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Home Front: Politix
Ted Cruz puts his political career ahead of his country - and it backfires
2016-07-21
[WASHINGTONTIMES] In the end it was all about Ted Cruz.

Delivering an un-vetted speech before the GOP convention Wednesday night, Ted Cruz -- as is always his custom -- carefully calculated just how to do it so it would benefit himself the most. And it backfired.

He uttered the name of his party’s nominee -- the man who invited him to speak -- just once, only to congratulate him on the nomination. Quite pointedly, the Texas Senator refused to endorse Donald Trump.

As if to punctuate his own bitter whining over losing, Cruz actually told conventioneers that New York is different from Iowa, reviving the major theme of his losing campaign against Trump. And reminding folks that, yes, he won the Iowa caucuses and for a very brief moment was the Republican frontrunner.

As he wound up his non-endorsement speech, the convention hall began to get restless. Delegates began to realize that the rude political has-been was actually going to withhold an endorsement.

In an eruption, they thrust to their feet and shouted at Cruz. They booed him and pounded into him, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

It would have been humiliating for the Texas Senator if he had been listening. Instead, he remained laser focused on a speech he hoped would set him up for another presidential run in 2020. This, of course, would be banking on the deep hope that Donald Trump loses in November. And Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John C. Calhoun ...
 wins.

This is a man whose arrogance and ego knows no bounds.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation," Cruz said snidely, as the rowdy crowd of New Yorkers at his feet reproved Cruz for his blatant non-endorsement of the Republican nominee for president.

How could he not? With the Supreme Court in the balance, how could Ted Cruz not swallow hard and endorse the only man who can stop Hillary Clinton from choosing two and possibly five Supreme Court replacements?

This is a man who loves himself and his political career so much more than his country.

And it was not just the New York delegation booing him. It was delegates around the arena, standing up, shouting him down and waving him off the stage.

"Don’t stay home," Cruz said weakly.

"Vote your conscience," he said, as if to highlight that Donald Trump is not a professional politician. It was a signal to the party establishment that they should not vote for Trump if they don’t love him.

As Mr. Trump did during the primary, he will have to win this general election without help of professional incumbent politicians like Ted Cruz. And Ted Cruz will go down with the sinking GOP ship U.S.S. Bush.

Good riddance.

Posted by:Fred

#33  The above meant for Old Spook.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2016-07-21 21:16  

#32  Like Spook, the speech was fine, but despite the offer by Trump (whom I find the worst candidate my party has selected in my lifetime) Cruz intended to damage Trump on the national stage, giving significant aid to the most dangerous and corrupt candidate the democrats have even proposed, and that is saying something. Cruz wanted revenge and knew it would damage Trump. I'm fine with that, but not at that venue. That puts revenge above the future of the nation. If he cannot keep his word, at least shut up at this crucial moment. As for the insult. When someone makes it offensively personal, I doubt you would tolerate that. I will not.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2016-07-21 21:15  

#31  Trump’s former GOP rival, who like the rest of the field signed a pledge during the primaries to support the party’s nominee, said that agreement was “abdicated” when the brash real estate mogul mocked his wife, Heidi, and suggested that his father was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

“That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say, ‘Thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father,‘” Cruz said.

Link of this mornings response to the boos.
Posted by: Percy McCoy7690   2016-07-21 20:32  

#30  Demand Mr. Trump sign a pledge to back the winner of the race, then do exactly to opposite when he wins. Sorry folks, your heroes have feet of clay. Vote your conscience, screw integrity. So many Trunk are like so many Donks, my power first, democracy and integrity last.

The man couldn't pull it off just in the Party, he wasn't going to win in November. You'd have your Barry Goldwater moment, but Hillary would appoint at least the next two SCOTUS justices.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-07-21 20:19  

#29  You mean the ones at the convention, or the ones on the intertubes?
Posted by: Pappy   2016-07-21 19:55  

#28  I don't think the orchestrated boos were classy. Kind of petty in and of themselves.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 19:44  

#27  Briliant move by Cruz. Trump will win in November The convention will be forgotten. Except for the Ted Cruz speech. Ted used Trumps controversial play book. He never said do not vote for the Republican choice which Ctuz supporters will come out and do. He just made it clear he will not kiss the ring on Trumps fist for personal reasons and to Trumps credit he approved the speech before it was given.

This will be an interesting relationship to watch.
Posted by: Unelet Protector of the Sith2424   2016-07-21 18:31  

#26  And besides that, I don't give a rat's ass about Kurds or Turks or Syrians or anybody else in that cat box except that I would kick the Turks out of NATO promptly after getting everybody and everything out of Turkey including Incirlik. I don't care. Let the Russians deal with them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2016-07-21 17:11  

#25  Now, you're being revisionist thing.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-21 17:04  

#24  And I remember getting sinktrapped once for a lot less than Thing said.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2016-07-21 17:04  

#23  Are you saying that you're objection to Cruz is his physical attributes? Because that sounds... bad.

Uh, yeah. I said I was sorry. But it's like a limp, clammy handshake. It kinda tells you something about the man. And like OldSpook says, if I read the speech I don't find anything wrong with it. But I didn't read it, I watched it on TV, and that makes a difference.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2016-07-21 17:03  

#22  You mean the guy who got Gaddafi to turn over on the AQ Khan network, thus making Stuxnet possible? I remember a lot of the shitty things you said about him and how you thought Obama and Hillary were better than him in 2009... but go ahead, make your case for Erdogan this week.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 16:58  

#21  Thing, do you remember what I was saying about Bush?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-21 16:34  

#20  For the last eight years Obama has fucked up stuff in the name of democracy and in the name of Modern Health Care. Would you stop using naprelan because he says he's for modern health care? Is anything going to get better if we let Erdogan (for instance) fuck over the Kurds and steal another election?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 16:00  

#19  In context, USA been spreading democracy/nation building for the last 20+ years.
(a) Did it work? Anywhere?
(b) Democracy begins at home.
And that Trump said is classical Jacksonianism. And, IMO - looking from the outside at the forrest, non from inside at the trees, it's long past time USA returned to its roots.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-21 15:20  

#18  'Who's going to suck it up and support him then?'

