Posted on 02/11/2016 7:57:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
You can read his extended comments at his website. A Twitter pal tagged me this afternoon after Rush said this and claimed that he’d just endorsed Cruz; Redditors are interpreting it the same way. It does seem to follow logically that the biggest name in conservative talk radio, who’s been preaching Reagan conservatism to millions for 30 years, is dropping an endorsement when he calls a candidate the next best thing to Reagan himself. (Rush quasi-endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2008 primary in a similar way, complimenting him as the only Republican candidate who represented all three legs of the conservative stool.) But I assume Rush himself will deny that tomorrow, partly because he doesn’t formally endorse candidates in primaries and partly because of the noteworthy caveat he drops here:
They were going left as fast as Deion Sanders can backpedal. They were moving left faster than anybody I’ve ever seen go left. And I opened the program yesterday saying, “You will never, ever have to worry about that with Ted Cruz.” And then I expanded on it. And let me say one thing: If conservatism is your bag, if conservatism is the dominating factor in how you vote, there is no other choice for you in this campaign than Ted Cruz, because you are exactly right: This is the closest in our lifetimes we have ever been to Ronald Reagan.
In terms of doctrinaire, understandable, articulated, implementable conservatism, there’s nobody closer. But I think the electorate at this point in time… We don’t know, Brian. If you look at Trump’s coalition, there’s a lot of assumptions being made about it, because he’s running as a Republican and in the Republican primary, and it’s assumed the Republican base is who’s voting here. Therefore, it’s assumed the majority of Trump’s coalition’s conservatives. And there are a lot.
But he’s broad. He’s all over the spectrum.
That’s the last eight months of Trumpmania and talk radio synthesized in one bit of audio. We’ve got the truest conservative candidate since Reagan in the race this year, which, one would think, would merit some sort of enthusiastic endorsement — but Rush puts the brakes on. Cruz is the candidate you should support if “conservatism is your bag.” At best, it’s a qualified endorsement. Hearing that on his show of all places, that you may want to consider this or that if you’re into conservatism, is like hearing someone on the NFL Network say you may want to consider this or that if you’re into football. On the one hand, he’s simply recognizing reality: As he himself recently said, for some people (although not for him) “nationalism and populism have overtaken conservatism in terms of appeal.” True enough. For those people, Trump’s the guy. On the other hand, Cruz is facing a primary in 10 days that may very well decide the fate of the Republican nomination. Given the stakes there, with South Carolina forced to choose between a true-blue disciple of Reagan and a populist who seems capable of smashing the Republican coalition, the vote on February 20th is arguably the most momentous night the conservative movement will have experienced since 1980. If talk radio, which has been preaching conservative populism since the Reagan era, wants to give Cruz a boost over the nationalist Trump, now would seem to be the time. The fact that the quasi-endorsement comes with a qualifier anyway — vote Cruz, if conservatism’s your thing — feels like a bad sign. Just one more reason why I think Trump’s a heavy favorite for the nomination.
Actually, there’s another significant element to this clip. Would Rush praise Cruz quite so effusively, implicitly elevating him over Rubio (and everyone else) in terms of his conservative credentials, if he thought Rubio was still a plausible nominee? Remember, Rush has had warm words for Rubio lately, defending him as a bona fide conservative despite attacks on Rubio from the right that he’s some establishment water carrier. If Rubio had finished a strong second last night, creating a three-way race with Trump and Cruz, Rush might have felt obliged to hedge on Cruz being Reagan’s true heir or even included Rubio in the praise. Some of this, I think, is him bowing to the reality that, at least for the moment, Cruz is the only game in town if you want to stop Trump before he’s unstoppable.
Reagan was a natural leader. He oozed great leader out of every pore of his body.
He had an essence that I have never seen again in any other person.
People comparing Cruz to Reagan are insulting Reagan IMO.
That being said, I don’t hate Ted Cruz, and I don’t care where he was born.
But he bears no similarity to Reagan at all.
Stop cluttering up my pages with this crap.
The scary thing to me when watching the contest so far is that almost as many voters are showing up on the Democrat side as for the Republicans. This is despite the Democrats having a contest between a lying POS old lady who deserves to be behind bars and a text book communist scumbag who is promising policies that will ensure the destruction of the country. They have nothing to be excited about and in general they are too lazy to get off their butts to do anything. But even at this early stage there are almost as many of them who show up as there are Republicans and we have a very animated race taking place.
In New Hampshire which is far more representative of the rest of the country than Iowa, Ted Cruz got approximately 33,000 votes. Approximately 1 out of 10 Republicans voted for him. Bernie Sanders got approximately 152,000 votes nearly 5 times as many as Cruz. More chilling... Bernie Sanders drew far more than 10 times as many people to his events in New Hampshire than Ted Cruz. Obviously many of them were too stoned to make it out to vote, but in the general election someone will give them a ride.
