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Ted Cruz Booed Off RNC Stage For Failing to Endorse Trump

Ted Cruz Booed Off RNC Stage For Failing to Endorse Trump

“Vote Your Conscience”

This is now one of my top five favorite moments in convention speeches.

Senator Cruz was given a prime time slot in Wednesday’s Republican National Convention lineup.

Cruz didn’t encourage convention goers and watchers to vote Trump, rather to vote their conscience. When delegates realized he wasn’t going to explicitly endorse Donald Trump, they began booing and jeering. Then, Donald Trump made an entrance before Cruz had finished his speech.

That moment in all its glorious awkwardness:

The Internet responds

Senator Ted Cruz’s full remarks, boos and all:

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Comments

I was all for Cruz back in January, even voted for him in the SC primary. I liked his debating style and the left has no dirt on him BUT…….I have seen the side of him that is off-putting to the average Joe. He has zero charisma and cannot relate to the ordinary blue collar guy. It is as if he has been running for President since he was in the eighth grade. Yes, he has unfolded into THAT guy. Sad.

    Eastwood Ravine in reply to scooterjay. | July 21, 2016 at 1:44 am

    In other words, Ted Cruz is Tracy Flick. I can definitely see it.

    A true portrait of Donald Trump: “He has zero charisma and cannot relate to the ordinary blue collar guy. It is as if he has been running for President since he was in the eighth grade. Yes, he has unfolded into THAT guy. Sad.”

    I find it incredible that people worship the silver-spooned Waffle House-Headed full of guile Trump as some working class hero who will bestow dignity magically, like Justice Anthony Kennedy, onto whatever it is you have become.

      scooterjay in reply to jennifer a johnson. | July 21, 2016 at 8:51 pm

      I don’t worship anyone but God. I’m not a big fan of Trump but there is one thing I like…..he represents the country’s dissatisfaction with politicians. Perhaps if some folks would get down off their platform of “I know better than you” and spend some time in the real world, the blue-collar world you despise you would see it from our perspective, but that would involve pulling your head out of your ass.

He signed the same pledge the RNC asked all the candidates to sign. His refusal to honor that demonstrates to his party that he is not trustworthy.

legacyrepublican | July 20, 2016 at 11:10 pm

Be fair. Cruz is being consistent.

On what basis could Sen. Cruz endorse a man who went on to call him “lying Ted” soon after he brilliantly tore apart the media for their calling Trump a clown during a debate.

If Trump really wanted Cruz’ endorsement, then all he had to do is to retract that statement and say it was unfair.

    alaskabob in reply to legacyrepublican. | July 20, 2016 at 11:15 pm

    Forget Lynch/Clinton meeting on plane…. what did Cruz and Romney talk about on Air Force One with Obama? Parenting notes? Prior to Iowa, I was for Cruz…. now this… he “could have been somebody”… VP, or on the Supreme Court…. now it is all in ashes or worse…..

      Please note, this is Trump’s doing. He’s the one who continues to bring drama to the convention regardless wether or not it reflects positively on the party. By his own admission, he knew that Cruz will not endorse him, yet he invited Cruz all the same.

    “Be fair.”

    OK, what part of an unconditional pledge do you not understand?

      Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 12:11 am

      Der Donald broke his a long time ago.

      Did you forget…???

        Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 12:19 am

        The pledge, as you well know, was an unconditional pledge to support the nominee of the party. Trump is the nominee.

        Only Romney could both get such a nomination and break that kind of pledge.

        Ted Cruz has not honored his pledge. No honor.

        Now, with all your trump hatred, are you comparing Cruz to trump as equivalents?

          Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 12:30 am

          THIS election cycle. T-rump flirted with his “unconditional pledge” like a Times Square hooker.

          “Honor”, your ass.

          What about his various “pledges” and lies in the last two months. Or can’t you keep up.

          The guy is Obamic in his lies.

          Barry in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 12:56 am

          Trump didn’t break his pledge, Cruz did.

          “You know, Chuck, I’m a very simple man and when I give my word for something, I follow through and do what I said.”

          Ted Cruz interview with Chuck Todd regarding the pledge.

          Cruz went back on his “word”. It’s that simple.

          Now, I don’t care. I don’t believe ted has all those principles you believe, so no surprise. The sad thing is not that Cruz went back on his word, which he undeniably did. It is that he came to the convention and gave a speech about himself knowing he would break his word. He should of been a Bush/Kasich and just stayed home.

        alaskabob in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:15 am

        As I remember it, Trump was essentially last in signing pledge. After he signed it and began winning the establishment types like Romney began being vocal about the establishment part of the party …. The very people who demanded his pledge… wanting to use the Party apparatus to remove Trump from contention rather then let the primaries play out. That would sound like backing out of a deal and would anyone continue to pledge support if they felt double crossed. I lost Ted with the Carson issue in Iowa and Ted’s dad and Beck going Biblical….. As I said above… I had high hope for him….but having major Republican embracing Hillary is way too dangerous.

    Then he should not have taken the stage. This was beyond obnoxious.

Trump’s behavior towards Cruz in the primaries was reprehensible.

You can’t treat people like garbage and then expect them to be zealous supporters. There will always be consequences.

Cruz is a man of character, so the above holds doubly true for him.

Maybe if Trump had apologized for all of his slanders against Cruz during the primaries, but he never has.

    Barry in reply to Aarradin. | July 20, 2016 at 11:37 pm

    “Cruz is a man of character”

    Uh, huh, every time character calls cruz fails to answer.

    See pledge, unconditional.

      Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 12:15 am

      Oh. OK.

      See, T-rump, Donelle, pledge breaking asshat.

        Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 12:27 am

        Answered above.

        You are reaching, justifying your mans dishonor by the actions of another. Another that never happened of course.

        Cruz signed the unconditional pledge. He broke it.

        You can’t justify that and you know it.

        Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 12:49 am

        Ragspierre | July 21, 2016 at 12:30 am

        THIS election cycle. T-rump flirted with his “unconditional pledge” like a Times Square hooker.

        “Honor”, your ass.

        What about his various “pledges” and lies in the last two months. Or can’t you keep up.

        The guy is Obamic in his lies.

        PLUS…

        This is the LAST time anyone will make the mistake of making such a foolish “pledge”.

          Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:02 am

          “This is the LAST time anyone…”

          Which doesn’t justify going back on your word. Period. You know it.

          What I find really funny, trump refused to support the candidate that won when asked about it in the first “debate”. Trump, being smarter that the rest of the professional political neophytes turned it around on the party, and got them all to sign it in blood, unconditional.

          Some have honor, some don’t. Cruz is on the ‘don’t” side of the equation.

          rabidfox in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 2:31 am

          The only reason why the GOP demanded these pledges was to keep Trump from running a third party candidacy if he lost (as they expected) the Republican nomination.

          MarkSmith in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 11:27 am

          Ragspierre , too funny. Cruz was played so bad for his stupid appearance. Those who did not like Cruz just became Trump voters. Those who like Cruz (like me) have more doubts about him for falling right in to the Trump trap.

          I thought Cruz might be a great SC judge, but after his poor delivery yesterday, I don’t even think that is good. Sorry I don’t want him as President and now I don’t want him as an SC. In my opinion, the best place for him is where he is now. Thanks Ted for confirming that last night.

          Cruz broke his pledge. Not a class act anymore. Picked Carly Fiorina in desperation – Not a class act. Flip Flopped on the trade deal – not a class act. The list goes on.

          The most principled President I can think of was Washington. He compromised. Only dictators don’t.
          Cruz lack of ability to compromise is a character flaw, not a sign of principle. It is funny to read what many have written here. I will help you out: “Trump” won the Republican Nomination. It is over. Move on. The sore loser Cruz fans just don’t understand how the game is played and will continue to loose.

          The more you whine about it, the more you help Trump and the media just keeps feeding you, which just helps Trump out. Thanks for your whining.

    buckeyeminuteman in reply to Aarradin. | July 21, 2016 at 7:51 am

    You can’t say somebody’s dad was in cahoots with Lee Harvey Oswald and call them a liar repeatedly, then expect them to kiss your ring. If Trump had apologized to Ted last night in front of everybody, it would have went a long ways.

      MarkSmith in reply to buckeyeminuteman. | July 21, 2016 at 11:31 am

      Sounds like Ted needs to toughen up if he wants to be President “some day”. Give me a break, this is classic politics. Please go back to your anti-bully training class.
      Maybe we should allow everyone to be President. Hey maybe we can all take turns and give out trophies.

Very nice reminder of why I voted Cruz in primary and almost certainly will in general. When republicans are doing soul-searching in November, wondering what happened, this is where the search succeeds.

    scooterjay in reply to fwiffo. | July 20, 2016 at 11:25 pm

    …..and we will admire your character as Hillary frog-marches us into oblivion. Wow, just. plain. wow. Never thought I would see this at the end of eight years of “I Won”.

      fwiffo in reply to scooterjay. | July 20, 2016 at 11:36 pm

      Responsibility for losing to Hillary falls on those who nominated candidate who loses to Hillary.

        rabidfox in reply to fwiffo. | July 21, 2016 at 2:37 am

        Oh cute. Vote for a loser like Johnson and pat yourself on the back. Then blame the GOP for running a candidate that you didn’t like. Where is the party unity that was shoved down our throats with Romney and McCain? Oh! It was the elites and insiders who supported them so the little folks needed just to sit back and vote GOP lest the evil democrats win. Well we did and then got kicked in the teeth for it. Now we have a candidate that we like and you are going to take your ball and go home because you have ‘principles’ that you can’t violate so it’s OK that Hillary won.

I’m sorry. Mr Cruz I have supported you and backed you to the end. Your speech tonight was a great disappointment to me. Bad Form Sir.

— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) July 21, 2016

    amwick in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 7:09 am

    Not a disappointment to me. Trump will use this as a springboard. Trump played Cruz, big time, he pulled back the curtain and exposed him. Sweet.

Trump is lucky he slandered the father of a guy with as much class as Ted Cruz. I would have whipped his punk ass and shoved that gay toupee up his ass.

    rabidfox in reply to Paul. | July 21, 2016 at 2:41 am

    What slander? Trump pointed out that there was a picture that shared the image of a man handing out fliers with an image of Oswald. Cruz’s father admits that it was him in the picture. The best response would have been something like “Yeah, it was me. So what.” Instead the Cruziers blew it up into something it wasn’t. This was after they attacked Trumps wife. Cruz was any kind of dewy eyed innocent in all of this. Politics is a rough game.