By 2020 Texas and the US may be at the "irreconcilable differences" stage.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 15:06  

#17  'What is wrong with that?'

In context, this is Erdogan, who was ranting about and against Israel up to two weeks ago...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 15:04  

#16  I don't think they should have given him that prime talking slot and his non-endorsement won't help him in 2020. Who's going to suck it up and support him then?
Posted by: dk70 the scantily clad   2016-07-21 15:01  

#15  FYI, the stuff you see flooding the press about this backfiring? Its the establishment trying to bury Cruz. The elites have their guy, Donald Trump, and are angry that Cruz would embarrass them on national TV. This was highlighting the establishment and elites sellout and lack of principles by Cruz sticking to his principles and refusing to bend his knee in obedience to the party. Cruz maintained his values, values that I share. The GOP, Trump and Trump supporters I cannot say the same for.

If Trump's people had not whipped the crowd into booing, and simply sat there and golf-clapped or simply refused to applaud, this would have been forgotten. Instead they booed, and physically went after Cruz's wife. As usual, Trump and his followers screwed this up by making it personal.
Posted by: OldSpook   2016-07-21 15:00  

#14  Read the speech. Then tell me EXACTLY what you find offensive. It was a great speech.

First he congratulated Trump on his victory. Right up front. He told the party that it must unite. Clearly. He specifically told the party it must turn out in November and urged people to not stay at home. He told the voters to vote their conscience - I do not see the problem with that because anyone with a conscience clearly cannot vote for Hillary. And lastly, Cruz told the voters to stand up for those who stand up for the constitution. Given I and others have taken an oath to uphold and defend that Constitution, I see no problem with that statement either.

I don't see anything wrong with it. Remember Reagan gave a speech but did not endorse in 1976 so there is precedent.

And on a personal level, it would have been a lie had Cruz endorsed the man who slurred his wife, lied about his dad and basically called him a liar the entire campaign. Remember, Cruz did not beg to speak, Trump and the GOP asked him to do so, and they knew he was not going to endorse well ahead of time. So why all the rage?
Posted by: OldSpook   2016-07-21 14:52  

#13  Trump told The New York Times he believes the US can’t “lecture” others on civil liberties.

What is wrong with that?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-21 14:49  

#12  "#3 Is that the preview of 'burg for the next 3 months?"

More like the next 51 months. We have at least that long before we get a President who hasn't sucked up to Erdogan at one point or another.

Funny, I thought you were a skeptic about the whole Holy Democracy thing everyone invokes when they support the SOB.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 14:35  

#11  "I don't know who the hell you are jackass, but in p0erson you might find cause to regret that kind of insult!"

But Ted's gotta Shut Up And Take It from the guy who danced around implying that his Dad helped kill Kennedy. And I have to pretend this guy sucking up to Erdogan (who's still got Incirlik surrounded) is a good candidate.

Brutus and Cassius are both honorable men, excellent candidates, and the Party Nominees.

Fuck.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 14:33  

#10  #7: Are you saying that you're objection to Cruz is his physical attributes? Because that sounds... bad.
Posted by: Charles   2016-07-21 14:32  

#9  Please tone it down, #3 Thing. Let's not turn Rantburg into a lefty-worthy insult-scream-fest.
Posted by: Barbara   2016-07-21 13:45  

#8  I don't know who the hell you are jackass, but in p0erson you might find cause to regret that kind of insult!
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2016-07-21 13:41  

#7   think Cruz is positioning himself for 2020.

Sorry. There is just something irksome about the guy. He has that smarmy smile and that smug, nasal voice. If all I could do is read what he says in the newspaper I might think he was OK. But he's not.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2016-07-21 13:31  

#6  #3 Is that the preview of 'burg for the next 3 months?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-21 13:26  

#5  think Cruz is positioning himself for 2020. He probably believes Trump will be a disaster, either a) losing to Clinton or b) winning and doing a miserable job. Then he'll be remembered as the one to dis Trump to his face on the official GOP stage.
Posted by: Thaish Schwarzeneggar7327   2016-07-21 13:15  

#4  So he didn't endorse Trump, but said to "Vote your conscience". Trump knew it was coming and co-ordinated a counter on the floor. Which is FINE.

M. B. Dougherty had a great line in The Week:

When you become outraged at a man who encourages you to abide by your conscience, it means your conscience has already condemned you.

This will blow over in a week or so, Cruz will sit out the election, and if this is enough to sink Trump then he wasn't going to win anyway.

Personally I'm more concerned about the reaction's on the floor, and how people were attempting to move and get to Heidi Cruz. She had to be escorted out for her own safety, and that is just.... wrong.
Posted by: Charles   2016-07-21 13:06  

#3  What's that NomoreBS?

I am having trouble understanding what you're saying with Trump and Erdogan's dicks in your mouth.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-21 12:44  

#2  Cruz last night gave proof that a man can be a brilliant orator, a skilled Constitutional scholar, a genuine conservative thinker, and still be a self-absorbed, petulant, jackass whose need to piss on the leg of an opponent outweighs his loyalty to the future of the nation itself. Had he been really in noble opposition, he would have avoided speaking to the convention, but his face belied that claim, he could not hide his delight. You showed me last night you are a sh*thead Ted!
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2016-07-21 12:26  

#1  Well, that's one view.
Posted by: Iblis   2016-07-21 12:18  

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