Everybody hates Ted
13/4/16 00:04![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mahnmut.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpolitics"With Trump bruised after Wisconsin, Republicans are beginning to realize that Cruz is their last chance.", BloombergPolitics argues. Doesn't sound like the most inspiring slogan, does it? "Vote for me, I'm your last chance to avert disaster!" Or something like that. Gotta pity the GOP for the predicament they've put themselves in.
Or you don't have to.
I must say I peed a little from laughing while reading some of these. That's a very interesting (and enlidhtening) collection of Tweets by prominent political smart-heads, the Republican ones being of particular interest. My personal fave? "Stop, you're wrong, you're crazy!" (pronounced by none else but John McCain himself). Sums it all up on Ted, methinks.
It was mentioned around here that Obama tends to push so many buttons with conservatives, they've become a huge button-covered robot bleeping non-stop. But what about Ted? The buttons he pushes *with conservatives* seem even more intriguing. It's as if the GOP is suffering a major form of schizophrenia, where it essentially has got two faces. One is the elitist, snobbish type of conservative - and then there's the pitchfork hillbilly angry mob sort of conservative, the one rallying behind guys like Trump - and Cruz. The latter seems to have firmly taken the upper hand lately, if the polls and the primaries results are any guide.
I've personally heard more than a dozen conservatives making the point that Cruz is even worse than Trump, that Ted is actually even lower on their "to-root-for" list than The Donald, and that the GOP would suffer an immense setback if Ted were to end up being the nominee (contested convention and all that trickery). Frankly, that's a frightening thought. Can't say I'm too familiar with Ted's political record - all I know is that he was instrumental in the Tea Party takeover within Congress, and the resultant obstructionist aura that the GOP has wrapped itself in ever since. If anyone is surprised, on the other hand, of the results in the GOP primaries (the two "outsiders" Trump and Cruz being the front-runners, while establishment tools like Rubio and Jeb being kicked in the teeth early on), they haven't really been paying attention in the last few years. Don't know if this is a genuine "revolution" or just some basic instincts resurfacing among the illiterate unwashed masses at the wrong place at the wrong time - but it's no longer an issue that could be overlooked and hand-waved with the ease and condescension inherent to party elites.
And by the way, if the Democrats think they're immune of the same plague, they better think twice.
Or you don't have to.
I must say I peed a little from laughing while reading some of these. That's a very interesting (and enlidhtening) collection of Tweets by prominent political smart-heads, the Republican ones being of particular interest. My personal fave? "Stop, you're wrong, you're crazy!" (pronounced by none else but John McCain himself). Sums it all up on Ted, methinks.
It was mentioned around here that Obama tends to push so many buttons with conservatives, they've become a huge button-covered robot bleeping non-stop. But what about Ted? The buttons he pushes *with conservatives* seem even more intriguing. It's as if the GOP is suffering a major form of schizophrenia, where it essentially has got two faces. One is the elitist, snobbish type of conservative - and then there's the pitchfork hillbilly angry mob sort of conservative, the one rallying behind guys like Trump - and Cruz. The latter seems to have firmly taken the upper hand lately, if the polls and the primaries results are any guide.
I've personally heard more than a dozen conservatives making the point that Cruz is even worse than Trump, that Ted is actually even lower on their "to-root-for" list than The Donald, and that the GOP would suffer an immense setback if Ted were to end up being the nominee (contested convention and all that trickery). Frankly, that's a frightening thought. Can't say I'm too familiar with Ted's political record - all I know is that he was instrumental in the Tea Party takeover within Congress, and the resultant obstructionist aura that the GOP has wrapped itself in ever since. If anyone is surprised, on the other hand, of the results in the GOP primaries (the two "outsiders" Trump and Cruz being the front-runners, while establishment tools like Rubio and Jeb being kicked in the teeth early on), they haven't really been paying attention in the last few years. Don't know if this is a genuine "revolution" or just some basic instincts resurfacing among the illiterate unwashed masses at the wrong place at the wrong time - but it's no longer an issue that could be overlooked and hand-waved with the ease and condescension inherent to party elites.
And by the way, if the Democrats think they're immune of the same plague, they better think twice.
(no subject)
Date: 12/4/16 23:44 (UTC)I think most Democrats who otherwise would have been interested in running realized their primary was more of a formality this time around - and had been wrapped up for about 8 years already (although one candidate and a decent chunk of voters didn't get that memo) - but it could absolutely happen to them if in a future election they start with 10+ candidates where 80% or so are moderate/Clinton democrats.
(no subject)
Date: 13/4/16 14:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 13/4/16 15:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 13/4/16 01:22 (UTC)This is probably correct. That said, I'd much rather see the GOP suffer a setback than the country. Besides, being blown up and having to rebuild might be the best thing for the GOP at this point.
(no subject)
Date: 13/4/16 16:43 (UTC)1.) People who say, "He's worse than Trump!" are, frankly, delusional. Whatever you may think of Cruz, and he is by no means my first, second or even third choice, he is still a solid, principled conservative with a track record to prove it. Trump, on the other hand, is nothing of the kind. Most of the folks who hate Cruz hate him because he slagged the establishment from day one and refused to play the congeniality game in the Senate. And that is fair enough. Cruz doesn't strike me as a congenial guy,
2.) People who say, "He's just like Trump!" are, frankly, ignorant. Cruz is, and has been, a small government, Constitutional purist. The man is acknowledged, even by his worst enemies, to be the smartest man in the room 9/10. Trump, on the other hand, is nothing of the kind.
3.) People who whine and fret about Cruz's "trickery" or his potentially "stealing the nomination at the convention," are, frankly, crybabies. Contested conventions have been uncommon, but they are not so uncommon not to be understood. A contested convention is the means by which a party comes to a consensus about who will represent them. A consensus. That means, at the very least, a clear 50%+1 majority for a single candidate. It is rally around the flag time, not "lets see who can win a plurality of votes from among a cast of dozens." It shouldn't be hard to understand that if Trump is winning 40%, Cruz 30%, Rubio 25% and Kasich 5% then the party doesn't want a Trump candidacy by the very wide margin of 20 points. So, the delegates will have to vote again. And again. And maybe even again and again, until a clear majority says, "We want zombie James K. Polk!", or James Garfield, or whatever other dark horse you might like to name. Chances are, however, it will be Ted Cruz because he is smart, organized, motivated and ruthless.
(no subject)
Date: 14/4/16 01:21 (UTC)I wasn't familiar with this - but it seems he once wrote a 76 page defense of the criminilization of dildos. (I bet you went back and read that 2 or 3 more times because you thought you read it wrong. You didn't.)
The only defense of this I can think of is - it was his job as solicitor general to defend the law no matter what he thought of it.
But still - 76 pages - I don't care where you stand on the hot-topic of dildo advertisements and sales - but your opinion should be a page, two pages tops.
(no subject)
Date: 17/4/16 06:44 (UTC)