Ok, I Admit It: I Was Wrong About Ted Cruz

The Blaze ^ | Nov. 25, 2015 | Justin Haskins

[Isara]

At the start of his presidential campaign in April, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was raking in millions of dollars in campaign contributions and appeared to be the favorite candidate of choice for many conservatives. Long before Donald Trump stole the spotlight, Cruz was drawing more praise and contempt (depending on who you spoke to at the time) from Republicans and the media for his unwavering commitment to traditional conservative values and the Constitution.

It was an exciting time for many of his supporters, but in my mind, I thought the huge wave of support for Cruz was a death sentence for the conservative movement in the 2016 general election. As all of the polling indicated at the time, Cruz was expected to do poorly against Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup, and while I have always greatly respected Cruz, I didn't (and still don't) want a Republican presidential nominee who can't win in November 2016.

So, as I became convinced someone had to talk some sense into the well-intentioned but delusional conservative masses, I penned a reasonable critical assessment of Cruz' chances against Clinton in the general election, warning Cruz supporters that he probably couldn't beat Clinton and that any money given to his campaign would likely be wasted. The article was published by Breitbart in April and thousands of people weighed in (mostly to tell me I was wrong).

Since April, a lot has changed in the race.

Ben Carson and Trump have garnered far more support than many thought they would; we've had numerous presidential debates in which Cruz performed masterfully; socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) emerged briefly as a legitimate threat to Clinton's dominance; and Jeb Bush's campaign has (thankfully) become nearly irrelevant.

More important than all of that, however, has been Clinton's handling of the Benghazi tragedy. I've been following that story since the very beginning and always knew it presented a threat to her chances of capturing the presidency, but my view was that because the American public had essentially seemed disinterested in that tragedy and because the media appeared to be covering for Clinton and President Barack Obama, I felt like Benghazi wouldn't have much of an effect on the general election in 2016.

Although there is still a lot of time remaining between now and Election Day, all of the evidence now suggests Benghazi will play a significant role next November, and with the right candidate in place, conservative Republicans have a great chance of capturing the White House for the first time since Ronald Reagan left in 1989.

Although many in the liberal mainstream media seemed to declare Clinton's October hearings on Benghazi a big political victory for her, most of us who have followed the controversy from the beginning know her testimony revealed some very important details-the most important of which being the revelation Clinton told her daughter Chelsea the assault was a terrorist attack just before telling the public a YouTube video was to blame for the supposedly spontaneous event. Clinton's story about the YouTube video was used for two weeks by the Obama administration to shield itself from what could have a disastrous turn of events just weeks before the 2012 election. It's clear now, beyond any reasonable doubt, Clinton knew it was likely a terrorist attack but told the American people and the families of the victims a radically different story.

The media-as expected-came to Clinton's rescue during and after the Benghazi congressional hearings in October, and Clinton admittedly did a very nice job (from a political perspective) handling the day-long questioning. Clinton's camp also successfully convinced many Americans the hearings were politically motivated. According to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, more than one-third surveyed said the hearings were too partisan.

However, despite Clinton's best efforts, her testimony and her Benghazi lies will absolutely play an important role in 2016. Even after all of the media spin, 47 percent of respondents in the same poll indicated the possibility of a cover-up would play an important role when making a decision of who to vote for, and 40 percent of independents said they were not satisfied with Clinton's explanations at the hearing.

While those may not seem like earth-shattering numbers, they are. When the general election actually gets underway in the summer, millions of people who are currently considering voting for Clinton will be barraged with one campaign commercial after another about Clinton's cover up, and family members of the Benghazi victims will almost certainly get involved in support of the Republican candidate. The media blitz that is certain to come will make the John Kerry-Swift Boat disaster look like a political nullity.

In August 2015, Quinnipiac released a survey indicating "liar" was the term most-often used to describe Clinton, but by August 2016, I'm willing to bet the results will be significantly worse.

Yes, many independents today feel that the Benghazi investigation has been politically motivated (although not as many as the media often suggests), but when faced with commercial after commercial of family members demanding answers, they won't care anymore what Republicans did or didn't do in a hearing a year earlier; all the focus will be on Clinton and whether or not she lied to the American people.

The reason I thought Cruz would lose to Clinton was based on the damage that had been done unfairly to his reputation by the liberal establishment media, and polling today still suggests candidates such as Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) would have a better chance in a head-to-head race. But, given the current state of the race and what's likely to occur in the future, I have to admit that what I said before about Cruz was wrong. He can win against Clinton. In fact, he may have a better chance than others currently polling against him because I don't think any of the other candidates could handle Clinton (especially on Benghazi) in a debate as well as Cruz can.

Of course, Cruz can only beat Hillary Clinton if he wins the Republican nomination, and at the moment, it's not clear how likely that possibility is.

