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How Ted Cruz might win a general election

How Ted Cruz might win a general election

Despite his personality

Here’s one plausible scenario for Cruz’s prospects in a general election. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but here’s an excerpt:

…[T]he assumption is that Cruz cannot improve his image among the broader electorate, but that’s hard to know for sure, because he’s never had to do it. While opinions on Clinton are deeply entrenched after her decades in the public spotlight, Cruz isn’t as universally known and has more of an opening to get a second look.

Cruz would enter the general election campaign with a reputation as an extremist, which the Clinton campaign would do everything to play up. But the risk of such a strategy comes if Cruz is able to defy such a caricature during the election among voters getting to know him for the first time.

To quote Shakespeare’s Prince Hal: “By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes/And like bright metal on a sullen ground/My reformation, glittering o’er my fault/Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes/Than that which hath no foil to set it off.”

In other words, Cruz is much less of a known commodity to most voters, and he is therefore more likely to be able to improve his image if he can just soften up just a bit.

First, of course, Cruz would have to win the nomination. Here’s a sample from Salon of the sort of thing you’ll almost certainly see from the left if Cruz becomes the GOP nominee. The left will attack any Republican nominee, of course, but there would be different approaches for different people.

One of the main approaches his opponents are likely to take against Cruz would be that he’s hated by all as well as being way to the right of practically everyone on earth. But the Cruz-detesting author of that Salon article also seems worried that Cruz could somehow manage to sustain the pretense of being a normal human being, or some approximation of one, long enough to fool the public into voting for him. That fits in more or less with the idea that all Cruz needs to do is to prove he’s more or less human and some of the attacks could be blunted.

I’ve also noticed, in this Powerline post by Paul Mirengoff, a quote from this NY Times article on Cruz:

The Times says that some big donors are put off by Cruz’s personality. They complain that even in private, he comes of as sanctimonious and unable to present a persona that’s appreciably warmer than what one sees on television.

…It may be a valid insight. But at this juncture, it’s not a good reason to withhold support from the man…

As Mica Mosbacher, a Cruz fund-raiser and wife of the late Robert Mosbacher, Secretary of Commerce under George H.W. Bush, puts it, “[Cruz] might not be the most fun to have a drink at the bar with, but America needs a designated driver.”

Putting aside the fact that it’s Trump who actually doesn’t drink, and that Cruz does, the metaphor is so apt that Cruz himself already made it at a debate last October:

“If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy,” he said, when asked to name a weakness. “But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home.”

What is it that people don’t like about Cruz, even those who might agree with many of his political positions? It may be that he never really seems spontaneous (not to mention something about his face). Cruz always appears to be measured and studied and under strict control, which probably decreases his likeability quotient but might be excellent traits to have in a president.

That Times article quoted by Mirengoff also mentions the word “sanctimonious” being applied to Cruz, and that is probably key as well. This is what the word actually means:

1 : hypocritically pious or devout…

2 obsolete : possessing sanctity

So the word “sanctimonious” has, over time, taken on a suggestion of insincerity and even hypocrisy, but originally it merely meant religious or holy. It’s actually not clear whether those being quoted in the Times article as having said it about Cruz meant that they found him overly religious in a sincere way or hypocritical about his religiosity. It seems that criticisms of Cruz and his religiosity often take the form of such contradictory pleadings.

Would Cruz’s personality hold him back from working well with other people in government were he to win an election? Hard to say, but we haven’t heard about a lot of turmoil among those who are working for him during this campaign. That’s not just true lately, now that he’s doing better, but it seems to have been true even earlier in the game, when he was low in the polls. And even the Times article says that he’s well-liked by people in Texas who know him:

He is regarded warmly among Republicans in his home state, Texas, where he has deeper personal relations with a wider portion of the donor class…

When Mr. Cruz appeared recently on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the late-night host took note of his patience in winning new friends.

“What you did is, you kind of held out until they found someone that they liked less than you,” Mr. Kimmel said.

“There you go,” Mr. Cruz replied. “Listen, it is a powerful strategy.”

[Neo-neocon is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at neo-neocon.]

