2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumTed Cruz Runs on Sarah Palin's Platform
THE ABSOLUTIST
Ted Cruz is an unyielding debaterand the far rights most formidable advocate.
BY JEFFREY TOOBIN
Ted Cruz, the Republican junior senator from Texas, has heard the line about how the Party needs to become more moderate to win Presidential elections. It is amazing that the wisdom of the chattering class to the Republicans is always, always, always Surrender your principles and agree with the Democrats, he told me. Thats been true for my entire lifetime. The chattering classes have consistently said, You crazy Republicans have to give up on what you believe and become more like Democrats. And, I would note, every time Republicans do that we lose. Cruz then offered a short history of recent Presidential politics. Richard Nixon ran as a conservative, twice a winner; Gerald Ford, moderate, loser; Ronald Reagan, also twice a winner. President George Herbert Walker Bush ran as a strong conservative, ran to continue the third term of Ronald Reagan, continue the Ronald Reagan revolution, Cruz went on. Then he raised taxes and in 92 ran as an establishment moderatesame candidate, two very different campaigns. First one won, second one lost. In 1996, you got Bob Dole; 2000 and 2004, you have George W. Bush; 2008, John McCain; 2012, Mitt Romney. And what does the entire D.C. Republican consulting class say? In 2016, we need another establishment moderate! Hasnt worked in four decades. But next time will be the time!
As the midterm elections grow closer, with the Presidential race to follow, the Republican Party is still split roughly along the historical lines that Cruz described. On the issues, the differences between the two wings appear modest, but the temperamental, even geographic, distinctions are profound. Establishment Republicans, based in Washington, remain at some level committed to uphold rudimentary operations of government and at least talk about broadening the Partys appeal. Ardent conservatives, including those in the Tea Party movement, regard the Capitol as a cesspool of corruption, and they see compromise as betrayal. The outcome of this struggle is uncertain, as illustrated by the varying political fortunes of two leading establishment figures. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, easily survived a primary challenge in Kentucky, but Eric Cantor, the Partys leader in the House, went down to a humiliating defeat in his primary in Virginia.
Cruzs ascendancy reflects the dilemma of the modern Republican Party, because his popularity within the Party is based largely on an act that was reviled in the broader national community. Last fall, Cruzs strident opposition to Obamacare led in a significant way to the shutdown of the federal government. It was not a productive enterprise, John McCain told me. We needed sixty-seven votes in the Senate to stop Obamacare, and we didnt have it. It was a fools errand, and it hurt the Republican Party and it hurt my state. I think Ted has learned his lesson. But Cruz has learned no such lesson. As he travels the country, he has hardened his positions, delighting the base of his party but moving farther from the positions of most Americans on most issues. He denies the existence of man-made climate change, opposes comprehensive immigration reform, rejects marriage equality, and, of course, demands the repeal of every blessed word of Obamacare. (Cruz gets his own health-care coverage from Goldman Sachs, where his wife is a vice-president.) Cruz has not formally entered the 2016 Presidential race, but he is taking all the customary steps for a prospective candidacy. He has set up political-action committees to raise money, travelled to early primary states, like Iowa and New Hampshire, and campaigned for Republican candidates all over the country. His message, in substance, is that on the issues a Cruz Presidency would be roughly identical to a Sarah Palin Presidency.
Cruz and I were talking in a back room at the Fort Worth Convention Center earlier this month, during the Texas Republican Convention. A crowd of more than seven thousand greeted Cruzs speech there rapturously. They cheered his anti-Washington gibes. I spent all week in Washington, D.C., and its great to be back in America, he told the delegates. On another occasion at the convention, Cruz noted that some people think the name of the Washington Redskins football team is offensive. Theres an easy way to fix that, he said. You can just drop the word Washington. (Cruzs go-to hashtag is #makedclisten.) Cruzs convention booth, designed to resemble a rustic Texas cabin, with a saddle out front, was the most popular in the hall. Hundreds of people stood in line for hours to have their photograph taken with him.
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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/06/30/140630fa_fact_toobin
Mike Nelson
(9,953 posts)...hope he runs
Volaris
(10,270 posts)"Noooo... that will never happen he can't win the primary."
You bet your ass they're crazy enough to run him for president...and when there's absolutely no way in God's own Hell that they can say "well, see he just wasn't a really real Conservative enough, THAT'S why he got crushed by the largest popular vote landslide in 40 fucking years.."
Maybe THEN, they will figure out that America isn't as center-right as they deluded themselves into believing.
The Sad they will have to have will be truly Epic, and therefore, truly entertaining to watch.
I say, "Where do I sign his callous, crazy ass up?"
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)He is not up for reelection in 2014 and has not announced 2016. I wish we only concentrated on 2014.....The closer to November, the more nervous I become.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)someone needs to silence him
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)madamesilverspurs
(15,800 posts)I'm only halfway through my first cup of coffee, and my not-fully-awake brain read that headline as "Ted Cruz runs on Sarah Palin's platform shoes". The mental picture was not pretty.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)You can imagine some Glam rock image