      Milhouse in reply to rabidfox. | July 21, 2016 at 5:12 am

      Cruz’s father admits that it was him in the picture.

      Liar.

      You and your candidate can both go for a long walk off a short pier. The country will be better off with the Wicked Witch of Westchester than with that cad you have foisted on us.

        And there you have it folks, Milkshakes is now out of the closet for what he’s always been.
        A Clinton supporter.

          Milhouse in reply to secondwind. | July 21, 2016 at 7:10 am

          I have been clear from the very beginning of this campaign that I believe Clinton is a lesser evil than Trump. It’s never been any kind of secret.

        gert in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 7:02 am

        Good catch, Milhouse. Rabidfox is just lying his face off. There has never been any reason to believe that Cruz is in that photo, it’s entirely a Trumpkin invention.

        The funny thing is that when Trump himself tried repeating this lie he exposed his own ignorance: he clearly had no idea who Oswald was! If you listen to his words, he thought he was insinuating that Cruz Sr had shot Oswald! Because whoever fed this to him didn’t think they needed to explain who Oswald was, they assumed he already knew. But he didn’t, because he’s an ignorant boor, on top of his other wonderful qualities.

You don’t just suddenly change your registration to Republican and become a delegate. It take a lot of devotion to the Republican party.
It was hard core Republicans booing Ted Cruz.

Someone should have told him that when you play Russian Roulette you are only supposed to load one chamber with a bullet.

Especially when a Hillary victory means Supreme Court Justice William Jefferson Clinton.

    Ragspierre in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 12:04 am

    “It was hard core Republicans booing Ted Cruz.”

    No. It was T-rump cultists.

    Forget your lil’ Clinton Supreme Court fantasy, Rod. It’s stupid.

    Plus, Barry assures us that Mr. Establishment will win a landslide!

      Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 12:07 am

      “Plus, Barry assures us that Mr. Establishment will win a landslide!”

      No, I said Trump would win in a landslide. Cruz has been out since more Texans voted against him than voted for him.

    Should be: you don’t just suddenly pretend to be a Republican to run for president.

Gingrich offered Cruz an olive branch.

I suggest Cruz would be wise to take it. If Trump fails, the constitutional conservative purists will now be blamed for the electoral loss and Cruz will not be leading anything as the party instead turns to disaffected Berniebros who are at least loyal. If constitutional conservative purist are thought to be unreliable and disloyal, the party will blow them off and move into a more socialist direction.

    Barry in reply to rotten. | July 20, 2016 at 11:55 pm

    I disagree with that assessment. If trump were to lose, it will be the fault of the Trump campaign, not anything to do with a marginalized ted cruz or his sycophant following.

    Trump will win in a landslide. I was right when I called the nomination for Trump in October 2015, and I’ll be right in November 2016.

    “…If constitutional conservative purist are thought to be unreliable and disloyal, the party will blow them off and move into a more socialist direction…”

    Um. Have you not been watching for the last twenty or more years?

      rabidfox in reply to georgfelis. | July 21, 2016 at 2:46 am

      Agreed. We keep voting for politicians who run on the constitutional conservative platform and they keep kicking us in the teeth when they win and move to the left. That K street money must be pretty good.

    Evan3457 in reply to rotten. | July 21, 2016 at 1:41 am

    Disaffected BenieBros are a mirage. None of them will support Trump; not even out of pique for Hillary’s obvious and abundant corruption. Racial identity politics trumps all to them (pardon the unintended pun), and, on that issue, Trump is beyond the pale.

    At best, some of them will stay home and mirror-image the Never Trump contingent on the right and center-right.

Supreme Court justice Bill Clinton is a best case scenerio. At least he’s old, looks I’ll already, and has lived in a poor state where he was not in a plutocrat bubble. I’d take him over, eg, Garland.

President Hillary means four more Ginsburg clones. Why even have a multi judge court if all of the judges have the same background, life story, and thought process?

    RodFC in reply to rotten. | July 21, 2016 at 12:17 am

    Clinton is not going to vote to the right of Ginsburg, and he is a disbarred ( Ok he voluntarily gave up his license a diference without distinction ) lawyer. You can’t get much worse.

“One RNC official called Cruz’s speech “classless,” while a senior GOP operative on the convention floor told Fox News, “I could not believe it. I literally could not believe [Cruz] didn’t endorse Trump. I’m speechless.””

The comments I’m seeing from pundits, RNC, delegates and the vast majority of commenters are things like: Cruz has blown his career, that Cruz showed exactly why he had 1 friend in the Senate, not a team player, put his own selfish interests over party and country.

Also seeing comments like Trump gave Cruz the rope and Cruz put it around his neck and hung himself.

Spin it all you want KK but being boo’d off the stage on national TV by ones own party grass roots does not bode well for a national career. Having your wife escorted out of the hall by security for her own safety because the delegates were screaming at her is not the mark of a beloved political leader.

Cruz rendered himself irrelevant and his national career hopes has ended. Cruz overshadowed by Mike Pence. Mike Pence will take the spot on the national stage that Cruz selfishly covets today.

    Ragspierre in reply to JYLD. | July 21, 2016 at 12:10 am

    This is called “confirmation bias”.

    You’re a Cruz-hating troll, as you shown all evening.

      amwick in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 12:14 am

      Just because someone disagrees with your own unique perspective does not make them a troll. That gripe is getting redundant.

          gulfbreeze in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:38 am

          Or what? What are you going to do? Are you a moderator here? Do you even know the definition of trolling?

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

          “…a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion, often for their own amusement.

          “This sense of the word ‘troll’ and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, but have been used more widely. Media attention in recent years has equated trolling with online harassment.”

          JYLD has done none of those things with his post above. He posted his non-inflammatory observations and opinion, on topic, harassed no one, disrupted no conversation, provoked no one, with no evidence of intent for his amusement.

          amwick did nothing but correctly point out your misunderstanding of the word trolling. And the post you linked by JYLD contains his opinion directed to the topic of this article.

          Does one need to link posts where you have directed profane language at members (not article topics) to help you understand the difference? One’s emotional responses to posts one reads here does not make the authors of those posts a troll.

          And please feel free to reply to this post with invectives that will only serve to prove everything I’ve just written is true.

          amwick in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 7:15 am

          Your concern is duly noted Mr. Pierre. 🙂 But you do tend to use that trolling term pretty often. I know for a fact you have a much broader vocabulary.

Rafael wins the political Darwin award. Way to go!

Actually, I do believe that Mr. Trump, with his “lying Ted” has already done so much damage that he broke the pledge. Had Senator Cruz won the nomination he would have had that particular piece of baggage around his neck. Mr. Trump has poisoned the well. He broke new ground with especially vicious personal attacks.

Two of my favorites: “What did you think was going to happen?” and “Didn’t see that coming.”

Trump ran a very scorched earth campaign, and reports from earlier this spring were very much that not supporting the nominee was coming from all candidates. Trump’s excuse was that he wouldn’t have to support the nominee because others were disrespecting him and cheating. If he wasn’t the nominee then he was cheated.

The pledge says “endorse” the nominee, doesn’t say when or how. Besides, Mr. Trump has told us that other guys real name is “Lying Ted”. How can we trust an endorsement from a liar?

I supported Cruz and contributed to him during the primaries, but I have moved along and was willing to vote for Trump in the general, and I probably still will. Nevertheless, I think Cruz’ speech was just right.

Those piling on Cruz would do well to put themselves in his shoes. Can you with all honesty say that you would have endorsed Trump with all the slime he hurled at Cruz? I doubt it.

    If he had nothing good to say about Trump, he should have said nothing.

    This is very damaging to him. While Cruz lost the nomination, he lost with his integrity intact. Right now, he looks sadly small.

      “If he had nothing good to say about Trump, he should have said nothing.”

      That’s exactly what he did. And he’s getting creamed for it by both sides, the MSM and the GOPe.

        You know what I mean: he should have not taken center stage if he was going pull this.

        Overall, I love the guy. But this was simply stupid. He should have sucked it up, supported the candidate and saved his ire for a time when Trump ‘blows’ it, if Trump blows it at all.

        As a Cruz fan, I’m frustrated he made himself look so petty.

          It’s not Trump’s convention, it’s the Republican Party’s convention, and unlike Trump, Cruz is a Republican, so why shouln’t he have spoken? The party has made a grievous error, but that’s no reason to dump it. Cruz was perfectly appropriate.

        amwick in reply to georgfelis. | July 21, 2016 at 7:26 am

        I actually agree to a point but I think he should have declined the invitation completely. But he walked into Donald’s party, it was a celebration, and he spit on the cake! He just gave Donald more ammunition, and tons of media attention.

      Ragspierre in reply to TheFineReport.com. | July 21, 2016 at 12:43 am

      What “bad” did Cruz say…???

      “Vote your conscience?”

      Jesus Christ on a lunch box…!!!

    RodFC in reply to Othniel. | July 21, 2016 at 12:59 am

    It would have been a lot more classier to just not speak at the convention. Shame that Bush and Romney come out looking classier then Cruz.

      stl in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 2:13 am

      Sorry, this was all a ploy by the Trump Team, straight out of Democrat play book. They needed Cruz to endorse, they rolled the dice, if they were not sure of his endorsement, they should not have invited him to speak. If he doesn’t endorse, do everything you can to make him look bad. 2) A pledge to support a nominee and a convention endorsement are two different things. 3) If Cruz’s “Conscience” comment is not an endorsement in the minds of the Trump Team, then it proves the nominee is not a conservative and that the party has been hijacked, to our detriment. Cruz may or may not have ended his future political career, but he ran the table on them tonight and showed how to be Principle over politics…

So it is obvious that the Trump campaign knew this was going to happen. They saw the speech 2 hours before he gave it. Cruz was dumb enough to walk into a political trap. Trump people were whipping the boos. And their little game worked. The backlash against Cruz is fierce.

I listened my way through the Cruz speech with mixed emotions. I was proud of the way the crowd cheered all of the conservative points Ted brought up… right up to the point where they acted with all of the maturity of a toddler missing a binky when they realized he wasn’t going to explicitly endorse Ted on the stage, thus giving the MSM the ‘theme’ they’re going to run with for the next few months.

Grats guys.

