Posted on 09/17/2015 6:27:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Rich Lowry, writing at -- of all places -- Politico has an interesting analysis of the current GOP state of play ("Ted Cruz, Sitting Pretty"):
Ted Cruz isnt topping the polls or dominating the conversation, but hes one of the winners of the past few months.
His odds of winning the nomination have increased more than anyone elses besides Donald Trump, and if you believe (reasonably enough) that Trump isnt built to last, more than anyone elses, period.
Lets review. There was always the danger of Cruz, who made his national reputation on the strength of a misbegotten government shutdown, seeming like too much of a bomb-thrower. That was before it began to look like the Republican Party is open to a candidate only slightly less disruptive than Auguste Vaillant, the 19th-century French anarchist who struck a blow against politics as usual by literally throwing a bomb into the French Chamber of Deputies in 1893 (the establishment wasnt amused it executed him).
Such is the disgust with the Republican leadership, that there is no longer such a thing as going too far.
Cruz could burn John Boehner in effigy, and no one would bat an eye. Cruz could make a citizens arrest of Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor on grounds of gross crimes of omission against the constitutional republic, and the Luntz focus group would applaud his plucky initiative. In sum, theres nothing Cruz could do short of pissing in the Yankee Bean soup in the Senate dining room that would be too outlandish, and even then his most devoted fans might say, Its about damn time!
This must be liberating for Cruz, who has already called McConnell a liar and blamed Boehner and McConnell for not stopping the Iran nuclear deal and hes just getting started...
I liken Cruz to a NASCAR driver who is drafting the leader.
Well, I’m one of his fans.
And I’d love to seem him do any of the things mentioned in the article...
There is a lot more to winning than polls. He’s got the best ground game going and wherever people gather and actually vote, he wins.
The GOPe does see him as a bomb-thrower; within Texas and on the national level they have sought to oppose his candidacy (first for the Senate and later for the White House).
Linsey, J.E.B., Rubio, Christie, Fiorina, on and on are the names they would prefer to have.
He has to fight the opposition within his own party, just as Ronald Reagan had to do
I am a fan too......
Cruz is the only one I support right now. However I don’t get all this optimism about him. He hasn’t done well thus far as far as polls go. I do hope things move in his direction.
“There is a lot more to winning than polls. Hes got the best ground game going and wherever people gather and actually vote, he wins.”
Recall he got his present seat by handily beating a GOPe who was supported by the establishment and Governor Rick Perry, and who had 10X the funding.
One of the most impressive things I’ve seen him do when it would have been easy to pander just a little to appease a crowd he thought was friendly but was anything but.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3337794/posts?page=191#191
FTA: I liken Cruz to a NASCAR driver who is drafting the leader.
If not drafting, certainly riding in the top 5 and staying out of trouble.
Don't stop there! Keep those great ideas coming!
Ted Cruz is the most brilliant man in the field. I’d settle for a Cruz and Trump team. That would be a good blend of Constitutional, foreign policy & domestic (business) expertise with an emphasis on ‘NATIONALISM’. A win/win for America (what’s left of it).
Enjoyed the article. Yes, Trump has paved the way and I am grateful to him.
I do believe that Ted Cruz is the far better candidate. As far as him not attacking Trump, he hasn’t really attacked any other Republican .. that’s not his style.
He can win on his own merits.
Yes, but remember he won the senate seat against all odds as you might say.
The Republican establishment in Texas was dead set against him and he was running against a much better known candidate.
And yet he won easily. Don’t count him out.
The easiest professional politician in the race to vote for.
[Hes got the best ground game going]
CRUZ is organizing his campaign teams and screen delegates in multi-states.
Cruz gonna win. This is the Lowry article
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/ted-cruz-sitting-pretty-213151
Greg Abbott was giving Ted Cruz very high praise last night on twitter.
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