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Trump vs. Cruz, pick your poison! This why the GOP's screwed
Salon ^ | March 9, 2016 | by Paul Campos

Posted on 03/09/2016 5:33:19 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

It's now obvious that the only alternative to Trump is Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

To appreciate how extraordinary and disturbing this situation really is, we must take a historical trip back to a simpler, more innocent time, aka last year. Back then, Nate Silver's justly respected website FiveThirtyEight.com was practically certain of two things: The two candidates in the very crowded Republican presidential field who had no shot at the nomination were Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

They had no real chance, the site argued, because Trump and Cruz were each in their own way far too radical candidates for the GOP to actually nominate. Trump's radicalism is too obvious to belabor. The idea that a virulently racist demagogue, proto-fascist authoritarian strongman, and self-parodying cultural caricature left over from the 1980s could win the Republican nomination for president was crazy on its face, as all reasonable people observed last summer.

As for Ted Cruz, his radicalism was of a different sort than Trump's, but in many ways he was an even more extreme character. FiveThirtyEight.com pointed out that Cruz was not merely very conservative, but radically right-wing, to an extent never before seen in modern American presidential elections.

This November Americans will likely face the choice of voting for either, on the one hand, the contemporary equivalent of Eisenhower, and on the other, either a quasi-fascist at the head of a bargain basement cult of personality, or someone who thinks Barry Goldwater was too liberal.

What the very smart people at FiveThirtyEight.com missed, in other words, is that the GOP has been taken over by the most radical forces in an already-radicalized party. No wonder that, in the space of a few months, the almost inconceivable has become the all-but inevitable.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; journalism; media; trump
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

They think that’s bad, it took a blatantly corrupt and crooked politician like Shillary to get people to actually vote for an avowed Socialist in America.


21 posted on 03/09/2016 6:32:50 AM PST by mrsmel (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: manc
hopefully Cruz stops this nonsense

He is trying...

22 posted on 03/09/2016 6:35:43 AM PST by LearnsFromMistakes (Yes, I am happy to see you. But that IS a gun in my pocket.)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

Cruz is Borg


23 posted on 03/09/2016 6:39:52 AM PST by The Toll
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
This guy is an idiot. 538 is basically a statistical oddsmaker. They have had a good run until the last few years when they missed how big the 2014 election would be and missed the elections in places like Britian and Isreal.

Regardless, 538's predictions a year ago had nothing to do with politics like this lefty is saying; they had to do with stats.

24 posted on 03/09/2016 6:41:30 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
 photo bugs-daffy-trump-cruz.gif
25 posted on 03/09/2016 6:46:19 AM PST by rineaux
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Campos is a Boulder commie from way back.

To Campos, Hillary should be a Republican and Bernie is a centrist.


26 posted on 03/09/2016 7:13:22 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Trump and/or Cruz, it's all good)
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To: cowboyway
Trump is not a strict constitutionalist; only Cruz is.

Do strict constitutionalists pull stunts like this?

 photo ted_cruz_voter_violation_zps30wh2khr.jpg

27 posted on 03/09/2016 7:21:58 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common any more.)
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To: manc
I think there is only one choice now to stop the establishment and hopefully Cruz stops this nonsense and steps down to stop the establishment and not help tem like he is .

Nope, not a chance.

 photo woqfb_zpskx4ivwuz.gif

28 posted on 03/09/2016 7:34:37 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common any more.)
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To: Cobra64

Nah Cruz won’t he honestly believes he has a right to the nomination, just another typical elitist, lawyer as a elected official.


29 posted on 03/09/2016 7:36:39 AM PST by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
The whole drama we are witnessing is finally giving lie to the notion that, somehow, the far left (oh, hell - the left, period!) is “mainstream”.

Through decades of indoctrination via the educational system and concurrent drumbeats for the “mainstream” media, both of which were taken over by the Left a long time ago, we indulged ourselves the fiction that welcoming this bastard philosophy into our daily lives was somehow OK.

Because our “betters”, those we looked up to and believed in our formative years, told us it was so.

We've lived under this “progressivism” for the better part of 30, 40, 50 years, and after seeing and experiencing time and again it is not OK, that their “evolution” was in fact devolution, it appears we've finally woken up, gobsmacked by large doses of Stern Reality.

After seeing up close and personal the cult worship of a community organizer is not what we need, and is clearly not going to bring us any closer to it, large swaths of the country are realizing they've been sold a bill of goods, and have now found the man who, unafraid, gives increasing voice to their frustrations that otherwise would not even have been addressed in this election cycle.

In the 47+ years I've followed politics closely, I've never seen this phenomena on the national stage. Not the man, not the eviscerating defensive maneuvers of the Powers That Be, not the fear of the opposition that pretends not to be afraid, nor the textbook whistling-past-the-graveyard responses of the mass media that blandly assure us life goes on, tra-la-la.

