Posted on 03/04/2016 1:33:29 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In theory, Ted Cruz's best states are behind him. But at the Detroit debate, Cruz was clearly the class of the field and it's clear that no one should count him out as the delegate race moves into its next phase.
The delegate math is complicated, but the basic gist goes something like this: Donald Trump has a commanding lead at the moment, but it is not a given that he will reach the 1,237 threshold he needs to clinch a majority. Simply put, Trump has failed to break through the ceiling of support he's held since New Hampshire even as the field has consolidated. While he will be helped by winner-take-all states, where he can sweep full slates of delegates even with his plurality, he may be hurt by closed-primary states, where only Republicans vote. So his path is more challenging than it appears.
Cruz's path is more challenging still. But tonight's strong performance can only help Cruz--both with voters and with the party regulars who would play a big role in deciding the nominee should there be a brokered convention.
What Cruz did at the debate was make three parallel cases:
1.) Trump is a fraud who can't be trusted to keep his word.
2.) Trump is not either conservative or Republican in any meaningful way.
3.) Trump actually is the corruption that he decries.
He advanced these arguments not one at a time, but by interweaving them with specific attacks:
* He positively crushed Trump on the use of foreign labor at Mar-a-Lago. He didn't just bring up the fact that hundreds of applicants applied for these jobs but that Trump prefers to hire foreigners instead, but included Trump's line from the last post-debate interview where he claimed that these were jobs American workers couldn't and wouldn't do.
* He thoroughly prosecuted Trump on the question of Trump's off-the-record New York Times interview, which Trump steadfastly refuses to release.
* At the end of the segment on Trump University--where Trump's best defense was telling voters that they should "wait a few years" to see whether or not he committed fraud, Cruz flashed in with a rapier: "Megyn, let me ask the voters at home, is this the debate you want playing out in the general election?" It was brutal.
* When Trump went to his poll numbers--as he always does--Cruz was ready. Trump touted a terrible CNN poll showing him at 49 percent support. Cruz waited for Trump to double down and defend the integrity of the poll. And then he noted that this same poll also showed Trump losing to Clinton and Cruz beating her.
* When the Second Amendment came up, Trump made a gauzy statement of general support. Cruz then dropped the hammer:
It is easy for political candidates to have rhetoric and say, "I support the Second Amendment." But you cannot say that and at the same time say what Donald just said, which is that on the question of Supreme Court nominees he wants to compromise and reach a middle ground with Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer. That's what he said in the last debate. . . . And I would point out, Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer are both Democrats that Mr. Trump has written checks to repeatedly. Any justice that those two sign off on is going to be a left-wing judicial activist who will undermine religious liberty, and we are one vote away from the Heller decision being overturned, which would effectively erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights. Amendment rights, but when you say you'd compromise with Harry Reid, you put that in jeopardy.
* Cruz's most devastating line was probably this summation:
I understand the folks who are supporting Donald right now. You're angry. You're angry at Washington, and he uses angry rhetoric. But for 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about. And you're not going to stop the corruption in Washington by supporting someone who has supported liberal Democrats for four decades, from Jimmy Carter to John Kerry to Hillary Clinton. You're not going to stop the corruption and the cronyism by supporting someone who has used government power for private gain.
Have a nice day
I thought Rubio was awful for the most part. Hypocritical and trite. He needs to drop out. Him talking about 2/3 of voters rejecting Trump is pretty ridiculous and I would have come back with the fact that, in most polls, 80-85% have rejected Rubio and all he could win was MN and finish third.
That booger though.
Call it what you will: bad luck, natural body function, whatever.
It was fatal. No way Cruz is winning anything after that grotesque display. I’m sorry.
Cruz is our next president, or the republic is lost. The progressives, who are all the other candidates, including trump, will destroy us.
OMG. That is gross. And it’ll define Teddy. Not fair, but it will.
Holy moly. The way he stares us down as he hungrily gobbles it up. Chilling.
The biggest fools of this election cycle are the hysterical, self-righteous ideological purists who can't see beyond their own narrow, one-size fits all dogma.
Conservatism is not only the purview of those who are well-versed in Constitutional principles.
My dad, who passed away in January, was a Conservative through and through, but knew very little about the technical contents or details of the Constitution.
But he darn sure had an inkling of what it means to be FREE, and to be proud of one's country, and to love it, and to work hard, and to be fair.
And there are plenty of black Americans, secular Americans, Hispanic Americans, athiest Americans, libertarian Americans, gay Americans, and so on, who believe, along with us, that the Washington status quo should be obliterated. I think nearlyl all Americans can look at each other and agree that that goal is a necessary starting point.
And Donald Trump is leading that charge, plain and simple. Is he the ideal candidate? No. Neither was George Washington the ideal General. But God used him to do things greater than himself.
After the Washington Establishment is shaken to its very core, only then can we all roll up our sleeves and get about the work of making America great again.
But it's not going to happen from just one narrow segment of the population, and it's not going to be led by candidate who only inspires one narrow segment of the population.
We need a President (not a "great debater") who can lead all the People to a better future.
There's a Revolution brewing which transcends the traditional boundaries of contemporary ideological labels.
Like the original one, it might not be perfect, but it'll be ours.
So the lukewarm Tories, please stand aside, because we have an entrenched, monied, corrupt power structure to bloodlesslly overthrow; a collective of leeches who consider themselves the modern version of royalty, replete with Ministries, Offices, a Divine Right to Order our lives, and a different set of Rules for the Privileged.
Abolish the Washington Cartel, I say, so We the People can "establish" something closer to the American heart...
are the pro Cruz guys like me just afraid to speak out?
if that’s the case, get some b.lls. i’ll sell you them cheap.
yeah, Trump’s most likely gonna win this thing, and then i’ll vote for him. I think he might surprise a lot of naysayers.
but i’m getting warnings and other nonsense from FReepers?
GTH out of here.
Cruz is my man till he isn’t in the race.
Anybody who doesn’t like that can go to where God aint.
The above are indisputable facts but how did The Shouting One respond to the above?:
"Have you been eating blow fish sushi?"---nopardons
Of course, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Trump supporters resort to Trump/liberal tactics in debate.
I wonder if The Shouting One is sporting a Trump do these days?.......................
See Post 31 for full video someone posted on youtube. It moves from upper to lower and swallow.
Howard Dean will be long forgotten soon.
Now that is funny.
Ugggghhhhhh...I needed a trigger warning on that. It’s making me want to heave.
Speaking strictly for myself, my fear is that this 'revolution' will also transcend The Constitution in even more numerous and irreversible ways than the Commie in Chief has already done and, in effect, complete The Kenyan's "fundamental transformation".
You’re a delusional mess. Take a break for your own sanity!
O Canada!
Those 10 painful seconds where everybody knew but Cruz. Ugh.
Then the booger migrates from upper lip to lower lip. Brutal.
Then the horrible moment where he sucks it back into his mouth! Oh my.
The booger emerges, then it retreats. Back into the hole from whence it came.
A disgusting, very gross sight. Witnessed by the entire world.
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