Cruz: GOP can empower grassroots by ditching consultants, ‘Soviet-style campaigns’

The Washington Times ^ | May 31, 2014 | Seth McLaughlin

[2ndDivisionVet]

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday that the GOP can bolster its appeal by sticking to its conservative principles and embracing a bottom-up campaign model that empowers grassroots voters.

Speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference, Mr. Cruz said the party must ditch the Washington-centric campaign model and stop listening to the political consultants.

“A lot of Republicans tend to have top-down Soviet-style campaigns,” Mr. Cruz said. “It is very odd for a party that believes in free market that they run campaigns through command and control.”

“That is disempowering and it doesn’t inspire,” Mr. Cruz said. “What is far more effective is having a race built on empowering the grassroots.”

Since being elected in 2012, Mr. Cruz has occasionally butted headed with GOP leaders in Washington, and has become a darling of the tea party and grassroots activists around the country.

The 43-year-old is now thought to be considering a run for GOP presidential nomination in 2016 in what is shaping up to be a crowded field....

[2ndDivisionVet]

I've made my choice.

[onyx]

God bless and keep Senator Ted Cruz and his precious family!

He is absolutely the very best!



Senator Cruz ROCKS!

[cripplecreek]

Yup, ditching the consultants and strategists is the best thing they could do.

[onyx]

“A lot of Republicans tend to have top-down Soviet-style campaigns,” Mr. Cruz said.


“It is very odd for a party that believes in free market that they run campaigns through command and control.”

Donate!

Donate!

[Regulator]

We’re being treated to the idiotic Neel Kashkari by the dying RINO “establishment”.

Already voted for Tim Donnelly. Like Cruz in Texas, a new generation of solid Conservatives will do what they can in California.

But because of limp wristed clowns like Pete Wilson and his ilk in not doing anything about the border, its over for the so-called GOP in California.

Just one big Detroit....

[C. Edmund Wright]

What Cruz sez echoes what this book says about GOP consultant driven campaigns:

[2ndDivisionVet]

We need more conservatives here to balance out the freaks coming here for jobs that’ll make a mess out of Texas like they did their home states.

[Free Vulcan]

He’s right. Being from Iowa and involved heavily in the political scene, I deal with these asshats and their minions all the time, especially during Presidential years. Generally clueless about winning campaigns, really good at spending a bunch of money down a hole. They don’t care, if they lose they go on to some other job. If we lose here, we have to live with it.

[freekitty]

I agree.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Amen!!! He’s right.

[Graewoulf]

BUMP!

[Shugee]

Yes, ditch ‘em all the way down to the state and local level. Dan Patrick, who won the runoff for Texas Lt. Gov has a crap consultant named Allen Blakemore who did Patrick no favors. Michael Berry, on his radio show, emphasized the way consultants exert malevolent influence long after the campaign is over and far into the politician’s term. Berry was sincerely worried about the injection of Blakemore into the most powerful office of Texas, which is probably similar to how Ted Cruz feels about Karl Rove and company on the national stage.

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[ConorMacNessa]

The more I hear Ted Cruz, the more I like him! Go, Ted!!!

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[robowombat]

The ‘political consultants’ that parachute in to Iowa or anywhere also hate normal middle class Americans because they are, admittedly lowly members, members of the professional political class which is culturally leftist and coarsely secular and materialistic. These people genuinely hate those who have an operating moral compass and values as they have none other than some sort of supposed commitment to’tolerance and compassion and inclusivity’ and it makes them very nervous to be around anyone who does believe in something. This is true of pretty much the entire political culture and the upper ranks of the bureaucracy, the military and the foreign policy establishment. It is very daunting for normal middle class Americans to keep their heads above the water and keep their children from being corrupted into coarsely sensual little statist materialists. The political operatives don't want conservatives to win and give lousy advice and guidance because both their biases and their ignorance of the local terrain.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I lived in Iowa (Slater, Kelly and the South Side of Des Moines) from 1974 to 2001. Worked on the Haig campaign and for the Polk County GOP.

[Defiant]

It’s not Pete’s fault. The one great thing he did (maybe for cynical reasons but it was great nonetheless) was Prop 187. The courts shot it down, and the state was soon flooded with illegals, and then Clinton’s Motor Voter turned a precarious balance into a Democrat wipeout. Pete is a moderate wimp, no doubt, but he didn’t kill the party in California. Demographics did, and on that, he fought.

[robowombat]

Here is the link to Berry mixing it up with Blakemore. Blakemore has the sort of face that has his slimy character stamped on it. He is trouble indeed:

http://pearlandteaparty.com/2014/05/16/talk-show-host-michael-berry-responds-to-dan-patricks-political-consultant-allen-blakemore-morning-5-16-2014/

[Defiant]

I worry very much about Cruz’s safety. The people in charge are Stalinist at heart. They have no moral qualms about wiping out their enemies, only political ones. If they could get away with it, they would. And so they may try. And, sadly, I believe that guys like McConnell would secretly be happy, and there would be no consequences. Guys like us would be ridiculed as conspiracy nuts for even thinking the government could do that.

[FreeReign]

The Washington-centric consultants are corrupt.

When you empower the grass roots you avoid that problem.