Rubio and Cruz atop the GOP

Loading

Kevin D. Williamson:

‘Ted Cruz is only going to be popular,” a lefty correspondent sniffs, “in those places where the Osmonds are still popular.” If that is true, then the news for Senator Cruz could not possibly be better, inasmuch as this puts Nevada into play: Donny and Marie signed up for a six-week stint in Las Vegas back in 2008, and extended, and extended, and will be performing in the showroom now named for them until the end of 2016, at least. Good tickets for the reliably sold-out show are $260 each — no laughing matter when one considers that the Osmond demographic includes some pretty large families. It can be hard to see it from Williamsburg or Petworth, but the culture isn’t (only) what the hipsters think it is. If Senator Cruz proves as popular as Shania Twain and NASCAR, he won’t just be president — he’ll be president-for-life.

And that is of some interest, given that Wednesday’s debate very much left the impression that this is a Ted Cruz–Marco Rubio race.

About those other guys . . .

Jeb Bush’s performance confirms an earlier judgment of him, that he was a pretty good governor a long time ago with no special oomph today, a decent man whose misadventures on the critical policy questions of immigration and education, along with his too-familiar surname, are like heavy boots on a drowning man. His strategy to push Senator Rubio to the side in order to be positioned in such a way that the bulk of the reasonable-to-just-short-of-howling vote should fall upon his head as fading reality-television grotesque Donald Trump enters the Norma Desmond stage of his campaign, leaving Senator Cruz to wage a pyrrhic campaign for the moonbats, was too calculated. It was so calculated, in fact, that Senator Rubio was able to deftly parry it simply by pointing out the calculation. Bush père screwed up by reading his stage directions aloud — “Message: I care” — whereas the (younger) younger Bush stood mutely by as Senator Rubio read aloud from his playbook. It was like watching the smartest kid in the fourth grade mangle his own name at a spelling bee.

Ben Carson, whose occupation (neurosurgeon) and melanin level (high) assuage certain Republican insecurities, continues to be excellent and modest and in no way prepared to be president. As others have pointed out, he might have made an excellent mayor of Baltimore or governor of Maryland, if it weren’t for the fact that for certain men the presidency seems to be the only job in politics worth having.

Speaking of which . . .

Trump’s performance was — what’s that phrase? — low-energy, remarkably so. It is always difficult to calculate which moment was Trump’s lowest — that’s one of the challenges of chronicling low men — but his scoffing at Ohio’s energy industry stands out as characteristic of the Trumpkin approach: Governor John Kasich, Trump argued, deserves no credit for Ohio’s economic performance because Ohio “got lucky” with fracking, because it “struck oil.” That’s true. Trump’s native New York might have done the same, except for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ban on modern techniques of oil-and-gas extraction. If only New York had had the services of some prominent, extraordinarily famous, and media-savvy businessman to spearhead a campaign in favor of energy exploration when Governor Cuomo was playing Hamlet-on-the-Hudson on the question! As with immigration, Trump has had a lifetime in the public eye to take the lead — or even to take a halfway honorable stand — on New York’s energy industry, but he cannot be stirred to act in the service of anything other than his own celebrity. Like Carson, Trump might have made a good mayor or governor, but neither is grand enough for him. New York’s Southern Tier is dying an ugly slow death, and New York’s most famous businessman — who says he wants to be president of these United States — hasn’t lifted a finger on behalf of his own state. That there is almost nothing behind Trump’s showmanship is becoming apparent to some of his admirers, albeit slowly.

The also-rans also ran. Senator Rand Paul’s testy libertarianism remains a hard sell in demographics more diverse than the dinner table when Matt Welch dines alone; Mike Huckabee is still a better candidate for Bill O’Reilly’s chair than Abraham Lincoln’s; Kasich leaves one wondering how he even got to be governor of Ohio, which, according to my almanac, is an actual state; Chris Christie’s “Hey, remember, I’m from New Jersey!” special-pleading shtick is sometimes charming but not the sort of thing that makes one want to hand him control of a nuclear arsenal; some of us true believers are still rooting for Bobby Jindal down in the junior-variety division, but there’s not much sign of hope.

