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.
It seems that in fact, many of us have forgotten what Conservatism is, and I blame the Republican Party itself, for that. The Republican Party as an ‘organization’, a body politic as opposed to what conservatism really is.
A comment made in the article is that Trump is all over the place. That’s not a problem in true conservatism because true conservatism realizes that some “healthy change” is necessary.
Here’s a tidbit about Conservatism:
Historically, the central themes in American conservatism have included respect for American traditions, support of republicanism and the rule of law, Judeo-Christian values, anti-Communism, advocacy of American exceptionalism and a defense of Western civilization from perceived threats posed by moral relativism, multiculturalism, and postmodern ridicule of traditional culture. Liberty is a core value, with a particular emphasis on strengthening the free market, and opposition to high taxes and government or labor union encroachment on the entrepreneur.[1]
Trump does NOT fall outside that paradigm.
And the truth be known, there is even such a thing as Democrats who are also conservative.
And, there are Republicans who can somewhat agree with some Democrat principles such as a certain amount of welfare being made available to those who desperately and earnestly need a helping hand.
Another interesting place to read about Conservatism is here:
http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/
I’m sure there are others if you run a search.
The point is, I keep hearing folks like Cruz put out the blather that Trump isn’t a conservative, when in fact, Cruz himself is a globalist. I’ve come to the conclusion that the man doesn’t even know what a conservative really IS, and I’m not convinced he truly respects law seeing as he was a Canadian citizen about a year and a half ago.
The more he says, the less I like him, because the more he reveals about himself, the less fit he becomes to call himself a conservative, or to be a president; unless of course assisting in tossing America’s sovereignty into the globalist trash heap ...er...giving the authority of our nation to the 10 horned beast...is the new conservationism.
He’s slinging some really dirty stuff out there. The dirtier it is, the more one needs to look at what that dirt is intended to hide.
And as for Rush....I used to enjoy listing to him rally the people out of their complacency, but somewhere along the line it became apparent to me that he lost sight of that goal.
Yeah right. What a load of crap. Conjuring up moral equivalence of all politicians is the only way a conservative can rationalize voting for a pal of Harry, Nancy and Chuck U.
No kidding - Ted’s hooked to the same bank Hillary is. Amazing people fall for that.
Getting a loan is the same thing as a giving money for a phony speech for hundreds of thousands of dollars?
My guy never donated to the Clintons, Pelosi, Schumer, Reid and Emmanuel. Has yours?
“Getting a loan is the same thing as”
A loan at an interest rate way less than you or I could get. A loan like that is a campaign contribution in the same way the speech payments were. No difference.
But this thread is about Ted lying.
Yea like “Donald dum dum”.
I forget who here on FR pegged him with that moniker, but it’s great.
RE: Now tell me what opposition to pursuing Obama’s and or Hillary’s illegal acts Cruz has thrown up to block it.
Let’s see what comes to mind.... (Bear in mind that he was fighting the establishment, so not every single one of his bills went through successfully ).
On foreign policy:
* Despite being embroiled in the heat of the most important weeks of this presidential campaign, Cruz sent word to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he was placing a hold on all State Department nominees until Obama comes clean on the Iran deal.
Consequently, McConnell was obliged to block the unanimous consent request from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to confirm Obama’s choices for ambassadorships to Norway and Sweden.
Cruz has placed a blockade on all State Department nominees and has been enforcing it just the past few months...
* Introduced legislation to halt further transfer or release of Guantanamo Bay prisoners until the Obama Administration can explain how the controversial swap of the Taliban 5 released in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was in the best interest of U.S. national security.
* In April 2014, Iran announced its intent to appoint Hamid Aboutalebi ambassador to the U.N.. Aboutalebi was responsible for the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and was never held accountable. Though other senators wagged their fingers, it was Cruz’s leadership to author a bill to prevent any terrorist from entering the U.S. as an UN ambassador—that gave it a vote.
This bi-partisan legislation passed the House and the Senate unanimously and was signed into law by the president.
On Fiscal Issues:
* Cruz Introduced a resolution requiring Attorney General Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS, arguing that if he did not do so, he should be impeached.
* Cruz made a name for himself as a conservative leader through his efforts to defund Obamacare during his 21-hour-long floor speech, which spanned two days, from September 24-25, 2013.
He was cheered by many FReepers then. Now, I read posts here in FR BLAMING him for his obstinacy.
* He was one of the leaders of the October 2013 government shutdown in his attempt to defund Obamacare.
He was cheered by many FReepers then. Now, I read posts here in FR BLAMING HIM for the shutdown.
My, how things have changed on this site in just a year.
Seriously? You’re looking at Trump’s favorability in New Hampshire? He won New Hampshire decisively; nobody’s arguing that fact, but New Hampshire represents a grand total of 0.4% of the US population, which is meaningless outside the context of the New Hampshire primary and the general election results within the state.
Over 30 polls going back to May 2015 show Trump’s NATIONAL favorability rating between 18 and 39%, with an average favorable rating of 34.4%. Those same polls show an unfavorable range of 53-69%, with an average of 57.8% - the highest since favorability was first followed in 1992 and higher even than Hillary Clinton. That leaves Trump’s net favorability rating at -23.4%, the lowest of any presidential candidate NATIONALLY.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/trump_favorableunfavorable-5493.html#polls
Whether you like it or not, them’s the facts as they stand today and Trump’s doing nothing to enhance his favorability or likeability.
What do you consider leaching off the system? Their anchor babies that we subsidize and then when the parents are legal we subsidize them too? Irregardless, unless the real Conservatives are in control of the House and Senate it’s all just rhetoric, whether it comes from Trump, Cruz or........ well the two of them are the closest thing to Conservatives running. As I have said before I could vote for either one, I’m just tired of the over the top stuff from both sides.
People with great credit ratings can get better terms. Frankly, you are being smarmy, which I expect from people who can’t defend Trump’s progressive history. You are holding up a mirror of perfection to Cruz, and no one expects him to be Jesus Christ, except Trump supporters trying to defend their candidate’s crony, leftist record.
Rush has been drinking too much Kool Aid this week. Ted Cruz is no Ronald Reagan. Nobody is like Reagan.
You are holding up a mirror of perfection to Trump, and no one expects him to be Jesus Christ, except Cruz supporters trying to defend their candidate’s record.
No, but in some ways Cruz will be better, including no amnesty deals.
Questioning Trump’s donations to myriad Marxists most responsible for destroying America is holding up a mirror of perfection to Trump? I don’t think so, Dynoman.
What about his $50K donation to the demonic Rahm Emmanuel? Face it, Donald is not one of us by any stretch.
We are getting reports from many voters that the Cruz people are back to doing very sleazy and dishonest "pushpolls" on me. We are watching!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2016
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