Donald Trump and Ted Cruz: second coming of Barry Goldwater?

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | December 4, 2015 | Linda Feldmann

[2ndDivisionVet]

Some Republicans worry that if Donald Trump or Ted Cruz wins the nomination, the party will be crushed, as Barry Goldwater was in 1964. But times have changed.

Washington — When Ted Cruz announced for president in March, many a pundit wondered out loud if he could be the next Barry Goldwater.

That is, could the hard-edged conservative Senator Cruz – like the late Senator Goldwater in 1964 – win the Republican presidential nomination, only to get crushed in the general election? With Cruz surging in the polls, second only to Donald Trump in the latest CNN poll of Republican voters, the question has added relevance.

Mr. Trump, too, has invited Goldwater comparisons of late, as he strengthens his lead atop the Republican field. Trump is a less apt analogy; he’s more populist than conservative, and his appeal is based more on his outsize persona rather than ideology. But the basic outline is the same: that the GOP could nominate someone unacceptable to moderates and swing voters, and the party gets crushed not only in the presidential race, but also in a lot of down-ballot races....

[Mollypitcher1]

Exactly my opinion.Trump/Cruz, in that order. Nobody else should be considered.

[Mollypitcher1]

If the GOP nominee is NOT Trump or Cruz, the party will be crushed.

Not necessarily. Hard to believe but polls currently have both Trump and Cruz losing to Hillary. Rubio on the other hand beats Hillary. Not sure why but there you have it.
.......................................................
Don’t know what polls you are reading, but according to the latest, Trump beats Hillery hands down! Rubio is being pushed by the Establishment and their puppet media. No way Rubio beats Hillery. He isn’t even leading in his own state of Florida. We’re dumping him just like he dumped us!

[CPT Clay]

But this time Goldwater wins.
No martyred young prez.

[Jim W N]

It was a stupid thing for Goldwater to use IMO. Gave the Left a lot of ammunition. Trump isn’t that stupid.

[dead]

The GOPe can want who they want. They can give him lots of money and exposure. But in the end, they need actual Republican voters to go into the voting booth and pull a lever for the guy. Nowhere near enough Republicans will ever be convinced to pull the lever for Jeb.

The GOPe finally backed a horse so dead they can't drag him across the finish line with a 60 million dollar backhoe.

Go Cruz!

[Pelham]

well said

[dead]

You perfectly confirmed the author’s point - you love Trump for who he is and how he’ll “stand up”. You said not a word about the ideology he stands for, because nobody’s really sure what Trump’s ideology is. He zings the liberals terrifically though, which is nice.

[wardaddy]

You’re right

I’ve never heard of the fusion party....

Everything else is pretty much speculation.....course we are freepers....it’s what we do..lol

I don’t know if you’ve looked around lately but we’re getting another northern invasion bigger than the Saturn and Nissan one.....how many tower cranes between midtown and the Gulch?

And out where I am ....one day all of Williamson but Fairview choppy terrain will be like Westchester county....neighborhoods and estate farms

My interchange at Goose creek on 65 is being carved up for nearly 2000 new homes and 4 million sq ft of commercial and Maryland Farms style office space

I looked for some cheap property zoned for Page middle and high last night and the cheapest out of over 500 homes in that criteria was 365,000 in College Gove with half acre and 1900 sq ft

So much for that idea

And these are not Midwestern auto worker yellow or blue dog Reagan democrats

These are too cool for school California and northeasterns

Nashville is even more left with now its fourth ever more progressive Yankee mayor elected

Megan is hard left....no accident they just banned the gun shows at our dilapidated fairgrounds

I don’t think it’ll shift the state since nowhere else in the state is getting hit to this degree....maybe Hamilton county

But it moves us closer to a Piedmont or NOVA reality in middle TN possibly one day

It’s a double edged sword....we’re prosperous but getting a wound

I know in 1866 it looked like we lost but now not so much

How will this huge population shift to the old confedracy play out?

The last bastion of the culture war right amongst whites here ....blacks share the views but don’t vote them instead opting for the coin and preference

You lose the south and it’s all over...he’ll lose Texas it’s all over

But in Texas it’s not Yankees as much as Latinos shifting the balance

[frog in a pot]

You perfectly confirmed the author’s point…
I think you missed something. The author states - Trumps...appeal is based more on his outsize persona rather than ideology; strongly implying that his public support is misplaced and is subject to fading. I think she is quite wrong in that specific regard.

As an aside, most are able to discern that any outsized [oversized?] persona is a construct of a more than anxious liberal press hard at work together with the publicized views of almost all of those in the R establishment.

To her/your point, which suggests Trumps public support is misplaced, one only need consider whether an individual with a purported outsized persona can also be one that stands up. If so, the outsized persona is not the operative or determinative element. If one thinks not, then one must mistakenly believe it must be one or the other.

you love Trump for who he is
You imagine too much. I recognize on one hand there may be a risk with his selection as our president; see the tag line I have had for many weeks. However, on the other hand there is an almost certain risk with each of the others except Cruz.

nobody’s really sure what Trump’s ideology is.
That is obvious, only those who are very close are really sure.

What is relevant are his public positions on timely issues thought by many to be somewhat critical to the future of our nation; add to that the fact he appears betrothed to no controlling or highly influential groups or individual(s).

In short, when many of us compare what Trump has done and what he has said in this campaign with that of the other candidates, we conclude he presents more like a effective, proactive (fighting) R than do the others.

[dead]

strongly implying that his public support is misplaced and is subject to fading

You're reading an implication there that I didn't.

His appeal is based mostly on the persona he presents, not on what he believes or what he will do. As to his ideology, I'm not sure he knows what his ideology is.

From what I can see of his career and his statements, I think has big plans for how the Trump Administration can come up with big plans to fix big problems. I happen to think that a majority of our problems stem from big government plans to fix things. He sees different problems than the left does, but he has similar ideas about how to solve them - put the government to work on them.

I'd rather not.