Posted on 03/23/2015 8:35:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
There’s a reason Ted Cruz kept asking his Liberty University audience to “imagine” a conservative president: no one of normal college age has ever lived under one.
If Cruz wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, he will only be the third movement conservative to do so, after Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. (Liberals will count George W. Bush, but he wasn’t a product of the movement in the same sense as Reagan or Goldwater even if you think he was a conservative.)
Republican primary voters are starting to imagine a conservative president. In 1999, Dubya led the field by more than 50 points. Jeb Bush is tied with Scott Walker in the Real Clear Politics polling average.
That’s both the challenge and the opportunity for Cruz. He needs to get Republican primary voters to imagine him as their conservative president.
How does Cruz make that happen? First, the Texas senator announced his presidential campaign at Liberty University, a school founded by Jerry Falwell. Falwell, now deceased, was also one of the founders of the modern religious right.
There’s a crowded field vying for the conservative Christian vote, including Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Rick Santorum. Walker is himself the son of a Baptist minister.
Cruz is making his own play for this vote, which will be crucial in Iowa. He is the best speaker in this group of articulate social conservatives. Carson is gaffe-prone, Santorum comes across as preachy and humorless, Huckabee (the actual preacher) is perhaps too folksy and jokey.
Ted Cruz weaves together a lot of the strengths of all of the above candidates while mostly avoiding their weaknesses. He can talk about how Christianity changed his father’s life and he can serve up red meat on conservative issues.
Then there is the challenge of other Republicans hovering around a breakout point, most notably Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, but also potentially including Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal.
Cruz will have to hit Paul on foreign policy and Rubio on immigration, but not so hard that alienates either candidate’s base. Cruz particularly has to hope some libertarians will settle for him if Paul’s campaign fails to take off — both Ron and Rand Paul endorsed him for Senate in 2012 — as they never would the explicitly anti-libertarian Huckabee or Santorum.
If — and it’s a big if — Cruz can catapult himself to the top of this crowded field of activist conservatives, he will have to take on Walker.
On the one hand, this shouldn’t be too hard. While Walker impressed with his speech to the Iowa Freedom Summit, he is not in Cruz’s league as an orator. Neither is he as knowledgeable about national and international issues.
It is easy to imagine — always the key word for Cruz — the senator from Texas mopping the floor with Walker in a debate. The debates will be very important for Cruz.
Yet you can perform well in debates and be the social conservatives’ favorite speaker on the stump without winning the Republican presidential nomination. Just ask Alan Keyes.
Walker’s rejoinder to Cruz’s eloquent rhetoric is obvious: I’m a governor who has gotten conservative things done; you are a freshman senator who can talk a good game — a not too subtle way of comparing Cruz to Barack Obama.
Cruz will then have to make the case that efforts like his Obamacare defunding gambit (which rather noticeably concluded without Obamacare actually being defunded) moved the needle in some important way.
Barring that, perhaps Cruz can convince the base that the Obamacare battle demonstrated something about his character that conservatives should want in a president. Ronald Reagan didn’t stop the Panama Canal treaty from being ratified, but he did win a lot of hearts by opposing it.
If Cruz was only running against Jeb Bush, he could credibly contrast his conservatism with the former Florida governor’s Common Core competence as an executive. Walker offers Republican primary voters both executive experience and conservatism, and he’s already close to Bush in the polls.
Whether Cruz can close that sale or not, his presidential campaign will be an interesting test. He reportedly wants to raise $40 to $50 million, a hefty sum without many of the establishment bigwigs or Paulite libertarians inclined to give to him. He’ll have to fundraise largely off smaller grassroots donors who were galvanized by his Obamacare fight.
No matter how far Cruz makes it in the race, his presidential campaign will be a major test of grassroots conservative strength. These are the imaginations Cruz must capture first.
There's no need for that sort of nastiness. If you prefer Walker over Cruz, then good for you. It's up to all of us to study the candidates and make our own informed choices.
I choose Cruz.
Bloody hell, that is freaking BRILLIANT!
.
Oh, and I’ve already stolen it ;-)
Steal away! Send it everywhere! I’m not the author, but I stand behind it 100 percent! :)
I'm going to post it on Facebook and watch some liberal heads explode ;-)
I like Walker, I like his executive experience, but once he is elected, will he capitulate on border security? It seems as if his position is focus grouped, as opposed to a value he holds.