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Comments

Ted Cruz also talked on Jimmy Kimmel about running Trump over with a car. I’m sure that would go over well in the general election if he says something similar about Hillary. Obviously this is a pro-Cruz site now, but Ted isn’t exactly the ultimate and best candidate the GOPe has ever had. He also hasn’t been vetted by the media as well either. I’m sure they (Democrats/media) are hoping he wins so they can destroy him in the general election.

Here is another big problem for Cruz, the general election is not a caucus. He has done great and wonderful when there are caucuses, but (for the most part) has been dominated by Trump in states that hold primaries. It is hard to talk about Ted’s pull with people when he isn’t exactly that popular.

    gospace in reply to Mr. Izz. | April 11, 2016 at 11:31 am

    Might totally believe t. If Trump had actually received more than 50% of the vote in any primary. And it’s problematical that his highest vote totals have been in open primary states where Democrats can “help” Republicans select electable candidates.

      StotheOB in reply to gospace. | April 11, 2016 at 1:06 pm

      Top-5 Percentages of Votes received in any state:

      1. 69.2% – T. Cruz – Utah
      2. 66.3% – T. Cruz – Wyoming
      3. 49.3% – D Trump – Massachusetts
      4. 48.2% – T. Cruz – Wisconsin
      5. 48.2% – T. Cruz – Kansas

      … so there’s that

        mzk in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 2:25 pm

        Trump is very good in Leftist States.

          StotheOB in reply to mzk. | April 11, 2016 at 2:51 pm

          Not just Leftist states – anywhere with an Open Primary where Hillary Voters can play their operation-chaos games sees Trump getting a boost.

          Despite that, he is still only drawing the same 35-37% he has pulled in the entire primary season. This guy is like Kryptonite to voters, showing absolutely no ability what so ever to expand and unite anyone outside his small group of core devoted followers that will vote for him even if he came out and literally said he wants to be the next great National Socialist Workers Party dictator and make that title great again.

          Side-note – dont you love the fact that my above post was down-voted when it literally does nothing but provide hard indisputable vote percentages. What could be the issue with that post by anyone …well, unless you are a diehard devotee who desperately doesnt want to hear anything which jeopardizes your fantasies and desperate narratives

Ted’s Dead.

He’s burned his bridges with the working class white voters that Romney never got & he’s re-running Romney’s campaign. So he starts with 47% of the vote against him and the demographics are even worse this year.

His only hope is that Hillary is really weak. but here’s the thing: Hillary is only really weak when she is in front of the voters. All Hillary has to do is hide, schedule a maximum of two two hour debates, and let Emily’s list hit Ted on Abortion.

    gospace in reply to rotten. | April 11, 2016 at 11:37 am

    So what you’re saying is that a working class white guy, like let’s say, a boiler operator like me, who’s going to vote for Cruz in the N.Y. primary in 8 days, won’t vote for Cruz because he’s burned his bridges with me? Have I got that right?

      rotten in reply to gospace. | April 11, 2016 at 12:03 pm

      Did you vote for Romney?

      If no, then you are not one of the working class voters that Cruz has alienated.

      Are you one of the working class people who deserve to “rent a U-Haul” or “die” because Chinese or Robots get better incentives to get your job than America gives?

      Then you probably should be alienated.

      Have you checked out Cruz’s tax plan? Nobody but $250k+ gets any meaningful tax break, AND there are big write offs for businesses that want to replace workers with automation.

    StotheOB in reply to rotten. | April 11, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    If you replaced the word “Ted” with “Donald” you might have better point…

    Trump Is The Weakest GOP Front-Runner In The Modern Era
    http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-is-the-weakest-gop-front-runner-in-the-modern-era/

    Trump Can’t Win
    http://www.redstate.com/california_yankee/2016/04/11/trump-cant-win/

    mzk in reply to rotten. | April 11, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    You could make a similar argument against Trump. And you would be right in both cases. This is why Hillary, Heaven help us, will be President.

    The Republican party had a great chance to win this year, and Trump snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

    While I do not like conspiracy theories, I do not rule collusion out. Let’s see what Hillary gives Trump.

    wjhguy in reply to rotten. | April 13, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    Cruz 47% negative….ok, but what about Trump’s 63% negative? Cruz is still a little bit of a mystery and can improve his numbers but everyone has known who Trump is for 20 years. He is not going to improve in an meaningful way.

Interesting – Kasich is the one I’d call sanctimonious.

