Posted on 12/30/2015 9:28:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Do supporters of the Christian right candidates Ted Cruz has eclipsed hate him so much they'd sabotage their own heroes?
The late stages of the invisible primary would not be complete without reports of intrigue and skullduggery in Iowa, with campaigns forming tactical alliances against common enemies. We have one today from National Review's Tim Alberta and Eliana Johnson, who report that supporters of the last two caucus winners, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, are so bitter at being eclipsed by Ted Cruz that they are conspiring to block the Texan and instead elevate Marco Rubio. There's only one problem with that scenario: Under Republican caucus procedures, there's no way the disgruntled social conservatives can achieve their alleged goal without damaging their own candidates, who will probably drop out if they don't do surprisingly well in Iowa.
The reason Democrats are usually featured in these Iowa intrigue stories is that their caucus procedures encourage tactical alliances via minimum thresholds for "viability" (i.e., the opportunity to elect state convention delegates, which is the only measurement of success), meaning that support can be loaned to favored candidates and denied to disfavored candidates on a precinct-by-precinct basis. Republicans, by contrast, have a simple candidate preference vote at their caucuses, so there's no way for would-be tacticians to loan or borrow support without hurting their own candidate's statewide tally...
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
I don’t buy it. More likely Trump supporters are behind the scenes stirring up trouble.
As for Santorum, he is Catholic and may support the Catholic Rubio. Huckabee is for Huckabee and no one else as far as I can tell. Anyway, this is a nothing someone with ulterior motives is trying to turn into a something.
Could you sell some of what you’re drinking. I mean that is some kind of soda. ROTFL!
You surely don’t think TRUMP is so stupid that he didn’t factor in what PAC corruption can do, when turned loose among the establishment mules running in this race?
Silly boy.
This is the Establishment, you dunce, they have to take out Cruz to even have a prayer at catching TRUMP!
LOL!
If this accurately describes what these folks are up to, they’re pouring money into a rathole. And it will backfire on them bigtime. They’ll ruin Rubio’s already dim prospects and they will dirty up their own names in the process. Stupid stuff, really. And, I honestly doubt that Trump forces have a thing to do with it.
Kabuki theater.
Gawd! There aren’t many of you left, but at least you do appreciate reality, too.
The Cruz crowd has simply run out of gas. They are getting in Nurse Ratchet territory. Every single move is Trump behind every door and grass blade.
And what’s funny is TRUMP doesn’t give a damn what they do to each other, since he has the run of the field. LOL!!
I think the more likely explanation is they want to be the standard-bearer for religious conservatives so they can sell more books and get speaking engagements.
At least that explanation takes into account the concept of self-interest, which is the overriding concern of most politicians on both sides of the aisle.
That makes no sense, because if they take out Cruz it only helps Trump primarily, vice versa.
THE QUESTION the ESTABLISMENT Must ask themselves is: “Who do we want more out of Cruz or Trump? (and how do we make it look like we’re not helping them-thereby creating a “backlash”)?
Huckabee was expressly recruited to suppress Cruz's score among the evangelical voters in Iowa,
He will be rewarded accordingly. So, he's sure enough working the problem for his own account -- be it in terms of money, power or favors.
Like it or not, that issue is pretty much settled.
We have to come to grips with this. There's just not any turning back, short of a Constitutional Amendment.
BS social coservatives are much smarter than you give them credit for. No way they would fall foe Huckabee’s lying by omission. The only loser here is the Huckster who has now lost the last shred of credibility.
Well, you could say that, but they can not get to TRUMP with their establishment mule, until they go through Cruz first.
They are actually working on New Hampshire now, so if Cruz should eek out a win in Iowa, they want to kill off any momentum that could carry into NH.
How IOWA yields “momentum”, I’m sure I don’t know, but oh well.
If TRUMP should win IOWA, no one would care. It is too weird a state and they vote like they were in a monastery.
Then whoever wins, you never see again. lol.
Wait until Trump starts spending money and they start whining about him ‘buying the election’. That will be their mantra in about 4 weeks.
Tell that to Dubya, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.
Before joining New York, Kilgore was principal blogger for the Washington Monthly, a weekly columnist for Talking Points Memo, and Managing Editor for The Democratic Strategist
New York, NY - November 16, 2015 - New York Magazine digital editor Ben Williams announced today that Ed Kilgore (@ed_kilgore) is joining as a political columnist for Daily Intelligencer, the magazine’s news and politics blog. Kilgore will be writing several posts daily, a mix of longer columns and quick responses to the news. He begins his new role November 30.
“Ed is one of the great politics bloggers, able to critique both liberalism and conservatism with acuity and sympathy,” says Williams. “I look forward to reading him on the presidential election, turmoil in Congress, and countless other topics.”
Kilgore joins New York’s formidable political team heading into 2016, including columnist Jonathan Chait; national affairs editor Gabriel Sherman; writers-at-large Frank Rich, Rembert Browne, and Rebecca Traister; contributing editors Marin Cogan, Annie Lowrey, and Jason Zengerle; and Daily Intelligencer writers Jaime Fuller and Margaret Hartmann.
Before joining New York, Kilgore was principal blogger for the Washington Monthly, a weekly columnist for Talking Points Memo, and Managing Editor for The Democratic Strategist. He was previously a regular contributor on politics and elections to The New Republic and Five Thirty Eight and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Earlier in his career, Kilgore was Policy Director for the Democratic Leadership Council; Communications Director for U.S. Senator Sam Nunn; and a speechwriter and federal-state relations liaison for three governors of his home state of Georgia.
Kilgore is the author of Election 2014: Why the Republicans Swept the Midterms, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. He is a graduate of Emory University and the University of Georgia School of Law, and lives on the central coast of California with his wife.
After reading 2 or 3 about this posted subject, you’re the first one that I’ve read understands what’s going on.
;-)
Trump has his own strategy, ground game in Iowa, and is working according to his.own schedule. While he fine tunes his ground game he watches the others and their machinations with some level of amusement.
No he was not and is not about suppressing Cruz. He was doing well in 2008 and just wanted to give it another try.
IOWA didn’t make that election, in my humble opinion, by quite a long shot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.