GOPe: Ted Cruz is Too Slick. And a Narcissist.

Erick on the Radio ^ | December 28, 2015 | Erick Erickson

[Isara]

My friend Alex, a prominent Republican political consultant, emailed a group of us this morning to make sure we read Curt Anderson’s attack on Ted Cruz in the Politico before we tuned into the Sunday shows.

Like my friend Alex, Curt Anderson is a Republican political consultant. He worked for Haley Barbour at the RNC. He’s worked for Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Dole, and John Thune. He worked for Mitt Romney in 2008, then he worked for Herman Cain in 2011, who accused Curt wrongly of leaking the sexual harassment stories after Curt left to work for Rick Perry. Again, wrongly. In this cycle, Curt has worked for Bobby Jindal.

He’s a good guy. I don’t know him well, but I have many friends who think highly of him. But he is undeniably of the D.C. Republican consultant set. His piece, like Alex’s email, echoes so much of what I hear from so many of my friends in Washington. They don’t like Ted Cruz. They think he is too slick. They think he is a narcissist. They think he is in it for himself. Hell, a lot of my friends who support Ted Cruz say that.

Ultimately, they are all Republicans who see Ted Cruz as more often than not opposed to the Republican team.

It is worth noting that all these guys are currently getting their butts kicked by a, until recently, Democrat from New York City who yells at cameras and has no discernible path to victory, but is still leading national polls. And the only guy coming close to beating that guy is the guy Curt Anderson and so many others of the — dare I use this word — insiders think is a narcissistic televangelist in it for himself and who is wholly unlikeable and not a team player.

But this is all fundamental to the dynamic of the 2016 cycle so far. The normal run of political consultants in Washington have a different view of what the base wants or what the country wants than what the base and the country want. The more a candidate is seen battling Washington, the better the candidate does. Even now, Marco Rubio is pivoting to try to be seen as attacking Washington.

I know Curt did not mean his piece to be an endorsement of Cruz, but I think the guys in Washington need to understand that for much of the base of the party it is an endorsement. Ted Cruz’s Super PAC is running advertisements boasting that John Boehner called Ted Cruz a pain in the ass. Those sorts of ads are propelling Ted Cruz ahead of Donald Trump.

Here’s what everybody needs to note.

The normal rules of politics still apply. Polling is only a snapshot of personal support right now, but most of the polling is of registered voters, not likely voters. Of the people being polled right now, many of the most ardent supporters of Donald Trump are people who are not normal Republican voters. Trump has no ground game in place in places like Iowa or throughout the SEC primary to get those non-traditional voters to the polls.

Advertising still matters and fine tuned micro-targeted advertising works better than scatter shot mass blast advertising.

Ultimately, boots on the ground and door to door contact matters substantially more than anything else. Voters have a higher likelihood of turning out for a candidate if that candidate or his supporters have made personal, face to face contact with a voter.

But above all else, the candidate matters.

Right now, this is an election year where voters want someone who the Washington insiders see as a narcissist who fights the team because the voters in the Republican primary are rooting against that team too. The two candidates who are perceived as fighting against that team are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Between the two, the only one engaged in serious boots on the ground, micro-targeting of voters, and building large field operations is Ted Cruz. Oh, and he also does very well with likely voters, not just registered voters, the whole lot of whom actually do find him likable. This includes a sizable number of Iowa voters who have both participated in past caucuses and intend to go to the 2016 one.

An attack in the Politico by a Washington Republican consultant who worked for Haley Barbour at the Republican National Committee at a time when the most fired up of the most fired up Republicans still are pissed off about Haley Barbour in Mississippi’s Senate race is just another Ted Cruz ad campaign waiting to write itself.

Ted Cruz may be too slick. He may even be a narcissist. But he has fought the Washington Republican class at a time Republican voters hate the Washington Republicans as much as everyone else does. That those guys are now attacking him is just a net positive for much of the base.

[Dante3]

No true regarding Cruz. But dead on regarding Rubio.

[b4its2late]

They’ve been so right in the last 2 presidential elections...

[bmwcyle]

Go Ted Go

[cripplecreek]

LOL I like it.

[ManHunter]

Let’s see, Alex worked for Haley Barbour, Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Dole, John Thune and Mitt Romney - all of whom (and many others) are major contributors to the popular dissatisfaction with the GOP. Alex is a “good guy”, but obviously as full of shit as all of those for whom he has worked. Now we’re supposed to take his opinion as objective and accept that he’s no longer representing the collective opinion of the GOPe.

I would submit that, given his behavior since he was elected to the Senate, Ted Cruz is the antithesis of a narcissist. If he were a narcissist, preoccupied with personal power and prestige, wouldn’t he be positioning himself for a leadership post within the party, as opposed to fighting against everything McConnell, Boehner and now Ryan have done and are doing, i.e., being a “pain in the ass”?