    MaggotAtBroadAndWall in reply to georgfelis. | July 21, 2016 at 1:24 am

    Exactly. Cruz congratulated Trump for winning the nomination. He didn’t say one negative word about Trump or the Republican Party. Cruz looked classy and dignified. The Trump supporting delegates did not.

Why would Trump, seeing the Text of Cruz’s speech, give it a go-ahead? Trump’s own position is that he is the nice guy who lets Cruz talk. But he did it best to shut down the dissenters on the opening night. Why did he OK a divisive speech, then?
Because it wanted drama.
The goal of a convention is to broadcast unity, the opposite of drama.
Why did Trump chose discord, then? Because he’s not interested in unity, he’s not interested in victory in November. What’s in it for him, then?
He’s promoting his brand, pure and simple. That’s why he put each and every of his immediate family member on the podium. Donald Trump doesn’t care about you. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America. It’s all about him and his blood relations.

impeach obama | July 21, 2016 at 1:04 am

I was a #NeverTrump voter. then Justice Ginsburg changed my mind to #NeverHillary.

I DJT implied that my father was involved in JFK’s assassination,I would not endorse him.

Cruz gave am impassioned speech in support of liberty and implied that Trump was OK. What more could he honorably do ?
He did not boycott as others who were insulted did, or do you all forget the slurs against Bush going to war after 9/11 for oil? and McCain is no hero, stated by a draft dodger?

because the SCOTUS is in play that i will vote for Trump, not because his stellar morality!

Trump broke the pledge first.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-sign-gop-pledge-commit-to-back-party-nominee/2015/09/03/c5d9ea7c-5242-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html

-And Later On-

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/274640-trump-i-may-not-support-gop-nominee

But then, I forgot, in The World According To Trump, all parties to an agreement he signs have to obey it, even after he breaks it.

This is from a comment of someone who saw this in a comment …
“Reagan made his career with a Convention speech. Ted Cruz just destroyed his”

Lyin’ Ted has lived up to his name.

How sad that so many here support a lying, faithless snake-in-the-grass that is, regardless of the lies he tells, bought and paid for by the Establishment that he plays at opposing.

Y’all must enjoy Kabuki theater, or be more gullible than the average sucker.

Since logic, reason and facts mean nothing to you here, you will ignore this link. Otherwise your heads would probably explode, so make sure none of the facts contained in it ever penetrate!

https://asnowrose.wordpress.com/2016/02/04/do-you-really-know-ted-cruz/

As for me, you needn’t bother banning me. I wouldn’t return here even with a Hazmat suit, the reek is just too strong!

J. J., Edge, Raggsie, the rest.
I think what Cruz did & you as his followers continue to do is great. I encourage you to do more of the same. You are assuring the furtherance of my goals far more than I ever could on my own.

Double down on accepting peoples hospitality, get invited into their homes, march straight into their showcase living rooms, pull down your pants, then take a dump on their $6500.00 custom white couch. Then turn around, pull out your Ragspecker, & piss on their $4500.00 matching loveseat.

By doing that you guarantee a “principled conservative” will never be elected to a national office ever.

That’s a good thing, please do it as often as the opportunity arises. Libertarians will draw more votes than you will.

What Trump did by allowing this is one of the most effective political ploys I’ve seen in my 70 years. Trump has been playing Cruz since day one. I & probably some others on this site have been doing the same with all of you. That’s why I’ve continued participation here. Otherwise it’s a waste of time.

    VaGentleman in reply to secondwind. | July 21, 2016 at 6:00 am

    I could not agree more with my fellow septuagenarian. These so called (by themselves only) ‘principled conservatives’ have been an albatross around the neck of true conservatives for decades. I would add that Trump not only plays them, he also exposes them for what they are – moral relativists who use their ‘principles’ to justify anything they want to do.

    It’s interesting to note that Cruz was booed off the stage by the same delegates who, we were told 3 days ago, were eager to revolt in his favor if only they could get a fair floor vote.

    Ragspierre in reply to secondwind. | July 21, 2016 at 11:27 am

    Your insanity was never more clearly displayed.

    With the VAPig, it’s just plain meanness and hate.

    With you, it’s insanity.

    Somebody get Ill Wind some Depends. She is leaking.

    Someone get VaG a pinafore to wear for his Trump dance.

    “Trump has been playing Cruz since day one.” Wow! And here I was told that Trump is not a player, that he is above and beyond being principled, that he is “the Real Deal.”

    It appears now that Trumpism has become the New Moral Standard, a standard that has been imposed (bullied)upon us after he came down from Trump mountain carrying his tablets of The Art Of the Deal.

    “Trump not only plays them, he also exposes them for what they are – moral relativists who use their ‘principles’ to justify anything they want to do.”

    -See quote response above. And, I refuse to lower myself to Hillary’s level to beat Hillary.

    What will happen when all the Donny Jrs., the Yellow Snowflakes, can no longer claim victim status in a society that is rife with victimhood? They will melt away into a pool of yellow-orange bile.

Here’s a thought. Cruz is one of the most disliked and untrusted republicans among independents and Bernie democrats. So is it possible that dust up with Cruz tonight will make Trump look more appealing to independents, Reagan Democrats, and Bernie Bros.

They might just think that if a flaming asswipe uber conservative like Cruz doesn’t like Trump then Trump might be worth a vote considering its either Trump or Hillary.

What if Cruz in his little bitch attempt to sell out constitution and country to Hillary has actually helped Trump gain general election votes.

Could it be Trump played Cruz for a loser yet again. Got Cruz to self destruct his own career while getting more general election votes as a result.

Other positives from Cruz whiny bitch routine. Mega rich donor Adelson canceled meeting with Cruz tonight and called Trump to come and meet instead. Also reports of other mega donors reacting to Cruz by calling or texting they are opening wallets for Trump campaign.

-……………

Once again for all who have forgotten

Cruz earned the name Lyin Ted because he constantly lied about and misrepresented Trump’s statements at every one of his appearances. The name stuck because itcwas true.

As for personal attacks. Cruz started it by peddling nudie pics of Melania Trump all over Utah. Trump merely responded by showing Teddy two can play the attack family game and that Trump could do it better. Mess with the bull you get the horns.

    JYLD :
    Exactly. Yours is more testimony that Trump simply played Cruzes inherent mental instability by pushing the right buttons knowing it would touch Cruz off the way it did. Why else would he say what he did about Cruzes father? The old man is a bit of a psych ward. As is Cruz himself along with his best friend Senator Lee. Both Glenn Beck & Eric Ericson. Have you listened to Mark Levin lately. Truly ready for a rubber room. The spittle come’s out of the radio when he’s on.

    I can’t take more than 15 minutes of Levin before I have to turn on N.P.R. for relief.

    Wasn’t it you that clinically dismantled Raggsie a couple days ago?

    gert in reply to JYLD. | July 21, 2016 at 6:28 am

    Cruz started it by peddling nudie pics of Melania Trump all over Utah.

    Another filthy lie from your filthy lying mouth.

    gert in reply to JYLD. | July 21, 2016 at 7:04 am

    Cruz started it by peddling nudie pics of Melania Trump all over Utah.

    That’s a damned lie.

The animus toward Ted Cruz here is a stark reminder of why I cannot vote for Trump, despite my loathing of Hillary. The reports of Cruz´s demise may be premature.

I think Trump will win in November, with or without Cruz. If Trump turns out to be a great, or even good president (which would surprise me), then Cruz will be forgotten. If Trump turns out to be the “snake oil salesman” president, the tyrant I anticipate, Cruz will turn out to have been prescient and brilliant by being the only gladiator to step into the arena and stand his ground. Time will tell, but I was proud to see at least one defeated man not kneel.

    RodFC in reply to lawdoc. | July 21, 2016 at 3:25 am

    Before his speech, Sheldon Adelson had invited Cruz to see him when he was done. After the speech Adelson refused to see him. How in any way is that good for a future campaign?

Connivin Caniff | July 21, 2016 at 2:44 am

Now she will find him sitting in the middle of the freeway.

@chattyloulou My father would not be proud of Cruz speech..He would think Cruz was selfish and small and he was and is..@newsmax

— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) July 21, 2016

In the end, I doubt this will have much lasting effect. it will be forgotten by next week probably even tomorrow. It does distract a little from great speeches. Laura Ingraham’s. Cruz should have listened to her advice about little boys. Mike Pence’s speech, which I think positions him to be the front runner after Trump is done.

It is also funny to see some of the comments on Twitter. Like the one about Ted Cruz getting more boos in Cleveland then Johnny Manziel.

In the end, really, the only thing this accomplishes is to blow Cruz’s political career into shards.

    Cleetus in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 7:08 am

    I won’t ever forget this because we are facing an existential crisis and Cruz chose to be petty and selfish instead of a team player. He is no leader; he is a small child who can only see what is in it for himself and it is this kind of mentality that created Nixon, Clinton’s, Obama, and other failed leaders. Nope, I will never forget this refusal to adhere to his pledge nor his inability to work with others.

      Cybrludite in reply to Cleetus. | July 21, 2016 at 8:13 am

      Petty and selfish to not support the guy who insulted your wife, claimed your father was involved in the Kennedy assassination, and questioned your citizenship?

        katiejane in reply to Cybrludite. | July 21, 2016 at 9:32 am

        If Cruz felt what Trump had said was beyond the pale he should have stayed home like the other poor losers did. o one forced him to speak rather it seems like he was given an opportunity. His sppech didn’t strike me as expressing hurt about the harsh words Trump used but jealousy and anger that Trump was the nominee. Cruz displayed junior high school pettiness and now that he’s getting backlash his camp is whining that Trump “set him up.”

          Rick in reply to katiejane. | July 21, 2016 at 1:18 pm

          Baloney.
          It seems undisputed that Trump knew exactly what Cruz was going to say, and that Cruz was willing not to give a speech if Trump so chose.

      inspectorudy in reply to Cleetus. | July 21, 2016 at 8:45 am

      So you want him to be like the groveling pigs who want part of the spoils? In most prior elections men fought over their voting records or on their positions on a war or tax cuts. But in this race there was one man who went after all the others with personal insults and very personal family attacks. I can take you slamming my voting record or trash my view on healthcare but when you attack my family and insult my father f**k you! And NO, I will not shake your hand and say I support you, EVER!

