Posted on 05/16/2015 10:20:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ted Cruz is intellectually arrogant, like Ronald Reagan. The difference is that Reagan masked his arrogance with self-deprecating humor. Sen. Cruz does a Reagan impression that would do a nightclub comedian proud, but he doesn’t have Reagan’s easy and spontaneous humor.
One doesn’t think of Reagan as arrogant, but he was in fact the most arrogant leader we have had since Lincoln. He ignored the whole of the foreign policy establishment in his conviction that America stood to win the Cold War and bring down Communism. Then as now, the foreign policy establishment resembled Jonathan Swift’s scientists on the floating island of Laputa, treading perilously close to the edge with noses in the air.
Sen. Cruz is authentically bright, sufficiently so for the liberal Alan Dershowitz to declare that he was the best student he had ever had at Harvard’s Law School. The conservative legal theorist Robert P. George, who taught Cruz at Princeton, says the same thing. He’s so smart that he is not the least impressed by the conservative foreign policy establishment.
That’s what qualifies Ted Cruz for the presidency. Among the Republican candidates, Cruz is the only one to state plainly that we stayed too long in Iraq and erred in trying to turn it into Switzerland. (I exclude Rand Paul, who is a dumb rube isolationist of the old school and unqualified for national office). Contrast this to Jeb Bush, who thinks we didn’t stay long enough. Cruz still has some things to learn, to be sure. Sending arms to Ukraine, as he proposes, is pointless. Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to keep Ukraine in civil war indefinitely, and will match whatever we send in order to do so. Putin wants revenge for the West’s effort to break Ukraine out of the Russian sphere, and leaving the West with a bloody, bankrupt, ungovernable mess on its doorstep is his best move. As Prof. Angelo Codevilla told a Claremont Institute gathering last October, the way to frustrate Putin is to let him keep the Russian-majority Eastern Ukraine, a rust-bucket and money pit of no value to the West; the Western part of Ukraine would then be Catholic and pro-Western.
Sixteen years of George W. Bush and Barack Obama will leave the next president with a different world: a new Sino-Russian entente directed against theUS, and chaos in most of the Middle East. Both are the consequence of foreign policy utopianism. We destroyed the century-long balance of power in Iraq and Syria by forcing majority rule in Iraq, and stood godfather to a perpetual Sunni-Shi’ite civil war. We tried to flip Ukraine to the West, and Putin allied with China. We have scored nothing but own-goals. We are spending a trillion and a half dollar on the Edsel of the air, the F-35, and have allowed China to narrow the technology gap that once made the United States the dominant superpower.
The foreign policy establishment of both parties agrees that it is America’s mission to remake the world in its own image, although the liberal Wilsonian and the neo-conservative Republican versions of this utopia have minor differences. We need a president arrogant enough to ignore the whole pack of them, just like Reagan did. That requires arrogance more than any other quality.
Things looked bad when Ronald Reagan came into office. Most of the intellectual elite in Europe as well as the US thought that Russia would win the Cold War. Of course, Reagan had one gigantic advantage: the US was the only venue in the world where an entrepreneur could raise money for disruptive new technologies. The talent of the world came to America, while Russia and China remained paralyzed by Communism and Europe remained moribund. That’s not true today: China and other Asian countries are innovating, in some cases faster than we are. If you don’t believe me, visit the Science Park in Shenzhen where Tencent and other Chinese computer firms have facilities. The next president will have a much tougher mission. Sen. Cruz is the only candidate I who is tough, smart and arrogant enough to do the job.
Marco Rubio is a bright and personable young man with an attractive message, but he is callow enough to think that Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer are foreign policy sages. Rubio speaks eloquently of his support for Israel, but a great deal of what he proposes will damage Israeli interests. For the past ten years, Russia has told us that it would hurt us in Iran in retaliation for Western efforts to get control of Ukraine. Russia is threatening to give Iran sophisticated air-defense systems; if it wants to, Russia can create a huge amount of trouble for us in Iran. America’s stupidity in Ukraine turns Israel into collateral damage; every Israeli I know thinks that American policy toward Ukraine is crazy.
Scott Walker is a terrific governor and an attractive candidate, but he has no foreign policy experience–unlike Reagan, who did a weekly foreign policy radio broadcast for a decade, and did his own research. Walker could persuade me that he knows what he’s doing, but I haven’t heard much from him yet. Foreign policy is too important for the next administration for us to elect a president who needs on-the-job training.
