than adequate presidents, certainly - and in this they are like my dog - they would be superior to Obama. Alone of the GOP field, Cruz is the guy who could be a game-changer as president. The more the establishment panics the more my optimism grows.
That argument in RINO quarters against Cruz 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 .
B-I-N-G-O
The electability canard is just that.
Please click on the pictures at the top of the columns for more details on the ratings of the candidates.
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cruz does NOT create the panic of a Trump.
He is disliked in the senate but he still has the same Achilles heel as all other candidates dependent on fundraising.
SCOTUS didn’t take up any of the cases against Obama, and there were a bunch.
If I understand correctly, the Constitution leaves the issue of citizenship up to Congress. If that is the case, the law passed by Congress will stand.
It just makes sense to have four years of President Trump, after which Cruz would be the most likely person to follow. Why? Trump's the only one with the bluster to turn things around quickly enough to have a chance at saving the US.
The cheating at polling places on Election Day 2016 is going to be epic. The Establishment is panicked.
The GOPe would prefer Hillary to any of top polling GOP candidates.
Unlike the Clintons, I have not heard Cruz claiming that you will get "two for the price of one" if he is elected. So I don't think looking at Heidi Cruz is going to tell you anything about how Ted Cruz would govern. But nice try.
Grayson is not Alan Keyes, he has standing, bet on it.
Marking for later.
Cruz is brilliant. He would NEVER EVER take VP position to babysit whiny baby and RUIN his career.
Trumpees like to think this. Maybe they will switch to Jeb or Rubio when Mr. Cruz takes trump out.
Cruz hasn't convinced many folks yet that he'd shut down the H1B program or that he's improved since getting played on the trade deal.
And PS: Today, I got another three emails from Cruz about his money coming up short this year. NOT ONE of them talked about his policies.
I had been on the Ted Cruz Ping List since... oh I dunno 2013 maybe. When he announced his candidacy and the pings went crazy, I really felt for the ping list manager. It obviously became a real chore to administer it, and while I wondered myself if I could keep up with the incoming volume myself, then that previous ping list manager gave up.
I went through a period of about a month where I was really missing a convenient delivery of daily Cruz News. Someone pointed me your direction and now I am back on the list, at a critical time for me to be able to stay current with my FR Cruz allies.
The "Trumpty Dumpties" are just too much, and I am pretty disappointed that any FReeper would not be 100% behind the ONLY Conservative Constitutional Originalist running, Ted Cruz.
Anyways, the point of me writing this is that I want to thank you for your work administrating the Ted Cruz Ping List. I imagine it is a real chore... so I just really wanted to let you know that I appreciate it.
Rodamala
Cruz all the way!
I envision a serious, SERIOUS push by the GOPe to make Rubio their guy... it's happening right now.
Except (let us not forget) that Obama's "individual donors" included an very large percentage who used his campaign's internet donation system - which disable all verification features that would detect illegal multiple donations, illegal foreign donations and donations under fictitious names.
That was true in 2008 & 2012 and was covered fully on FR (as listed on Google below):
She worked in the Bush administration and at Goldman Sachs. I don’t think we should dismiss this. Maybe there is also a secret connection between the Bushes and Cruz. Mrs. Cruz could be a go between.
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