I envision Carly Fiorina joining Mitt Romney in the role I sometimes describe as the crypto-presidency: If there is a Republican president come January 2017, these two should be the Cleaning Crew, given powers that are very narrowly defined but Gaullist in their vigor and tasked with cleaning out problem agencies, with the president declaring the Veterans’ Administration, the Secret Service, etc., something like federal disaster areas and then sending this duo in with a stack of pink slips and orders to bayonet the wounded. The fact that Fiorina would be extraordinarily good at this — and that she’s probably do it with a smile — is the best reason to vote for her for president, and also the reason that most people won’t.

So, Cruz-Rubio/Rubio-Cruz.

Lifestyle liberals of the fair-trade-soy-latte variety recoil instinctively from Senator Cruz, and even many of his would-be friends and admirers lament what some unkind critics (including me) sometimes call his “Elmer Gantry” mode of persuasion, the televangelist mannerisms and the undertone of quiet desperation that makes it easy to imagine him saying to voters: “Tell me exactly what you want to hear, and I’ll say exactly that.” In an interview with SeanHannity immediately after the debate, the senator was utterly abject, twice declaring his desire to see a debate moderated by Hannity, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh. Which is to say, he practically begged Hannity et al. to lean his way once their infatuation with Trump and Trump-ism finally becomes too embarrassing to sustain.

Read more

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
23 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

What is revealing in the laughably biased media assessments of conservative versus democrat candidates is the differing descriptions of their experience in political performance. Look at the manner in which Obama was falsely portrayed as a “lightbringer”, an ubermensch who (according to the glowing propaganda put forth by the media) would “halt the rise of the oceans”, and somehow unify the country. His prior work record sparse and unaccomplished, yet he was characterized by the fawning media in messianic terms. Contrast this with the snide dismissiveness of both Palin’s and Romney’s work histories – regardless of one’s opinion of their politics – both are far more more accomplished than Obama ever was.

Now, look at the difference between Hillary and Cruz. What has Hillary accomplished, either as a carpet-bagging senator from NY or as Sec State? Cruz has argued and won more cases before the SCOTUS than any current living political figure, and has been, along with Mike Lee, one of the only consistently conservative voices in DC. Despite his campaign for President, he is not carrying the “missed votes” baggage that Rubio is carrying. Cruz defeated the much more heavily financed Dewhurst when first winning election to the Senate.

Cruz is not out trashing the other GOP presidential candidates, but has attacked the worthless current GOPe structure in DC, along with the socialist demagogues of the DNC.

The GOPe has given us a string of squishy moderates that proved woefully inadequate at pointing out the insanity of leftist ideology, and we got 8 years of Obama’s harm to this nation – harm that will take decades to fix, if ever. If the GOPe is successful in getting another moderate squish nominated, we will have a continuation of the destruction of the US.

@Pete:I agree with you about Cruz.
Why then does he languish with Repub. voters at 4%, far behind a bombastic entertainer and a Zen-like surgeon?

@Rich Wheeler:

I agree with you about Cruz.
Why then does he languish with Repub. voters at 4%, far behind a bombastic entertainer and a Zen-like surgeon?

What? Someone who fancies themselves such a prodigious prognosticator as you seem to doesn’t know the answer to that question?

rubio was born in Miami, Florida to TWO CUBAN citizens (illegal). He is not eligible to run for office.
cruz born in Canada to a US citizen mother and a Cuban citizen father (who BTW worked for castro) is not eligible to run for office.
Jindal born in the United States to TWO Asian Indian (India) citizens is not eligible.

I am sick and tired of these people stomping all over the Constitution of the United States. just because you are born in the US does NOT mean you are eligible to run. If that were the case any foreigner (which includes terrorists) that had a child born in the US could run for office. The reason that a candidate is supposed to be a natural born citizen born to TWO United States citizens is to ensure loyalty to ONE country. Yes I know that obama is not eligible however the democrats, the complicit republicans and mostly the mainstream media kept that on the down low until it was too late. Now it is nearly impossible to impeach the dictator because he has too much dirt on most or all of them. Ask Chief Justice Roberts.