Terrible Ted win the general, after his antics in Colorado?

Yeah, sure.

Here’s a little more Shakespeare for you.

Stones have been known to move and trees to speak.

In other words, dream on …

    StotheOB in reply to tom swift. | April 11, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    Trumps Colorado campaign was literally incompetent, but that is the fault of Cruz somehow?

    And I do not use the word incompetent as hyperbole – it really was just that. He didnt have Delegate Selection pages printed for each district, those that did have Selection flyers all had spelling and number issues, there were multiple people on his pages who were not actually in the running for delegates because they didnt realize there was a small fee to get your name on the list, and he even had a Pledged Cruz Supporter on his ‘please vote for’ list. Yes, he was literally asking his supporters to vote for a #NeverTrump Cruz supporter to go to Cleveland on Trumps behalf.

    Add to all that the fact that his few supporters felt absolutely “demoralized” because of the lack of organization Trump had, and the fact that they felt there wasnt even any presence at all really.

    Even Good Morning America had a video playing today where a local Delegate asked a would-be Trump Convention Delegate “he gave up on this state, didnt he” to which the Trump guy said “hey, Im not working for the campaign”

    Donald Trump basically went into Colorado and proved that he has no idea what to do, will not hire good people to run his political organization and is just overall pretty much incapable of doing what he insists he can. He kind of proved he is unqualified to actually be President he was so incompetent there.

    A sleazy New York real estate developer, a genuine FOB (Friend of Bill’s) is touted by adoring masses as the all-things-to-all-people political messiah – and you start talking about the im[possible happenning? I suggest you go indoors to avoid the inevitable consequenses of the flocks of pigs overhead relieving themselves. And raise the heat to offset the cold wave coming from down below.

    Sanddog in reply to tom swift. | April 11, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    Antics in Colorado?

    You do realize the Presidential preference poll was cancelled back in August of last year? It wasn’t done to help Cruz.

    Is this what Trump meant when he said he loved the poorly educated?

    wjhguy in reply to tom swift. | April 13, 2016 at 5:41 pm

    Cruz’s antics in Colorado? Are you serious? The rules have been set for a year. Trump fired his guy in charge of delegates in Colorado a few days before and then at the last moment he cancelled his trip to Colorado to speak to the delegates. He knew he wouldn’t win so he chose to let it play out just like the rules say, and then do his normal spiel of: I didn’t win…no fair! He also is 5 months behind and is not going to get many delegates selected in California. He didn’t get delegates in place in Washington state because his staff sent mail to people to get them to vote for his delegates….only problem is that his “best people around” sent the mailers to voters in Washington D.C. and not Washington State. I guess he will say he got cheated there too and the press will report it without doing their homework.

What states that Romney lost is Ted going to win?

    StotheOB in reply to rotten. | April 11, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    Cruz is beating or tying Hillary in multiple Wisconsin polls (which were taken recently, so its not going back in time or anything) – so there is one such SwingState Cruz can take

    Better question though? What State can Trump win?

    The three most recent states (Utah, Wisconsin & NY) have their polls showing this

    NY – Cruz and Trump both get the same 33%, Clinton gets 55%
    WI – Cruz ties/leads Hillary, Trump loses to Hillary by 10-15%
    UT – Cruz beats Hillary 60%-30%, Trump loses to Hillary by 2%

    Those three states cover all the political bases. Utah is the deepest, most reliable Red State there is. Wisconsin is a perfect SwingState, NY is a Blue State where Republicans can sometimes catch lightening in a bottle.

    Trump is a joke in all there, while the worst for Cruz is he is as bad in NY as Trump is (of course, it is Trumps home state though, so I guess that says more about Trump than Cruz)

“…all Cruz needs to do is to prove he’s more or less human and some of the attacks could be blunted. ”

This is true also of Donald Trump or any Republican, for that matter. The hyperbole surrounding the Republicans is that strong, and some of it comes from Republicans buying into what Democrats say about them.

    mzk in reply to Valerie. | April 11, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    If someone would prove that Trump was human, Ted would have a chance. Because clearly Trump’s supporters don’t believe that he is. (How thoroughly unamerican, BTW.)

Are we going to see a blog post about Colorado GOP’s tweet heard around the #NeverTrump world?

