Thunderdome – where two men enter and one man leaves…but not quite – now there are three in the GOP Thunderdome – Cruz, Trump and Rubio. Full disclosure – I’m a Cruz backer and based on my posts and comments here, I’m sure there is no doubt where I stand on Trump.
Fearful prediction: we are likely to get Rubio as the GOP nominee.
Rubio’s background consists of a majority of conservative actions but I simply don’t trust Marco on immigration. He also has a little streak of Maverick McCain in him – a penchant to want to go along to get along and to want to cultivate “friends” on the other side of the aisle (there are no such things as Democrat “friends”).
Rubio’s surge is less a product of his own accomplishments than it is a compromise, a compromise between the staunch conservatism of Cruz and the Trumpservatism (populist Republican neoprogressivism) of The Donald. Rubio has cleverly positioned himself as the “peacemaker” between these warring fronts. He represents a softer edge than either Trump or Cruz and combines enough of the policies of each to seem credible and acceptable to both camps.
If this happens, it is yet another big mistake. It will mean that we have put forth yet another born to be mild moderate Republican in the mold of Bush I, Dole, Bush II, McCain and Romney. Rubio is yet another baby Bush, a young, good-looking, well spoken guy with an immigrant background – but still another Bush, Dem-lite “compassionate conservative”.
We might win since the Democrats are being exposed as who they really are – the kinder, gentler version of the American Communist Party. The Bern is pulling the Hildebeast so far to the left the questions in last Democrat debate were written in Cyrillic and the answers spoken entirely in their native Russian – Свободная дерьмо для всех , товарищ ! (Free crap for everyone, Comrade!).
Nevertheless, assuming that we do “win”, another “compassionate conservative” administration will do nothing to cure the constitutional ills of the US federal government. Rubio is as much a reincarnation of Dub as would be the Dub-brother, Meeser ¡Heb!.
Trump can’t do it. He is only focused on making government work better – as a yuge, classy, tremendous, well-oiled Leviathan. How you may ask? Well, Trump has been a little short on specifics to date.He just says he will be the greatest jobs, military, economic president ever. Just elect him and see – but the fact remains that he has no experience in constitutional matters (other than he knows eminent domain pretty well). In his business career (both successes and failures), he has only followed one business model. He has no experience in transforming a culture or strategically transforming a business, no experience in shifting a business paradigm. His successes are based on just doing the same thing over and over – just harder and louder this time – that’s a deep state, federal government, statist process.
It’s the same process as tovarish Bernie favors – we’ll make socialism work this time by forcing it on the people harder than ever before.
We don’t need a reformer, we need a transformer.
In my opinion, Ted Cruz is the only candidate who has the constitutional focus and the hard edged commitment to create the paradigm shift necessary to save our representative republic. He is the only one with the strength and leadership ability to organize Republicans against the creeping socialism already embedded in American governance. His fearlessness (and so-called “nastiness”) will arouse the latent conservatism of the cowardly GOP and provide adequate cover for those who currently fear to act on their true beliefs. He will also expose the progressivism that is rotting the foundations of the GOP.
If you want business savvy on the ticket, let’s run with Cruz/Fiorina. Let’s win with two solid, principled, stable leaders instead of trying to elect a loud mouthed, twitter obsessed, juvenile, mercurial neo-progressive “Republican” chameleon like Trump.
The Rio Norte Line 
Cruz is the only one left standing that I will support. Rubio’s dance with McCain and Schumer on the Gang of Eight was an unpardonable sin. You know he does not have the testosterone for a fight. Trump is a wind bag with no core values other than ingratiating his own ego. In other words a “very dangerous” chameleon that will change colors based on what best fits his own self interest.
The sad part is Cruz lacks the stature (looks/voice/mannerisms) of a President. Not that Obama had them either but he was black and a democrat and that was the only qualification needed. In todays world it’s hard to believe, but most likely true, an old, haggard, dishonest Hillary can raise up enough of the FSA folks and hardcore progressive commies to get elected.
Now for a little humor: http://thingsitrustmorethanhillary.com
Most of our founders lacked the stature of a ‘President,’ as well, but then, that was in a time when the nation was better at looking to the man and the principles for which he stood than to the character and how well he can perform for the camera.
