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GOP establishment creeps toward Cruz
POLITICO ^ | March 9, 2016 | KATIE GLUECK

Posted on 03/09/2016 1:40:01 AM PST by maggief

Republican elites are begrudgingly embracing Ted Cruz—and hanging Marco Rubio out to dry.

Panicked at Donald Trump’s dominance and dismayed by Rubio’s continued inability to do anything about it, some top Republican power brokers are turning to Cruz, putting aside their policy and personal misgivings to back the candidate they now openly label as their best hope to stop Trump’s GOP takeover.

“He seems to be the only guy who’s got some momentum, and is probably the best situated if there is anybody out there to beat Trump,” said Austin Barbour, a prominent Mississippi-based GOP operative. “That’s why there are many people like me—Ted Cruz wouldn’t have been our first choice, but as we go through the process, we’re reevaluating our vote, and he seems to be the guy at the top of the list.”

“Most people now think Ted’s the best vehicle to defeat Trump,” said Charles C. Foster, a Bush family loyalist from Houston who served on Jeb Bush’s national finance team. “I would say some are enthusiastic for Ted, some are just saying, ‘OK, Ted’s not my first choice, but anyone that can beat Trump, I’ll support.’”

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: creeps4cruz; cruz; establishmentcreeps
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No, you will be in for the really big surprise.


141 posted on 03/09/2016 5:34:24 AM PST by dforest
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To: maggief

This would be a much different contest if this was a two man race.

Will Trump pay Rubio and Kasich to stick around till the end of March, guaranteeing him the nomination?

Or will they drop out and endorse the candidate with the best odds of beating Trump & Hillary?


142 posted on 03/09/2016 5:36:59 AM PST by proudpapa (Cruz or Lose!)
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To: Happy Rain

I guess all you have left in your “Happy Rain toolbox” are personal insults.

Cruz is going to lose. get over it.


143 posted on 03/09/2016 5:37:18 AM PST by dforest
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March

Gateway ... that’s funny. Good one! :-)

The thing about the GOPe on this is that they don’t like either Trump or Cruz. They’re stuck. They don’t know what to do. Rubio is their last hope ... but he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.


144 posted on 03/09/2016 6:05:11 AM PST by al_c (Obama's standing in the world has fallen so much that Kenya now claims he was born in America.)
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To: stevem; Arthur Wildfire! March
The Republican establishment's endorsement is positively radioactive. Looks like Trump for sure now.

Two weeks ago the GOPe was lining up for Trump and you people were celebrating saying that it meant he could "do deals" with the left. Pray tell, why the "sudden" inconsistency?

Clinical paranoia, evoked by a sedulously dishonest demagogue out of a desperate populace.

Don't you know a kiss of death when you see one? On the other hand, wouldn't you expect an eventual nominee to try to heal the rifts in the Republican Party? So rather than building your reality on paranoid inferences (which is what Trump's supporters do), why don't you try finding out what IS going on? Somebody ask the Cruz campaign why they did this and see what kind of answer you get?

145 posted on 03/09/2016 6:12:08 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: jpsb
There are a number of posters here, most good conservatives that sadly refuse to open their eye when it comes to Ted Cruz and the lies he tells.

There are desperate and paranoid posters here who build their false reality on strained inferences.

146 posted on 03/09/2016 6:13:52 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: maggief

Limps toward him is more like it.


147 posted on 03/09/2016 6:17:11 AM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: Carry_Okie
To have the courage to watch this?

How about Ted cheer leading TPA/TPP

Do you really think the Havard educated constitution lawyer did not know he had Canadain birthright citizenship as he now claims? Really?

How about when he lied to the people of Texas when he said "Hedi and I have liquidated all of our assets to fund my campaign".

I could go on and on. Yeah we really need another foriegn born Harvard law school grade jounor senator as POTUS. /s

148 posted on 03/09/2016 6:56:37 AM PST by jpsb (Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto von Bismark)
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To: maggief

The title “GOP establishment creeps toward Cruz” makes the establishment sound creepy. Good writing!

I hope the Cruz campaign is adept enough to dodge any open endorsements from the establishment. The last thing he needs is Romney, McCain, and Mitch McConnell lining up behind him.

I would like to see the establishment pressure Rubio and Kasich to get out though. If it’s down to Cruz/Trump, there is no bad choice. That’s a guarantee of a decent selection for our nominee. Cruz is almost certainly more conservative than Trump. Trump is better able to kick down the rotten woodwork that needs to be removed (although I’m not as confident that’s what he would do as I am that Cruz would govern as a constitutional conservative).


149 posted on 03/09/2016 7:04:43 AM PST by Pollster1 ("A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless." - Scalia)
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March; onyx

“Actually, the establishment hates Cruz too. They support him now, and if he wins the primary, the donor class leaves him out to dry. No funding. Not to mention they’ve already undermined his eligibility claim.