Or Matt Drudge’s tweet in response to defrauding Colorado voters of the right to vote or caucus?

Hope all you #NeverTrump pompom shakers are real proud of Ted…

    Or his silence regarding his lawyer’s Super PAC that made the most despicable ad in a very long time.

      You mean his silence on the actions of a PAC that by law, he CANNOT coordinate with, and if he does comment on their actions, he would be therefore coordinating with?

      So your argument is that Cruz is obeying the law, and therefore should not be President.

        What are you talking about? He can comment on what they did after the fact.

        For example: “John Kasich Presses Super PAC to Pull Ad Assailing Ted Cruz”

        http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/01/john-kasich-presses-super-pac-to-pull-ad-assailing-ted-cruz/

          Huh? Good Lord man…

          Assuming you are talking about the Melania ad:

          1 – it wasnt a Cruz SuperPAC. It literally has nothing to do with Cruz. It was anti-Cruz thru most of this campaign, and is only half-heatedly helping Cruz now to ensure Trump cant get the nomination

          2 – it was an ad no one saw! Seriously, it was a $300 Facebook ad that hit almost no ones computers. For $300 you dont get much, afterall. Well, I take that back – $300 can obviously get under Trumps unbelievably thin skin to the fact he makes that ad no one ever saw into one of the most seen ads ever produced.

          3 – Cruz slammed the ad as soon as he heard about it. That isnt in dispute, video press-conference from like the next morning exists. I know Trump keeps saying he never criticized it, but that is just more of Trumps blatant lies to fool uneducated marks. Cruz did slam it instantly

          4 – Whats so bad about the image anyway though? I mean, if the image is so bad, then why did Trump have her take it? It was while she was his latest Mistress. It was taken on his plane. In fact, it was specifically taken to raise his public awareness right before Trump ran for President in 2000. Yes, the photo Trump claims is so horrible to bring up started as a Trump Presidential Campaign effort – why does he have such a huge issue with it now to where he has people like yourself making a fool out of themselves to this day?

          …seriously, like everything else Trump does or says, the entire phony outrage and feigned victimhood over that photo is a joke – and that he gets his devoted followers to jump into the deep end of stupidity repeating his nonsense just goes to show how horrible and divisive a person this so–called man really is.

          It wasn’t the one about Trump’s wife, which, by the way, Cruz did NOT condemn “as soon as he heard about it.”

          It was made by his lawyer’s super PAC.

          Maybe you should better educate yourself rather than impugning someone’s motives just because you happen to be in the tank for a candidate!!

          Well, again, you and your candidate are just flat out lying about Cruz with regard to the Melania ad. He dismissed it the very first time he was in front of a camera after Trump brought it up late on the evening of the 22nd & the media started running with it on the 23rd

          http://on.aol.com/video/new-questions-over-trump-s-charitable-donations-570bfba1e4b09702ac942049

          So Trump and yourself can lie all you want, but it doesnt make it true.

          Then, as far as whatever ad you are talking about – well, no one basically anywhere actual factual news is reported seems to be talking about it, so you seem to be obsessing over the Cruz non-reaction to something that he might not even know about for all we know. But again, that is only typical for what we’ve seen from Trump and his supporters, sadly.

          Lastly, has Trump come out and reiterated that he wants all Super-PACs to stop running ads on his behalf? Trump SuperPACs have such ads all over national TV stations at this specific moment, asking people to call in and say how awesome people think Trump is or whatever. Plus, he still has the White Nationalist groups doing Robocalls on Trumps behalf (tons done in Wisconsin). Is he going to come out and insist those racists groups stop working on his behalf? …or, let me guess, your feigned outrage is only going in one direction here, right?

          I never referred to that episode, which you seem obsessed over, so you can deflect as you wish.

          If my lawyer made the abhorrent ad I mentioned, I would have a moral obligation to speak out, especially if I believed in Christian values. Then again, I would never associate with a person who would produce such filth. It matters little if it was disseminated. But it was disseminated enough that I saw it.

          Do you approve of that ad?

        rotten in reply to georgfelis. | April 11, 2016 at 7:30 pm

        He’s talking about the Hitler ad.

        https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/citizen-super-pac-heil-trump–campaign-2016/2016/03/16/604b64ae-eb5a-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_video.html

        As for the Melania ad, that was produced by Trump Card LLC, which is NOT A SUPERPAC. So he could have denounced it or disowned it or told them to stop, but didn’t.

