Team Jeb Bush Prepares to Hand Ted Cruz the Republican Nomination

Red State ^ | November 10, 2015 | Eric Erickson

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"As revenge for their 'boy' becoming his own man, Mike Murphy intends to destroy Sen. Marco Rubio."

Here is something you need to know to this morning - Jeb Bush's Super PAC ads have been terrible. They have not helped Jeb Bush at all. In fact, more Republican primary voters say they would never vote for Jeb Bush than say the same about Donald Trump.

Here is something else you should know - Team Bush premised his strategy on keeping Sen. Marco Rubio out of the race. Bush announced early that he intended to run, then stockpiled his Super PAC before having to cut off ties when formally announced, then saw Sen. Marco Rubio still get in. They are bitterly angry at Sen. Marco Rubio because they see his as a young, upstart Hispanic boy ungrateful to his patrician masters and they want to payback their "boy."

For many of Mr. Bush's longest-serving advisers, Mr. Rubio's run is a personal betrayal: Mr. Bush backed Mr. Rubio's bid for House speaker in Florida and persuaded important donors to endorse him for Senate. A few of Mr. Bush's supporters have taken to calling Mr. Rubio "Judas."

Leading this effort for Team Bush is Mike Murphy, who has decided to drop up to $20 million attacking Sen. Marco Rubio for being a conservative pro-lifer.

You read that right. Murphy's genius plan is to go nuclear on Sen. Marco Rubio in states that have a moderate to liberal GOP voter influence and crush Rubio for being pro-life and conservative.

In an attempt to blunt Mr. Rubio's appeal against a Democratic nominee, Mr. Murphy recently showed some Republicans a video portraying Mr. Rubio as too extreme on abortion. A longtime opponent of abortion rights, Mr. Rubio said in a debate in August that he had "never advocated" laws that would allow abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.

Mr. Murphy has privately said to several people that Right to Rise would be ready to devote up to $20 million to fighting Mr. Rubio, according to several people told of the conversations.

The effect of this will be to hand Sen. Ted Cruz the Republican nomination. Cruz is consolidating conservative support and is going to get a huge bounce into the SEC Primary on March 1st where he will have Texas, plus Georgia and other southern states before Rubio and Bush even get to Florida to battle it out. This effort by Murphy will just hurt Rubio in later states with sizable establishment leaning votes when Rubio needs to overcome the early Cruz lead.

Mike Murphy has built a machine to get Jeb Bush elected and cannot get it done. More and more Republican voters have decided they will never, ever support Jeb Bush. The Bush Super PAC ads have done nothing to boost Bush's popularity. As revenge for their "boy" becoming his own man, Mike Murphy intends to destroy Sen. Marco Rubio. If Bush can't get the nomination, they will make sure Sen. Marco Rubio can't either.

Advantage: Sen. Ted Cruz.

[freedumb2003]

Ronald Reagan was a democrat most of his life.

[b4its2late]

I hope so!

[erod]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) was a 2-term Republican governor of California (1967-75).

Republican (1962 and after)

Reagan was a declared Republican for almost 20 years before being elected president.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

No comparison. Trump’s political history is opportunistic.

See Post 24.

Rick Perry and Ronald Reagan are more appropriate to what you wish was the case with Trump (but isn’t).

[DH]

Ronald Reagan was an honest man. The Republican Party was not.

The Republican party was just as corrupt back then as it is today. They took bribes and kick-back then just as they do today.

You are looking through a very narrow window. Open the door and look out and you will find that probably 98% of all lifetime politicians are corrupt and represent those pedophiles I described in my other statement.

[spacejunkie2001]

And since Trump loves this corrupt system so much he will NEVER change it. Big gov and big biz love each other.

[C. Edmund Wright]

This is a stupid and absurd strategy, with no end game that’s positive. It helps no one, certainly not Jeb, to destroy Rubio (or Trump for that matter). It only helps the Democrats in the general.

this idea that any scorched earth in the primary season is okay - because somehow the scoreboard starts at 0-0 when the general election rolls around - is just stupid stupid stupid. Painting any Republican as too extreme on life now scores points for the Democrats in the general. Bank on it.

[bert]

speculation that I doubt

[Lurkinanloomin]

I won’t vote for ANY of The Cheap Labor Express candidates.

Perry and Walker are already out, Pataki, Christie, Kasich, Graham, Fiorina, Paul and Huckabee are on their way out.

Yeb! and Young Yeb! will hopefully split the remaining amnesty vote allowing us to nominate someone who sides with the citizens and the rule of law.

[wastoute]

As I said some time ago. The HOP better get behind Cruz in. Big way or we are gonna give ‘em a Trump in the rump.

[SAWTEX]

I care allot as do many primary voters. Not only has he backed the wrong team many many times he is an arrogant jackass.

[dforest]

That is what I noticed. LOL

[LS]

Except Ted remains mired at 8% in most polls while the Donald reaches toward 30. Just a little thing . . .

[so_real]

Sounds like a lot of folks were drinking their own kool-aid. This election was never going to go Jeb Bush's way. There just isn't enough lipstick to make that look good to the conservative base. And, statistically, Rubio has not been the most advantaged by Bush's shortcomings. Your typical republican voters are split between the upper tier candidates with Trump enjoying the initial bump. So attacking Rubio ultimately doesn't change the dynamic, and is a wasted effort. Rubio won't make the final cut; he's just playing the GOP-E game of waiting it out to get the best deal he can for folding. This is all why I like Cruz best ... he doesn't play games.

[mkjessup]

Still beating that dead horse about Trump’s past donations? Everybody knows he gave to everyone as a businessman. Nobody cares. Get over it.

HEAR! HEAR!!

I'm waiting for CW to explain why her former candidate Scott Walker is giving such a warm welcome to Jebuardo when the dying Bush 'campaign' visits Wisconsin.

[fatnotlazy]

Jeb is going to go down in flames. I don't care what strategy he has. The more people hear from him on the issues, the more they don't like him. Yeb has taken the wrong side on EVERY issue. He's not even trying for Democrat lite as the last 2 Republican nominees did. He's a full on liberal. People have had enough of liberal rule.

I believe the more Ted Cruz gets out there in front of the American people, the more they will like him. He got their attention during his rant at the last debate. He just needs to continue holding and building on that interest. A fair, impartial debate would help, but if the next debates are anything like the last three, they will do nothing for him. He is wowing people during his personal appearances in southern and early primary states. He just needs to woo the people in the rest of the country too.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/259622-ted-cruz-on-the-rise-before-gop-debate

“Ted Cruz’s plan to win the Republican presidential nomination is coming together.

The Texas senator has been edging up in the polls and has a chance to drive home his advantage Tuesday night, when the fourth televised GOP debate takes place in Milwaukee.

GOP insiders say that the Tea Party ­favorite also has one of the most impressive political operations in the field. And the consensus is growing that he and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) could end up as finalists in the battle for the nomination.

In that scenario - which is dependent on the current leaders, businessman Donald Trump and retried neurosurgeon Ben Carson, fading - Cruz would emerge as the standard-bearer of the GOP’s conservative wing, while Rubio would be the establishment-friendly figure.

If it comes to that, Cruz supporters like their chances, given the insurgent mood rippling through the party’s base.

All of this might seem like an optimistic interpretation of the chances of a candidate who is in fourth place nationwide, according to the ­RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average. But even non-aligned Republican strategists say that the Texan is right where he wants to be..................”