Talk:Cruzites

Ouch!

This article seems a bit harsh! First of all, those who support Cruz rarely support "the establishment." Form the beginning, Cruz has been supported by conservatives, while others like Kasich were supported by "the establishment." Only now that they see either Trump or Cruz are going to win has "the establishment" begun to back Cruz, as a last-ditch effort to stop Trump. However, Cruz is hated by most congressmen because he does not cave, but stands his ground as a conservative. The only major "leftist tactics" that I know of were the announcing of another candidate dropping out before the first primary. As he explained, this was officially published by a news company (I forget which one) before he said this, and he was only quoting this. Other than this what liberal tactics were used?
I will agree on the question of being a natural-born citizen...I don't think he qualifies--then again, neither does Obama. Does this alone mean he should not be voted for? I honestly don't know, but from what I've seen, he is a strong (though somewhat less malicious) conservative.
That said, I'm a little concerned about how he flip-flopped on abortion, but unlike Trump, he can explain his reasoning. I don;t know who is better for sure, but it seems a little harsh to have an attack article like this posted as fact. --David B (talk) 08:51, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Appreciate your insights about this. But I don't agree that the principal reason that Cruz is disliked by his colleagues in the Senate is because Cruz "does not cave." Jeff Sessions is more conservative and he is not disliked as Cruz is.

Some Cruzites are engaging in leftist tactics, as witnessed in the recent Colorado delegate fiasco. Also, why is Cruz staying in the race if he is opposed to the Establishment??--Andy Schlafly (talk) 10:57, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

The main reason why Cruz is hated is because is because of his pugnacious flareups which is is often combined with a high degree of persistence. For example, calling Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor. And sticking to his guns in a budget battle through a fillibuster.

Colorado was a case of Cruz have a better ground game and the establishment changing their rules in the past to insulate themselves from populists. I don't think it is a case of leftist tactics. I don't think Colorado has had a flood of illegal immigration or legal immigration. Cruz does better in states where there hasn't been a lot of illegal/legal immigration.

New immigrants generally vote left/Democrats which is probably the number one reason why many conservatives like Trump. If most immigrants voted Republican/conservative, I don't think conservatives would have a problem with historically high immigration levels (As long as it wasn't from Muslim countries due to the Islamic terrorism issue). Also, where there is high levels of immigration, there is less assimilation.

Ann Coulter thinks her book on immigration had an effect on Trump. But Trump probably has seen the anti-immigration wave around the world in various countries and in the USA. My guess is that anti-immigration sentiments picked up after the 2007/2008 financial crisis and due to high youth unemployment caused by many young people picking bad majors (and a tougher job market in many cases). Conservative (talk) 11:55, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

One can reach separate judgments about a candidate, his campaign leadership and his voters/supporters. The personal political judgment and temperment of Cruz can be questioned. His campaign leadership and ground game have been excellent. The people who claim to be his supporters probably are driven by a wide variety of motivations, and some are more "anti-Trump" than "pro-Cruz". JDano (talk) 12:23, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

I think Coulter is right about the Establishment being able to deflate the Trump balloon if they really wanted to. But Establishment Republicans are less populists because new immigrants reduce the cost of labor. So Trump remains the leading candidate. Conservative (talk) 12:28, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Leftist tactics cannot simply be excused as a better "ground game." The use of deception, bullying, complete disregard for the voters, and insincerity - such tactics are part of the problem, and what conservatives stand against.--Andy Schlafly (talk) 12:44, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

I think Coulter is right about the Establishment being able to deflate the Trump balloon if they really wanted to. But Establishment Republicans are less populists because new immigrants reduce the cost of labor. So Trump remains the leading candidate.

Also, Cruz could do better on the honesty/sincerely front.

Trump can be a bully, but he is also more of a salesman than Cruz and can better smooth things over. Being a salesman/promoter/marketer, Trump can be more likeable to Cruz to various people. He can be more charming than Cruz. Likeability is one of THE leading assets of a politician - especially in an age of television/videos. It enables people to emotionally connect with a candidates and causes them to be more willing to listen to them.

So far, Cruz has not been Trump's biggest enemy. Trump's biggest enemy has been himself. He needed to be better prepared in terms of the delegate courting game. Also, his statement about Carly Fiorina's face being ugly, the character and persistence of his attacks on Megyn Kelly after her question at the Fox debate and his comment about the size of a particular part of his anatomy caused his unfavorable numbers to go up.

Trump should have just laughed off his comments about Rosey O'Donnell (which he did) and then chalked up his other comments about women to being an entertainer then and dropped the issue. He probably could have saved a lot of women votes if he had done that. Instead, the whole woman issue persisted for many news cycles. He finally smartened up though and now has a policy of detente with Kelly. I think many people are turned off when a man engages in needless battles with a woman. Traditional gender roles dictate that men protect women. Conservative (talk) 13:17, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Trump, to his credit, is maturing as a politician in terms of his political skills. Sean Hannity said that Trump needed to mature as a candidate and he faced a crossroads. Since Hannity said that (which was fairly recently), he seems to be doing much better. He solved the Kelly problem and is beefing up his ground game. I hope his maturation as a politician is not too late if he is going to be the one facing off against Hillary. Conservative (talk) 13:17, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Maybe the favorability/unfavorability ratings issue of Trump vs. Clinton will not prove to be a problem down the pike.