      RodFC in reply to Cleetus. | July 21, 2016 at 3:55 pm

      No. It will be discussed for a long time as one of the biggest political blunders of all time. Like Parlement excoriating Franklin.

      But in terms of the campaign it will quickly fade into the background.

    inspectorudy in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 8:40 am

    “Blow his political career to shards”? Is that because he has the integrity to do what he says? Or that a man who publicly insulted his father by saying he was part of the plot to kill JFK? Would you shake hands and join that man if it had been your father or wife? I think what Cruz spoke last night was exactly what he had told Trump he was going to say. I don’t have too much trouble imagining that Trump got the boos going. Wait until you see what your idol does before you talk about political careers.

      PhillyGuy in reply to inspectorudy. | July 21, 2016 at 9:16 am

      Well in the biggest political speech of his life, Cruz reinforced his image among lawmakers (and now the public) and acted like a self obsessed jerk. So yeah, he stuck by his principles. He’s a lying untrustworthy user. Nice way to brand yourself Ted Bergdahl Cruz.

    BlackJack in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 9:13 am

    Virtually every account of this speech claims that Cruz was “booed off the stage,” yet when I actually saw the clip, I didn’t note that at all. He was booed by some but certainly not that noticeably.

    Evidently, the booing and the cheering increases or decreases, depending on which clip is seen. Anyone have a true version?

      amwick in reply to BlackJack. | July 21, 2016 at 10:38 am

      I watched CSpan and Fox, I see your point. It may have to do with where the mikes were at any given moment. I think Texas was supporting him, NY was booing, you can believe whatever report you want.

Let me be perfectly clear, in the words of a three-time nominee of the party I recently left. My vote is precious. It is my stamp of approval. NO ONE has any claim on my vote. Every candidate for every office either earns it, or doesn’t get it.

I have never knowingly voted for a person I considered unfit for the office they sought. I never intend to.

– – –

Both major party candidates this year fail my basic test. Both are persons of low character and antithetical to my core beliefs. Both are liars, cheats, frauds, and thieves, and where either has specified their policies, they are against my values and judgment and the interests of the United States.

Both would harm our country and Constitutional system as President, just as the current officeholder has. I will never support either one.

– – –

Since I am no longer a Republican, I could not care less about that party’s unity or success. They left me. They have no claim on my vote, my money, my efforts, or my vocal support.

The more I learn of Trump and his supporters, the more I am convinced I am taking the best course in a terrible situation.

Cruz said “as for me give me liberty or give me death” he invited everyone to exercise their own liberty what is the matter with you people and Donald Trump Junior’s comment prepare to die ?give me a break who the blank does that guy think he is

Ted Cruz: coup d’Establishment

For those morons harping on about the so-called pledge, any obligation Cruz might once have been under disappeared the moment Trump said he was no longer bound by it.

Anderson Cooper: “Do you continue to pledge to support whoever the Republican nominee is?”

Trump: “No, I don’t anymore.”

With those words Trump released Cruz and the other 15 from their pledges. End of story.

    VaGentleman in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 6:06 am

    Remind me not to enter into a contract with you.

      Milhouse in reply to VaGentleman. | July 21, 2016 at 6:35 am

      Why, do you plan on breaking it? Are you in the habit of breaking contracts, and yet expect the other parties to remain bound by them? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. The moment you break a deal you release the other party from any obligation to keep it.

        VaGentleman in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 7:09 am

        The contract was not between Trump and the 16 dwarfs. It was between Trump, and the 16 dwarfs on one side and the republican party on the other side.

        Trump or any of the dwarfs can say he doesn’t intend to keep the contract, but that doesn’t void it. Even acting on the statement (which Trump never did) doesn’t void the contract (the penalty clauses would then apply). Voiding the contract requires the agreement of all parties, and the RNC never agreed to it. The contract remains in effect and binds all parties.

        The only wiggle room I see for Lying Ted is whether the performance clause (supporting the nominee) went into effect when Trump was voted the nominee by the convention or goes into effect when he accepts.

        VaGentleman in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 7:16 am

        Talking of stupid logic. The premise of your reply is that I would NOT enter into a contract with you because I intend to break it. 5 year olds can see the logical flaw in that remark.

    Milli Vanilla:
    And from there Trump went on to hand all 15 of them their asses.
    What’s your point?
    Dr. Carson is now a key Trump advisor. He caused Markie Maxi Shield to soil himself on national T.V. the other night with his Hillary, Alinski, Satan reference.
    The rest of them have contributed . . . what?

    Cruz claims he’ll contribute by supporting candidates down ticket, & so far he’s done that . . Where? . . & may I add when? . . & how?

    At looking at the remaining 14, since they dropped out, all making similar self serving claims when they dropped out, I ask you Milli, all 14, just how have they helped anywhere since they dropped out?

    Of course Scott Walker did endorse Paulie Ryan the other day. Given Paulie Ryan claims to be a conservative, & a “border hawk”, that’s usually good enough for you “principled conservatives” on this site. Queer Pierre did essentially endorse Paulie Ryan not to long ago when he blew off Paul Nehlens chances of unseating Paulie Ryan in the upcoming primary election.

    RodFC in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 7:16 am

    Well as I pointed out it doesn’t matter what Cruz did. There isn’t a state that Trump will win with Cruz’s endorsement that he will not win without it. You’re point however is worth discussing.

    When Cruz made the pledge he did so voluntarily. Trump did so later under duress. A person is not bound by a pledge made under duress.

    What is more Cruz gained political capitol by taking the pledge and Trump lost out. Furthermore the minute that Trump declined to take the pledge, Cruz could have responded by saying that if Trump would not support him, he would not support Trump. He didn’t. So Cruz took the pledge knowing that Trump might not stick by it.

    All of which says that Cruz was still bound by the pledge.

    Aside from that the only effect this speech will produce is to question Cruz’s intelligence.

    As I pointed out the delegates are all hard core Republicans. I expect most have been Republicans for ten years at least. The ones that aren’t have been Republican all their life, and their parents were active Republicans. All were active. Holding some office or acting as precint captain … . Those delegates were booing him. Does he really need to alienate people like that?

    Does anyone think that by doing this Cruz created a single vote for him that was not already his? I doubt it. Did Cruz lose votes? Certainly. Lots. So what kind of moron seeks revenge at the cost of his political future? It’s not like the vote count Cruz recieved this time is enough to win a primary in the future, much less a general election.

    Plus it will cost him with some Christians. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.”

    Oh yeah, and it’s really funny reading all the descriptions of how Cruz committed political suicide.

      OnlyRightDissentAllowed in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 11:56 am

      “Duress has been defined as a “threat of harm made to compel a person to do something against his or her will or judgment; esp., a wrongful threat made by one person to compel a manifestation of seeming assent by another person to a transaction without real volition”. – Black’s Law Dictionary” What else has he promised ‘under duress’ that he is not bound to? Why would you trust anything Trump says if he is ‘under duress’ because he wants your vote?

      So being asked a question in a debate is ‘under duress’? If you are on a job interview and are asked an uncomfortable question, are you allowed to lie because the question is putting you ‘under duress’? After you get the job, do you tell your boss that you won’t do what you promised because you were under duress?

      When he negotiates with Congress will he be under duress? When he negotiates with a foreign country will he be under duress? Should they automatically assume that his word is not his bond despite what Melania stole. BTW, Trumps bonds are not his bond. Ask the bond holders he skipped out on. Think about his off-the-cuff statement that the US debt is ‘negotiable’ I guess we were under duress because we couldn’t have borrowed the money without making a promise to pay. The contract is null and void because we agreed ‘under duress’.

    MarkSmith in reply to Milhouse. | July 21, 2016 at 10:57 am

    A class act would still honor his pledge. It has zero to do about Trump. I laugh, because Trump just got more headlines and more votes by “not” getting Cruz’s endorsement.

      OnlyRightDissentAllowed in reply to MarkSmith. | July 21, 2016 at 12:38 pm

      ‘I laugh, because Trump just got more headlines and more votes by “not”’. I laugh every time I read or hear that another blunder by Trump and his cronies got him more headlines and more votes. By now, he is at 101% of the vote.

      It may be that no publicity is bad publicity when you are selling a movie or a book. But I think looking like an idiot wears thin when you are running for president. Besides this was a week when Trump was absolutely guaranteed publicity. Yet the headlines are Melania plagiarism and Cruz dissing him; not his allegedly great ideas and character.

        Interesting that you would say that. No candidate ever recovered from the dumb move like what Cruz made. Cruz lost any chance for 2020. But what the heck. You seem to miss that just like you seem to miss the Cruz lost the primary.

Trump has never needed to ask God for forgiveness, so why would anyone expect him to ask for Ted’s? The Donald is a smart man. Does he really expect someone who he constantly called a liar to endorse him. I guess his fans do.

    SeanInLI in reply to Tanstaf1. | July 21, 2016 at 7:14 am

    Unless I missed it, I do not recall Trump ever asking Cruz for forgiveness, which is the cornerstone of the act of forgiveness. One must acknowledge and express remorse at one’s own transgressions against the one being petitioned for forgiveness.

    Whats more, a man forgives another’s transgressions against him in his own heart. This does not mean the wronged is required to cease seeking legal and personal redress in the physical realm.

    You can find forgivess in your heart for someone who stole your wallet. That does not mean the transgressor gets to keep your wallet, nor does it compel you to not testify in his trial for the crime.

The GOP as well as Team Trump saa the speech ahead of time and approved it. They obviously thought there was something to be gained in letting Cruz say what he did.

    RodFC in reply to SeanInLI. | July 21, 2016 at 7:26 am

    Yes. Trump set a trap but Cruz let his ego and need for vengeance get the better of him. So Cruz willingly walked in and set the trap off.

    Trump gave him the opportunity. But Cruz did it to himself.

    I remember a book “One Jump Ahead” about a programmer who wrote a checkers program that beat the world champion . ( Good read. ) At one point he realized that the program might realize that it wasn’t enough to find the best move, but that it was also important to find a move that increased the opportunity for your opponent to screw up. That’s exactly what Trump did.

FWIW, Newt Gingrich reported that Trump asked his former opponents to speak without endorsing him. http://time.com/4416407/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-ted-cruz-transcript-video-speech/

    amwick in reply to snopercod. | July 21, 2016 at 7:45 am

    Yes, I heard that too. Cruz took him at his word, gave his speech, and how’d that work for him? Donald Trump owns the downside, he has had a whole bunch of them, well Rafael was one huge downside. I am thinking Stradivarius!!!