        LLCs are not superpacs. They pay full income tax on donations, but aren’t subject to restrictions.

    StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    Trumps incompetent – not sure why we need to discuss that all that much, everyone knows it.

    And just because Trump is on yet another whining temper-tantrum screaming as loud as he can that he is somehow the worlds greatest victim; well, yeah… no. We dont take the nonsense from BLM seriously, and we shouldnt take the exact same crud from Trump either

With respect to Colorado, that fiasco is on the r party, not Cruz. Cruz may be the benefactor, but the blame should go to one place, the GOPe.

    A man of principles and ethics would disavow such a flagrant defrauding of voters.

    What matters most is Ted’s reputation in the minds of voters.

    This is quite serious.

      What?
      Cruz should have refused to participate in Colorado’s 2016 delegate selection process that was established by Colorado’s republican party in the summer of 2015?

        Ted stood silently by as the Ruling Class changed it’s “Rules” because #NeverTrump war on voters.

          StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:39 pm

          The rules you are whining were changed to appease #NeverTrump were actually changed in August of 2015

          …when did #NeverTrump come about again, btw?

          Seriously, you Trumpeters are just as pitiful as your candidate

          VotingV loses it once in awhile.
          This stupid argument of hers demonstrates again how Trump supporters follow Trump’s hyperbole.

          conservative tarheel in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 2:07 pm

          STOtheOB you nailed it with you 1:39 post …
          if the GOPe changes a rule … it is Ted’s fault
          but if the rule change benefited Trump well then
          that is all fine and dandy and just following the rule
          doncha know …
          just like when the Donald uses bankruptcy laws
          to walk away from bad debt… never mind who he
          sticks it to. it is legal and he is just using the rules to his
          advantage.
          but if someone else using the rules to their advantage
          and it doesn’t help Trump … well then that is different.

      Zachary in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:28 pm

      Here we go with that lame crap again. He doesn’t disavow his whole party to your satisfaction?

      Wait why am I wasting my time again on your sorry arse?

      Sanddog in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 2:43 pm

      Were you complaining about this back in August, when the rule was changed?

    princepsCO in reply to Barry. | April 11, 2016 at 11:39 am

    Rather than repeat my extended statement about my experience as a CO delegate, go read my post at https://legalinsurrection.com/2016/04/new-trump-delegate-chief-accuses-cruz-of-gestapo-tactics/comment-page-1/#comment-665307 at April 11, 2016 at 11:12 am

    As a rank-and-file member of the GOP who lives paycheck to paycheck, I don’t fit in as an elitist or devil’s handmaiden. If you didn’t participate, your insights into what happened during the CO State convention ring hollow…and your accusations are as hollow as Trump’s principles.

      StotheOB in reply to princepsCO. | April 11, 2016 at 1:44 pm

      Thats one of the things I understand least about the Trump camps whining temper-tantrums – the people they are accusing of being some suits in dark hallways plotting his demise are, well, us…

      I’m a delegate for my state. I have not been contacted by the Cruz campaign as of yet, and I (like every delegate selected in my district) am extremely anti-Establishment. I am the Grassroots everyone hears about, and I am a staunch Constitutional Conservative.

      Oh, and when I get to vote for which Delegates will be going to Cleveland, you can bet your rear I am going to be voting for Cruz/#NeverTrump people – and its not because of any grand conspiracy like TeamTrump desperately wants you to believe

    Sammy Finkelman in reply to Barry. | April 11, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    The right word is “beneficiary.”

Trump believes he can beat the current political system with nothing more than his cult of personality. He’s trying to buy the White House on the cheap. Doesn’t need to know the party rules, because he’s an outsider. Doesn’t need an organized ground game, because he’s an outsider. Doesn’t give a shit about any of the down-ticket Republicans that ARE the party he supposedly wants to lead, because he’s an outsider. He’s such an outsider he really has no use for the party itself. Trump genuinely showed his ass in Wisconsin and it didn’t go unnoticed. I think he’d much rather dispense with the whole electoral process and just write a check to rent 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for four years.