Cruz’ promise to carpet bomb Syria does not inspire my confidence in his transformative capabilities. He sounds an awful lot like every other conservative warmonger who has run for President in the last two decades. He may know the constitution, but he does not believe the United States’ commitment to the constitution should extend beyond the borders of the United States, so ….
I preferred Rand Paul enough to switch my party registration from nonpartisan to GOP for one day for the Alaska Presidential Preference Poll, but since he’s suspended his campaign, I’m thinking of going to lunch with friends and maybe buying a plant.
Currently, I’m voting 3rd party in the general and I don’t think it much matters who I cast my vote for.
Nice. When has he shown you he does not believe the Constitution dictates the extent that he can use the military? To be honest, we have no idea whether he would seek a declaration of war or not. But we KNOW Trump won’t, nor will Bush or Rubio. They HAVE demonstrated they either do not know nor feel constrained by the Constitution.
As for Rand Paul, he is too far removed from the military realities of this world to be qualified. Most every Libertarian I have ever encountered suffers from this same short-coming. Islam is the #1 threat to the Western World (the whole world, for that matter). If you wait until it is here to start fighting it, YOU WILL LOSE! Which is why Obama is importing as many Muslim warriors has he can before he has to leave office.
BTW: it appears (from what I found on the Internet) that Cruz did NOT say he would carpet bomb Syria, but ISIS. They are NOT the same thing! ISIS is not located in just Syria, and — despite what many believe — carpet bombing is still able to be confined enough to target the areas you want to hit without laying waste to an entire nation. So your premise is fallacious in that it is set up to be biased against Cruz from the start. Aurora, you are better than that. Disagree and dislike him all you want, but at least be ‘fair’ about what he said before you attack his position. 🙂
Carpet bombing is an incredibly imprecise form of aggression that pretty much guarantees that innocents who have absolutely nothing to do with ISIS will see bombs killing their children. We’ve discovered just how “precise” drone strikes are and those are incredibly more focused than “carpet bombing.” I am being fair in calling him on his statement. ISIS is mixed in with the population of Syria and Iraq, but it has also spread to several other countries. At some point, we need a president who hits PAUSE and asks “Is this necessary and will it achieve what we want it to achieve?”
I don’t think ISIS is an existential threat to the US if we bring some troops home to defend our borders and tighten our refugee admission processes. So necessary … probably not.
It’s clear that 14 years of war in Iraq has not achieved what we were hoping it would achieve — unless our government was secretly hoping to create more terrorists and spread them across more countries.
So, yes, fair. On the issues, I agree with Cruz on almost every point … except that one.
As for Rand Paul, I don’t think that being removed from “military reality” is necessarily a bad thing for a country that is $19 trillion in debt and has waged a war for 14 years that has vastly increased the number of terrorists. Maybe we need to be thinking more about protecting our borders and influencing the world economically than trying to bully the world into doing what our government wants other countries to do.
And that’s what I mean about the constitution going beyond the borders. Our constitution was written so that government would be restrained from violating the natural rights of human beings. The citizens of Syria and Iraq have as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as Americans, but our government denies them that right every time it drops bombs on Aleppo or Sinjar.
Cruz might possibly get into office and choose to follow a constitutional path that involves withdrawing our military from much of the world to defend our borders and concentrate on debt reduction, but right now, he’s saying he’s going spend billions fighting ISIS, so … I take him at his word and don’t much think I’ll vote for him. I’d rather “throw away” my vote on a candidate with principles than on another GOP shill.
He could walk back that statement during the general and I might change my mind. Maybe.
Aurora, I think you have a very poor understanding of the realities we are facing.
First, if you understood the geography of where ISIS is located, you’d know that carpet bombing IS a viable option that will not cause more damage than necessary, but yet, it will have a chance of actually destroying the target. As for ‘innocents:’ you have demonstrated an EXTREME ignorance of Islam with that comment.
