Snatching Defeat from Victory pt 1

Nitehawk013 · #1 11-12-2015, 08:05 AM

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory:
The potential for a Ted Cruz disaster

Ted Cruz is a hardcore Conservative superhero. He is like Superman fighting for Truth Justice and the Conservative way. Or a hard Right Wing modern day George Washington, crossing the Delaware River of politics in order to lead a fight against all things progressive. No one can realistically question his character and principles when it comes to his stance either. He has risked everything, put his name and career on the line, repeatedly in his fight against liberalism…and has won quite often. He is a bulldog for Constitutional Conservatism. Once he clamps his jaws around a fight, little can break his hold. He is the kind of fighter in DC than many of my fellow conservatives have dreamed of for years.
And he also may be the best way to hand another Presidential term to the Democrats.
Looking at the political landscape of America right now you would think that a GOP win would be a foregone conclusion. Hilary Clinton is mired in constant scandal. Oh, and she is not likable at all unless you are a hardcore leftist. Bernie Sanders is drawing crowds among mostly college kids, many of whom just want to continue to ride a gravy train of free stuff instead of growing up and taking responsibility for their own lives. So of course the avowed Socialist waving a flag of “vote for me and I’ll give you more free stuff” is polling high among a generally spoiled and entitled voting bloc. Obama’s policies are panning out terribly, just as we on the right told everyone they would. Iran now has a nuclear deal in place that hands them 100 Billion dollars and allows them to dictate to the international community what sites we may or may not inspect. The racial divide in America, which should have experienced a healing under our first (half)black POTUS has instead only grown wider and wider in the past 7 years, starting with Obama’s first inauguration where he chose to have a black preacher rant about how bad whites have been. The number of American’s dependent upon food stamps of other assistance has doubled and now sits near 50 Million people.
It should, by all accounts, add up to a landslide GOP win of the White House. And yet, Ted Cruz could spell the exact opposite. He could, if nominated, engineer the most gut-wrenching, soul crushing defeat of the GOP imaginable.
Keep in mind; I am not in any way saying he is not an absolute Conservative. Nor am I saying that it wouldn’t be great to have a man like him in the White House. I’m simply commenting on his ability to win the White House over Hilary, Sanders or some potential other democrat nominee.
So how could Ted lose? First, strong Conservatives like him…and that is about it. The Heritage Foundation, of whom I am a fan, endorsed him recently. The internet warrior class of hardcore Right wingers love the man and are out in force to troll every Pro-Trump or Carson article, website or Facebook/Twitter article and meme. A couple radio talkers really like him and give him some push among their listeners. That however is about it.
Polling shows he is doing ok, but he isn’t close to Carson or Trump. Among those who are followers of the political cycle he is known, but still trails them both. Among the casual, low info voters even on the GOP side he is just a name they hear. They like some of the lines he spits out at the debates, but they don’t know him or support him. I run in pretty staunchly Christian Conservative circles. Among all my friends and acquaintances, none of them are on the Cruz wagon (Note to Cruz’s marketing folks. Have you considered the term Cruz Control for your followers maybe? Just an idea). They know his name and that he is running, but that’s about it.
The only group that seems to be excited about Ted is the diehard, angry and proud, “we want obstruction and borderline anarchy” fringe of the Conservative movement. Everyone else I know just takes the position of “well if he gets the nomination I will vote for him, but I really prefer candidate X”. While I applaud the willingness to live and die on principle for this group, they do not make up enough of the electorate to defeat the Democrat left.
That brings me to the second reason Cruz could spell disaster. I’m sorry as I know the extreme Right doesn’t want to hear or accept this, but you are not a big enough base to win the White House. Please, save your screaming and rebuking me. You know it as well as I do. You are not enough to win the Presidency on your own. You cannot do it.
Now what you CAN do is cost the GOP the White House. You did it in 2012 by being so small minded that you stayed home instead of voting for Romney, a man who was flawed but still so much better than Obama that I cannot even measure the margin. So thank you for giving Obama a second term. Your tantrums and pouting because your guy, whomever that guy was, didn’t get the nod handed the Liberal Left 4 more years to mess things up. Congrats. I hope you’re happy. Idiots.
