Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Cole is on a roll !

Republicans don’t trust women.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Cruz-ifiction / Open Thread: What News of Ted Cruz, Stealth God-King Candidate?

Open Thread: What News of Ted Cruz, Stealth God-King Candidate?

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Per the NYTimes, “Ted Cruz Questions Donald Trump’s ‘Judgment’ to Be President”…

… [I]nside a conference room Wednesday in a Madison Avenue office, with about 70 people pressed around a table, Mr. Cruz gave his assessment of the race, lumping Mr. Trump with another candidate whose supporters the Texas senator hopes to poach, Ben Carson.

“Both of them I like and respect,” said Mr. Cruz, according to an audio recording of his comments provided by one attendee. “I don’t believe either one of them is going to be our president.”…

On the audio, after he described the “challenging question” facing Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson, Mr. Cruz went on to explain: “So my approach, much to the frustration of the media, has been to bear hug both of them, and smother them with love.”

He added: “People run as who they are. I believe gravity will bring both of those campaigns down” and “the lion’s share of their supporters come to us.”…

Mr. Cruz, questioned about the remarks on Thursday after a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said he was “not going to comment on what I may or may not have said at a private fund-raiser.”…

In a decent world, that audio clip would be the 2016 version of Mitt Romney’s “47 Percent” fundraiser speech, if only because listening to Ted Cruz for even five minutes is an ordeal, and not just because of his revolting politics.

Unless, apparently, one is a Talibangelical hustler drafting on Rep. Steve ‘Pig Muck” King’s slice of the electorate:

… “At the end of the day, we truly believe that Ted Cruz is the most consistent and principled conservative who has the ability to not only win Iowa but I believe to win the (Republican) nomination,” Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the Family Leader, told The Des Moines Register in an interview Wednesday.

It’s a triumph for Cruz, a Texas U.S. senator whose stances on abortion, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration, religious liberty and foreign affairs align with the most hardline conservatives in Iowa — the voters who are expected to dominate the first-in-the-nation presidential vote on Feb. 1.

And it’s a blow to the other candidates who auditioned for the endorsement, including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Lindsey Graham.

Jeb Bush and Chris Christie didn’t court Vander Plaats, a controversial figure who is a lightning rod for criticism for his belief that conservative Christian ideology should be the driving force in government.

In 2008, Vander Plaats spent a year stumping for Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, and at the last minute in 2012 backed Santorum, a former Pennsylvania U.S. senator. Both presidential candidates went on to win the caucuses….

And also to lose the godsdamned GOP nomination, much less the Presidency. So there’s that!

But it’s been a busy, busy week for Senator Cruz, one way and another…

Political horserace tout Chris Cillizza sez Cruz is “in the catbirds seat”…

… Ted Cruz, as of today, has the most direct route to the Republican presidential nomination — assuming the past history of Republican nomination fights works as a broad predictor of where this race is headed…

1. Cruz is positioned as the most conservative candidate in the race…
In a Republican primary — particularly one in which the GOP electorate is mad as hell at everyone (including those in their own party) for an alleged lack of commitment to conservative principles — being the guy all the way on the ideological right is a very, very good thing.
2. Cruz has raised the second most money in the race…
Cruz’s money is also what separates him from other candidates who secured the “most conservative candidate in the primary” mantle. Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum both won the Iowa caucuses — more on Cruz and Iowa below — but were unable to capitalize on that win or sustain their support because they had so little money. Cruz is the best case scenario for those who want to see a movement conservative nominated — he’s of the conservative movement but has the fundraising ability of an establishment Republican…
3. Cruz is the Iowa front-runner…
Cruz has begun his ascent up the national polls at just about the right time. (The race will go into deep freeze from around next week through the beginning of 2016.) His campaign is perfectly positioned to make him the last man standing. Believe it.

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  2. 2.

    Calouste

    “Religious liberty” as it is used these days is such an Orwellian term. It’s neither. It’s about imposing your own bigotry on other people.

  3. 3.

    Relax

    I can give you a bit of insider info for sure: Jeb is taking the gloves off at the Tuesday debate. He is going to bring up Trump’s shady connections to the Jersey Mafia, among other things.

    Stay tuned!