I want my country back.

@Enchanted Pete and FA’ers: Are you and a large percentage of Repubs. saying Cruz is ineligible? Is that why he’s an asterick at 4%?

Congrats to K.C. Royals–old fashioned blue collar baseball–they earned their W.S. rings.

@Rich Wheeler:

Pete and FA’ers: Are you and a large percentage of Repubs. saying Cruz is ineligible? Is that why he’s an asterick at 4%?

Cruz at 4%? What polls are you taking into account? Only the CNN poll has Cruz at 4%.

Still cherry-picking, I see.

@retire05: I haven’t seen him higher than 6%–Still buried–As you know I’ve always suggested this race should end with Rubio against Cruz with Carson 3rd and Trump 4th.
My question to Repubs and FA’ers is —-do many feel his candidacy is not legit?—Both RT and Enchanted have said so.

@Rich Wheeler: NBC/WSJ out today Carson 29 Trump-23-Rubio-11 CRUZ-10

Here we go.? Obviously he’s gotta win Texas where he is currently 3rd.

I’m curious why, in your request for a Clinton-vs-Cruz comparison, you ask “what has Hillary accomplished?” but then don’t bother to point out anything Cruz has ACCOMPLISHED. Are you really devaluing the term “accomplishment” to the point that it includes complaining about establishment Republicans? His arguing cases before the SCOTUS neither suggests that he might have some talent at crafting or passing meaningful legislation nor does it hint at any capability to help disparate factions reach consensus, foreign OR domestic… does it? If anything, he has demonstrated an inflexibility toward consensus-building or compromise and has shown no capacity to lead his own party, much less an entire nation. THAT’S why his poll numbers are abysmal. The electorate UNDERSTANDS that he has no interest in representing the whole nation – something that Trump actually has. It’s a pity that Trump’s mouth keeps digging trenches across his path that he inevitably stumbles into, proving that a loose cannon is no substitute for mature discretion.

If anything, he has demonstrated an inflexibility toward consensus-building or compromise and has shown no capacity to lead his own party, much less an entire nation.

Did we elect these men to compromise or to do what they said they would do? Say what you are intending, I vote for you, then do it, thats representation. MSM opinions and liberal whinning be damned. If his manner is uncomfortable to the old boy establishment its their conscience bothering them, they took oaths and then aide and assist in shredding the constitution.

:

What you suggest is the duty of a representative to his or her constituents is as you have portrayed, and that is well and fine. Good service in that capacity may very well result in happy constituents back home, even if their opinions are not shared by the national electorate and their representative consequently gets nothing actually accomplished during his term. Such is Cruz, who seems to believe that he is a member of the House of Representatives, not the Senate. Being a good Representative doesn’t qualify anyone to be president. There is no statesmanship, no consensus-building, no decision making on behalf of the population as a whole inherent in the performance of such duties as Cruz has seen fit to address. These skills – not the ability to throw temper-tantrums that please the local buffoonery back home – are what make a person qualified to be President.

Since Pete asked “What has Hillary accomplished?” the same question may fairly be asked of Cruz. I’m not about to defend Clinton’s record, but if you or anyone else wants to accuse her of lacking accomplishment, beware that the present field of GOP contenders have precious little of their own accomplishments to lay claim to.

@George Wells: The national electorate is a census driven crappy system, repeal the 17th amendment let our state legislators choose our senators then nothing that affects the states rights would see the presidents desk without peril of recall. It was as the framers intended.
Not the masses driving todays fashionable whims. If NY or CA want a law let it be to that state to decide, it may not meet the needs of any other state. You speak for Federal tyranny sir. Not accountable to those that vote?

@George Wells:

local buffoonery back home

one more thing, we baffoons clinging to our guns and bibles have lives to live and want the federal leviathan off our asses.

@George Wells:

Good service in that capacity may very well result in happy constituents back home, even if their opinions are not shared by the national electorate and their representative consequently gets nothing actually accomplished during his term.