There may be innocent people in Islam, but Islam is NOT innocent. WHat’s more, Islam IS driving ISIS, and anyone who dismisses the domestic threat of Islam/ISIS IS NOT QUALIFIED TO COMMENT ON THE DEFENSE OF THIS NATION! Yes, I mean you, too. PLEASE, and I mean this kindly, PLEASE do some research into the history of Jihad and the teachings of Muhammad. Read the Qur’an and Hadith for yourself. Do not listen to what others tell you, read what Muhammad is supposed to have said. Islam/ISIS IS a threat — a very real and imminent threat.
This is also why Paul IS NOT QUALIFIED! He does not even have the first clue about Islam (at least, none that he has demonstrated). And ANYONE who thinks you can fall back and defend at home does not know the history of Jihad.
But I can pretty much tell by the hatred you have for Cruz that you won’t do any of this. Cruz is the only candidate with a history of letting the constitution constrain him WITHOUT getting into bed with the establishment. Not even Paul can make this claim. But, if you think this disqualifies Cruz, then by all means, don’t vote for him. but know this: ANYONE — and I mean ANYONE else and we lose America and the Western world. This I believe with all my heart — because so few people ‘know what they know’ and refuse to bother themselves with actually working to learn the Truth. I did. It is why I KNOW Islam will destroy us if we do not face it straight up — and NOW! And it is why I expect people such as yourself — with good intentions, yes — but who, because they act out of ignorance, will invite our destruction.
We’re going to disagree on this. I think the US needs to back off and allow the world to do what the world wants to do … concentrate on ourselves and get our debt under control — and you think we should be more aggressive and, apparently pay for it with pixie dust. There’s no ground for compromise on those two views, so there’s no need for us to discuss it further.
Those people who insist on pointing to defense as the reason we are in debt never seem to realize that entitlement spending dwarfs the LEGITIMATE cost of defending the nation. Nor do they realize the price of isolationism. I guess the lessons of WW I and WW II have been lost on them — which is why they continuously drag this country back into the same destructive cycle.
NEWS FLASH! Things HAVE changed — namely the speed at which people can kill and destroy in ever increasing numbers. Next time, there will not be time to mobilize for war. It will be fought with what is on hand and, if nothing is on hand, you lose — period! ISIS is the greatest threat this nation has faced — with the possible exception of those who do not realize this.
If this nation still read and trusted our Bibles, maybe we’d see that prophecy does not point to a risen Rome or Russian Antichrist, but to a risen Islam acting in alliance with Turkey and the peoples from that general region of the world…
Anyone who has ever read my blog know I am not one of those people. I think entitlement spending is the #1 driver of our debt … but military spending is #2 and when a nation is $19 trillion in debt, it needs a NEWS FLASH that it can’t afford what it has been doing.
And, if you want to discuss the Biblical view of this situation — I seriously doubt the Savior that counseled “turn the other cheek” would be fine with carpet bombing.
YES, there are times when nations must defend themselves or be destroyed by other nations. With Hitler knocking on the Eastern Seaboard and Japan bombing Hawaii, the US was in that situation in 1941. Today, though, we’re in a World War 1 situation — where ISIS’s existence would not affect us much at all if we weren’t supplying its enemies. There is no reason for us to fight this war and there are plenty of reasons for us to stop — not the least of which that the PR value of our attacks are breeding more terrorists who now want to bring the fight to American soil. In the minds of many, the US has become the playground bully that throws a tantrum when the skinny wimp socks him in the mouth for beating up on other kids. Fourteen years ago in Afghanistan we were legitimately defending ourselves, but we’re still fighting the war. Do you really think that continuing that same behavior is going to result in different results? I don’t!
So…..basically for you America is the reason for all the world’s ills.
I think Rand Paul and Ron Paul basically said similar.
No, actually, Don, I think the world is responsible for its own ills. The Syrians are quite capable of making their country hell on earth without our help. But our continued meddling in the region has directly emboldened ISIS. In fact, I suspect we’ll learn sometime in the future that the Obama administration has been funding ISIS as we now know they are funding Al-Qeda affiliates against Asad.
So catch this insanity – we are borrowing money from China and people’s retirement accounts to fund a war being conducted by our avowed enemies against the chosen leader of a sovereign country, whose desperate population is now invading Europe.
What could possibly go wrong there?
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