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CRUZ or LOSE!Posted on 03/28/2015 5:12:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The voters are just getting to know the candidates running for president on the Republican side, and the months ahead will allow plenty of time to weigh their credentials and assess how they perform under pressure on the campaign trail. It will be a grueling experience for those who accept the challenge, and whoever emerges in the spring of 2016 joins the battle again in the fall against the Democratic standard-bearer.
As the first official entry into what promises to be a crowded field, Texas Senator Ted Cruz got quite a ride from the media for his announcement this week. He and his wife appeared with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show, and he was the subject of numerous profiles attempting to divine what he is all about, his motivations, and whether he is presidential material.
The early line on Cruz is that while he’s undeniably smart, even brilliant, that he has charted such a narrow path for himself on the far right of his party that he could not reach out to the rest of America should he manage to win the nomination. At Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, Cruz told a packed auditorium of students to “Imagine” a presidency where every word of Obamacare is repealed, and where the IRS is abolished – a fantasy presidency where everything on the tea party’s wish list comes true.
It will take a whole lot of imagining to believe that Cruz could make these things come true even if he were king, let alone president. Yet he might just hit upon a theme that could catch on, that could make him the leader of the angriest wing of the GOP, the folks who cheer him for forcing the government to shut down and want him to do it again. Never mind the cost to the country, and the workers who were displaced, the shutdown put Ted Cruz in the spotlight.
We’d all like to file our taxes by postcard, but most of us realize how impractical that would be, and that it couldn’t happen unless the tax code were completely overhauled. Still, it’s the kind of idea that Cruz specializes in — totally unachievable, but sounds good.
That’s why he’s made for the tea party. He can take its obsession with a balanced budget, add a touch of sophistication, and before you know it, he’s got a proposal and a presidential platform. There’s a word for that, it’s called demagoguery, and in today’s fast-paced media environment, it could catch on, at least for a while, until the race gets serious.
That’s the bad news, but the good news is that the scrutiny will get more intense once we get past the fun and games stage of the presidential contest. That’s when it will take more than outsized ambition and ego to reach the finals of this fierce competition.
The great jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, said Franklin Roosevelt, who steered the country through the Depression and World War II, had a second-rate intellect but a first-rate temperament.
By that yardstick, Cruz has a ways to go. He has the intellect, but he is among the least liked members of the Senate.
Among the rest of the Republican field, there are contenders whose smarts don’t immediately jump out, and there are problematic personalities. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry is the most congenial of the candidates, and not the smartest if we count his “oops” moment in the 2008 debates. Jeb Bush was always considered the smartest of the Bush brothers, but we don’t know that much yet about his temperament. That’s what the campaign trail is for, and so the months ahead will be enlightening for the voters and for the candidates too.
Furthermore, you do realize that to date, sixteen of our Presidents were either senators or had no "Executive Experience" before they became President of the United States, many who have not only made decent Presidents but Good Presidents as well. Three senators, Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.
(Photo: Warren G. Harding. Senate Historical Office)
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Senator, 1790-1794
President, 1817-1825
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Senator, 1803-1808
President, 1825-1829
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Andrew Jackson
Senator, 1797-1798; 1823-1825
President, 1829-1837
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Martin Van Buren
Senator, 1821-1828
President, 1837-1841
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William Henry Harrison
Senator, 1825-1828
President, 1841
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John Tyler
Senator, 1827-1836
President, 1841-1845
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Franklin Pierce
Senator, 1837-1842
President, 1853-1857
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James Buchanan
Senator, 1834-1845
President, 1857-1861
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Andrew Johnson
Senator, 1857-1862; 1875
President, 1865-1869
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Benjamin Harrison
Senator, 1881-1887
President, 1889-1893
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Warren G. Harding
Senator, 1915-1921
President, 1921-1923
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Harry S. Truman
Senator, 1935-1945
President, 1945-1953
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John F. Kennedy
Senator, 1953-1960
President, 1961-1963
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Senator, 1949-1961
President, 1963-1969
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Richard M. Nixon
Senator, 1950-1953
President, 1969-1974
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Take a breath and read it again.
CRUZ or LOSE!Well played my friend, well played...
It was sarcasm.
Ted Cruz doesn't have a chance in hell for all the reasons I listed. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I recall thinking the same thing about a certain junior senator from Illinois back in '07.
He didn't have a chance either.
Sorry about that, apparently my “Sarcasm” Radar is on the blitz tonight. Forgive me my FRiend!
It's all good. It's Saturday night!
Bull hockey!!
I somehow missed the sarcasm tag as well.
Lighter than air man flight, never going to happen, so they said in the late 19th century.
LOL
I am all in favor of senator Cruz’s agenda. Every single one of them!
Some reasons Walker is ahead of Cruz in my preference list is because Walker was fought tooth and nail by unions with nationwide help in money & people, in a blue state (WI Voted for Obama twice?) and won 3 elections in a 4 year period. No other governor has survived 2 recall elections in one term in my memory. Other reason why I keep Walker ahead of Cruz is he has ACTUAL RECORD of cutting taxes and Balancing budgets. Proven executive experience counts! And frankly in my humble opinion, Walker is more likable than Cruz.
All that said, I will celebrate if senator Cruz wins nomination and wins in general. He certainly has the skills to accomplish that. Again, IMHO, I give governor Walker a greater chance of winning in general election than senator Cruz. In my observation, Walker will face much less virulent attacks by media than Cruz. I am sure you are aware, 90% of voters are not political junkies. They do not log onto FR or read political news. Most can’t even name who the Vice President is. So I am not willing to ignore effect media has on voters.
He’s got to say these criminal trespassers need to be deported....all of them.
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Well, that ain’t happening. You will not be voting at all in this Presidential Election because nobody is going to say that all 11 million illegals need to be deported. If you find a candidate who will say that, let me know.
I don’t think anyone caught the sarcasm in that. I know I sure didn’t. When I read it, it thought: “What the hell?” and just blew it off as the rantings of a closet RINO.
The person who made this statement might also make the following statement after discovering a painful boil on his/her butt:
"I guess I could see the doctor and have it lanced and packed so it would stop hurting and also heal, but that just sounds good in my head because it is totally unachievable."
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