Justin Haskins is currently the editor of one of the nation's leading free-market think tanks headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and is the editor-in-chief of the New Revere Daily-Press.

[DaveyB]

Voters who are swayed by the polls are more like gamblers trying to find a payoff. They lack their own moral and political compass so they rely on the populace to direct them. They are swayed by hype and prone to follow the cultural icons, susceptible to the cult of personality.

Conservatives are conservative not because of the media driven culture and trendiness, but they are conservative because of principles that transcend the flavor of the day and the cover of people magazine. Conservatives choose their candidate based on a candidates principles, the candidates history of living those same principles, the candidates character and not on popularity polls like they are choosing a jr. high student council. We don't choose the cool kid, we go for the right one and work to persuade the uninformed and the unprincipled that safety, liberty and integrity matter more than slickness and popularity.

The author is making a stride to leave behind his adolescent desire to be a groupie and becoming a conservative that votes on principle for the best candidate to govern, not the one that is: "like so cool - like he once smiled at me in the hall - like I thought I was gonna die - like he is so dreamy! He has my vote for sure, he is like so awesome!"

[JohnT416]

Ted Cruz is our best chance to win in 2016 against Hillary. Trump is a Liberal Democrat who is running as a Republican in name only. In time, I believe people will began to examine Trump’s past history and realize he is a Liberal. Trump should be judged by his past actions and beliefs. Cruz is the only true conservative.

[VanDeKoik]

Yeah, ok.

Have fun being allied with Beck and Co. then if you really think they are “supporters” .

[cuban leaf]

I was musing a couple of months ago that Trump may be the equivalent of Secretariat at Belmont. But now I’m thinking Cruz may be the equivalent of Secretariat at the Kentucky Darby. Were only halfway through the back stretch and he’s gaining.

[cripplecreek]

Well stated.

Despite the media assertions that he’s done nothing in the senate but make enemies, he has continued to stand and fight for what is right and now knows who his allies are in the senate and would use them to great effect from the white house. I haven’t forgotten that Ted Cruz met with conservative allies in the house and the very next day John Boehner announced he was stepping down as speaker.

The fact that he’s the only candidate who continues to promise justice for the crimes committed against this nation indicates a very different kind of candidate. He understands that politicians and bureaucrats need the fear of God or prosecution put into them if we have any hope of returning to constitutional governance. No more letting the crimes of the past administration slide simply because they’re out of office.

[Isara]

You left out the last sentence:

Last time I looked it's still in the article I posted.

[CSM]

I will, thank you.

I also hope that you have fun being allied with a self promoting Nationalist (make america great again by protectionist trade practices) Socialist (healthcare works great in Canada and the UK) who advocates violence against political opponents (the BLM protestor deserved to get knocked around.)

I mean, what could go wrong with that?

[Isara]

Presidential Candidates Comparison (Cruz vs. Trump)

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[traderrob6]

Always an ulterior motive if anyone dares say something against Trump with you isn’t it?

[FourPeas]

Welcome Mr. Haskins. Glad you decided to support the conservative candidate.

[deport]

Yes ma’am it still is there. But you still left it out of your post.

[ArtDodger]

If Clinton runs, she will be elected, even if they have to program the voting machines to turn 75% of the R votes to D votes and drop every military ballot into the ocean. We are playing badminton games with people who will kill for what they want.

[VanDeKoik]

When the Blaze has shown an open disdain for the guy in the past, which is well-known as their founder uses his radio show for the same, it is less of a conspiracy theory than Cruz people attributing a lack of media coverage as a plot because they are afraid of Cruz, while 24 hour later attributing negative press attention as them being afraid of Cruz.

[VanDeKoik]

Hey you can have “smart” answers to what I say if you want. But that’s on you guys if Beck’s media machine is something that you are now happy to have on your side.

[FourPeas]

[Axeslinger]

A-freakin-men! Preach it! That’s so damn good I’m reposting it in its entirety.

I’m damn sick of people who complain about the GOPe betrayal of conservatives only to have them turn around and tell me that America can only be saved if I betray my most deeply held ideals and vote for a big government progressive because he’s right on 1 issue.

[Isara]

You like that sentence and have already posted it. So what?

[deport]

Yes ma’am I like that sentence.

[FourPeas]

Bears repeating:

I'm damn sick of people who complain about the GOPe betrayal of conservatives only to have them turn around and tell me that America can only be saved if I betray my most deeply held ideals and vote for a big government progressive because he's right on 1 issue.

[itsahoot]

Have fun being allied with Beck and Co. then if you really think they are “supporters” .

Beck has been on a Dump Trump screed since day one and he has been on the Cruz bandwagon for several weeks. What a quandary for the Beck haters, now allied with the Trump haters. Strange bed fellows indeed.