Did anyone else notice the actual conversational style Cruz displayed with Hannity tonight answering questions? A refreshing departure from the standard political “I don’t care what the question is because I turn every question into an opportunity to recite my memorized poll-tested message!” This man speaks from a depth of knowledge and belief that I have not seen, well, since Ronald Reagan. He pulled out a 3 point “how do you handle Ukraine” answer that was clearly just based on his world view and was not a prepared response. He is not afraid to actually answer questions because he trusts his foundational values and depth of knowledge. Pretty sure liberal heads will continue to explode with this guy. Can’t wait to see him in the debates! He’s already made several liberal pundits look like school children. I have clearly learned to not look for a “Savior” in any politician but I am definitely looking for “God’s man.” A true “leader.” We just might have that man in Ted Cruz.
Liberals secretly admire Cruz.
Wow
Anyone else text "Conservative" to 33733?
I pulled my car into a parking lot to do it...
Anyone else text “Conservative” to 33733?
Actually, I’m txt’g Constitution instead... LEADERSHIP AND VALUES is what Ted has, and I’m all for Walker at the Labor Dept after two avowed Socialists under 0bamao....
ymmv
Well at least Walker does have a proven track record. Cruz might be able to get things done or he might not, we simply don't know. One thing for sure in politics is that principle alone does not get things done. Principles are for guidance but you must be willing to twist some arms, step on toes and and negotiate like a champion in order to enact those principles. Walker evidently has done just that.
That being said I believe Cruz is far more conservative and what sets him apart is he is in favor of actually REDUCING government, not fixing it. How many candidates do you think are going to give speeches suggesting we shut down the IRS? We need the big steps Cruz seems willing to take. I also think Cruz is by far the most intelligent Candidate. He is likely to be tough in debates but can he raise money?
NOW is the time to unite behind Cruz for the primaries. NOW is the time to tell other conservatives who are more like Cruz than they are like Bush/Christie, to save it until 2020 or beyond, because all they threaten to do by throwing their hat into the primary ring, is to dilute the Cruz vote and benefit the GOPe.
NOW is the time to remember -- focus on ONE thing, and one thing only: making sure that Cruz gets the Republican nomination. Harping about how "Republicans should be attacking Obama and the Democrats, not each other," ONLY DISTRACTS from the main mission. Having Republican primary candidates attack Hillary/Obama/Democrats has zilch to do with making sure Cruz gets the nomination.
If the GOP fails to nominate Cruz -- and Walker, good though he may be, now can ONLY pose a threat to Cruz's nomination now that Cruz had declared his intentions -- then all bets are off. There is ZERO way that having both Cruz and Walker in the race will help anyone but RINOS.
We need to unite now and jealously protect and advance Cruz's status as the SOLE limited government Christian conservative Republican primary candidate.
Otherwise, the primary vote will be split, a functional Democrat-Republican will be nominated again, and we'll end up with election where Americans are asked to take the sucker's bet of voting for tyranny either way. If that happens in 2016, even more will sit it out or vote third party than in 2012.
So -- the ONLY thing that counts is keeping Cruz front-and-center in the Republican primaries. It's not about Obama, it's not about Hillary, and it's not about the Democrats. IT'S ABOUT REPUBLICANS, so we need to keep the focus there. Just the same, a shocking number of FReepers seem to think Republican primaries are about fighting Democrats. They're not -- they're about fighting leftist Republicans.
Wise, words, Finny, as usual.
Donated right after he announced.
The best thing we can do, besides prayer.
Thanks for your kind words ... and yes, prayers are crucial! As is $ for Cruz’s campaign.
This is when I met and began my support of Ted Cruz....Sept 2013.. when he filbustered that night and gave an outstanding lesson in just how our government works..or should and shouldn't work...it was riviting...I stayed up that night because he was so engaging in explaining what he wanted to say.... I believed him...and that he believed what he was saying regardless if of those opposing him. I learned about the man that night....and from then on watched and waited.
Yep.....but it’s not too late to turn the ship...not yet anyway.
Thanks for spotting my mistake - I actually texted "Constitution" myself (vs. "Imagine" which was his other keyword to use)- got caught up in the moment and since he's the most conservative choice we got, my poor old brain got tangle up with itself in the excitement.
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