Posted on 01/22/2016 7:16:07 AM PST by conservativejoy
As actual voters get ready to weigh in on the GOP presidential race, establishment Republicans are laying down a marker: Sen. Ted Cruz must be stopped at all costs, even if it means nominating Donald Trump.
It appears that these Republicans are so blinded by their personal hatred of Cruz that they've convinced themselves that the party would be better off choosing somebody who represents everything they claim to abhor. In making this calculation, they are exhibiting the same shortsightedness and lack of pragmatism that they claim to hate about Cruz.
Though there's been plenty of talk about the national Republicans lining up behind Trump as a last-ditch effort to stop Cruz, former Senate Majority Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole got the ball rolling publicly when he warned The New York Times of "cataclysmic" losses if Cruz is nominated while suggesting Trump would do better.
Perhaps the most laughable part of the interview was Dole's statement of Cruz: "I question his allegiance to the party." And of Trump: "[H]e has toned down his rhetoric."
Dole is questioning the allegiance of Cruz, a lifelong Republican, yet gives a pass to Trump, who has attacked Ronald Reagan, donated to Democrats and flirted with running for president for the Reform Party in 2000. As for claiming that Trump has toned it down, when was the last time Dole watched a Trump speech or looked at his Twitter feed? (Disclosure: Trump accused the author of asking a "stupid, stupid question" for pressing him on his support for government seizures of private property to expand his casino empire.)
Following Dole's comments, a number of sitting U.S. Senators, led by Orrin Hatch, trashed Cruz to CNN. Hatch claimed that while Cruz would lose the nomination, "I've come around a little bit on Trump ... I'm not so sure we'd lose if he's our nominee because he's appealing to people who a lot of the Republican candidates have not appealed to in the past."
It seems that there are three basic questions raised by these establishment Republicans: 1.) Is Trump more electable than Cruz? 2.) With whom would you rather win? And 3.) With whom would you rather lose?
On the first question, there's no evidence to suggest that Trump would be more electable. In fact, a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton by 10 points in a hypothetical general election matchup, while Cruz would be within four points.
Furthermore, the poll found that 58 percent of the public has a negative view of Trump, compared with just 29 percent who have a positive view - making him the least popular of anybody polled. Even worse, Trump enjoys near universal name recognition, with just 1 percent of respondents saying they don't know him, meaning there is little room for him to substantially move public opinion. Though Cruz has a net negative rating of four points, 34 percent either don't know him yet or have a neutral view toward him.
The apparent hope of establishment Republicans is that Trump could bring in new working class voters to the GOP. But that's just a theory that isn't strongly supported by the evidence. And it's just as likely (if not more likely) that many conservatives would stay home rather than vote for Trump, who has a record of opposing private property rights and free trade, while supporting gun control, abortion, higher taxes and socialized medicine.
The second question is, with whom would it be better to win? In this case, there should be no question it would be Cruz. Though Cruz has spent his career in the Senate in the opposition, as president, he'd actually be in a position to enact laws. House Speaker Paul Ryan has argued in favor of a broad conservative policy agenda, and it's much closer to the general policy preferences of Cruz than to the bombastic boasts of Trump.
Though they may disagree on the art of the politically possible, ideologically, both Ryan and Cruz share a commitment to the "three-legged stool" vision of conservatism on economics, social issues and national security advanced by Ronald Reagan. Trump, on the other hand, has no ideological compass, and would be happy to embrace liberalism if it advanced him personally.
The final question is, who would it be better to lose with if neither of the candidates are able to beat Clinton? In this case, it also seems apparent that it should be Cruz. At least with Cruz, the party would still ideologically remain the party of Reagan. With Trump, it would devolve into a nativist party devoid of any sense of constitutional conservatism.
Were gonna get communist Bernie or Soros’ errand boy because of a Cruz hate.
Better to lose? You people have lost your minds.
Lots of Cruz supporters here seem Cruz-blind to what is happening...
Because we think Cruz would make a horrid President, that makes us hate Cruz? Lord you guys are off the deep end. I don’t care enough about Cruz to hate him. I just don’t want him a mile from he white house. Our country is in need of a strong leader and Cruz isn’t it.
Trump 2016.
And when conservatives stay home on Election Day after being treated like dirt by “moderates,” they get the blame for another GOPe nominee losing. Insanity….you know the rest.
I wish these people could make up their mind who they hate more.
Cruz, or Trump?
I’ll vote for either in a heartbeat over any of their GOPe stooges.
If Trump is the nominee there is no winning for anyone except Trump.
So you are saying you are GOPe?
You think this was about you?
Feeling guilty?
the more the GOP hate Cruz, the more I like him.
Oh my gosh. Stop it. Cruz not becoming President does not make me establishment. For God’s sake, stop. I wanted Santorum in 2012 and it was a big disappointment to hear people like you wanted Romney instead and got your way. Cruz will not be the nominee so why do you still think he will be? Are you really for Bernie? You like the free college, free medical and free time off after pregnancy?
I do, too. They know that if Cruz were elected, their corrupt way of doing business will be exposed and grind to a halt. Trump will play ball like he’s always done.
Cruz was the ONLY one leading in Washington the past four years. He rallied and motivated the House conservatives to actually do something other than be a rubber stamp. This is an absurd charge.
Aside from the McConnell thing, exactly why is Cruz supposed to be hated and despised so much by “establishment Republicans”?
Our country is in need of a strong leader and Cruz isn’t it.
Yeah, it’s actually even worse. Nobody fears Cruz. He may win Iowa but has no path to 270 EV votes. Everybody but his true believers can see that. So now it’s payback time now for all his beltway theater. Nobody like getting stepped on by the climber in the office.
OTOH, Trump is sitting at 40% at in the polls and might actually win. So they a lot of people are moderating towards him.
That is really sad, thought quite laughable as well.
I see you got the new memo too - let’s all pretend the GOPe is FOR Trump! Yea, that will get their heads straight!
I’m wondering how Cruz is going to win this, is there a magic formula that hasn’t been shared with us yet?
Aside from the McConnell thing, exactly why is Cruz supposed to be hated and despised so much by “establishment Republicans�
Cruz was campaigning for POTUS since he arrived in DC. Nobody likes the climber in the office.
Ok. To be fair, I need to give you an opportunity to give bills he had passed. Please do.
Not relevant. As a Senate minority party leader, that’s not what happens. He prevented the shitty Senate amnesty bill from passing in the House. He built a coalition of conservative House members (remember those guys that FR used to support) to take a stand on ending Obamacare when the party was ready to waive the white flag. This is called conservative leadership. Not sending checks to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, not to mention all the leftwingers in NY. Not praising Deblasio as the man who will make New York great again.
The majority of conservatives sent to Washington got compromised by the leadership since 2010, Cruz and nearly Cruz alone with those who have followed have opted to listen to their voters, stand for what they ran on and provided an opposing view from Obama and the failed GOP leadership.
If you don’t recognize the actual facts of the past few years, there really is no point in arguing. We’re just going to destroy those advancing our issues and jump blindly into the NY Messiah’s cult of personality.
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