Posted on 11/30/2015 12:47:05 PM PST by ghost of stonewall jackson
THE presidential candidate who has most harmed American politics this year is Donald Trump, a bully who has prospered by inciting rage. Yet from the narrower perspective of the Republican Party, the most dangerous candidate of the 2016 pack may just be Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who is rising in the polls by telling conservative activists a seductive but misleading story about how their party wins elections.
Since launching his presidential run, the 44-year-old Texan has built his campaign around a simple pitch: assuring the most conservative third of the Republican electorate, from born-again Christian voters to hardline members of the Tea Party, that they form a natural majority of the conservative movement, and indeed would decide general elections if they would only turn out and vote. In his telling, this stirring truth frightens a cowardly Republican establishment in Washington, which urges conservatives to run to the middle as "Democrats-lite"—whereupon, Mr Cruz argues, "We get whipped." By way of proof, the first-term senator informs Republican crowds that in 2012, when the party nominated Mitt Romney, roughly half of all born-again Christian voters and millions of blue-collar conservatives stayed home.
New polls show Mr Cruz rising to second place behind Mr Trump in Iowa, which will hold the first contest of the presidential primary season on February 1st.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
‘We get whipped.” By way of proof, the first-term senator informs Republican crowds that in 2012, when the party nominated Mitt Romney, roughly half of all born-again Christian voters and millions of blue-collar conservatives stayed home.’
And this is inaccurate?????
We know the Economist is a lefty rag so if they’re saying Cruz is a bad choice then you know he scares the hell out of the lefties here as well.
Everyone in the world could vote and the world voted overwhemingly for 0bama. He soon would get a Nobel Prize.
The Commies in Cuba actually outvoted our military personnel at Gitmo.
These people at the Economist are first class, one-world, elitists pukes.
The Economist’s record for accurate predictions is as bad as Al Gore’s global warming predictions.
0bama ran as the most liberal Senator and candidate ever, and won by motivating his liberal base against a dispirited conservative base.
Cruz is Turnabout.
Remember Barry Goldwater? He lost 44 states
Alas for Cruz fans, the senator’s story about a Republican voter strike in 2012 does not add up. Turnout fell among lots of groups in 2012, some of them Obama-friendly. Moreover, turnout actually rose in some of the most closely-fought states. Voting rates also remained pretty healthy among white Protestant evangelicals, who made up one in four of all voters according to exit polls, though they account for only 19% of the population. Conservative Cruz fans may not care, for now. His fable about how elections are won flatters them, after all. As Mr Cruz beamed in Des Moines: “The men and women in this room scare the living daylights out of Washington.” But it is a fable: no Republican has won the White House without hefty moderate support. Mr Cruz is a clever and eloquent man. All the more reason to beware him.
What a bunch of crap!
“a bully who has prospered by inciting rage.”
Is he talking about Obama who incites rioting every chance he gets. He must be talking about Obama!
We tried with McCain, who was loathe to do battle against Obama.. and failed. Then we tried with Romney, who ALSO refused to mix it up with Obama.. and — with the exception of one bright moment after the first debate — failed.
If Cruz fails, it won’t be due to an unwillingness to take the fight to the enemy.
What is wrong with the Constitution,freedom, self determination, success, capitalism, property rights, liberty, and less government telling us what we must do? This is what I say to people who say Cruz is a bad candidate on posts. I never get a reply unless they agree.
actually, i’m that old. I do.
I didn’t incite our rage, he simply gave it a voice.
Romney mccain dole and bush all moderates & lost
which 2012 obama states does cruz turn red?
what about 1988?
I hope “The Economist” thinks this is a harmful editorial against Sen. Cruz. Why? The Schadenfreude on election day will be glorious.
5.56mm
“Mr. Cruz is a clever and eloquent man. All the more reason to beware him.”
First off, the writer is incapable of using the English language correctly.
Second, he says of Senator Cruz, that people should, “beware him” because Cruz is intelligent and eloquent. The author is concerned that someone intelligent and eloquent would be a big problem. He also complains that Cruz earned a Supreme Court clerkship. And he is concerned that Cruz actually believes in moral values.
The Republicans must nominate someone who has no morals, is unintelligent and is unable to articulate a message according to the article. Only then will they have any chance of winning.
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