    The Great Colorado Voter DeFraud has everything to do with Ted, not Trump.

    Can’t excuse it away in the minds of voters.

      When did Colorado change it’s rules? Last September? Trump campaign is crying foul to excuse their own incompetence yet again. No ground game means you have no clue what’s going on at the state level, let alone the precinct level. You simply cannot have influence if you are not present! A post-event Twitter campaign is not going to fix what’s missing here. The bot army reacting after the fact doesn’t fix it either.

        Tell that to Colorado’s GOP voters who were denied the right to vote for Trump and see where that gets you.

          Your inability to grasp the Trump campaign’s failings is truly amazing. The Trump campaign’s lack of a presence on the ground is killing them. Counting on the voters not recognizing that Trump isn organized masking his own incompetence with deflection is almost as big a gamble as operating on the cheap and foregoing a ground game in the states. The hustler is being out-hustled at curb level. See it and fix it rather than deny it’s existence.

          Your desperate attempts to paper over a serious breach of ethics is what it is.

          If Trump was the beneficiary of such a voter lockout, you would be calling it for what it is… Fraud.

          Merlin in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:51 pm

          Try not to be so damned thick for a moment.

          I’m not making excuses for anybody. If you don’t possess the skill set for any given game, then you really shouldn’t whine about being beaten by others who do. Crying because you suck at the game has already lost its effectiveness. Trump doesn’t want to play the traditional game by traditional rules and is attempting to play by his own atypical set of rules. He did well enough for the short game, but the long game… not so much. If he fails it will be because he remained too far outside the process to exert enough influence on the mechanics of the game. He is quite literally not bringing anything to the party and the party machine is still being run by many of the same old faces.

          The GOP structure has watched a narcissistic Obama’s apathy decimate the down-ticket Democrats nationwide and Trump has done nothing to alleviate their fears that he won’t do the same to them. Simple self-preservation at work. Address it and fix it.

          That Trump hasn’t anticipated this and strategized for it is telling. He can’t even be bothered to address a six month old adverse delegate rules event from Colorado that his people should have been all over months ago. Cluelessness is not a strong leadership trait.

          What The Establishment does because their string of anointed candidates bit the dust at the hands of voters is not over… it’s just getting started.

          They want Cruz and Trump buried in an unmarked grave together.

          Some people just can seem to process that fact.

          Merlin in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 3:13 pm

          The mistakes inherent in doing things the Trump Way are piling up. Next time you hit your knees to pray to your orange messiah suggest that he step off his own balls long enough to gain a little forward momentum again. His slide is of his own miscalculations.

      Sanddog in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 2:46 pm

      Only ignorant people believe this was a change that was made to target Donald Trump. This was done 8 months ago and could have easily burned Cruz if the other candidates had done better in the primaries.

Twitter Feed:

Antonio Sabáto Jr
@antoniosabatojr

Correct to the T

Retweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/719321288301486081

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

How is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger – totally unfair!

8:17am · 11 Apr 2016 · Twitter for iPhone

    StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    Isnt there a way we can get mindless parrots like this banned?

    I love good conversation, welcome discussions resulting from conflicting views, and am always looking for good, factual constructive criticism… but these types of mindless Trumeters do nothing but lower the respect the board overall will receive, with their endless obsessive posting of inaccurate propaganda in an effort to drown out all the real voices trying to have said conversations

    I dont generally ever want people banned from message boards, but people like this poster (VotingFemale) really should be for the benefit of everyone (including the board itself) in my opinion

      Zachary in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 2:03 pm

      I’ve had the same thought but have been extremely hesitant to voice it. LI’s comment section has gone through these situations before and it’s been made clear this won’t be a highly censored board. I agree with that completely.

      On the other hand, constantly spamming Twitter feeds is obviously very bad manners and at some point something has got to give.

      Some men, or crazy cat ladies, you just can’t reach.

        StotheOB in reply to Zachary. | April 11, 2016 at 2:43 pm

        Yeah, I was reluctant to bring it up as well. But really, this specific person is just beyond the pale in every thread Ive read, to where it really does hurt the entire website itself I imagine.

        I mean how many non-regulars are really going to want to comment when a person like this is literally just spamming blatantly incorrect propaganda endlessly in an attempt to drown out all actual conversation people might want to have?