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    Christie sinks in New Jersey, soars in New Hampshire
    12/11/15 08:42 AM—UPDATED 12/11/15 09:00 AM
    By Steve Benen
    If the race for the Republican presidential nomination were decided by GOP voters in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie (R) would be in serious trouble. The latest Rutgers poll, published yesterday, shows the scandal-plagued governor’s approval rating sinking to just 33% in his home state – an all-time low. Only 14% of New Jersey Republicans support Christie’s presidential bid.

    Three hundred miles to the north, however, the governor is in far better shape. A new WBUR poll of New Hampshire Republicans was released this morning, and take a look at who’s suddenly in second place.

    1. Donald Trump: 27% (up from 23% in a WBUR poll in November)
    2. Chris Christie: 12% (up from 6%)
    3. Marco Rubio: 11% (down from 13%)
    4. Ted Cruz: 10% (up from 8%)
    5. Jeb Bush: 8% (up from 7%)
    6. John Kasich: 7% (unchanged)
    7. Ben Carson: 6% (down from 13%)

    The remaining candidates were each at 3% or lower.

    Trump’s 27% is the strongest support any Republican candidate has had in any WBUR poll conducted this year, suggesting his support in the Granite State is actually getting stronger.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/christie-sinks-new-jersey-soars-new-hampshire

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    I’d much prefer Trump at the top of the GOP ticket than Cruz. Both are deeply awful people, but Cruz is a True Believer, which is scarier in my book.

  8. 8.

    The Lodger

    “My approach is to smother them with love”? I think Penelope Garcia has Googled that phrase more than once.

    Also, that’s STEVE “Pig Muck” King, thank you very much.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    EXCLUSIVE: Video shows customer hit worker, break glass in NYC restaurant as he rails against Muslims; man kicks woman, calls her ‘trash’ in separate crime
    December 10, 2015, 5:01 PM

    A customer at a Herald Square restaurant burst into an anti-Muslim tirade, slapping one worker than busting glass partitions with a chair while a Muslim woman in Brooklyn was kicked by a man who called her trash, police sources said.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-man-blasts-muslims-hits-worker-nyc-eatery-article-1.2462061

  10. 10.

    Peale

    I didn’t realize that vader plaats was so young. It looks like we’re stuck having to listen to his opinion on who should win Iowa for another 25 years unless we can finally get rid of the Iowa political fundraising event as the “First and most important bellwether ever, as it always has been since 1974.” Now I really would like Trump to win Iowa (I never thought he would), just so that ‘vander Plaat the Kingmaker” folktale can go away.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    So, if Cruz wins Iowa and Trump wins New Hampshire, what happens next? Besides us getting to watch half the GOP collectively shit their pants on national television, I mean.

    Fun fact: In the last 40 years, there’s been precisely one candidate who has won the nomination without winning either Iowa or New Hampshire. That was Bill Clinton in 1992, when nobody competed for Iowa (because Tom Harkin was running) and Paul Tsongas won NH.

  12. 12.

    NickM

    One of the many things I hate about Cruz is his Church Lady voice. It’s petty and stupid but I can’t imagine the American people or even the Angry Dad Party is going to want to listen to that adenoidal whine for 4-8 years.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    @Betty Cracker:
    Whereas Trump doesn’t necessarily believe anything he’s said once it has passed his lips. I believe the two are equally likely (that is, dead certain) to make a complete pig’s breakfast of presidenting. So I have no preference between them. My own preference in a Republican president would be Jim Gilmore. He ain’t said or done jack squat since he declared. Such a Republican President would do the least damage.

  14. 14.

    dedc79

    Shoot, I’ve been predicting a Cruz win for a few months now. If Cillizza agrees,it may be time for me to revisit my prediction.

  15. 15.

    MattF

    NYT opinion page has Brooks vs. Krugman on the “Republican Establishment.” It’s an interesting contrast– Brooks has a gossipy old Establishment vs. new Establishment view (new Establishment loves Ted Cruz), Krug compares US and Europe.

    ETA: And at the WaPo, Charles Kraphammer blames Obama. No link.

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    Big picture: so this is what a GOP civil war looks like…how very interesting!

    Hey how about that Carson, threatening to leave the party?