      Actually, this will play out to raise Trump’s cache and lower Cruz’s. Trump appeared gracious in victory, and Cruz appeared pathetic – he should have rose to the occasion.

      Trump appears the uniter, and Cruz appears the “Jeb! Bush.”

      What a sad, unnecessary fall for a guy we all generally admire.

      It’s great that Jeb! Bush – the rino darling of MSNBC – is AOL from the convention. But it was great that Cruz was present. His presence should have been akin to Guiliani’s. But vanity (or something) got the better of him.

      If he could not bring himself to endorse Trump, he should not have spoken.

Common Sense | July 21, 2016 at 7:49 am

Cruz is a dead man walking (politically)
The most hated man in the Senate it just got worst.

If you can not endorse the candidate then do not come to the convention.

Booed out of the Q. A classless performance!

    Cruz may be hated by other Senators, but he does not care about THEM. He takes an oath of office to support, and defend the constitution, not individuals

    In this, he is supported by his CONSTITUENTS.

    Needless to say while it would be good in the short term for all members to support the party, it is better to support the ideals of the party. Do not underestimate the power of many who shared his ideas.

    The party will need all the votes it can get to defeat Hillary. A few have gone on record as going to NOT vote for the nominee.

    Yet that is NOT what Cruz said. He specifically says that everyone needs to vote in November. He furthers the discussion of thinking of what each vote will mean. This means that both the party and the nominee each has work to do.

    There is time, but the nominee needs to figure out a plan to correct this divide.

      VaGentleman in reply to Dr P. | July 21, 2016 at 8:42 am

      “There is time, but the nominee needs to figure out a plan to correct this divide.”

      Really? It’s the winner’s job to adjust to the loser’s position? Let’s try this – your guy lost. He had his chance and his message was rejected. That’s reality. You make the adjustment. That’s the price of losing, and it’s the grownup thing to do.

        inspectorudy in reply to VaGentleman. | July 21, 2016 at 8:52 am

        So when obama won against Romney he was to ignore the 49% of the voters who didn’t vote for him? Is that the way you see our nation? This isn’t some stupid football game where the winner gets the bragging rights. This our country and the winner only gets to put his ideas first but has to consider all of the people in his decisions or we get an obama.

          VaGentleman in reply to inspectorudy. | July 21, 2016 at 9:16 am

          Dr P said that he was proud of Lying Ted for never yielding and not running a popularity contest. Having praised Cruz for taking an unyielding position, he says it’s Trump’s job to adopt one. By his won words, Dr P’s position is that the loser doesn’t adjust his position, it’s the winner who has to adapt.
          THAT’S JUST STUPID!!

          gospace in reply to inspectorudy. | July 21, 2016 at 12:39 pm

          Well, that’s exactly what Obama has done. Well, not exactly. He’s harassed, investigated, and unleashed the full powers of the government against them.

        Yes it is up to the NOMINEE to figure out the path to victory.

        Trump can choose any path he desires, but he BENEFITS from unity and bears the cost of disunity.

        Whether one likes it or not, or agrees or disagrees with the mindset, but a significant fraction of the party is more loyal to principles than principals.

        Trump knew the specifics of the speech and could have reacted as Newt did. instead he highlighted the differences by
        – instructing his floor leaders
        – walking in on the speech
        – tweeting more

        Indeed, Trump could have spent time since the primary season was over to win over those other members whose votes he will need.

          VaGentleman in reply to Dr P. | July 21, 2016 at 2:55 pm

          If Trump benefits from unity, give him some. It wasn’t party disunity that booed Lying Ted off the stage.

          By your argument, if your principled principal was the nominee he would have to negotiate his principles with his primary opponents unprincipled principal on the principle that it was necessary to sell his principles for their votes. That makes your principle principal an unprincipled principal, negating your vote. (your argument could actually be self referrentially incoherent – you don’t see that too often)

          The party may well be more interested in ‘principles than principals’, but they aren’t Lying Ted’s principles. They rejected his in the primary and last night at the convention. Just a fact.

          If Ted couldn’t handle a floor fight, how would he handle Putin? Trump knew what Ted’s speech was going to be. He yawned, said I can handle this, and then handled it. By just stepping aside he let Ted bury himself under the whale poop. He may turn out to be as good as FDR in knowing when to let his opponent do the work.

          When did the primary season end? You, et al are still sniping at Trump and as recent as Tue tried to engineer a coup.
          I don’t think Trump cares if the #NeverTrump / CruzBot crowd votes for him or not. There is a good case to be made that casting them aside and freeing himself of their extreme baggage would enhance his ability to attract dissatisfied dems and independents. Regardless, he’s showing a lot more political savvy than you or Ted.

      PhillyGuy in reply to Dr P. | July 21, 2016 at 9:55 am

      Then why is Bergdahl Cruz being condemned from all corners of the party? He even got panned by Jack Welch. He was denied entrance to Sheldon Adelson’s suite. But the TedHeads loved it.

      I’ll be very surprised if the party supports this guy on a national stage again. He just can’t be trusted.

        RodFC in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 2:37 pm

        You are slightly off Adelson invited him to come up before he saw the speech, then turned him away. Apparently Cruz was courting him for several years.

        That has got to be very very painful for him.

      RodFC in reply to Dr P. | July 21, 2016 at 3:51 pm

      Cruz may be hated by other Senators, but he does not care about THEM. Until he needs a cosponsor or a motion seconded.

buckeyeminuteman | July 21, 2016 at 7:54 am

Everybody is boo-hooing about the pledge, which was only put in place for Fox News to get ratings. The same pledge that Trump refused to sign for nearly a week. The same pledge that Trump was asked about later when there were only 3 left, and he said he didn’t want Cruz’s support anyway.

    The question is not what Trump expected, but what Cruz did to himself.

    You can’t pretend that this in any way hurts Trump in the electoral college, but it clearly hurts Cruz.( See my post above. )

    Like Bill Clinton, Cruz can’t control his desires. For Bill it was sex, for Cruz it was revenge. For that he severely damaged his future political career.

      inspectorudy in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 8:56 am

      Do you really think that Cruz did this to “Hurt” Trump? Are you so devoid of any self-pride or integrity that you think that very patriotic motivating speech was supposed to hurt Trump? How about Cruz telling all of us to vote our conscious for the sake of the country? Can he do that without endorsing a combover TV barker?

    katiejane in reply to buckeyeminuteman. | July 21, 2016 at 9:42 am

    So what if it was put in place by FOX – all the candidates made a big freaking deal about it and the discussion about Trump not wanting to sign it. If Cruz thought it a foolish waste he should have agreed with Trump back then not after they all smugly backed Trump into agreeing.

    Everyone knows the whole idea of the pledge was to make it harder for Trump to run as a 3rd party – none of the others thought Trump had a chance for the GOP nomination.

    Foolish or not a man of conscience would have honored his word – apparently that doesn’t apply to Cruz. His spite and need for publicity was too high for him to do the honorable thing and stay home from the Convention

thalesofmiletus | July 21, 2016 at 9:13 am

Spergy, self-destructive gamma male behavior. So glad Ted never made the cut; there’s no way he ever could have defeated HRC.

The American people voted THEIR conscience and it wasn’t for Ted Bergdahl Cruz.

Interesting … I suppose … but going by the time-dependent behavior of those cute little up/down thumbs, it seems that Trump supporters (or at least those who ascribe some virtue or, at least, utility to his campaign) are late-night people, and those who insist that he’s the spawn of the devil are more active in the mornings.

Personally, I never make business or major personal decisions in the AM. Your mileage may vary …

    RodFC in reply to tom swift. | July 21, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    Or more likely, after Ted Cruz finished the Cruzbot went to sleep happily smug in the notion that Cruz got his pound of flesh ( observe though that Shylock never got his, he declined ). The rest of us watched the rest of the convention, and when it finished the comments on their favorite sites turned to the night as a whole, it became a morbid fascination similar to driving by a three car pileup ans slowing down to see if anyone died.

I really question the wisdom of having Ted Cruz there at all, let alone handing him the mic when you have certain knowledge that an endorsement will not be forthcoming. There is no upside for Trump in continuing to provoke and antagonize the voting folks already pained by having him as the nominee. None.

“Cruz didn’t encourage convention goers and watchers to vote Trump, rather to vote their conscience”

So what is the problem, Trumpians? You are voting your conscience aren’t you? So, no fiery furnace for you idol worshippers. Isn’t that special?

In the eyes of many, this should make Trump a more acceptable candidate.

Slow deep breath. This may have won the election for Trump. Cruz’s speech didn’t go over well with the partisan crowd but it blew the socks off the independents. They loved it. With two candidates having terrible independent ratings this swayed a potential large number. And with the liberal media repeating the mantra of dissent (independent thought) they are actually moving independents to Trump. Trump knows how to manipulate the press as well as Obama. Know yourself, know your enemy.

The “principled” moral superior’s word isn’t worth any paper it is written on. His Christianity is a fraud.

    Ragspierre in reply to Mark. | July 21, 2016 at 11:54 am

    Don’t be so hard on Der Donald. He’s a fraud on so many levels.

    BTW, if you are a Christian, and you condemn another Christian’s belief, isn’t that one of those contradictions?

So, to summarize, Trump knew what was coming, apparently planned the boos, and planned to take advantage of the situation in order to vindictively rip open a Republican rift that hurts his own campaign, and cast Cruz as a traitor.

Then he lied about it.

And he did it all because he despises Ted Cruz, because he’s a petty man, and because he’s a stupid boor.

Here’s the amazing truth: had Trump merely instructed his fans to keep clapping throughout Cruz’s speech, it would have looked like the “suggested” endorsement that Team Trump had touted all day long. But Team Trump decided it was more important to throw Cruz out of the popular clique than to take the partial win. Cruz had to be humiliated for his failure to Kneel Before Orange Zod.

It backfired.

Trump and his team end up looking like the bullies they are. They end up looking like the vindictive dolts they are. And Cruz ends up looking like a man willing to stand on principle rather than pay obeisance to an insecure fool who prizes his own narcissism above even the possibility of victory over Hillary Clinton.
—Ben Shapiro

Pretty much nails it.

    Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    And Ben Shapiro would never tell a lie. A regular George Washington that Ben.