The extreme right cannot win alone. They do not make up 51% or more of the voting electorate. Everyone knows this. It isn’t a mystery. And so, in order to win the White House, you MUST find a way to get the not-so-right wing of the GOP to side with you. You need the moderates. You need some Independents. You even need some Democrats to cross the line and vote GOP. Cruz, I’m afraid, will not provide this.
The political demographic is not carved in stone. Not all Democrats are screaming mad liberals. Not all are extreme Socialist-leaning Clinton/Sanders/Obama sycophants. In fact, many are actually pretty conservative in their values, but are convinced to vote Democrat because they have been programmed to do so by parents and grandparents who grew up under a vastly different Democrat party. So they still think the Democrats are really “looking out for the working man” because Grand dad told them so 60 years ago. They are not fans of the liberal swing of the party in the last 20 years, but they keep voting Democrat.
Can Ted Cruz lead a sizable number of these types to cross the line and vote GOP? I don’t see it. Cruz just announced he wants to eliminate 5 pretty huge offices of Government. Most of which are offices that many in the middle class and working poor feel are absolutely necessary for their wellbeing. So do you really expect these voters to cast the ballot for you when you just told them you are going to end Section 8 housing? Good luck getting that to work Senator Cruz.
It isn’t that I disagree with Ted Cruz’s ideas either. I love some of them. Ending the Dept. of Education and the IRS? Fantastic ideas. Both are giant wastes of billions of taxpayer dollars. One is a terrorist group exercising ridiculous amounts of unchecked power to destroy lives and steal from American Citizens without even giving you a day in court. I’m talking about you IRS. I even love the fact that Ted will go to the floor and fight with everything he has for these principles.
The problem is that for all of Ted’s prowess and intelligence, I think his one a day calendar needs to have a word added to everyday just to remind him of its necessity in Washington: Compromise!
Now, I don’t mean the kind of compromise Boehner and McConnell practice. Rolling over and playing dead at every request and command of the Democrat minority in the House and Senate is not compromise. It is cowardice, weakness or just proof they are bought and paid for by elites. Compromise is however required to function and get things done in DC. At least on the GOP side.
See, we don’t have the 4th branch of Government, the media, on our side. Due to this unfair imbalance, we cannot just bully through every terrible plan and idea and rely on the media to spin and sell it to the American people for us. Obama can get Obamacare through because the media spun it and provided him the support of the people. The media convinced America it was a good idea. Of course, as foretold by the conservative right, the cost of Obamacare premiums has once again jumped and now the stories are starting to become impossible to hide of those who cannot afford insurance at all because of Obamacare and what it has done to the industry.
Fair or not, in order to get things done in DC it is the GOP that typically has to compromise. Ted Cruz has not shown the ability to do this. Instead, he has shown outright unwillingness to do so. Now on some big things I think he is right. You shouldn’t compromise on national security. You shouldn’t compromise on raising our national debt even more. You shouldn’t compromise on morality. My fear however is that Ted either doesn’t know the difference between when to bend or not, or he doesn’t care. Senator Cruz gives me the impression his plan is to refuse to bend at all, on anything, and just dare the Democrats and the media to do something about it. He is like the child who takes his ball and goes home, ruining the game for everyone if he doesn’t get his way. This is unrealistic. Again, I know the Cruz supporters (Cruz Control. I like the sound of it. You are welcome to use it too Cruz campaign) will get angry at hearing this, but it is truth.
Ronald Reagan is and will remain the standard by which conservative GOP presidents are measured against. Ronald Reagan knew the art of compromise. In order to get many things done that were great for the American people he also compromised and gave the Democrats some things that were bad for us. Give and take is the name of the game. For every increase in spending to boost our military and win the cold war, Reagan also had to play ball with the left of his day and give in to some of their demands. It is called concessions folks. It is how DC works. I can’t see Ted Cruz grasping this. And that means either gridlock presidency, or worse yet…he rams his plans through and in doing so dooms the Conservative movement to losing the White House for multiple cycles as fallout for his refusal to govern maturely. Just as Obama has used his executive power to push things despite clear disapproval of the Congress and American people has hurt the Democrat branding, so to could the Conservative GOP brand be critically wounded by a man like Cruz refusing to bend and compromise when necessary.