Cruz is a smart man—in many ways he has already won. Even if he doesn’t get the nomination he may well secure a slot as VP—He will bring out the problems of the right—and help push the GOP Rightwards. He will someday live in the White House.
To better inform people who wonder about Cruz's executive experience, it's important to emphasize the scope of the job and executive skill required in his position as Solicitor General of Texas. Cruz supervised and led every appeal for the state of Texas in a 4000-person agency with over 700 lawyers.
•Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 - May 2008, Cruz was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the entire country, not to mention the longest tenure in Texas history.
Deep down, all the others just know Ted Cruz is the smartest of the bunch; by a long shot.
You keep hoping that the media and the GOP-E let you have a candidate.. But I expect them to deliver up another liberal, like it did Romney.
I'll work hard, with others like me, to make SURE that Cruz is the last man standing and that I can vote for a conservative.
/johnny
I’m also hoping for a bloodless, gentlemanly duel between Cruz and Walker.
And may the best man win.
"We" didn't do **it. Many Ukrainians want to be free from ***king Tsar Vlad, imagine that.
That seems like a projection that can't imagine anything but a fight.
There doesn't have to be one, and I will be a little surprised if there is one.
/johnny
I look forward to a good campaign. And may the best man win.
This editorial pimped Cruz by specifically trashing Walker, using a ludicrous argument.
A typical Palinista ploy.
I recall the ‘don't blink’ commercial claiming that the shutdown would do that, so I have to be skeptical of your claim here.
Cruz stood alone, because the cowardly RINOs folded. As a Senator, he could not do it alone. As President, he will be able to garner the support because a majority of voters are behind him on this. When a Leader leads, responsible people support his efforts. That is what Cruz is advocating. He wants to lead the conservative movement to restore the country. Without that type of leadership, we’re lost.
You mean like all those times that Walker beat Dems in WI on bill after bill?
I cant recall even one fight that Cruz won in his <2+1/2 years as a Senator.
I want a POTUS who beats libs, not loses to them and blames others for it.
Walker has a Republican majority legislature. Cruz has gotten bills passed even when Harry Reid was in charge.
Walker gives garbled answers on immigration, because he doesn’t have a firm position. He will come down however the polls dictate. Cruz has firmly said, NO Path to Citizenship.
Cruz wins landmark decisions before the Supreme Court, one of them protecting our 2nd Amendment rights. Walker bans guns from state buildings in violation of state law.
Walker bypasses his legislature to implement Obamacare. Cruz fights to repeal it.
Cruz fought for Religious Liberty before the Supreme Court and won. Walker refuses to have a Religious Liberty bill in Wisconsin.
Cruz does not support gay marriage and will advance a bill for an Amendment protecting traditional marriage if the Supreme Court ruling goes against it. Walker legalized gay marriages going back to last June.
Walkers one big claim to fame is fighting unions. That would have been more impressive if he had done it even handedly ,instead of giving unions that contributed to his campaign a pass.
You mean like working with his friend feminazi Kirsten Gillibrand on passing anti-troop legislation?
I don't want a POTUS surrendering to libs, I want them beating libs like Walker did over and over.
That's why the recall election and bogus ethical charges on Walker. Libs see him as a huge thread to their agenda because he beat them over and over,.
I don’t know what anti troop legislation you are talking about. Gillbrand had a bill up at one time that would hold accountable those in the military that committed rape and sexual assault.
I do know that Cruz sponsored a bill to mandate Purple Hearts to the Ft. Hood victims and then kept the pressure on to make sure they got their benefits.
To say that Cruz is “anti troop” is ludicrous.
Do you not think that Libs see Cruz as a threat to their agenda? There is no one in the race that they fear as much as Cruz. If you think Cruz is someone who surrenders to Libs, you have seriously misjudged him. and his record.
That is Walker that they are terrified of.
Walker keeps on beating them which is why the recall effort and phony ethics charges.
In fact I recall on an occasion Senate Dems praised Cruz for helping them get more Obama judges confirmed at the end of last year.
They seem to think that Cruz helps them, like keeping Obamacare failures off the news for two weeks in October 2013.
I get that you like Walker, but your charges against Cruz are just ridiculous. He is the only one in the race with a 100% Conservative Rating on the issues. That’s just a fact. Everyting he is running on is a Conservative policy. Vote for Walker, but stop making false accusations against Cruz that are not supported by facts.
I was going easy on him
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