It is just a pipe dream among Ted's hard corps followers that someone with no charisma, no leadership abilities or experience, who most people perceive as a little creepy... even his colleges in the senate, has even the remotest chance of winning in the general election.
Even if Cruz somehow made it to the general, the Democrats will challenge his eligibility and a sympathetic media and court system will find against him. Ted Cruz as president is a pipe dream that has absolutely no chance of ever happening. The only thing that I am sure of in this election is that Ted Cruz will not be our next President.
I noticed there were no low content snarky replies to that post!
You may be right, but - in my humble and hopefully inoffensive opinion (yes, I’m being a bit of a smartass myself now) - Trump’s enormous 57-60% nationwide unfavorable rating will be a major obstacle to overcome - with Congress and the public.
LOL! That was a hoot!
He even tried the head movements.
“The scary thing to me when watching the contest so far is that almost as many voters are showing up on the Democrat side as for the Republicans. “
That’s what I call the parasite vote. There are actually a majority of parasite voters, people who get government money in some way or another. They will naturally be inclined to vote for whoever will continue giving them money. On the other hand the host vote, those of us who are paying for it all, are a minority. That is why the republican candidate has to be one who can pull all the crossover and independent votes possible. Ted can’t do it - Trump can. That fact is proven at every rally Trump has.
Just because you're too dumb to understand what you read, doesn't make it "crap". That is, unless you agree with Trump that we should be friends with and trust the Russians.
Cruz 'gets it' on the complex situation in Syria regarding Russia's broader (expansionist) agenda there, and elsewhere. Trump either doesn't or is in cahoots with Putin on it, the latter being the far more likely.
Rafael Edward (Ted) Cruz is No Constitutional Conservative
“The interviewer then asked him if he would give TPA (fast track) to Obama, and Cruz answers, “I support Fast Track, yes.”
The entire purpose of fast-track is for Congress to surrender its power to the Executive for six years. “
http://www.capitolhilloutsider.com/rafael-edward-ted-cruz-is-no-constitutional-conservative/
So just so we’re clear: you don’t like Trump b/c he once had a meeting in Moscow about possibly building hotels there?
Lot more to it than that, future snake eater...
See my earlier post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3395718/posts?page=88#88
People keep quoting Trump’s unfavorable rating. If it actually has meaning why did Trump get one less delegate in IA while spending 10% of what Cruz did? Why did trump blow out NH??
I have the feeling the unfavorable rating is bunk.
“That is, unless you agree with Trump that we should be friends with and trust the Russians.”
No, you cherry pick crap and use isolated parts by people I never heard of, people who obviously have an anti-Trump agenda.
“friends with and trust the Russians”??
That was President Franklin Roosevelt.
You never heard of Cliff Kincaid from Accuracy In Media? AIM is a well-established conservative website with a long history of exposing liberals and lefties.
...that sounds pretty bogus! I heard first hand that the troops volunteering in Iowa were blown away by the kindness, attention, quiet, well organized campaign team in state, all led by Ted Cruz who in unfailingly kind, attentive and grateful to those that work for and around him.
And yes, EVERY time I have seen and heard him here in TX he has exuded optimism and an upbeat, postive spirit. The leftist slur of unlikable means not willing to bow to their demands!!!
ymmv
I just happened to notice your tag line. It states:
Trump = French Revolution. Cruz = American Revolution. Choose wisely
Interesting statement. You see, without the French behind the American Revolution, the American Revolution would have been lost.
But when it came time for the Americans to help the French with THEIR revolution, guess what America did????
The same she’s been doing ever since. Turning her back on her friends.
So, as I said, that’s a very interesting tag line.
They’re not national elections.
Point one: One less delegate, 6,239 fewer votes than Cruz and a crowded field; only ~8,500 votes separated the top three and only 2,262 votes between Trump and Rubio.
Point two: NH isn’t exactly the most conservative state in the country.
Final point: You may very well be right, but I wouldn’t assume so; Hillary’s 50%-plus unfavorable rating sounds about right, if not too low.
Pretty obvious to me Trump is better set to win the general. Cruz is slowly turning off people that Trump can win. Reagan had blow out elections. He converted people to his supporters.
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams! That was nice of The Donald.
No, just a recount of two insider's perspectives. Scottie's was interesting in that she fought alongside Cruz as she said 'shoulder to shoulder' and now supports Trump.
We've still got a ways to go before Cleveland and the convention. At least the good news is the weak are starting to fall.
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