Nitehawk013 · #2 11-12-2015, 08:05 AM

Finally, and this is the unfortunate result of our American Idol, celebrity worshipping society, we need someone who is actually likeable to win the White House. Being a great leader should be good enough reason to win. In 2015 America however, it is not. You must be likeable. You must be someone people actually feel good about. Bill Clinton’s policies were a nightmare. His liberal politics were and are a disaster. The man himself though is incredibly likeable. George W. Bush was hammered relentlessly by the leftists in media as being stupid (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) and yet he was also very human and likeable. To this day when you see what he does outside of office you can find him embracing people and showing himself to be a genuinely nice and likeable guy. Reagan may have been perceived as an old man, the elder stern statesman by some, but he also always appeared as a very personable and kind man. Obama of course was inspiring and motivational. He played basketball and drank beer. He came across as someone millions could relate to and it won him the office when contrasted to mean ol’ John McCain who was just out of touch and couldn’t relate to people today. Of course McCain tried to fix that by getting Palin to be the nice, good looking approachable down to earth running mate…and we all saw how that played out.
Ted Cruz comes across as many things. Strong. Principled. Conservative. Bold. Willing to fight. Able to debate with the best and hold his own. Intelligent. Determined. All fantastic qualities that I want in my President. All qualities that, dare I say it, make me think of Reagan in many ways. Yet one thing Ted Cruz does not convey, at least from what I have observed, is likeability.
Ted Cruz comes off as that one guy at work that doesn’t really do anything wrong, but no one likes. He shows up to the office, works hard, gets his job done and even goes above and beyond. He has fantastic attendance. You never have to worry about having to pick up the slack for him like some other slackers. He truly is a great employee from a company standpoint. At the same time, he is the same guy who never says much to the other employees. He won’t be chatting about the game or talking at the water cooler. He just sits and does his work and seems to have no time for the rest of the workforce. He isn’t a bad guy; he just isn’t likeable at all. That is my impression of Ted Cruz.
Now he may in actuality be the nicest guy on earth. He may be kind and caring, tell great jokes and hold the room with ease. He may be the life of the party that has everyone filled with anticipation of his arrival. If so, he has done a terrible job of portraying that side of himself. Now you may argue that to be a good leader you can’t always worry about being liked, and I would agree completely. You do however have to be likeable to get the job as leader! And Senator Cruz doesn’t seem likeable.
Trump? He’s a blowhard, but he also somehow comes off as very likeable. Like he is just one of us who managed to work his way to the top and is very proud of it, perhaps a bit too proud actually. Carson? So soft spoken and kind that many see it as a weakness, but he is also polling as the most likeable, honest and trustworthy of any candidates. Rubio? He radiates energy and excitement most of the time, which attracts people. Kasich? He didn’t help himself in the last debate, but being from Ohio I have seen him work a room and he can indeed turn on the “every man” charm and make people like him. Clinton? She is a lying, evil woman…but somehow she can hide it from millions and come off as a strong but very nice woman. Her ability to fool the masses despite mountains of evidence of her own unethical behavior puts David Copperfield making airplanes disappear in front of our eyes to shame.
Ted Cruz has demonstrated none of this likeability however. And maybe he doesn’t care to. Perhaps his plan is to just fight on conservative ideas and principles and throw personality out the window. To bring the battle to the liberals and pay no mind to the casualties of the war. Perhaps his approach is that of Admiral Farragut, to look at a sea of danger, stare at the enemy and ignore all advice to the contrary and cry “........ the torpedoes” while pushing the ship forward.
In the end, this approach just doesn’t seem like a winning campaign model though. It is exciting to watch. It is great to have Cruz on our side, willing to bite instead of just bark now and then when the liberals jump the fence. I fear however, that not enough Americans will share in the Tea Party love affair with Cruz, and that means we will suffer defeat at the ballot in 2016 and go through 4 more years of Liberal Democrat executive leadership.
Months ago, prior to the first debate, someone asked me what I thought of Cruz. I told them he says everything right. His voting record is almost flawless. He stands almost exactly where I stand on most principles. And yet…I didn’t like him. I couldn’t put my finger on it, and still struggle to know exactly what it is. Something about him just gives me a really bad feeling. Maybe it is that I know if he gets the nomination, America loses in the long run.
That being said, if he gets the nod I will vote for him. He is still vastly superior to either Hilary or Sanders. In my heart though, I would rather Cruz lose the nomination and stay in the Senate. Majority leader Cruz sounds good to me. To have a pit-bull like him in the Senate, fighting relentlessly for Conservatism and hopefully inspiring others to speak up against the establishment in the Senate and House is what I think we need more than a Cruz presidency. In fact, suppose Cruz did win the White House. What do you think he can actually accomplish if the one loud, outspoken, bold fighter among the Conservatives is no longer actually in the Senate? The establishment GOP would likely fill that seat with one of their own.
I see the election next year as what should be an easy win by the GOP. It shouldn’t be hard at all to crush the opposition on principle or platform. Yet I see a Ted Cruz nomination becoming a disaster where we truly would be reaching elbow deep into the jaws of victory and embracing defeat once again. America desperately needs a GOP and Conservative win before we get pushed too far to the political left and can’t eve truly recover. I’m afraid Ted Cruz, who may actually be the embodiment of Conservative ideals, cannot give us that win in my opinion.

Nitehawk013 · #3 11-12-2015, 08:06 AM

Sorry for the formatting foul up. It looks great in article/word form.

Carl · #4 11-12-2015, 08:56 AM

The article explains quite well why repubs have to get it right this time. Cruz is so passionate about his convictions and stance on the issues that he could be perceived as unyielding. It is unfortunate but there is a degree of compromise needed to accomplish anything in government. A willingness to reach across the aisle is necessary. And the "big tent" has to be pitched during the campaign or there won't even be the opportunity in office to champion conservatism.

