Ted Cruz Isn't Triumphing with Conservatism Because Presidential Elections...

The Rush Limbaugh Show ^ | 4/27/2016 | Rush Limbaugh

[poconopundit]

Rush had a conversation with a Cruz supporter today.  [Check the full transcript linked to above on Rush's site.]

The piece is an attempt by Rush to explain why the Cruz campaign has failed. 

I've condensed the points Rush made below.  In his remarks today, Rush also heavily sourced and commented on the ideas of a Rich Danker, a former guy in the Cruz campaign whose article appeared on the April 24th Weekly Standard. 

So here are the Rush/Danekr points followed by my commentary:

• Presidential elections are situational and not ideological -- This theory helps you understand why the Clintons won twice and why Obama wins.  Obama's not even thought of as a liberal by people who voted for him.
  

  Sure, Obama's liberal to the hardcore leftists.  But the low-information crowd that elected him didn't think of him that way.  Obama was responding to certain circumstances at the moment like the Iraq war, and he was able to position himself in a situational way and not even have to run as an ideologue.
  

• Ideological conservatives are stratching their heads in this election -- For many people [Rush included], ideology is a single focus.  They write about, study it, and try to persuade people to believe it.
  

  And this year, many of them thought the closest thing to the dream conservative candidate was Ted Cruz.  But his appeal to conservatives has not been as good as you would predict.
  

• Cruz has followed the traditional conservative consultant's playbook -- You basically have one stump speech, you give it over and over again.  And the stump speech is regionalized based on focus groups and polling.
  

  Problem is: instead of the candidate being who he is, a consultant creates a candidate based on the consultants' polling.  And while all this is going on, the candidate never has a chance to develop as a human being, because consultants turn them into robots.
  

  And you end up slicing and dicing voters so that virtually everything the candidate says is geared toward an interest group rather than the electorate at large.  You're focus-grouping interest groups, you're focus-grouping women here, men over here, immigrants here, Hispanics there, you tailor your message.  Soon or later, this pandering turns people off, it becomes predictable, and worst of all, it isn't believable.
  

• Trump's approach is to not get caught up in ideology -- Trump says I'm going to win every state and win over every voter.  I'm gonna do as many public appearances I can.  Every appearance I do is gonna be a bit different, but I'm not going to overly regionalize my positions other than to connect to the local crowd.
  

  Trump understands that presidential elections are situational, not ideological.  The candidate is the one who best applies their ideological outlook to the issues of the day.
  

  And rather than announcing at every speech, "And I'm going to make sure that conservative values triumph in this country," you simply stake out your position on an issue that is conservative.  You don't call it conservative.
  

And here's my own commentary on Rush's points:

• Don't lead with ideology -- OK, I get the Rush/Danker point about not overly emphasizing ideology.  That makes sense, and Trump has certainly not played up the fact that we should bracket him narrowly as a conservative.  Trump's been more intent on explaining his positions on specific areas and not labeling them as part of any ideology.
  

• But what else can Cruz talk about?-- On the other hand, Cruz has zero experience as an executive.  He never served as a governor.  He's been a senator for only a couple years.  And he's had a few years of experience as a lawyer and Soliciter for the state of Texas.  Great.  But boil it own, Cruz has really very little to talk about except his ideology or his position on various issues.
  

• Voters are not keyed in on ideology alone, but also the man himself -- The other thing that Rush/Danker seem to miss is the experience and proven capabilities of the candidate.  These guys are only trying to understand Cruz's defeat through the prism of how the message is deliver.  There must be some error in strategy that caused Cruz's message to fail.  Cruz got bad advice: that's why he was rejected.
  

  However another explanation is that Cruz was not the consistent conservative he claimed to be.  A label like "Lyin' Ted" doesn't stick unless there's some truth to it.
  

  Plus, when you think of a guy like Reagan or Trump, there's a man of steel behind the words.  Sure, he may modify his position a bit, but he's got a long history of making decisions and maintaining a general philosophy.  For Reagan, it was being Governor or California.  For Trump, it's owning and running a successful $10 billion private enterprise.
  

  If you take away Trump's experience in the world and his track record as a successful executive and public figure, you're only left with 50% of the value IMO.  Trump's proven ability to execute is key to his appeal.
  

  And if Cruz sounds "robotic", perhaps it's because voters sense there's not enough of a man behind the candidate.
  

  And it's this crucial ability to execute that seems totally missing in the Rush/Danker analysis of Cruz's failure.
  

  I made an attempt to quantitatively factor in the importance of executive experience in an FR vanity: Excel Scoresheet: Who Should Republicans Nominate for President?
  

