Posted on 12/17/2015 6:46:01 AM PST by VinL
The emerging consensus among the political cognoscenti is that Donald Trump won Tuesday night's Republican debate in Las Vegas because nobody had the nerve to attack him, except for Jeb Bush, who, Trump accurately pointed out, is languishing in single digits and poses no threat to anyone.
At Vox, Matthew Yglesias declared Trump the winner, marveling that "his main rivals for the nomination didn't even try to stop him." His colleague Ezra Klein agreed, pointing out that "the GOP candidates have become genuinely afraid of attacking Trump."
Leon Wolf at RedState was apoplectic that "people who realize that Trump represents an existential threat to the credibility and future existence of the conservative movement as a political force have been forced to grind our teeth as Cruz … held fire on this charlatan for months."
Pundits on the left and the right are captive to a mindset that says the only way to beat Trump is to attack him. But that isn't the only way. According to the latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa poll, Cruz's alternative strategy of ostentatiously flattering Trump is working wonders for him.
Not only does "Nice Guy" Cruz lead Trump by 10 points, but he's managed to ingratiate himself to Trump's followers (whom he stands to inherit) while crafting an image with Republican caucus goers that's completely at odds with his image in Washington as a narcissistic bomb thrower who constantly undermines his party's agenda in Congress. Trump appears to be so oblivious to this strategy that he actually helped Cruz to advance it Tuesday night.
While commentators fixated on Trump tend to focus on national polls, they're essentially meaningless
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
What war?
The left seeks to foment conflict among their enemies.
You know: Americans.
His party's agenda is to let the Democrats get virtually everything they want, while pretending to oppose it enough to fundraise off of it.
But watch for the 'Birther' movement to increase their attacks agaianst Cruz as he continues to rise.
They still haven’t realized that Trump is there to clear the field of the establishment candidates specifically for Ted Cruz. Trump never thought he would be so successful. Watch for the public notice of them teaming up together very soon.
This is a BS plant story.
Well, if it’s from those crack political writers at Yahoo, you know it HAS to be true.
Just today’s notices:
Congress’ half-trillion dollar spending binge...
Increases deficit by hundreds of billions...
MEETS OBAMA PRIORITIES...
Funds for ‘climate’ deal...
Planned Parenthood Praises...
Makes it ‘harder to repeal Obamacare’...
‘Cybersecurity’ bill hacked in...
Conservatives give pass on deal they despise!
SESSIONS: THIS is why voters in ‘open rebellion’...
AMERICAN WORKER SOLD OUT...
As we get closer to the primaries and the general, folks will begin to weigh in their minds who has the qualities and track record to be the next conservative leader. Folks who love Trump's red meat right now, may move to Ted as the more serious candidate.
Cruz should never have been in a battle with any one of the wannabes for the Iowa caucus support, imo.
The key is getting your support out to the caucus sites on Feb. 1. If some fraction of the Trump
supporters that have spent a few hours to see him at his appearances in Iowa actually go to the
caucuses it maybe a lot different that one would have thought. We’ll see but Cruz should still
have the prize, imo.
Cruz, in essence, doubled-dog dared congress by essentially saying, “If you really care about these ‘people in the shadows’ but are willing to give up amnesty then go ahead and pass the bill WITH my amendment!†The amendment was a poison pill to remove citizenship/amnesty, defeated the Gang of 8 bill and proved Rubio was pro-Amnesty. Jeff Sessions voted WITH Cruz on this!
“Jeff Sessions vigorously defended the Texan. “It was a very decisive, historic vote, and Cruz was a valuable and articulate opponent, and Marco was an articulate proponent,” the Alabama senator said.”
Enough said.
What war?
Both cut through the crap, both are highly intelligent and both are highly competent. Despite naysayers, either one will handily beat weak candidate Clinton.
I think they respect each other.
Take your pick:
Do you like the guy that has beaten political correctness to a pulp and is a recent convert to conservatism ... or the guy that is a bit more polished and has always been a near-perfect conservative?
Republicans oppose the DemocRats like Obozo opposes ISIS. Just enough to claim that they are doing something.
“They still haven’t realized that Trump is there to clear the field of the establishment candidates specifically for Ted Cruz.”
In other words, Ted Cruz doesn’t have the strength to fight for himself, so he has to hide behind Trump.?
Jeb! says he is doing it all for Hillary.
I think Trump is doing it all for Trump.
I agree that this is a BS plant story.
People saying Trump isn’t conservative enough are ignoring one major thing: NONE OF THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS OR THOSE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT ARE CONSERVATIVE. N-O-N-E.
If you are a conservative, no one is representing you any more.
Any one of the Republican candidates would be preferable to Hillary.
However, if we wish to keep Hillary out of the White House, we are going to have to select the one guy who can actually defeat her.
Trump.
FreeRepublic, where your first thought was already posted in the first 3 responses.
well said and thanks. Trump is a SOB but he is our SOB.
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