Hllary Clinton's unfavorability rating is on a steep incline lately.[1] Sander's comments about Hillary and the FBI investigation is taking a toll. Trump's unfavorability rating seems to be plateauing.[2]

And I think Trump and his allies will be spending more time driving up Hillary's unfavorability rating. Right now, Trump is letting Sanders and the FBI investigation do the main work in terms of driving up her unfavorability ratings.Conservative (talk) 13:50, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

An interesting book you two have written for me :)

Andy, you may be right that his refusal to cave may not be the only reason he isn't liked, but I think that and staying out of cronyism has a lot to do with it. I think Cruz is staying in the race--as he has said--in hopes of winning by contested convention.

I think trump is winning because he is likable, but also because he throws political correctness out the window, along with common courtesy. The voters don't mind that he's this way; most of them hate the whole lot of politicians, and easily side with someone who's roughing them up a bit. I can't say I'm really opposed to this either. Cruz, however, is trying to be a little more gentile, and proper in his campaign--and getting pounded for it.

Trump might be good, but I find some of his past questionable. He used to be pro-abortion (though that was years ago that such a stance was taken), and he's the subject of five (or so) lawsuits over "Trump University" which has the unique problem of lacking a university--The whole thing was a scam.

If Cruz was really the friend of the establishment, why would he be under attack from so many sides, why are officials publicly announcing that they will vote for Hillery rather than Cruz, and why do "accidents" like the turning off of Cruz's microphone happen?

Honestly, I have yet to see anything other than Cruz's sudden change on aborting to dissuade me from voting for him, which I plan to do. --David B (talk) 14:20, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Phyllis Schlafly was right to favor Trump over Cruz

Phyllis Schlafly was right to favor Trump over Cruz.

Cruz can't win any of the Northeast elections against Hillary Clinton. Cruz is going to get slaughtered in the next batch of post NY northeast primaries and would get slaughtered in a generation election against Hillary.

And Trump takes a harder line on illegal immigration, restricting Muslim immigration and would probably revamp the legal immigration policy so it less likely favors Democrats. I think Muslim terrorism is going to increase over time due to radical/fervent Muslims having more children than the rest of the Muslim population.

Some countries often want immigrants to bring more to the table in terms of investment/skills. For example, to move the Bahamas and become a permanent resident, they ask that you invest $250,000 into the Bahams economy if memory serves(Unless of course you are marrying a citizen).

Since the mid 1960s, America has a general trend of shifting to the left and illegal/legal immigration is probably the main cause (immigration policy changed in the 1960s). Conservative (talk) 15:06, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

I agree that immigrants are a large part of this shift, which is why to left pushes so hard for this. Trump has talked about closing the boarders for sure, but so has Cruz. The only difference is that Cruz has not suggested a temporary ban on all Muslims form entering the country. Of coures this made the MSM hysterical, but a lot of people knew that he was right. It's a funny thing how effective it is to ban your sworn and active enemy who wants nothing more than to kill you from entering your country.

This is another area Cruz is weaker on--the selection of those allowed to enter based on racial/religious properties. --David B (talk) 15:33, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Trump has momentum now and this will continue while he is in the Northeast. That momentum will probably get him nomination.

While I am not a fan of gambling, John Stossel's election betting odds (where people put their money where there mouth is) says Trump has a 64.5 percent chance of winning the nomination.[3]

So much political punditry and political scientist predictions as far as who is going to win an election is based on a person's ideology/partisanship, emotion, demographic characteristics (especially in an age of identity politics) and a person's economic interests that people having to put their money where their mouth is bring some realism to the question. The pundits and political scientists have often been wrong about the potential of Trump's political success - especially in the beginning. Conservative (talk) 15:39, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

When I was less knowledgeable about politics, I thought Boehner's assurance that Romney had a strong ground game in Ohio had some degree of credibility and I was a little hopeful that Obama might lose the election although it didn't look great by any means. Looking back. it was bluster and/or wishful thinking on Boehner's part. Conservative (talk) 16:00, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

Interesting. I hadn't heard of John Stossel before. You (and he) might be right. I wonder if Trump's--err--aggressive tactics will be most effective against the liberals who play dirty, but I like to think that the system still works if everyone votes for who they want. Are Cruz and I going to end up in his "Alamo"? Perhaps, but what's the worst that will happen, we get Trump? I think Cruz could still hold his ground in a presidential election, even if he doesn't leave a wake of chaos as Trump seems to good at doing. Besides, he seems to be a christian, unlike Trump.

Ultimately, I'd rather vote for who I believe is best, then if he loses, we get the next-best option. - DavidB4

Andy, you mentioned "Some Cruzites are engaging in leftist tactics, as witnessed in the recent Colorado delegate fiasco." I'm not quite sure I know what you're talking about--what are they doing? --David B (talk) 18:43, 21 April 2016 (EDT)