    I have to say what concerns me the most is what Catherine Rampell noted in her column today: Trump, Carson, and Cruz make the rest of them look quite moderate when in fact they (Jeb, Christie, Rubio) would still let the 1% loot this country just as badly.

  19. 19.

    Peale

    @dmsilev: We move on to South Carolina where they like what Trump is saying. I hope the nomination goes to someone who doesn’t win either South Carolina, Iowa or New Hampshire. Not certain what the political establishment would do after that. The underlying support for the narrative power of the primaries and the people who make money off them is very similar to the kinds of myths and superstitions that used to drive people to sacrifice animals to statues of gods to make sure the sun would come up in the morning. Once people figure out that the sun will come up anyway, they usually knock the statue over and find a god who is more useful to sacrifice to.

  20. 20.

    gogol's wife

    I love the smug way he says, “After Paris and San Bernardino [we’re in a great position].” He’s gleeful about the carnage. Disgusting.

  21. 21.

    Calouste

    @dmsilev:

    So, if Cruz wins Iowa and Trump wins New Hampshire, what happens next?

    Trump will go medieval on Cruz’s ass. Born in Canada, Pa Cruz fighting with Castro, Cruz beholden to big donors, the works. And probably some shit that has a very dubious relationship with reality.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    @NickM: Me too. His voice grates on my nerves like a whining mosquito circling my ear.

    @Amir Khalid: I agree either one would be disastrous. But I suspect Cruz’s ambitions are driven in part by nutty fundamentalist beliefs, and having a unifying theory behind his agenda might make him more focused and therefore dangerous, whereas Trump would lurch around like a bull in a China shop.

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    @Peale:

    I hope the nomination goes to someone who doesn’t win either South Carolina, Iowa or New Hampshire.

    The combination of the media narrative and voters liking to back a winner makes that extremely unlikely.

  24. 24.

    Germy

    I still think Jeb! will take the whole thing. Remember Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None?

    Ten little GOP candidates went out to dine;
    One choked his little self and then there were nine.

    Nine little GOP candidates sat up very late;
    One overslept himself and then there were eight.

    Eight little GOP candidates travelling in Devon;
    One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.

    Seven little GOP candidates chopping up sticks;
    One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

    Six little GOP candidates playing with a hive;
    A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

    Five little IGOP candidates going in for law;
    One got in Chancery and then there were four.

    Four little GOP candidates going out to sea;
    A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

    Three little GOP candidates walking in the zoo;
    A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

    Two little GOP candidates sitting in the sun;
    One got frizzled up and then there was one.

    One little GOP candidates left all alone;
    He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

    (and then JEB! accepted the nomination)

  25. 25.

    p.a.

    @Relax: Awww. I hope but doubt Trump will bring up Boosh family Swiss-Nazi, and Saudi royals $ funnels. Some ancient history, but still one can hope.

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    “I don’t believe either one of them is going to be our president.”…

    True statement, and neither will Cruz. If you really think you aren’t going to look like pudgy, spoiled child next to Hillary.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @Betty Cracker:
    I suspect that by the 4th of July 2017, president Ted would have pissed off so many people that no one would help him pass a Be Nice To Mom Act. President Donald would get there in about the same time by offending them.

  32. 32.

    Chyron HR

    @Relax:

    Th-this time J-J-Jeb is actually g-going to try to win the debate!

    It’s just crazy enough to work! Except that we both know he’s just going to sit in a corner and cry for two hours.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    They’ve created a monster, and it’s out of control. Their brilliant plan has failed, and panic is about to set in as they flail about.

    The problem is, the monster will have to be dealt with by someone. Hillary or Bern are those someones…it’s not going to be the creators of the monster…because too much of the creators was put into the monster in the first place.

    We’re going to have to deal with these fascists.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    @Amir Khalid:

    My own preference in a Republican president would be Jim Gilmore. He ain’t said or done jack squat since he declared.

    Gilmore actually submitted the required signatures to get on the ballot in Virginia, which surprised me. Though they reduced the requirements from four years ago, when many of the GOP candidates didn’t make the ballot, it’s still 5000 signatures and 200 from every congressional district, so it requires some level of either campaign organization or money for paid workers.

    That may be the only thing he’s done though, because if he couldn’t get on the ballot in his home state, he really would have had to drop out.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @Germy: But in the novel, no-one survived[*]. Jeb! would have to fake his own political death, then reappear once everyone else was gone.