An ever-increasing portion of the populace is apparently quite concerned about the where this nation is going, and is more than willing to give this man a shot at fixing what ails us, because if we don't do something substantive at this juncture in history, the price we may have to pay down the road becomes a lot worse, a lot heavier, a lot more expensive.

While Cruz may strike the fear of the Lord in the hearts of those who now rule us (note the choice of words there - rule, not lead), Donald Trump definitely WILL!

There is no historical precedent for us, and hence, no other choice.

WE NEED THIS MAN!

CA....

30 posted on 03/09/2016 7:56:49 AM PST by Chances Are (Seems I've found that silly grin again....)
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To: JAKraig

Well, it IS hard to come out against that which you (not YOU you) so ineffectively stopped; if not ‘half-halfheartedly’ endorsed (if not heartedly, in secret). SEE: PP, exec. amnesty, O’Care....

Unfortunately, *I* don’t see what Cruz could do that he’s (not) been able to do in the Senate already. Trump on the other hand...


31 posted on 03/09/2016 8:02:11 AM PST by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: Cobra64
A strict constitutionalists shouldn't violate federal law.

It threatens "follow up notices" with no doubt information about if the voter voted in the caucus.

It intends to intimidate a person into voting by threatening to disclosure to the neighbors the person's voting record.

What does Ted Cruz expect the person receiving this notice to do to their neighbors for not voting as he demands?

What might happen to the voter if the neighbors are informed the voter has not voted as Ted Cruz expects?

These are direct threats and intimidations in violation of federal election, civil rights, and postal laws.

The following PDF document link outlines the federal election laws and the government's position on such matters for the purposes of prosecution.

Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses Seventh Edition, May 2007

The following sections are from the above document. I've condensed and paraphrased the document to the important words.

42 U.S. Code § 1973gg-10 - Criminal penalties (violation of election law)
A person in any election for Federal office knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote; urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

18 U.S. Code § 594 - Intimidation of voters
Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President or Vice President shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

32 posted on 03/09/2016 8:05:03 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: CodeToad; Cobra64
These are direct threats and intimidations in violation of federal election, civil rights, and postal laws.

So you guys think that a mailer to encourage people to get out the vote is intimidation? What a couple of snowflakes!!! I guess if you guys got one of those in the mail you'd run to your safe place and call 0bama.

BTW, if you consider that intimidation then you must be horrified at some of the replies on FR to people who have stated they plan to sit out the election.

33 posted on 03/09/2016 8:59:20 AM PST by cowboyway (TEOTWAWKI and I feel fine...........)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
They had no real chance, the site argued, because Trump and Cruz were each in their own way far too radical candidates for the GOP to actually nominate. Trump's radicalism is too obvious to belabor. The idea that a virulently racist demagogue, proto-fascist authoritarian strongman, and self-parodying cultural caricature left over from the 1980s could win the Republican nomination for president was crazy on its face, as all reasonable people observed last summer.

Libs heads are exploding as they have to deal with the fact that their wacko bird ideas are the ones outside of the mainstream.

34 posted on 03/09/2016 9:02:05 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: Mouton
My feeling is this plays right into the hands of the establishment. Their goal, deny Trump the nomination. Give it to Cruz then begin a daily bombardment of his being not eligible. Guaranteeing whomever takes over for Hitlery and with whom they can continue to work their magic and screw the public.

Spot on.

35 posted on 03/09/2016 9:02:58 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: cowboyway

The law says otherwise. If this is how Ted Cruz intends to run his administration, screw you and your thugs. Do this to my face and I’d kick your sorry ass back to Canada!

Your, “It’s not intimidation, you’re just being sissies!”, isn’t much of an excuse.


36 posted on 03/09/2016 9:05:53 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Salon readers must be super dumb.


37 posted on 03/09/2016 10:08:06 AM PST by uncitizen (Revenge!)
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To: CodeToad
You posted the law. Now post a list of people on the Cruz campaign who have been arrested for breaking that law.

If this is how Ted Cruz intends to run his administration, screw you and your thugs. Do this to my face and I’d kick your sorry ass back to Canada!

Whooooosshhhh! That's the sound of irony going right over your head...........

38 posted on 03/09/2016 11:36:33 AM PST by cowboyway (TEOTWAWKI and I feel fine...........)
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To: cowboyway

“Now post a list of people on the Cruz campaign who have been arrested for breaking that law.”

About 50% of all murders have no one apprehended for them. I guess according to your logic that means murder is legal.


39 posted on 03/09/2016 2:37:43 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: cowboyway

” irony “

Irony?? I don’t think you know what that word means. There was no irony in your comments. The dumbing down of American continues.


40 posted on 03/09/2016 2:39:16 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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