If you had even a rudimentary understanding of the Constitution, and the way our government was originally designed, you would know that Senators were never intended to represent the “national electorate” but they own electorate.

Not surprised you don’t understand that. History has never been your forte.

#14:

I didn’t say that senators had a duty to represent the “national electorate.”
I implied that because Cruz CHOSE to ignore the national electorate’s best interests, IN DEFIANCE OF other senators who are driven by loftier principles, he consequently has failed to ACCOMPLISH anything during his senate career.

Senators were given six-year terms to place them beyond transient political currents and to allow them to make decisions in the best interest of the whole country which might otherwise be momentarily unpopular with their respective constituents. That Cruz has failed to take this higher road and that his Texan rube constituents applaud him for it speaks to his ignorance of the Constitution’s original intent, not mine.

:

Repeal the 17th amendment?
OUCH! I was rolling on the floor laughing until I ran into the sofa!

“we baffoons clinging to our guns and bibles have lives to live and want the federal leviathan off our asses.”

You might as well resurrect your call to secede from the Union. California and New York residents get to vote just like you do, and there are SOoooooo many of them… and they LOVE to vote!

I understand your frustration, but disintegrating the Union has been tried already, and it doesn’t work. Gun-toting Bible-thumpers are a minority, and the World can be pretty inhospitable to minorities. Maybe you should hire some of those activists who successfully pressed for same-sex marriage.

George, You pompous, bloviated, progressive windbag. Damn guy you must be in DC holding an Aldermans position. The old boys in Washington are not statesmen they are control freaks, thieves, statists. I want back the Checks and balances that You progressives tore from the heart of the constitution. Seceding from the union not my call nor my ancestors. Dont fool yourself, christians that are bearing arms may not be as few as you believe. Over 100 years of slowly rotting our nation from within, this cancer grows, see if you can get a 100 % accurate number of how many departments our government has. How huge the leviathan has grown and each creating “regulations” eating away at all of our freedoms.
Don’t get ignorant and look down your nose at fellow americans, you have holes in the soles of your shoes. Don’t tread on me.

#17:

“George, You pompous, bloviated, progressive windbag.”

Thank you for taking a downward spiral into verbal fisticuffs.
You might have bothered to notice that I agreed that YOUR solutions to the illegal immigration problem was more on track than ANY of the proposals coming from the GOP presidential candidates, but doing so would have broken a cardinal rule of conservative blog-buffoons: Don’t EVER agree with the opposition on ANYTHING! Good for you for keeping that record perfect.

Sure our government is bloated, inefficient and corrupt. And how convenient for you to blame it on “progressives.” Last time I checked, there have been located exactly ZERO perfect politicians, regardless of stripe – in line with similar statistics kept on the rest of the population. So what’s your point? Once we shipped the lion’s share of our manufacturing capacity to China, what else have we INVENTED to keep our huddled masses occupied besides meaningless government jobs A.K.A. welfare. It’s the little trick that both gives “people” money AND keeps them off the streets. No wonder the government has gotten so immense. You think of a better way to do this that doesn’t trash the Constitution, and I’ll agree with you AGAIN. But my agreement can’t make it happen. It has to be something that is so rationally compelling that you can sell it to the people who will have to go back to real work in order to make it succeed. You have a tough hole to climb out of, no matter WHO is responsible for digging it.

@George Wells: I suppose that is as close to an apology as I can expect, but Rubes, gun toting bible thumpers, baffoons and other snarky remarks may have started the spiral . I accept your apology. I hope Sen. Cruz gets the nomination due to his conservative voting record, he is willing to battle for the conservative cause, even if it ruffles a few feathers. If you care to look into the 17th amendment it had nothing to do with the civil war, it was a progressive tactic to undo the checks and balances written into the constitution. People scream about loss of medicare, social security and other programs and willing to submit to government for the pathetic handout,
If they didn’t have to work on average til May 1st of every year to pay alms to the leviathan they could afford to have a comfortable retirement, healthcare and savings for a rainy day.