    Hmm, considering how his polling has been going, maybe that is his plan.

    [*] They changed the ending for the play and movies so two survive (and fall in love, natch). I’ve always wanted to see a version based on the novel – ten dead people, and the police find very good reasons that none of them could have been the last one alive.

  43. 43.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’d much prefer Trump at the top of the GOP ticket than Cruz. Both are deeply awful people, but Cruz is a True Believer, which is scarier in my book.

    I don’t think Cruz is a True Believer, I think he’s another BS artist. He’s tuned his BS to what the wingnut base wants to hear, in much the same way Trump has, but he’s refined it much more and taken BS actions in addition to his BS speech. But I do agree that if he was elected he’d continue playing the part and pushing theocratic policies that would do tremendous damage. Much worse than Trump, who wouldn’t have the allies to get much of anything done if the country was insane enough to elect him.

  46. 46.

    JohnPM

    @FlyingToaster:

    Ted Cruz = Martin Sheen’s character from “The Dead Zone“.

    I have been saying this as well. If he gets the nomination, someone should make a commercial with Cruz interposed with the scene where Sheen’s character launches a nuclear strike on Russia.

  47. 47.

    Amir Khalid

    @Redshift:
    He hasn’t had to prepare for debates. He hasn’t been campaigning, or if he has it hasn’t been reported on. He’s got plenty of free time to collect signatures and file paperwork to get on the ballot. I just wonder if his name on the ballot is going to get votes rather than people wondering, “who the F is Jim Gilmore?”

  48. 48.

    scav

    There were Ten in the bed and the Little One said “Roll Over! Roll Over!” so they all Rolled Over and One Fell Out.

    would work slightly better as the final little one goes “ahhhhh!” at the end, but the problem is the shouty influential Little One driving the agenda seems not !beJ, but the extremist Tea-Party, and all the Rolling Over to appease squeaky wheels is rolling hard-right.

  49. 49.

    Gimlet

    Almost! Just needed a little more time and money and everyone would have been saved and safe.

    A former Homeland Security employee says he likely could have helped prevent the San Bernardino terror attack if the government had not pulled the plug on a surveillance program he was developing three years ago.

  51. 51.

    Cermet

    @Calouste: That was also used in a 1939 SF book: Lest Darkness Fall. A very similar line was used by the main character after listening to a Roman Christian demand the right to kill everyone who disagreed with him (around 490 AD) – namely everyone. The Goths required religious freedom and this Christian realized that the Goths meant it literally and so that oppressed his rights of religious intolerance …

  52. 52.

    Redshift

    Did anyone else see the “book report” segment about Cruz’ campaign book on Chris Hayes last night?

    One of the bits I actually found interesting was Cruz’ particular flavor of playing the victim. He claims that the evil liberals dismiss him by saying he’s CRAZY! (I think he claims we added the “crazy” category just for him, but I could be remembering that wrong.)

    The reason it struck me is because I don’t believe that’s the general view among liberals. Michele Bachmann is crazy. Steve King is crazy.

    Ted Cruz is evil.

  53. 53.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Betty Cracker: Not to mention his face is soooooo punchable! Seriously, that guy is just begging to be popped in the nose. If I had to draw a weasley backstabbing fink freehand I think Failgunner Ted Cruz’s visage would emerge.

  54. 54.

    chopper

    @Betty Cracker:

    what makes cruz really scary is how effortlessly he can unload the biggest pile of horseshit and dodge being called on it. he’s very, very good at lying to your face and making you think he’s right. pointing out when he’s bullshitting you is like nailing jello to the wall, he just ducks and goes on to the next debunked bullshit talking point.

    if he didn’t look like a troll and sound like a fuckin’ goofball he’d be the most dangerous politician in the country.

  55. 55.

    Calouste

    Trump’s comments about barring Muslims from the US have now been denounced as too extreme by Marine Le Pen.

  57. 57.

    Cermet

    @Amir Khalid: It isn’t the thug president who you really have to worry about but a thug run congress; then we are in it deep since the thug president just rubber stamps all the hate that the congress passes …

  58. 58.

    scav

    @Calouste: Suddenly Pissing off the French will re-emerge as a good thing? Back to Freedom Fries so very soon? Because evidently pissing off Israel is also somehow a good thing — it is like impossible to keep up with who we’ve always been at war with. Mad Free-Ranging Free-Association Toddler Meltdown Momentum seemingly achieved.