    Rick in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    Yes, and by the way, regarding Trump’s family, where was his sister the judge, the excellent SCOTUS justice?
    The ball is in Trump’s court. If he wants my vote he’ll have to work for it. He wants to be president and leader of the party. One of his jobs is to unify. Let’s see how hard he tries to do that tonight.
    I hope Trump reaches out, but I am not optimistic.

I opened this post by noting that standing on principle is Cruz’s brand. His speech last night was calculating, I believe — but the calculation was: I am the sort of person who stands on principle. My supporters like that. I am going to continue to be that sort of person.

That’s my kind of “calculation.” Especially when it comes to defending family.

Anyone criticizing Cruz today has to be willing to say: “Donald Trump could mock my wife’s looks, and slander my dad, and I would support him.” If that’s the sort of person you are — the sort of person who does not respect his family enough to stand up for them, regardless of the cost — then stand up and say so. Be proud. Own it.

And then get off my site.
—Patterico, who IS a Constitutional Conservative.

    Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    Cruz has provoked defense hawks like Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) to denounce him strenuously as “not a true conservative,” on the same night Trump put into question the whole NATO alliance in a tossed-off interview in The New York Times. Cruz has caused Trump’s useful idiots to out and embarrass themselves further.

    When you become outraged at a man who encourages you to abide by your conscience, it means your conscience has already condemned you.
    https://theweek.com/articles/637539/why-ted-cruzs-huge-convention-gamble-pay-end

    Note that the T-rump lie machine is hard at work…as usual.

    Monofart accused the NYT of misquoting Der Donald on his NATO stupidity.

    The NYT produced the transcript.

    Obamic lies.

      KirbySalad55 in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:22 pm

      Trump’s NATO comments were absolutely correct. When you have several parties to an agreement and the USA is the ONLY one keeping its promises while the others don’t even come up with the pitifully low amount of spending on defense for their side of the deal, then the ONLY WAY to get them to comply is to threaten to back out of the deal or in this case to say to them if you want the lives of our young men and women and want our treasure to defend your soil, then you better damn well make sure you have honored your side of the deal !!

      As usual this kind of thinking blows the minds of all those so called “experts” who for 40 years have let these countries know that they don’t have to comply with their commitments and the good old USA, will be suckers, and send their boys and girls to die to defend them.

      Time for TRUE LEADERSHIP. Time for Trump/Pence.

    Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/21/trump-on-turkeys-islamist-government-purges-who-are-we-to-judge/

    Which is pure, unadulterated moral relativist PC.

    ALSO, T-rump has reiterated his support for “honoring” the Iran deal.

    He’s an idiot. And a dangerous idiot.

Villain on stage. Crowd jeering. Hero comes in the arena. Was it the RNC or WWE? Embarrassing.

KirbySalad55 | July 21, 2016 at 1:11 pm

Donald Trump Jr. says he heard last night from donors who wrote Cruz big checks that they will never write him checks ever again. He says Cruz tries to be “anti-establishment” but wanted to be with the Bushes. He says Cruz only became “anti-establishment” when he couldn’t get into the establishment because nobody liked him. Trump Jr. points out that Trump doesn’t lecture to people like Ted Cruz.

Donald Trump Jr. says on CNN that Cruz galvanized people behind Trump. He mocks people for throwing their credentials on the floor in front of cameras to get publicity.

Spicer says the pledge has gone back several election cycles. When asked if Cruz was “selfish” and “reneged” on the pledge, Spicer says yes to both. He accuses Cruz of siding with Hillary Clinton because it’s a binary choice. He says if you’re not with Trump/Pence, you’re with Clinton. Spicer says Cruz may have a problem with Trump, but Pence is the strongest conservative vice presidential pick the GOP has had in a long time. And it says a lot about Cruz that he doesn’t realize that.

The head of Cruz support in the VA delegation and for the state of VA said Cruz tore it with him and he will never support Cruz again.

Ken “I must throw my credentials on the floor in front of the cameras for Cruz” Cuccinelli is suddenly seeing the light. Says:

Ken Cuccinelli says VA delegation is one team & he’ll be on floor tonight to support #TrumpPence #RNCinCLE #NBC4DC

Ken Cuccinelli tells me he wishes he could have vetted #TedCruz speech, not used ‘vote your conscience’ #NBC4DC

I guess Cuccinelli wanted to crawl out of the toilet bowl before he got flushed along with Cruz.

Cruz gets boo’d this morning by the TEXAS DELEGATION for breaking his word. Can’t try and use your phony blame game that Trump somehow caused the boos at RNC last night when the single strongest pro Cruz delegation at the convention, the Texas delegation, heckled Cruz this morning at private breakfast meeting for being a whiny little disloyal bitch.

“When asked about Cruz’s comments, Geraldine Sam, a former black mayor of La Marque, Texas, says she was called the N-word, etc. but she still loves her city and there are some things that you just have to “get over.” She accuses Cruz of lying to her.

She says she came into the convention as a Cruz delegate and she expected Cruz to support the party’s nominee. She says she grew up believing that your word is your bond. She says Cruz lost credibility and says he should not have made that promise if he was not going to honor it.”

Oh and as far as little Benji Shapiro is concerned. Nobody cares what a midget lawyer from Harvard with no friends thinks. Except other sycophants with NO FRIENDS, eh Rags?

    Evan3457 in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 5:07 pm

    I watched the entirety of Cruz’ remarks to the Texas delegation from this morning, and your description of them is distorted, to say the least, and Trumpian idol-worship, to say the most.

    He was cheered far more often and far more loudly than he was booed. The relatively few in the delegation who were angry at him were genuine, but clearly outnumbered.

buckeyeminuteman | July 21, 2016 at 1:15 pm

The same Trumpublicans who wailed about how terrible the GOP is and how they’re tired of the GOP, now all of a sudden get butt-hurt when others don’t support the party. They wanted a guy who put himself above the party and now complain about party unity.

KirbySalad55 | July 21, 2016 at 1:16 pm

“I, Lyin Ted Cruz, affirm that if I do not win the
2016 Republican nomination for president of the United States,
I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is,

I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.”

Dominionists and false Mormon prophets don’t have to keep their word, be a man, or have any friends I guess.

    Ragspierre in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    More Gary Britt religious bigotry.

    More Gary Britt ad hominem as applied to Ben Shapiro, instead of any cogent argument about his piece.

      KirbySalad55 in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 1:40 pm

      Religious Bigotry, you keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

      Calling a faux christian cult a cult isn’t bigotry. Its HONESTY. Calling out Cruz for accepting the title of the Mormon White Horse Prophecy conferred upon him by the insane Glenn Beck isn’t bigotry. Its pointing out Cruz’s lunacy and hypocrisy.

      Now Cruz’s fatal personality flaws have finally done himself in. At least Ken Cuccinelli was smart enough to jump out of the toilet bowl before the people pushed the handle.

So Cruz won’t get to work for the guy who accused him of having multiple affairs, claimed his dad was in on the JFK assassination, called his wife ugly in comparison to Melania, and branded him a liar for months? Gee, sounds like a real missed opportunity.

But I guess he has his job as a sitting US Senator to fall back on – you know, one of the 50 people that Trump needs to win over to get his agenda passed.

Yeah, I think Cruz will do just fine, especially if – or should I say when – Trump doesn’t live up to his own hype.

    RodFC in reply to tyates. | July 21, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    For two years. How will he win reelection without money?

    What’s more I’m pretty sure that Sachs is not too happy with the chants of Goldman-Sachs at Heidi. Will she be looking fora new job? Will someone give her one?

Cruz is finished as a viable national candidate. The blowback is pretty intense and fairly broad. One of the dumbest things Cruz could have done.

    PhillyGuy in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    Here’s what Richard Viguerie (a significant Cruz supporter) said:

    “Failing to endorse the Trump – Pence ticket last night was not good for Ted Cruz, conservatives, Republicans, and America.

    And most importantly for those of us who endorsed Ted Cruz and worked for him in the Republican primaries, he betrayed the trust we gave him that he was a bigger man than his attackers and that there was a cause greater than self in the hard-fought battles of the Republican primaries.”

    and

    “After failing to endorse the Trump – Pence ticket last night, in eyes of most conservatives with whom I spoke, Ted Cruz became just another self-centered politician who walked back on a promise, failed to live up to his own Biblical standards and, when the battle raged the fiercest, put his own petty hurts before the future of his country and the conservative cause.”

      KirbySalad55 in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 2:09 pm

      Yep Richard Vigurie who cut his chops with real conservative who loved this country Ronald Reagan and former big Cruz supporter said it best. Here’s some more from same article he wrote:

      Movement conservative leader Richard Viguerie, a long-time supporter of Ted Cruz, equated the Texas Senator’s refusal to honor his pledge to support the Republican nominee Donald Trump to a “political suicide.”

      And most importantly for those of us who endorsed Ted Cruz and worked for him in the Republican primaries, he betrayed the trust we gave him that he was a bigger man than his attackers and that there was a cause greater than self in the hard-fought battles of the Republican primaries.

      And I think it was this sense that Ted Cruz did not live up to his own rhetoric that stung his former supporters and emboldened his detractors the most….

      And here he quotes reactions he received from other conservatives and former Cruz supporters:

      The reaction to Cruz’s speech that came in to me and to CHQ was white hot, quick and devastating to Cruz’s personal and political future. Here are just a few of the comments from prominent conservatives who are attending the Republican National Convention with me and from other individuals who attended a private meeting before which Senator Cruz spoke just a few days ago:

      I’m ashamed that I voted for Ted Cruz in the Massachusetts’ Republican Primary.
      I thought Ted Cruz was a man of integrity. Tonight he proved — beyond a shadow of a doubt — that he isn’t. He made a solemn pledge to support the Republican nominee. And he broke that crucial promise.
      I thought Ted Cruz was a patriot. Tonight, he proved he isn’t. However bitter and angry he is at Donald Trump, he knows that Trump is the only person standing between Hillary Clinton (a liar, a fraud, a thief and a traitor) and the presidency. And yet – after meticulously laying out the case against another 4 to 8 years of leftist tyranny — he refused to endorse the one man who can put an end to our long national nightmare.
      Cruz wasn’t driven by principle, but by ego. He can’t accept the fact that the party chose Trump over him.
      Ted Cruz made the worst mistake of his political career. Millions of us will never forget or forgive his betrayal. He will never be his party’s nominee for president. He will never hold the highest office in the land.
      Pence crushed Cruz. Newt crushed Cruz. Ted Cruz looks like a sore loser. He does not look Reaganesque at all.
      Ted Cruz is a very small man.