That’s how they think. They’re in a better position to sabotage Cruz than Trump.”

Deadly accurate!


150 posted on 03/09/2016 7:45:29 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: maggief
There's one GOPe strategy that might help Cruz beat Trump without a brokered convention. The GOPe has to go all in for Cruz and convince Kasich and/or Rubio to drop out and endorse Cruz ASAP before next Tuesday.

It's a long shot but it might work. The wait and see who emerges as the alternative to Trump strategy can't work, especially now that the alternative to Trump is obvious.

Memo to GOPe: It's Cruz or Trump. Deal with it.

151 posted on 03/09/2016 8:45:03 AM PST by MaxFlint
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
If Cruz wins the nomination, the donor class won’t give him a thin dime.

I don't buy that. The GOPe is vast and complicated. That's why their stop Trump efforts have fallen short. Some parts of the GOPe can live with Cruz.

More important, only a fraction of the GOPe can live with Hillary. The neocons and log cabin social liberals (about 2% of the GOP base) will break for Clinton. Everyone else, the libertarians, the fiscal conservatives, the gun rights people and the Chamber of Commerce will stick with Ted.

But for the lion's share of the GOPe to rally to him Cruz has to win the nomination. Which he can't without a miracle or two.

152 posted on 03/09/2016 9:00:59 AM PST by MaxFlint
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To: jpsb
Do you really think the Havard educated constitution lawyer did not know he had Canadain birthright citizenship as he now claims? Really?

By the current definitions in American law, Ted Cruz was born an American citizen. Get over it.

How about when he lied to the people of Texas when he said "Hedi and I have liquidated all of our assets to fund my campaign".

"Liquidate" means to make liquid, which he did. By obtaining a secured loan, those fixed assets were rendered into cash without transfer of title. That fits under the definition of "liquidate." It does not mean "sell off." He then raised the funds and paid the loan. How does that compare to the creditors Trump has screwed?

I could go on and on. Yeah we really need another foriegn born Harvard law school grade jounor senator as POTUS. /s

As opposed to a con artist, serial philanderer, constant liar, and former Democrat who only recently has nominally changed substantive policies without offering details and left weasel room in his promises to screw you?

BTW, if you are PO'd at elitists, Trump's education is more to that vein than Cruz'. In his grade school, he went to a swank private school with his daddy on the board of directors. He was such a problem that he was sent to New York Military Academy but never enlisted and pulled a bubba avoiding the draft. Then he graduated from Wharton School of Business, which is every bit as elitist as Harvard.

If you had spent 1/10 of the time investigating Trump as you have trading in inferences about Cruz, you'd gag. Worse, if you'd really investigated his policies and (worse) the means he hasn't proposed to implement them, you'd know you were being played.

153 posted on 03/09/2016 9:21:47 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie
Like I said, you're a Cruz cool aid drinker. While Cruz was born a citizen he was not born a natural born citizen under original intent. No way the founder would have considered the son of a Cuban born in Canada a natural born citizen of the USA.

Liquidate does not mean to to make liquid it means to sell assets in order to pay off debt. I see you like Cruz enjoy miss using our language to advance you agenda. How Clinsonian of you.

154 posted on 03/09/2016 9:39:36 AM PST by jpsb (Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto von Bismark)
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To: TheConservativeBanker

‘We do not do ourselves a favor by being blind to the flaws of the candidates we support ...’

We’ve had over half a year to vet the candidates.


155 posted on 03/09/2016 3:30:22 PM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Carry_Okie

‘Two weeks ago the GOPe was lining up for Trump and you people were celebrating saying that it meant he could “do deals” with the left. Pray tell, why the “sudden” inconsistency?’

Campaign donations. Not that Cruz would ever be anyone’s lap dog IMHO. But while Trump pays the racketeers, getting money directly from them is different. So the hard core Cruz bashers have a cassus belli.

I frequently pointed out that Cruz was their LAST choice. That speaks well of him, IMHO. My main point is that Trump shakes out as the most anti-establishment, although only by a hair.


156 posted on 03/09/2016 3:35:32 PM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Carry_Okie

I’m not even sure who “you people” are. I s’pose I could be one of them or us or some such. We may never know.


157 posted on 03/09/2016 3:53:20 PM PST by stevem
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March; Carry_Okie

Sorry Arthur. Cruz runs a sleazy campaign. Just ask Ben Carson.


158 posted on 03/09/2016 5:48:18 PM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Elmer Cruz is every bit that demagogue.


159 posted on 03/09/2016 6:11:21 PM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine.)
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To: sauropod
Cruz runs a sleazy campaign. Just ask Ben Carson.

Cruz fired the guy who did that.

160 posted on 03/09/2016 6:21:59 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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