  59. 59.

    Mike in NC

    Howard Dean has said that Trump has this thing in the bag, and I can’t say he’s wrong about that.

  62. 62.

    Gimlet

    Be afraid!!1! Be very afraid…. and vote Republican

    Hughes Springs Police Chief Randy Kennedy is warning President Obama that any attempt to disarm the American people will result in “revolution.”

    Hughes Springs is roughly 120 miles east of Dallas, Texas.

    In an announcement reported by the Associated Press, Kennedy said the Second Amendment is in place to guard Americans’ right to defend themselves from “terrorists and radical ideology.” Moreover, he said the Second Amendment is “also there to protect us against a government that has overreached its power,” and any attempts to disarm the citizenry will “cause a revolution in this country.”

    Kennedy is calling for residents in his town to carry guns to fight terrorism. He says citizens must “be ready when the wolf comes to the door, because it’s on its way.”

  66. 66.

    Citizen_X

    Oohh, Reich to Rot is back, with a new nym! What is it calling itself now?

    @Relax: …when you wanna cuuuummmmmmmmmmm…

  68. 68.

    Calouste

    @scav: When has Pissing off the French not been a good thing on the right? I think they have been pissed off with them ever since the Battle of Yorktown.

  69. 69.

    tazj

    I especially love Cruz’ strategy. Isn’t the Republicans excuse for not voting to reauthorize the AUMF or to do anything in regards to military action in the middle east, that President Obama has no real strategy ?

    It does sometimes seem like a choice between the apocalypse (Trump, Cruz, Carson) and your garden variety wealth looting, poor and minority kicking Republicans (Rubio, Bush).

    I understand Rubio is very proud of the fact that he’s responsible for a provision that’s destroying risk corridors for insurance companies. Therefore, many insurance companies will raise their rates or get off the exchange.(as I understand it or have read) Isn’t it wonderful that people could lose their health insurance because it will become too expensive? I’m sure he doesn’t believe in Medicaid expansion either.

  70. 70.

    piratedan7

    just rooting for casualties, I know that makes me a bad person and at this stage, with how I suspect either of these factions would govern if they ever came to power, I don’t care. They simply aren’t good people imho.

  72. 72.

    Paul in KY

    @chopper: He is good, but he’s helped by the format of not being able to ask several follow-up questions on same topic.

    I guarantee you I could nail him down, but it would take 5 or 6 excellent questions.

  74. 74.

    scav

    @Calouste: Very brief moment following the Paris attack. It was as though Paris was a heartland ‘Merkan city thrown to the wolves by the evil evil president. Very disorienting.

  76. 76.

    cmorenc

    Re: Ted Cruz and talibangelical voters: I am having difficulty finding the passage in the New Testament where Jesus addressed his disciples or an assembled multitude and said: “Now go forth and be total assholes”.

  77. 77.

    a different chris

    @Calouste: And that’s what makes it the perfect target. The less strategically valuable a target is, from a conventional point of view, the more likely it is to be hit because of the potential psychological impact. “Omigod, if they can take out Buzzard’s Rest (or whatever nowhere Texas shithole it was), WE could be next!!!!1″

  78. 78.

    Bubblegum Tate

    I’ve pressed wingnuts on that whole “climate change is a liberal conspiracy!” thing, in particular the fact that if they believe that, then they absolutely have to believe that most of the world, the military, the business community, etc. etc. etc. is in on it (I usually direct them to Fred Clark’s rundown of what wingnuts must logically believe is the full scope of the climate change conspiracy).

    Man, do they get pissed off when you do that.

  80. 80.

