Posted on 01/29/2016 4:40:45 AM PST by Helicondelta
Without Donald Trump on stage, Ted Cruz found himself exposed Thursday night at the seventh GOP debate, as his rivals and the moderators pummeled the Texas senator with questions about his temperament and credentials.
Rand Paul called him inauthentic. Marco Rubio said his campaign is built on lies. Chris Christie cast him as part of a dysfunctional Washington. Even the moderators wanted to know: Why do his fellow Senators despise him?
It may prove to be a bankshot victory for Trump, who lost out on national exposure at the debate but gained by rarely being a topic of discussion, as his primary rival in Iowa struggled to contend with the assault. Without the bombastic front-runner for the GOP nomination on hand to take most of the attacks, that role fell to Cruz.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Trump gets the free publicity.
Cruz gets the punches.
Rubio gets the boost.
Amazing.
Everyone is trying to figure Trump out. Guess what, Folks? It’s all right there in black and white in The ARt of the Deal. I mean, how to handle the media...how to get what you want...how being outrageous works...etc. It’s all right there... and I can assure you it’s been translated into Chinese, ARabic, Russian etc. and these guys are pouring over it and the other books like fly on fly paper.
And I didn’t watch the farce they call a debate! The media is all over themselves for the sharades.
A fellow Freeper speculated 5 months ago that Trump may only be in the race to play the “Rodeo Clown” and protect true Conservatives from the media.
Well, Trump did and continues to absorb the most abuse from the MSM and demented bloggers who post on sites like hufferspost
that was the plan.
in the end to get rid of cruz, have it be trump vs. rubio.
if trump wnis, do or say ANYTHING to destroy him, dont leave felonies off the list.
if hillary wins, everyone is happy as the gravy train comes in.
the presstitute with the hot pictures who old huckabee than women at FOX have premarital sex with birth control, boss men around and curse a lot has served her master well.
ANYONE who watches fox is any ally of the left and the rinos.
smart move by trump.
ted had less to lose since he was way behind in second, but if you discount the RINOs and oligarchy’s treachery, one does so at their own risk.
Yeah, the little I saw last night...I liked Rubio. Wonder what Trump thinks of him? Trump/Rubio? There’s the latino vote we’ve always wanted. OUtsider plus and Insider....
Rubio is to young for the big job, but he’s talented, and would learn alot under Trump’s apprenticeship program.
Cruz is out...way out. I see him coming in behind Carson in Iowa.
I would be surprised if Trump does well in Iowa as everyone is bringing out their best people to get the vote.
Funny thing again... Trump is the front runner and NOT...yes NOT expected to win IOWA....Cruz is!!!!!!!! hahshahahahhhahaha
Huckabee and Santorum looked like true leaders when Trump shared the stage with them.
I feel the same as you do about Rubio. Trump/Rubio together present a pretty full resume. On Trump’s stage, Huckabee and Santorum looked like leaders. The rest of them don’t seem quite real.
Rubio is the only candidate that has not taken damage from Trump, and hasn’t gone after him.
Cruz’s support consists partially of people that have abandoned other “not Trump” candidates and defaulted to him. They are always looking for a better deal if he comes around.
Rubio is seen as the big winner. The new fresh face, and more likeable than Cruz.
So I’m predicting he will be the surprise 2nd place in Iowa, peeling off Cruz’s soft support.
You had better hope your wrong, because if Rubio get ANY traction the entire GOPe establishment will shift to him in mass and Trump could easily lose.
“....like a fly on flypaper.”
“Will Varner” (Orson Welles) in “The Long Hot Summer.”
I absolutely do not mean to be confrontational, but this has been a question in the back of my mind. Just wondering about Rubio’s status with regard to natural born citizen: as I understand it, he was born on US soil to two non-US citizen parents. I know this cannot be settle by angry posts back and forth ... just wondering if this could become an issue should he be on the ticket.
Cruz is still my Number 2 choice. But this morning, Trump, the absent debater is leading Cruz, in the Drudge poll, approx. 4 to one. Trump in the 60s% and Cruz in the mid-teens%.
(And the Drudge poll is set up so that each voting device gets counted only once. If you and your wife bothe wish to vote, you’ll have to do it on separate devices.)
All day Thursday I wondered if Trump was doing the right thing. By halfway through the evening, flipping between the debate on Fox and The Trump Vets Benefit on C-SPAN, there was no doubt in my mind, that once again, Trump had lapped the field and sent all the rest, with engines knocking, pinging and missing on multiple cylinders, into the pits.
Well, if Cruz supporters thought that Cruz could cruise into the nomination once they got Trump out of the way, hopefully they learned something last night.
Cruz is DESPISED by the media and the GOPe as much as Trump, and is much less able to handle them, as was shown last night as he fumbled around for a response to the video clips from 2013.
As to Trump, he actually DOES get to control things if he’s the nominee and he will simply set terms that are fair, so he doesn’t end up being ambushed by the moderators or anyone else during his debates. And if the Dems and the media don’t like it, he doesn’t debate - it’s THAT SIMPLE.
My conservative Clinton hating neighbor has been put off by Trump since the beginning. He will watch a debate and sometimes say that Rubio or Carly did well or had some great points...sometimes Cruz... he just kind of shifted from candidate to candidate but he would never give Trump many positive comments.
Last night it dawned on me that he has been trained by the system. If he sees anyone breaking the rules, it bothers him. He has been taught that candidates who don’t follow the rules or perform perfectly in a debate are not going to win and are not president material.
The debate performances are his main litmus test and anyone who deviates from the normal process must scare him.
I told him a while back that I thought the debates were a bunch of BS. They are not a true debate, its a group interview.
They are designed so the media can attack our candidates with falsehoods and now we can see that the GOP uses them to exert control over who gets targeted.
Trump is showing everyone that it doesn’t have to be this way anymore!!
I agree with you. It's a question that has to be answered. Rubio's and Cruz's situations are not the same, and they are not the same as Obama's. Back when Obama was first elected, it shocked me that there was no mechanism to determine eligibility. But for his second term?....amazing there's still no clear definition.
A clear definition of Natural Born Citizen is necessary. If there isn't one, at the rate we're going, anyone born anywhere in the world with any claim to apply for US citizenship will be eligible. That is not, for sure, what the forfathers wanted!
You're not being confrontational. You're bringing up a legitimate concern in a rational way.
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