        I hate voice suppression, but sadly sometimes its the only option. And glad to see I’m apparently not alone in this specific instance

          You sound exactly like the Colorado Democrats, StotheOB.

          I tweet using the hashtag #copolitics and before that #coleg and sometimes together and add #copols.

          For some damn reason, they had the idea they owned those hashtags and decided I was spamming their hashtags.

          Ohh… did they go into orbit!!! calling me nasty names, berating me… sic’ing actual trolls on me… they even contacted Twitter to have me kicked off “their” #copolitics hashtag. Twitter ignored their whining entirely.

          That all started in 2013 when they decided to infringe in the 2nd amendment.

          Guess what? Twitter doesn’t ban folks from using a #hashtag unless they are actually “spamming” which I was not doing.

          I was, and still am to this day, tweeting with the #copolitics.

          Same thing happened on the #bospoli (Boston Politics) hashtag when Crazy Liz Warren was running for the senate against Scott Walker.

          Same result… I remained.

          You folks wanting me silenced have a lot in common with liberal asshats.

          I mean Scott Brown, not Scott Walker. Oh and I waded into Scott Walker’s recall in Wisconsin on twitter using the #WIrecall hashtag in support of Walker. Oh… did those screaming hate-filled liberal nazis hate me on that hashtag… sooo WEEE.

          I am a Conservative internet veteran of many wars…

          It’s a little odd to be subjected to the same crap by a few so-called Conservatives at LI but, Ok… whatevah.

      I can direct message your request to the Professor on Twitter, StotheOB.

      Perhaps it is time to turn this blog into a SafeSpace free from alternate views that don’t agree with yours.

      Want me to do that for you, dear?

      “StotheOB | April 11, 2016 at 1:51 pm

      Isnt there a way we can get mindless parrots like this banned?

      I love good conversation, welcome discussions resulting from conflicting views, and am always looking for good, factual constructive criticism… but these types of mindless Trumeters do nothing but lower the respect the board overall will receive, with their endless obsessive posting of inaccurate propaganda in an effort to drown out all the real voices trying to have said conversations

      I dont generally ever want people banned from message boards, but people like this poster (VotingFemale) really should be for the benefit of everyone (including the board itself) in my opinion.”

        StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 3:38 pm

        You dont seem to have views – you only have whatever Trump told you to say (and often times you are literally just copy/pasting it into your posts)

          You could not be further from the truth, StotheOB.

          I write commentary here by the reams.

          Posting Tweets and articles here is no biggie and others do it as well, even in LI’s blog posts.

          Either tell me you want your wishes made known to the Professor or get an attitude adjustment… or don’t. Makes no never mind to me.

          VF, what are you talking about? Since when are you anything on this site other than a reader and commenter? If someone wants to contact the professor, they can do so at any time; they don’t need to go through you. Your self-aggrandizement is astonishing, particularly as your “reams” of comments are typically either ignored (including by other Trump supporters, most of whom seem more interested in contributing to discussions than in being a disruptive and unwelcome addition to the comment section) or challenged when you have your facts wrong . . . as you so often do (and as you do in this particular thread). You seem quite proud of yourself, but it’s really hard to figure out why. If you hadn’t repeated this ridiculous “challenge” at least three times now, I wouldn’t have responded, but you are way out of line. Again.

          I should have known it was you who deleted my last tweet about Bill O’Reilly commenting on Trump tonight saying: “Trump handled difficult questions tonight in a straightforward way. The elitists don’t like him, but I don’t think they can stop him -BO’R”

          VF, again, I ask “what are you talking about?” As a bit of an aside: have you noticed how often people say that to you? Anyway, I have no access to your Twitter account and no longer follow or read your Twitter feed, so how you imagine I am deleting your tweets is a complete mystery. I’m not a hacker, and even if I were one, I would have zero interest in your tweets. Just as I have zero interest in them when you insist on spamming them all over this site. Adding paranoia to your hysterical repertoire is probably not a good idea.

          Fuzzy, I don’t give a tinkers damn what you say or what you think.

    Evan3457 in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 11:32 pm

    I’m sorry, but this is nonsense.
    Nobody was denied anything.