      _________________________

      I’d say Vigurie PRETTY MUCH NAILED IT !

      Ragspierre in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 3:21 pm

      “I’d say Viguire PRETTY MUCH NAILED IT”

      Yes. He certainly DID.

      “We’re talking about electing a man (Trump) potentially who may have serious psychological problems. I think he’s a serious narcissist. That should be frightening to America to put a narcissistic person in charge of our nuclear arsenal.”

      He continued, “I’m just very concerned about his mental stability and his moral background, or lack thereof, which he brags about. He has no grounds that drive him morally.”

      But while Viguerie believes Trump is definitely the wrong choice for president, he said the voter passion driving Trump’s success is intense and legitimate.

      “They are white hot with anger at our leaders in this country, particularly Washington Republican leaders. The Republican primary voters are just furious,” he said. “They’re angry at the lies, the betrayal of the Republican leaders. They’re the ones that created Donald Trump. They can’t do anything about it now. Only the conservatives [can].”

      In addition to labeling Trump a narcissist, Viguerie also calls the front-runner a “pro-business liberal Democrat” and encourages conservative candidates and activists to do the same.

      Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/viguerie-only-conservatives-can-stop-narcissist-trump/#EYjj31783BlMm1wY.99

      Now he’s just made himself “Poor Richard”, a tool of the Collective.

      You can’t square his conduct here with any principles.

        KirbySalad55 in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 6:49 pm

        WRONG ! As usual. Vigurie expressed the principle that reconciles the two sides of things. It is quoted in his condemnation of your little bitch.

        “the future of country and the conservative cause.”

        It was that principle that caused him to be a Cruz supporter, but when Cruz lost and his choice is as Paul Ryan says a binary one of Hillary or Trump then that same principle compels him to support Trump over Hillary and condemn Cruz for putting his petty feelings and ambition ahead of “the future of country and the conservative cause.”

        Its simple to understand for those who are not willfully STUPID.

          Ragspierre in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 9:00 pm

          Ragspierre | July 21, 2016 at 8:36 pm

          No, Gary. You don’t know a Collectivist thug is a Collectivist thug, and then castigate a fellow conservative for not supporting a Collectivist thug.

          See, stupid…??? I know you do. You just lie about it.

    Evan3457 in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 5:04 pm

    Cruz had already been rendered toxic by Trump.
    The Trumpian Nationalists would never have supported him for the nomination in any future year, whether Cruz wound up endorsing Trump or not, whether Trump won this fall or not.
    If his national aspirations are finished, at least he left with his principles intact.

KirbySalad55 | July 21, 2016 at 1:34 pm

Cruz joined Hillary in blaming the violence of left wing Soros protestors on Trump. He used this lie and many more at every opportunity which is why the name “Lyin Ted Cruz” stuck with people. It was true and everyone knew it.

Cruz attacked Melanie Trump by peddling 15 year old nudie pics all over Utah, and then wants to cry his eyes out when Trump shows him that two can play the attack the family game. It isn’t Trump’s fault that there are pictures of what appear to be Cruz’s dad handing out papers in New Orleans with Lee Harvey Oswald. Nor did Trump force Cruz’s dad to get a hankering to suddenly flee to Canada right after the JFK assassination. Daddy Cruz fled to Canada all on his own.

The side by side pic of Melania and Heidi they weren’t photoshopped pics. Just real publicly available pics. Didn’t even have to buy them like Cruz did with Melania pic.

    Ragspierre in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 1:40 pm

    Gee, they guy lies JUST EXACTLY like Gary (the liar) Britt.

    He said the other day how much he loved and admired Gary Britt.

    I think that is the only absolutely true thing he’s said.

Roger’s Rules places the crisis in perspective with a quote from Newt Gringrich.

“Does the success of Donald Trump really require the imposition of impermeable group-think and rally-like crowd frenzy?

The best response I’ve seen to the manufactured controversy — a controversy that is about as significant as the pseudo-controversy over Melania Trump’s supposed “plagiarism” — came from Newt Gingrich.

Newt remarked last night:

I think you misunderstood one paragraph that Ted Cruz, who is a superb orator, said, and I just want to point it out to you, Ted Cruz said you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution. In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.
So to paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution of United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.

Bingo.”

https://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2016/07/21/small-earthquake-in-chile/

Fealty to the Constitution is all that matters to me. Not who is in trumps’ cool kids club.

KirbySalad55 | July 21, 2016 at 2:12 pm

And from Florida Governor Rick Scott:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott told Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon, “There’s two people who are going to be on the ballot – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. So if you’re not supporting Donald Trump, then you’re supporting Hillary Clinton. It’s time to unify the party. It’s time to make sure we win in November. I don’t want four more years of Barack Obama’s policies.”

And the final death blow from Richard Vigurie bears repeating:

After failing to endorse the Trump – Pence ticket last night, in eyes of most conservatives with whom I spoke, Ted Cruz became just another self-centered politician who walked back on a promise, failed to live up to his own Biblical standards and, when the battle raged the fiercest, put his own petty hurts before the future of his country and the conservative cause.

    Ragspierre in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 3:30 pm

    The final death blow BY Viguirie (self inflicted) bears repeating:

    “We’re talking about electing a man (Trump) potentially who may have serious psychological problems. I think he’s a serious narcissist. That should be frightening to America to put a narcissistic person in charge of our nuclear arsenal.”

    He continued, “I’m just very concerned about his mental stability and his moral background, or lack thereof, which he brags about. He has no grounds that drive him morally.”

    But while Viguerie believes Trump is definitely the wrong choice for president, he said the voter passion driving Trump’s success is intense and legitimate.

    “They are white hot with anger at our leaders in this country, particularly Washington Republican leaders. The Republican primary voters are just furious,” he said. “They’re angry at the lies, the betrayal of the Republican leaders. They’re the ones that created Donald Trump. They can’t do anything about it now. Only the conservatives [can].”

    In addition to labeling Trump a narcissist, Viguerie also calls the front-runner a “pro-business liberal Democrat” and encourages conservative candidates and activists to do the same.

    Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/viguerie-only-conservatives-can-stop-narcissist-trump/#EYjj31783BlMm1wY.99

    Now he’s just made himself “Poor Richard”, a tool of the Collective.

    You can’t square his conduct here with any principles.

      KirbySalad55 in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 6:51 pm

      WRONG ! As usual. Vigurie expressed the principle that reconciles the two sides of things. It is quoted in his condemnation of your little bitch.

      “the future of country and the conservative cause.”

      It was that principle that caused him to be a Cruz supporter, but when Cruz lost and his choice is as Paul Ryan says a binary one of Hillary or Trump then that same principle compels him to support Trump over Hillary and condemn Cruz for putting his petty feelings and ambition ahead of “the future of country and the conservative cause.”

      Its simple to understand for those who are not willfully STUPID.

        Ragspierre in reply to KirbySalad55. | July 21, 2016 at 8:36 pm

        No, Gary. You don’t know a Collectivist thug is a Collectivist thug, and then castigate a fellow conservative for not supporting a Collectivist thug.

        See, stupid…??? I know you do. You just lie about it.

I would say half of my disapproval of trump is a direct result of his supporters.

I hope he can beat Wendy Davis next time around.

To those of you who don’t understand what ‘unconditional’ means I’ll leave you with this. “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.”

It didn’t and doesn’t matter what anyone else says or does. Your oath binds you. God hates oath breakers. Society condemns oath breakers. Cruz earned what he has and will receive.

Don’t one of you say a word about, “principled” again in connection with Cruz. He’s shown himself to be a man of low principle and caliber as a man. He signed an unconditional oath.

He’s not worth one more second of our time.

    inspectorudy in reply to forksdad. | July 21, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    So you are saying that if you raised your hand on a FNC show, that had no binding or Republican meaning, about supporting the final winner of the group standing on that stage, that it would never matter what the winner might have said to you personally? That was the first debate and the campaigns that followed revealed things about Trump that no one could believe he said or did. Do you have a living dad or wife? Would you support a man who slandered both? Cruz would do anything for his country but not for a serial bully and slanderer. Cruz told his listeners to support the person of the conscious which means Trump because no one there would support hillary. I guess to Trumpettes, the two little words “I support” are the most important words a man can say. Not his integrity or convictions.

    There are certain dilemmas that men of honor, like Cruz, sometimes face. Do you keep your word and watch your country go down in flames or do you break your word and speak truth to power? Last night Ted Cruz chose the second option.

You do realize when you get a divorce, you are breaking an oath.

Oh and Cruz is principled.

Charles Krauthammer “Cruz delivered the longest suicide note in American history.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/07/21/krauthammer_cruz_delivered_the_longest_suicide_note_in_american_political_history.html

Probably the best metaphor today, since Cruz ran on for 2.3 times his allotted time.

    Ragspierre in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 3:33 pm

    That would be Krauthammer who you and the other T-rump cultists have excoriated consistently.

    “Consistently”…

    Heh…!!!

    PhillyGuy in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    Exactly. Even the people who supported Cruz can see that what he did was a career deadening move. They don’t need Cruz anymore, they have Pence. Cruz is such a lousy politician. In his biggest moment as a public figure, he managed to pull defeat from the clutches of victory.

    They want a conservative next time, ask Pence to run. The hell with Cruz, he’s more trouble than he’s worth. His word means nothing. He just proved it.

      Ragspierre in reply to PhillyGuy. | July 21, 2016 at 3:56 pm

      Says one of the worst T-rump cultists on these threads.

      BTW, you ARE going to need Ted Cruz, and Pence has become a Collectivist ponce.

      T-rump had a chance to show some class and some talent for “deal-making”.

      Instead, he showed his ass. Again.

      http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-speech-rnc-trump-deals-2016-7

      He’s just a stinking, lying, pathological Collectivist thug.

        Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 6:35 pm

        “BTW, you ARE going to need Ted Cruz…”

        Nah, you’re stuck with him down in Texas until 2018 at least. You’re only hope is he at least stays in DC for the next couple years.

        I’d sooner have a toothache.

          Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 6:42 pm

          As Capt. Picard used to say…

          “Make it so!”

          But Sessions and the Freedom Caucus need their leader, and that’s Cruz.