[combat_boots]

Yup. Rush has become, for me, one of the “I’ve got mine, so there” men.

[JediJones]

There’s been no flip-flop on sealing the border or the Iran deal.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

Sigh, how tiresome it is to read this tripe from you.

How is it conservative to desire amnesty?
How is it conservative to desire an increase in H1b’s?
How is it conservative to BLAME idiot soros thugs for
crap at rally’s?

How is it conservative to get in bed with NEIL BUSH?

Dear God man, get a grip. You haters are insufferable.

I guarantee you that if the numbers were flipped, you guys would be marching the streets to get Trump to drop out.
For some unknown stupid reason you guys champion this juvenile and pathetically weak position of announcing a VP pick when you can’t win??

Wth is he doing? Oh wait, the great global world cabal planning on a contested convention.

THAT’S YOUR CONSERVATIVE??? Really?

Sickening, truly and utterly sickening.

Cruz is a fraud, and definately a liar - telling tall tales regarding Trump and you have done NO research on your own to see he lies for what they are - lyin’ Ted - fits like a glove.

Don’t expect an answer from me JJ, you spew such wretched nonsense and I haven’t an ounce of energy to deal with dullards like you any longer.

GO TRUMP

[Sybeck1]

Jobs. No one believes Cruz can do anything about increasing jobs

[JediJones]

That’s a matter of opinion. I find him likable. I like people with intelligence, knowledge, an even-tempered personality, shared interest in movies/games, humility. Cruz is the type of person I enjoy making friends with.

[combat_boots]

You used the word ‘dullard’ in your post.

I haven’t seen that word in years.

Kudos.

[JediJones]

Art Laffer endorsed both Cruz’ and Trump’s tax plans and said they both create significant economic growth.

[ripnbang]

Smart? No doubt. But I Don’t trust him one bit. Just like the rest of the Ivy League educated, never holding a real job politicians....all hat and not cattle, as they say.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I heard Rush use the term “ideological conservative.” What in the heck other kind of conservative is there? Conservatism is an ideology."

I was subscribed to National Review at age 11. I've long held the belief that (to paraphrase Josef Stalin) you may not be interested in politics, but politics are interested in you. I signed up on FR the day I discovered it in 1999, and have been a talk radio junkie for years, but as politically engaged as I like to see myself, I've never lost sight of the fact that there are many, many people out there who have no interest in politics whatsoever. They have their personal ideologies, which may lean more to one side of the political spectrum or the other, but they do not consider themselves political or ideological in any real way. Many of them, especially if religious, have robust worldviews and philosophies, but either never had an interest in politics, or perhaps once did, but have grown so jaded and cynical that they don't follow closely. Others may hop on a bandwagon and/or just follow family traditions. I know many people who will unhesitatingly vote for the pro-2nd Amendment candidate, just because they like owning firearms, but would have a very difficult time articulating the philosophical underpinnings of the RKBA. They just like to hunt.

[Mechanicos]

Really:

Here are 2 where Cruz pushes amnesty;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGzdyt0xOc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CwVrfydjOI

Here is whole mess of Cruz flip flops in his own words.
https://twitter.com/Bubbie1960/status/724421873467973632

[JediJones]

I’m not hating on anyone. I’m defending Cruz from getting unjustified hate. People shouldn’t have a singleminded focus on one candidate to the extent you unreasonably trash every single other Republican.

Once again, being for amnesty in the past, for H1Bs off and on, associating with less conservative Republicans...do I have to tell you to take the plank out of your eye before pointing to the splinter in someone else’s?

[JediJones]

All true, but it doesn’t answer my question. Those people aren’t conservatives. They don’t even know what conservatism is.

[JediJones]

Part of me doesn’t trust anyone let alone a politician. But I also like to give people the benefit of the doubt until they’ve shown me a reason not to trust them.

[Mechanicos]

Its justified. Willful blindness is not defensible.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

You are ridiculous JJ, I sincerely hope you have people in your life to shed some light on your very narrow vision.

Insufferable, not open minded in the least.

Cruz is done - what the hell is he doing dragging out carly as a VP pick? Does that not strike you as dumber than dirt?

Nevermind, what matters isn’t what YOU think/believe, it’s what millions of Americans see and desire and it sure isn’t cruz. He’s become a punch line, a real joke.

Get out of your bubble man, he’s a laughingstock.