#19:

“If they didn’t have to work on average til May 1st of every year to pay alms to the leviathan they could afford to have a comfortable retirement, healthcare and savings for a rainy day.”

And if we all lived a thousand years we’d all be billionaires thanks to the miracle of compound interest, but neither of these fantasy worlds are real. Democrats won’t help you get what you want, and they aren’t about to dismantle the very give-away programs that they got elected. For YOU to get what YOU want, you’ve got to convince a majority of voters that something YOU are proposing is BETTER than what the Democrats have already given them. That’s a tall order, and one that isn’t going to get filled by insisting FIRST that OBamaCare be dismantled and THEN, just maybe, you MIGHT come up with something that will replace SOME of what you have taken away. What you offer HAS to look better than what the Democrats have both promised and delivered.

OK, stop right there. I’M not supporting ObamaCare and I’m not supporting what the Democrats have promised, so suck you fangs back in and avert your eyes from my neck. I’m telling you what the GOP has to do to get what it wants, and it won’t get that by following Ryan’s plan to take his toys and go home. When will this nation finally admit that brinkmanship is a failed strategy, that gaining something is better than gaining nothing, that discretion is the better part of valor, and that a principled failure is still nothing more than a rotten defeat?

@George Wells: I had no fangs out, I was using tactics that too many of us fall into hoping to bitchslap you awake. Unsustainability. The Dems call their programs “insurance” a ruse in the foulest sense. There is no money , the republicans and democrats spent it all and now print money to maintain order. There are great ideas that have been fully ignored and demonized by the MSM and Dems to maintain power.
What would happenif the hospitals and doctors were required to post prices for, say, a bypass. Then I could do a price comparison, they also could have grades from actual patients, like hotels have, I wouldn’t want to stay in a 1 star hospital.
I recently spoke with a highly regarded neuro-surgeon and he gets 15 dollars to see a medicare patient, this I assume must make him charge more to all his other patients so he can run his office and pay his bills. Government programs always poison a system. Much of his expenses come in the form of malpractice insurance some doctors pay 400K per year or more depending on the area in which they practice. Perhaps thats the insurance the government should have looked at for reform, or take over like flood insurance. There are reasonable sane solutions, but the talk of privatizing any shabbily run government program sends the Bureaucrats into fits. Try the ideas 1 state at a time see if it works if it does let it spread nation wide.

#21:

I agree with every thing you posted#21. Now what, exactly, does that make me? Get this:

“the republicans and democrats spent it all and now print money to maintain order.”

The confusing thing is that even as they are running these printing presses wide open, there is no hyper-inflation. Where is it? Could it be that all of these brand new dollars are getting spent buying toys made in China as fast as they dry? Is China holding back on redeeming them because it plans to either buy the USA lock, stock and barrel once it has enough, or is it planning to flood the dollar market all at once and cause our economy to crash? They’re not our “friends” – they could do either. Sadly, the only way we could have protected our economy and our standard of living was to have kept both our dollars and our jobs here at home, and kept up our trade barriers. That ship has sailed, though, and there’s no point crying over spilled milk. The only thing we have left is to nationalize our currency, which we won’t do because the rest of the world would $hit if all the dollars we’ve given them became worthless over night. LOL. And to think that some people believe that the way out of this predicament is simply to elect politicians who won’t do anything NOW! TOO LATE!

@George Wells: USA is way too entangled in the world economy for the nationalization of the dollar. The control of interest rates has put off hyper inflation for now. As the interest rates are at 0 there is nothing left to do but charge you interest for keeping your money in savings. Cash withdrawls will be limited like in Greece, Cash itself will be wiped out and go completely electronic. Those with 401 Ks will see assets seized to pay your “shared responsibility” I know there are the “buy gold” people but when was the last time you strolled in and bought a dozen eggs with a silver or gold coin? Merchants wont know what to do. The only thing thats backing our monetary system is peoples faith in it, not on the gold standard any more. But hey the biggest issue facing us is global warming. So Vote for Hillary her cold heart could bring on the next ice age.