Maybe, just maybe, Ted Cruz really is a dyed-in-the-wool constitutional conservative who adheres to some very firm principles and personal beliefs. I happen to think he’s a helluva lot brighter than 99.99999 percent of the people in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. Add to that the fact that he’s a Christian and I have no doubt that the GOP, including the vaunted “consultant” Alex, would perceive him as a narcissist and a monumental pain in the ass for actually standing for something and representing the interests of his constituents and conservatives everywhere. Face it, neither the Democrats nor Republicans have seen anything like him in quite some time...

[loveliberty2]

Isn't it revealing that the political class now identified as the "GOP-E" are, in fact, combining their efforts with the Democrats in denigrating the intelligence of their fellow citizens who now favor either Trump or Cruz--and that is exactly what they're doing when they are either dismissive or disparaging in their criticisms of those two primary candidates!

Is it that they are fearful of what Thomas Jefferson called "the intelligence of the people" to choose their own leaders? By the way, the GOP-E has done a terrible job at picking their idea of a candidate for several election cycles now, and just look at the consequences for those "people" whose judgment the elitists now question indirectly by disparaging the "outsider" choices of "the people" right now!

[Oak Grove]

I am the Chairman of a Republican County Committee in a mid-Atlantic State.

I, and most of the members of the Committee, are solidly for Cruz.

We hold the Washington Republican Establishment in utter contempt for giving Obama and the lobbyists everything they want.

The GOPe will be hearing from us when the Primaries begin.

[bmwcyle]

There is so much to clean out.

[conservativejoy]

God Bless you for your hard work.

GO CRUZ!

[chajin]

THEY all consider themselves to be some kind of Brahmins

I just had an mini-epiphanic experience here...

Hinduism promotes five castes: the top two are the Brahmin, the priestly caste, and the Kshatriya, the warrior caste.

All Democrat leaders see themselves as Brahmin, those who should rule because they are supposed to rule, and whose rulings should never be questioned. They have their Kshatriyas in the MSM and activist groups.

The GOPe likes the Brahmin role as well, but because the GOPe is not conservative in the Reagan sense, it is uncomfortable with its own Kshatriyas, who are conservative; this is why it feels more at home with the Dems than with the base.

The base, therefore, is turning from the Brahmins to the Kshatriyas, those who were willing to be warriors for conservative issues. The first generation Kshatriyas have been either martyred by the opposition (Sarah Palin, Susan O'Donnell, Michele Bachmann, Scott Walker) or co-opted by the Brahmin (Marco Rubio, Kelly Ayotte, Trey Gowdy).

The second generation GOP Kshatriya are learning from the mistakes made by the first, which is what warriors do; this is why the usual battle tactics aren't working against Trump and Cruz. If we're lucky, the MSM and activist groups will not be able to change their tactics in time.

My one concern is that at some point in the middle of primary season there will be three remaining candidates, one Brahmin (probably Rubio) and two Kshatriyas (Trump and Cruz), with the latter splitting the base vote and the former getting the nomination: that is how McCain split Romney and Huckabee in 2008, and Romney split Gingrich and Santorum in 2012.

[libbylu]

Trump is worse than bambi. A whiny-baby bully with no real knowledge of policies or the constitution, whom many believe when he says he will do things that he cannot do. He is the dude in the bar except instant name recognition from his reality show with experience - he wrote the book - on manipulation and intimidation.
And the fans go wild.

[yoe]

It’s a little early, but word on the street is that some event will decide this election....with that in mind is there any one in the campaign who is strong enough to keep America from sinking further into Socialism or into the abyss of terrorism and maintain a strong foreign policy at the same time? Other than Trump, name him/her.

[PTBAA]

Rubio is a “used car salesman”. Ted says what he means and means what he says.

I for one would like a guy who is smarter than me to be President, provide he has a strong Judaeo-Cristian moral compass.

Ted is, perhaps, the only person in America who meets both criteria for me. (How’s that for narcissism!) :o)

[jospehm20]

I do not see the Cruz is is a narcissist thing. Maybe it is just me.

[Isara]

Other than Trump, name him/her.

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[Lurkinanloomin]

Curt Anderson is a Republican political consultant. He worked for Haley Barbour at the RNC. He’s worked for Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Dole, and John Thune. He worked for Mitt Romney in 2008 (snip) He’s a good guy.
*************************************************

Can’t be a good guy when he’s working for The Cheap Labor Express trying to steal our country from us.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Walker belongs in the co-opted group, imho

[RightGuy]

Big Lib -

You’re the drunk in the bar who walks out on the tab and thinks it’s cool to do so, foolhardy tool that you are, without a thought it your soused pea brain.

[duffee]

“Ultimately, they are all Republicans who see Ted Cruz as more often than not opposed to the Republican team.”

The “Republican team” has become the Washington Generals to the democrats Harlem Globe Trotters and their “fans” are calling for a new coach and benching and or releasing most their players and replacing them.

[FerociousRabbit]

is there any one in the campaign who is strong enough to keep America from sinking further into Socialism...

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That leaves Trump out.