“Nor was Cruz’s stump piece the equal of Trump’s. Cruz delivered a stream of applause lines. Trump ad-libs about the news of the day. He is interesting and lively and gets far more media coverage as a result. “Trump talks about things that matter to people,” a Republican consultant says. Cruz stressed ideology.” - Fred Barnes
I suspect the status quo pundits are half-relieved, because Cruz was not popular with them either. I would expect them to be critical of Cruz, and might hope that people temper their distrust of the status quo, as it criticizes Cruz, and that change of heart (on the part of the readers) can be taken advantage of as the status quo now aims its guns at Trump.
Long way of saying I am not surprised at criticism of Cruz. NRO will likely criticize him too.
Cruz put together what could have been a successful rope-a-dope campaign against Jeb! and the rest of the GOPe, which would have been the most logical campaign to prepare for.
OTOH, Trump is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon that no one could have prepared for. it may well be that the most surprised person about his success in this campaign happens to be The Donald himself, though he would never admit it—only people like Schumer publicly crow when they do better than they thought they would.
First OFF................
.......Ya start by being a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN.
That would have helped a lot.
And it worked...imagine that.
"Landslide". "Stunning." "Shocking". Overused, inflated online words losing meaning these days.
Barnes is writing in big politcal brush strokes. In a 24/7 blogosphere world, it’s the moment after moment video, reporting that makes the big difference.
When Cruz declared as a candidate, he was awesome. On paper. Then as he started to campaign there were things that bothered me. The “we lost our health insurance due to Obamacare” (ooops...we are good...wife has coverage thru her work at Goldman Sachs. WHAT?
Then I learned more. Wife, Heidi Cruz, was promoted AFTER he was elected Senator. And along the way they took a million (totally forgettable “loan” from GS—around the time she was on the Committee for Foreign Relations and they were modeling a North American Union)...the soccer balls and teddy bears at the boarder w/Beck...but I still wanted to believe. Until...
TPP, The Corker Bill, the H1B Visa bills, on and on and on...and I really started under standing Trump. In plain language and what he wants to do. That Trump want a politician, he didn’t need to take the risk, spend his money and time, but there he was saying what needed to be said.
My last straw and absolute turn against Cruz (I don’t think I could ever vote for him in the future either) was the night of the mini riot in Chicago. PAID anarchists and stupid college “kids”’shut down the 1st Amendment. Cruz was giving a campaign speech at a Lincoln Day Dinner, the media caught him in the lobby for an impromptu press conference.
Cruz, who memorized the Comstitution in his teens, said about 8 words defending 1A...then, unscripted and “real” went into about a five minute “preacher mode” smack down of Trump and how HE caused the riots with his violent rhetoric. His demeanor before the cameras was giddy (I posted that word here on FR over and over that night). Giddy, jolly, thrilled that Trump had been shut down. Stopped. What 1A? Who cares “I’m THE candidate now!”
And I was done with Cruz. It’s whats done when NOT planned, scripted or rehearsed. There no handlers there to say “tone it down Ted” so the REAL man appeared.
No thanks.
It is a good article. Leaves out what I think is Ted’s worst problem (his personality). Perhaps Inside the Beltway types can’t see his problem since it may be common there, but he reminds me of sick friends and relatives I have.
And I agree with Barnes that Cruz didn't sell himself well, the points Americans care most about (jobs and border security) he clearly couldn't compete with Trump.
As for Cruz's mistakes, one of them has got to be for voters to see him as 'just another typical politician' with process maneuvering, resulted in (Barnes' last paragraph) -
"By the way, Cruz's worst fear was realized in Indiana. He lost the bloc of "very" and "somewhat" conservative voters to Trump."
We can only hope Trump turns out to be so strong and advocate of RKBA as Cruz was. One of only 4 Senators rated “A+” by Gunowners of America.
It’s really a moot point now but here it is:
Solid South (not)
Glenn Beck (insane)
Colorado and the “process” war
Carly VP charade.
He is extremely unlikable.
Cruz demonstrated he was the consummate politician - his delegate strategy - in a time when the nation is fed up with politicians. After 8 years of a Øbama following 6 years of lame duck Bush, America was looking for a leader. That was not Ted Cruz.
Cozying up to the Bushes said a lot about defeated.
His phony drama theatrical delivery and whinny nasally voice always bothered me but nail in coffin, for me, was when his father started calling him ordained by God.
I would add that Trump succeeded in convincing people that he took the mantle of ‘anti-establishment’ from Cruz, and miraculously somehow managed to paint Cruz as a GOPe. That was quite an accomplishment. Also, Trump is a counterpuncher - he went after any serious contender and attacked their strengths. Bush championed his steadiness and quietness and Trump turned it into ‘low energy’. Rubio championed his underdog role and ‘a lot of fight in a small dog’, and Trump negated it with ‘Little Marko’. Cruz championed his honesty and integrity, and Constitutional Strength - Trump turned him into ‘Lyin Ted’ and part of the Establishment. It stuck and killed his campaign of momentum. None of these candidates had ever been exposed like this. The next fight, however, will be different. What could Trump ever say about Hillary Clinton that has not already been said? On the other hand, Trump cringed at the least amount of criticism from his opponents, even to the point of boycotting debates when he was asked tough questions. I get a sense that he is the candidate that the Democrats have been praying for. They have a ton of unexposed dirt that they will drop on him like a nuclear weapon. He has been covered by a compliant media so far, but only because he was good for their ratings and profit. Now the game will change to attack, because that will be even better for their ratings...In sailor terms, we have a red sky on the horizon this morning...
I would add that Trump succeeded in convincing people that he took the mantle of ‘anti-establishment’ from Cruz, and miraculously somehow managed to paint Cruz as a GOPe. That was quite an accomplishment. Also, Trump is a counterpuncher - he went after any serious contender and attacked their strengths. Bush championed his steadiness and quietness and Trump turned it into ‘low energy’. Rubio championed his underdog role and ‘a lot of fight in a small dog’, and Trump negated it with ‘Little Marko’. Cruz championed his honesty and integrity, and Constitutional Strength - Trump turned him into ‘Lyin Ted’ and part of the Establishment. It stuck and killed his campaign of momentum. None of these candidates had ever been exposed like this. The next fight, however, will be different. What could Trump ever say about Hillary Clinton that has not already been said? On the other hand, Trump cringed at the least amount of criticism from his opponents, even to the point of boycotting debates when he was asked tough questions. I get a sense that he is the candidate that the Democrats have been praying for. They have a ton of unexposed dirt that they will drop on him like a nuclear weapon. He has been covered by a compliant media so far, but only because he was good for their ratings and profit. Now the game will change to attack, because that will be even better for their ratings...In sailor terms, we have a red sky on the horizon this morning...
What went wrong with lyn’ted? He exists. Please...stay home, go away.