Esaias · #5 11-12-2015, 05:41 PM

More of the same old same old. We have heard this for decades, and have acted on it. And here we are.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The Republican Party will soon be right there next to the Whig Party. Dead Elephants and all.

Over half the nation is on some kind of welfare from Uncle Sugar. Therefore there will be no 'conservative save the Constitution restore America to the glory days'. Period. The MAJORITY of Americans want what we have right now, and more of it. The MAJORITY of Americans want their gravy train to keep on a-rollin'.

Oh sure, plenty of Americans whine and complain about the food stamp crowd. They whine all the way to the bank as they cash their SSI checks, or as they fight and scramble for 'loan packages' from Fanny Mae for their upper middle class investment portfolios.

Pretty much everyone is ridin' the gravy train. And the train tracks are out just up ahead.

Not to mention God is actually involved. The GOP acts as if God isn't involved in all this. They will circle the drain just for that alone. God will not suffer competition. No Cruz is going to save us, no GOP moderate is going to save us, the GOP is not going to save us, the Constitution isn't going to save us, DC isn't going to save us.

We either get right with God, and cry out to Him and HIM ALONE, or we too go down the drain into the cesspool of Babylonian bondage and enslavement. God will find a people who will TRULY put Him first. Even if they are just a bunch of Hottentots in the bush who hear the gospel by word of mouth.

All this political drama is just that - political DRAMA, it's a stage act, it's managed and directed by people who give you bread and circuses so they can buy more time to make off out the back door with the last bit of spare change.

Until we seek the KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FIRST, we will get more of the same old same old.

So, 'meh' is about all I have to say to any GOP apologist. Not listening, don't care, ain't voting, period. My consent was withdrawn several years ago. No sense playing a rigged game thinking I'm gonna 'beat the house THIS time, just throw them bones one more time...'

The GOP has PROVEN ITSELF to be a fraud, traitors, and in league with Satan, pure and simple, just like the Democruds.

Trump will split the party, Hildebeast will be our newly appointed dictator, and we go headlong into the fiery furnace. Might as well get it over with.

Look at your children and grandchildren. Are you gonna just kick the can down the road to them? "Hey, kids, love ya but it's YOUR problem, now"?

Bibles, beans, bandaids, bullets, and butter. And water, lots of it. We're gonna need it.

deacon blues · #6 11-12-2015, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esaias

More of the same old same old. We have heard this for decades, and have acted on it. And here we are.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The Republican Party will soon be right there next to the Whig Party. Dead Elephants and all.

Over half the nation is on some kind of welfare from Uncle Sugar. Therefore there will be no 'conservative save the Constitution restore America to the glory days'. Period. The MAJORITY of Americans want what we have right now, and more of it. The MAJORITY of Americans want their gravy train to keep on a-rollin'.

Oh sure, plenty of Americans whine and complain about the food stamp crowd. They whine all the way to the bank as they cash their SSI checks, or as they fight and scramble for 'loan packages' from Fanny Mae for their upper middle class investment portfolios.

Pretty much everyone is ridin' the gravy train. And the train tracks are out just up ahead.

Not to mention God is actually involved. The GOP acts as if God isn't involved in all this. They will circle the drain just for that alone. God will not suffer competition. No Cruz is going to save us, no GOP moderate is going to save us, the GOP is not going to save us, the Constitution isn't going to save us, DC isn't going to save us.

We either get right with God, and cry out to Him and HIM ALONE, or we too go down the drain into the cesspool of Babylonian bondage and enslavement. God will find a people who will TRULY put Him first. Even if they are just a bunch of Hottentots in the bush who hear the gospel by word of mouth.

All this political drama is just that - political DRAMA, it's a stage act, it's managed and directed by people who give you bread and circuses so they can buy more time to make off out the back door with the last bit of spare change.

Until we seek the KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FIRST, we will get more of the same old same old.

So, 'meh' is about all I have to say to any GOP apologist. Not listening, don't care, ain't voting, period. My consent was withdrawn several years ago. No sense playing a rigged game thinking I'm gonna 'beat the house THIS time, just throw them bones one more time...'

The GOP has PROVEN ITSELF to be a fraud, traitors, and in league with Satan, pure and simple, just like the Democruds.

Trump will split the party, Hildebeast will be our newly appointed dictator, and we go headlong into the fiery furnace. Might as well get it over with.

Look at your children and grandchildren. Are you gonna just kick the can down the road to them? "Hey, kids, love ya but it's YOUR problem, now"?

Bibles, beans, bandaids, bullets, and butter. And water, lots of it. We're gonna need it.

Somebody needs a vacation.