    Sherparick

    Just pass me the popcorn for the next six months. However, one of these guys is going to get the nomination and then all the plutocrats, VSPs, and Village media will retreat to their default position that Hilary Monster is just “untrustworthy” and “unlikable” (as opposed to lying sacks of manure) to be President (also, psst, psst, she is a girl, and an old one at that), and we are in National Security Crisis of Existential Proportion due to some guys in Syria driving around in Toyota pick-up trucks and AK-47s with web access so we need to elect a Guy who Will Sound Like Vladmir Putin and Say we will Destroy and Defeat them after a couple nut jobs shoot up a party, bar, or school really loud and stick 100,000 Americans in the Syrian-Iraqi desert an an indefinite number of Friedman units. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/12/vladimir-putin-thought-his-boys-would-be-home-christmas

    But also cut taxes on the 1% and blow-up Social Security and Medicare and get all those freeloading seniors back into the work force!!

  82. 82.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Josie: I disagree. He never sounds _reasonable_. He sounds _coherent_ — he uses complete sentences; he circles back to the main point; he has q smooth delivery without “uh” and “um” — but that doesn’t make him sound reasonable.

  84. 84.

    Josie

    @FlipYrWhig: I see what you mean. When I used the word reasonable, I meant that he makes his point sound reasonable. I don’t agree with his reasoning, but I am not his target demographic.

  85. 85.

    D58826

    OT but a long article on Huffington about the Waco shootout earlier in the year. The bikers think:

    The bikers believe this provides a clue to the Waco P.D.’s ongoing silence: The cops know their response was overzealous, possibly unlawful, and now they’re covering it up. Some bikers believe there’s an even more sinister explanation: that a firefight of some kind was supposed to happen—that it was all part of a plan by the Waco P.D. to provoke bitter rivals into a public brawl that could be violently crushed and then used as a basis for sweeping RICO indictments.

    Given what we have seen in other cities they might not be wrong.

  87. 87.

    Heliopause

    I think I’ve said this before, but if I was forced to pick one of the GOP candidates for President Cruz would be my dead last choice. After Carson, and even Trump. Cruz has all the same nutty beliefs that Carson has, and that Trump pretends to have, but also the political acumen to maybe make some of them come true.

  88. 88.

    J R in WV

    @Redshift:

    I would hope so, also. But since Ted Cruz’s father is the founding Saint of the First Church of Cruz Indomitable, and Ted has been listening to sermons all day, every day, about how Ted is going to be messiah of the free world when he grows up…

    I think Mr. Senator Cruz is a lost and hopeless case. Firmly educated to believe that he is the shining star who sill save the world. Better than thee, Better than me, destined to rule the world from his golden throne.

    Maybe even if he loses the elections!

  89. 89.

    MFA

    “So my approach … has been to bear hug both of them, and smother them with love.”

    Sounds to me sort of like the rumored Bear-on-DiCaprio scene in ‘The Revenant’.

  90. 90.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Sherparick: I’m not to worried about the likability factor if Cruz or Trump (or Carson) get the nom. Trump will be a trainwreck and it will become obvious very quickly that he doesn’t know squat about anything. Ditto for Carson, who will, in addition, seem somewhat detached from reality. Finally, I don’t care how much Hillary struggles with likability, there’s no way Ted Cruz is going to be more likable than her.

    I might be worried about Rubio, but he’s dumb as a post and lazy to boot. He’s barely bothering to campaign (he’s spent virtually no time in any of the early States) or build a ground game/campaign operation (or show up to do his job in the Senate). He seems to think that all he has to do is show up on TV now and then, but that won’t get it done.

  92. 92.

    newtons third

    I will agree with Ted on one thing. Love. To defeat ISIL, or extremist Islamic radicals, or whatever, it takes love. Even in the face of events like San Bernardino, we need to show love. Welcome all the Syrian refugees, show them love. This has the added benefit of being a Christian concept. Love your neighbor, love your enemies. Those that claim the mantle of Christianity need to love our neighbors. Show the world that we try to live up to our ideals, not to throw them out at the first sign of difficulty. Win them over with our better ideas, and back it up with better actions.
    This more than anything will defeat those on the extremes. Show them love, compassion, respect. Honor their diversity. If your ideas are truly better, it will come out. It will have a cost, sometimes even lives. But that too is part of having better ideas.
    The problem with Ted, and others on the Christian Right is that they do not want to pay the price of their belief. They do not want to take the long view (partly because they are convinced that the Second Coming is right around the corner), and the sacrifices that entails.
    Jesus and John Lennon were right, all you need is love, so was Paul McCartney, trying to solve the world’s problems with silly little love songs.

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