Posted on 05/20/2016 6:30:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Ted Cruz and his most determined supporters are likely still licking their wounds and mending their broken hearts. Such a sudden end to his primary campaign for president has left marks that will heal but slowly.
Soon, though, Cruz will see that he has come through the hurricane of his first presidential campaign with his prospects enhanced, rather than retarded. We hope that knowledge gives him confidence and patience to reconsider his approach to the job he is returning to, as the junior senator from Texas. That’s the work, after all, that Texas voters singled him out for in 2012.
We’d like to recommend two courses of action as Cruz considers his immediate future, and begins to mull whether — or how soon — he’ll try again to become president.
We don’t offer these suggestions because we, too, mourn his defeat. He was not our candidate. But he is our senator, and we believe he’d gain much if he learned to be a good one. We think these suggestions will make him a stronger, more capable public servant and more attractive candidate no matter how high his ambitions soar.
First, become the second senator Texas needs. Cruz did not arrive in the Senate in 2013 with the goal of being a good senator. His goal, as his fellow Texan Sen. John Cornyn remarked recently, was to run for president, a goal he took further than nearly anyone anticipated. At 45, he may well run again someday. But for now, his focus and his efforts belong to the Senate.
Instead of using his high office as a perch and a platform, he should use it as a tool to pass good bills that help Texans and to block bad ones.
He has a model nearby. Sen. John Cornyn can be as partisan as the next senator, and often his job as deputy leader requires it. But along the way he has steadfastly worked to advance legislation — sometimes compromising and sometimes not — aimed at making life better for people who count on him to help. From criminal justice reform, to advancing the nomination of our ambassador to Mexico, to the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking Act, Cornyn has worked hard at being a good legislator.
Cruz should pick his own priorities and then go to work building bipartisan relationships on Capitol Hill so he can pass his own laws. Such a path will require humility. Like it or not, success as a senator will require allies.
Come 2018, he may just be able to offer Texas voters something he’s not yet been able to — a record of achievement, measured in what he has done for Texas and not just what he has done for his ambition.
Secondly, we recognize that Cruz’s ambitions will continue to stretch beyond the Senate. And we suspect he’ll continue to be voice of protest against the White House, no matter who wins November. But we urge him to broaden his appeal beyond the evangelical voters he initially promised would make him president. If he cannot, his path to the White House will never get any easier than it was in 2016. And his influence on history will remain small.
This will require profound introspection. Cruz and his allies may be tempted to see in his near-miss reasons aplenty to continue again in the same vein. But for Donald Trump, they will counsel, this path might have succeeded!
That’s a seductive falsehood. Trump did him favors this time around, clearing out all the better-known GOP rivals early on. Cruz shrewdly stayed on the sidelines, waiting for Trump to implode. That never happened, and by the time he engaged with Trump, it was too late. Trump was too strong and Cruz, having built no bridges beyond the evangelical camp, found himself stranded on his own island.
By broadening his base, and developing a track record in the senate, Cruz can grow in stature between now and the next time he runs for president. But whether he ever wins that higher office, he owes it to Texas to do a better job in the office he already holds.
That is not correct, by the way. Cruz kept talking about Trump's "ceiling", when it was Cruz who had the ceiling all along.
Cruz' ceiling is 33%, the number that will ever tolerate a purely evangelical candidate, much less a pentecostal one, in this country. I say that as a person who is both, so I'm not a sniper about it. It's just that I have realized that, since we've never had an evangelical president yet (much less a pentecostal), in the present socio-political-cultural context, the likelihood is becoming even less, not more, going forward.
Cruz is a fraud in every meaning of the term. He is in no way eligible nor qualified to be president. He is a GLOBALIST
UNMASKED. What is wrong with you people?
Why is Cruz not suing The Enquirer for their erroneous linking of his dad to Oswald? Are we to think, therefore, it is not erroneous?
If it were my dad, I would be furious and seek legal action.
Somehow I doubt he will take the advice
My prediction
A very glacial marriage if it survives at all
Ummmmmm - Molly.
I'm a more anti-Cruzer militant than you. Check my history.
And especially a beach IN MEXICO! No beaches anywhere in the US ???????????????? IN MEXiCo StickS in my craw!
Good. I was waiting to see if his eligibility would be brought up, and if not, I was going to. Cruz needs to determine what his citizenship status is, and where his citizenship status is.
Not speaking to you directly, K. However, I don’t think you could possibly be more anti-Cruzer than me. Check my history.
“You people” refers to all the people posting on this thread about how good Cruz will be in the future. He will never be eligible!
Hope that clarifies.
All I hear from Cruz and his supporters is gloom, doom, and despair. Why not look at the glass half full rather than half empty and help fill the glass?
IMHO Ted just got wound too tight during the election process. He needs to take some time off, unwind and let his vision clear. I honestly think he was on the verge of going off the deep end.
So you think Ted is a “moderate”? Nobody else does.
Have you finished licking your wounds yet?
There’s a seat waiting for you on the Trump train.....
Actually, I'm aware of your history as an anti-Cruzer.
I'm definitely MORE anti-Cruzer than you. Not by much. :)
Maybe Cruz will grow up.
Nobody? You think Cruz isn’t a moderate compared to Trump?
As a former resident of the Great State of Wisconsin, I had a lot of respect for Walker until he ran for Pres. I really did not like his campaign suspension speech where he took a number of swipes at Trump...Walker was a good governor, but during the campaign, news of his association with and support from the cheap labor express/crony chamber of commerce bunch tainted him to many of us who are concerned about immigration and declining wages.
I remember right after Walker’s suspension speech Cruz asked his supporters to send money to Scott Walker to retire his campaign debt...Guess not too many followed up...
I wouldn’t bet on it. His ego is all he has between the ears. Cruz voted against American Sovereignty. There is no comeback from there IMO.
:>)
I don't think a decade or two in the Senate will make Cruz better as a candidate. More likely it will just leave him further out of touch with your average citizen. Cruz tried to win the game by gaming rather than by standing for something. Yes, he claimed to be the world's best "conservative." But what does it mean for someone to be so doctrinaire? Bill Cristal considers himself a world class conservative and yet he's willing to deny millions of voters the right to choose their candidate.
I used to like Cruz but I prefer Trump partly because he doesn't crave the power. He literally would rather be doing something else but can't stand to see the country run into the ground by nincompoops. The people who say Trump's not qualified are nuts. First time out of the box he smoked six governors and 5 senators. People say he's not conservative but I disagree. It's important to note that pure doctrinaire conservatism doesn't necessarily appeal to a majority of Americans. Someone who's pragmatic and has common sense is more important than slavish allegiance to a political creed. Trump can appeal to a cross section of voters large enough to win.
I'm confident Trump will make an awesome president because he's a natural leader and fearless. Finally we all have to realize the win isn't yet in the bag. There's so much at stake hidden players who stand to lose their golden goose aren't going to surrender easily. Americans need to stay sharp and make sure our candidate takes it into the end-zone because you can be sure there are forces out there who will stop at nothing to defeat him and so between now and November is the most dangerous time for our country. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's a lot of work to do.
Cruz is a pathological liar who repeats leftist talking points then claims to be the "true conservative" as he gets rejected by the voters.
Will Ted even get elected again?
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