[gg188]

I am not big on calling people out for their religious hypocrisy. At all. BUT, Ted says he’s a SOUTHERN BAPTIST (Though many say he’s a “DOMINIONIST”, which his father---who has called Ted “The Anointed One”---claims to be; or even a Mormon, as he stood by while Glenn Beck recited Mormon-specific references, applying them to Cruz, That Cruz is the “raising of the priests” and the fulfillment of the “prophecy of the White Horse.” Or a Seventh Day Adventist, as his wife, Heidi, who has more than once referred to Ted as “The Face Of God.”)

I am Southern Baptist, raised that way. Let me tell you, Southern Baptist are very loosey goosey when it comes to what it accepts or allows in each affiliate congregation (for example, some can dance, some cannot.) BUT….THREE THINGS are not acceptable ANYWHERE to Southern Baptists: GAMBLING, DRINKING, and NOT TITHING:

_____________________________________
(Today, Apri 27) During Carly Fiorina’s running-mate acceptance speech in Indianapolis, Fiorina described Cruz as a really fun dude who’s able to make last-second bets on exciting basketball games.
She revisited the final moments of that epic national title game between Villanova and North Carolina. Fiorina and Cruz were watching the game on the bus, and after Marcus Paige’s incredible 3, Cruz threw money on the table. – USA TODAY

_____________________________________
On CNN’s Republican Presidential Townhall, Republican candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Anderson Cooper that he drinks alcohol “What is your favorite cocktail?” Cooper asked Cruz. “I am a scotch man,” Cruz responded. – CNN [PS---scotch is not a “cocktail; it’s a distilled spirit, a member of the whiskey family.]

_____________________________________
According to recently released tax records, the Texas senator contributed less than 1 percent of his income to charity between 2006 and 2010. But many Christians believe that the Bible commands a charitable offering, or tithe, equal to 10 percent of one’s annual earnings. – The Atlantic

[poconopundit]

Glad you liked the post, sargon.

Trump is the living embodiment of the phrase: "almost any publicity is good publicity."

Ever since Trump had the good sense to make himself a celebrity when he wrote Art of the Deal, good things have happened to his company, his brand, and to him.

Trump has garnered far more press than any other candidate.  Why?  Because he seeks it out.  Because he's totally comfortable with the medium. 

He's just out there, big time!  And people are just digging the idea that this wildly successful, authentic guy is stepping up to the plate.

And look at all the MSM hit pieces.  With Trump it kind of goes with the territory.  There must have been 10,000 media attempts to take the guy out of the race.  But there's the Energizer Bunny going on all the morning shows, doing his rallies, and posing with a bald eagle on this desk.

The other day I ran across an extraordinary 10 year old video where Trump, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. visited Howard Stern's radio studio in New York.  Watch it, you're sure to laugh.

Now a lot of people don't like Howard Stern, but the show is for an adult audience and Stern is known for asking the most embarrassing questions, but here's Trump getting his kids (in their 20s) into the publicity swing.

And as vulgar as Stern can be, Stern has got one helluva an audience.  His redeeming quality? He's one of the few credible/honest guys in a media world that's wall to wall phony.

Hey, maybe we can get Trump to change his campaign theme song to John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth.

I've had enough of reading things from neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians. Just gimme some truth...

So yeah, with Trump you do get a real "individual" -- no puppeTED Golden Sacks guy.  And OMG, he's also one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his generation.

We are absolutely blessed that this one-of-us billionaire is gonna help us out.  And who ever heard of a billionaire flaunting who he is?  His jet, his Mar A Largo, his family, his business, and even dirty laundry from his past is hanging out there for everyone to see.

This is the biggest election of our lifetime.  Let's enjoy it while we can.  It's gonna be so much fun watching Hillary get schlonged.  Ha!  GO TRUMP!

[Joe 6-pack]

"All true, but it doesn’t answer my question. Those people aren’t conservatives. They don’t even know what conservatism is."

I think in many cases it's quite the opposite. Just because an 82 year old can't pronounce or articulate meaning of the word, "octogenarian," doesn't mean he isn't one. I think many Americans are inherently conservative in many ways, even if they tend to be apolitical. And that is part of Trump's success, IMHO. He is not approaching matters as a conservative or liberal, but rather as an American. Where most Americans understand illegal immigration is illegal, two parties have put on a show about what to do about it from ostensibly left and right perspectives. Trump has asserted enough talk, time for action, and that strikes a chord with people who could care less about whether it's a doctrinaire liberal or conservative solution.

[poconopundit]

Pretty close, chajin.  I was stationed for 3 years on shore duty in Sasebo, Japan in Kyushu.  Loved every minute of it.

Posted some comments about Japan on this FR thread.

[poconopundit]

Ha! A guy with a clever screen name like WhoisAlanGreenspan must know what he’s doing. I’ll heed your advice :- )