      Pence was offered the VP position because nobody with a future in the party wanted to be seen near Trump. Pence figured he’s facing a tough reelection, so why not.

    Rick in reply to RodFC. | July 21, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    Once again, Krauthammer is likely wrong, just as his establishment brethren consistently have been in this and the prior two election cycle.

Does mr. establishment krauthammer now have seat at the cool kids table because he stopped bashing your guy and continued his trashing of constitutional conservatives?

Had Trump and his supporters stayed within the Democratic Party where they belong, the nation’s future would look so much brighter with Trump as the Democrat and Cruz as the Republican.

Now it matters very little which candidate wins as both Hilary and Trump will destroy the essence of America’s individualism.

    He couldn’t. Dems have the super delegates.

    gulfbreeze in reply to MSO. | July 22, 2016 at 3:37 am

    “Had Trump and his supporters stayed within the Democratic Party where they belong…”

    A absurd and ridiculous assertion with no evidence. And I’m a registered Independent who didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries (which were closed in my state, and I would not have voted for him had I been able to vote).

    You’re forced to make up such nonsense because Cruz only attracted 57% of the votes that Trump had in the primaries. Some day when you decide to deal with reality, you’ll have to face the fact that Cruz didn’t even attract more votes than Kasich and Rubio combined (not even adding any other candidates), so Cruz lost to Republican politicians AND Trump.

    Face it: Republican voters didn’t want Cruz as President.

    At least Cruz has accepted that fact. You might try joining him.

For over a year, Trump has degraded politics in some of the most vile ways. His respect for the Republican party as the home of conservatism is on par with Napoleon’s respect for churches when he converted them into stables. But that’s okay because he’s Trump. He’s a “winner.” And now that he’s the nominee, the Smart Set and the Mob is telling me that Cruz is the outrageous violator of norms and good manners. Let’s all look down our noses at the sore loser everybody, as we bend the knee and make every apology possible for the sorest, most ungracious winner in American history. When I watch Trump’s kitchen cabinet of yes men rise from their “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” prostrations just long enough to talk about Cruz’s self-interestedness, I have to laugh. Where’s your shinebox, Governor Christie? Ted Cruz has never been my favorite politician. And I am not so naïve that I don’t recognize the gamble Cruz is making. But if the choice is between forgiving Ted Cruz’s obvious political calculation to become the standard bearer of an authentic conservatism or Donald Trump’s lizard-brain narcissism where no principle or cause outranks his own glandular desire to be worshipped like a conqueror atop the carcass of conservatism, I choose Ted. If the choice is between, say, congratulating the Boy Scoutish obedience of Mike Pence as he sells off bits and pieces of his soul like jewels from a family heirloom just to survive another day or Ted Cruz, who took the tougher road and refused to join the mewling mobs of toadies, apologists, human weathervanes, difference-splitters, and vacillators, I choose Ted. If the choice is between suspending the rules of decorum, decency, and civility for Donald Trump as he casually badmouths his own country to the New York Times just as he secures the presidential nomination of the Republican party or accepting that we are in dark and uncharted waters and conscience must light the way, I choose Ted.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/438159/i-choose-ted

Yeeeeeeeeup. I choose Ted, too. He did the right thing.

Personally, I’d have kick T-rump’s ass right there on national television. Until the Secret Service or the heart attack kicked in…

    Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 6:39 pm

    You’re quoting Jonah Goldberg?

    My god man, at least find someone other than a brain addled disease to quote.

      Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | July 21, 2016 at 6:43 pm

      Despite your pitiful lobbying, I will not quote you, Barry.

        Barry in reply to Ragspierre. | July 21, 2016 at 8:29 pm

        “Churchill supposedly said “a fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” I think of that almost every time I visit National Review Online these days.”

        http://thezman.com/wordpress/

        I can see what has happened to you, you went to NrO a little too often…

TV Announcer: The Tele-Evangelist Trump has whipped up his audience into a collective frenzy, into a white blinding hot tempest of bouncing Trumpians. The Spirit of Trump has been released onto the crowd. Trumpians are now rolling in the aisle. They are bellowing like cows! The Rev. Trump is now asking for more from the audience! He’s pumping the crowd. Holy Moly! I have never seen such fervor over a traveling Reverend!

Before I forget, send in your donations today and receive a handkerchief that the Rev. D.J. Trump has breathed on and you will also receive a coupon for Trump steaks and free pair of Trump sweat socks.

    LOL, before Cruz could get off the stage being booed, he has his hand out for money.

    And you don’t get it.

    TV Announcer: The Rev. D.J. Trump has now released the spirit of Gary Britt onto the crowd. The crowd goes berserk. I have never seen such palpable animus!

    What’s this? The crowd is moving to the center. There is a fire started in the middle. It looks like…they are going to… sacrifice a…human! What better praise for the Rev. Trump!

    Before I forget, send in your donations today and receive a bag of Cheetos that the Rev. D.J. Trump has breathed on and you will also receive a coupon for Trump hair styling and a free pair of Trump Jrs.’ sweat socks.

      TV Announcer: Look! Some have brought drums into the arena. The crowd is chanting, “Trump, Trump, Trump.” The Rev. D.J. Trump is applauding; his face is aglow. The chanting is growing louder.

      Wait. What’s this? A picture has been placed on the overhead. The crowd roars and begins chanting, “Lyin’ Ted, “Lyin’ Ted, “Lyin’ Ted.” Their clothes are coming off now. They are dancing and swaying in circles.

      Another overhead is shown. And now the crowd has gone completely wild. “Crooked Hillary, Crooked Hillary, Crooked Hillary….”

      There are people going forward to be healed of conservatism. The Rev. is letting Brother Manafort touch their heads with Trump oil to cast it out. The women are now offering their babies to the Rev. Trump. What a spectacular evening with the Rev. D.J. Trump!

      Before I forget, send in your donations today to the Trump Foundation for Lonely Money and receive a roll of TP that the Rev. D.J. Trump has breathed on and you will also receive a coupon for an Ivanka made in China flammable scarf and a free Trump sponge.

        Come tomorrow night and receive the spirit of Positivism from the Rev. Trump. Then you too can learn to break your pledge to creditors, go bankrupt and put a positive spin on it! Then you too can say, “I have such big ideas!”

News flash. Cruz HAS NOT broken his pledge. His pledge was to endorse the party nominee. If he endorses Trump on Nov 7th he will still have met the stipulations of the pledge.

Well said ragspierre.

trump not only going back on pledge but saying Cruz doesn’t need endorse.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/03/29/wisconsin-gop-town-hall-donald-trump-rnc-pledge-07.cnn

http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/2003411/

Lots of delegates and pols are expressing regret over their support for Der Donald.

It’ll be a growing trend. Among voters, too.

Last night, Ted Cruz proved a lot of things about himself and about the things he believed. But the most important thing he proved was about Donald Trump’s supporters: he proved that they are more interested in settling perceived grievances with the Republican party than they are in actually winning the White House.

Here’s how I know: Mike Pence gave a speech last night. Pence is the party’s Vice Presidential nominee. The success of his speech is a big deal to the success of the party’s ticket in November. It’s important for Pence’s speech to make a big splash and a big impression on the population. Much, much more important than whether or not Ted Cruz endorsed him or not.

And yet, if you check social media and in the news, the Trump supporters might as well have not even seen Mike Pence’s speech. None of them are talking about it. None of them are the slightest bit interested in what Pence brings to the ticket or his vision for America. On the other hand, they are hopping mad and incessantly bitching about Ted Cruz not endorsing Trump – in spite of the fact that the first words out of Cruz’s mouth were congratulating Donald Trump for his victory, and in spite of the fact that he did not say a single negative word about Trump, and additionally in spite of the fact that he encouraged people not to stay home in November.

Let’s be clear about something: contrary to what a bunch of ill-informed Trump supporting idiots are saying on Twitter, Cruz’s speech – including the absence of an explicit endorsement of Trump – was pre-cleared by both the RNC and Trump. his speech, including the non-endorsement of Trump, was not a surprise to the RNC or Trump in any way. Even Donald Trump himself admitted this on Twitter, and for once Trump’s twitter is not full of crap. I began to hear reports in the afternoon that Cruz told the RNC that he would not endorse Trump, and that the RNC was exerting a lot of pressure on him to change his mind, but that he firmly told them that he would not. He said he would congratulate Donald Trump, would avoid saying anything negative about Trump, and talk about the principles he stood for. The RNC and Trump both agreed to let him proceed with the speech as is. So the idea that Cruz sprung this on them as some sort of surprise is absolute BS.

Another piece of BS that has been circulated by the RNC to throw dirt on Ted Cruz is that he gave different remarks on stage than the prepared ones he submitted to the RNC for review. Unfortunately, the RNC screwed themselves on this score by sending to media organization prepared copies of Ted Cruz remarks which show that Cruz said exactly what his prepared remarks indicated.

In fact, in response to the news that Cruz was going to make a speech that did not explicitly endorse him, Trump intentionally chose to escalate the situation by leaking the news to friendly delegations and instructing them to boo Cruz to make this a bigger deal that it otherwise would have been. If Trump’s delegates had not booed and caused a ruckus, but instead had remained silent or applauded at Cruz’s exhortation to vote for down ticket races, everyone today would be talking about Pence and his speech, and the discussion would be about positive things associated with Trump and Pence and how they are going to move forward after the convention to at least possible victory.

But that is not what Trump’s supporters are interested in. They are interested in having a constant object of hatred and scorn, and it’s preferred if the target is a Republican.
===Leon Wolf, who knows Der Donald like a well-worn piece of porn. Which he really is.

T-rump would rather try to kill off a conservative than unite the people he’s pretended to represent.

He’s a stinking, lying, pathological Collectivist fraud.

You’ll see. Those with a brain and any awareness already have.

Such a nod amounts to a dramatic change in position for Trump, who made disdain of big-money politics a central part of his pitch during the primary contest, railing against super PACs that can accept unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations. He called them horrible and corrupting.

“I have disavowed all Super PACs, requested the return of all donations made to said PACs, and I am calling on all presidential candidates to do the same,” Trump said in a statement in October, distancing himself from a super PAC that had connections to his campaign. “The character of our country is only as strong as our leaders.”

Trump campaign officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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What were they going to say? “We pwned the voters!”

You’ve been duped, T-rump cultists. From the beginning.