Twitter Feed:


@JimForbes_Pasco

He may have stolen a few delegates but pissed off a few million voters that he would need in the general election

Retweet: https://twitter.com/VotingFemale/status/719547672252710912

Voting Female
@VotingFemale

The Great Colorado Voter Defraud has everything to do with Ted

#NYprimary #CTprimary

#maga #tcot #ccot #pjnet

Retweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/719321288301486081

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

How is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger – totally unfair!

8:30am · 11 Apr 2016 · TweetDeck

Matt Drudge Goes Off on Colorado GOP: “Does George Bush Have to Invade Colorado to Make It a Democracy?”

excerpt: ”

Jim Hoft Apr 11th, 2016 7:54 am 48 Comments

Ted Cruz supporters took all 13 of the delegates up for grabs at the Colorado GOP Convention on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the state.

But it was not without controversy.

The Cruz camp and GOP establishment leaders strong-armed their way to a sweep by banning Trump delegates and omitting them from the ballots… and listing Cruz delegates TWICE!

They even listed their candidates twice on the ballots.”

citation http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/04/matt-drudge-goes-off-colorado-gop-george-bush-invade-colorado-make-democracy/

    princepsCO in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    Sorry, VF…I was there and there were plenty of Trump delegates on the ballot to elect. Yes, there were a few issues with the ballot, but Chairman House addressed those half-dozen issues directly from the podium and all delegates were made aware of the changes they needed to make to vote for those few delegates. You weren’t there and your anti-Cruz attitude doesn’t make your accusations accurate or true.

      Cruz is my second choice. GOP changing the Colorado rules to effect a #NeverTrump outcome is a serious serious breach of ethics in the minds of fare minded voters.

      Doesn’t matter what you or I think or say about this.

      This matters to millions of fair-minded conservatives who expect the GOP to be better than the Democrats.

        StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 2:00 pm

        Again, the Colorado Rules were set back in August of 2015

        If you are going to whine and cry endlessly about crud, I suggest you actually pay even a moments attention to actual facts lest you prove beyond doubt you should be taken even less seriously then we take you now

          SoftheOB, your opinions of what I write/don’t write fails to connect with reality.

          I understand you somehow feel Cruz’s election as president is threatened by seeing my comments on LI.

          I can assure you that nothing… nothing written on a single blog by a single commenter can budge Ted’s needle one way or the other.

          If you have something to say to support Ted, then write it… but transferring your hatred of Trump onto a single commenter on a blog is neurotic behavior.

          StotheOB in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 4:57 pm

          What the heck are you talking about.

          Look, first on the facts – since you somehow still cant accept the hard fact that the Colorado Rules were changed in August of 2015 then please, you tell me when you think they were changed. I’m all ears, and cant wait to see your crazy conspiracy theory on it…

          Second, I dont hate you; youre just an annoying troll, in every Cruz/Trump article (at minimum) obsessively parroting what you have been told to repeat, making life here miserable for everyone else who might like to try to actual conversations about things.

          I think you should be banned not because I worry about what youre saying (it looks as if you have no credibility here, so people apparently disregard whatever you do post as nonsense anyway and you seem to be doing nothing but wasting your own time) but what you are definitely trying to do is drown out everyone else attempting to have said conversations. That hurts the website, and becomes an annoyance for everyone hoping to get other peoples thoughts on matters. (but its also extremely typical of Trump supporters all over the web, so sadly posters are probably getting used to it by now. Oh how I long for the days of at least semi-intelligent Paulbots or Obamabots)

          Colorado Democrats… oops… Colorado GOP changed their rules in September when the GOP decided they must mount a #NeverTrump offensive.

          The GOP Establishment can change any “rule” at any time at their whim… including the threshold of 1237.

          The reason the GOPe is shy about pulling this kind of crap is the negative reaction of the voters.

          The voters -the voters- are the only thing the Elites actually fear.

          This isn’t about “Trump,” this is about the voters.

          If you don’t know what the GOP did to Goldwater when he ran for president… you have some much needed catching up to do on this subject.

          The GOPe was on thin ice with voters before this primary even started.

          That ice just got thinner as a result of…

          The Great Colorado GOP Voter Fraud of 2016

          StotheOB in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 7:18 pm

          Youre just a moron, arent you?

          So back in August (as even you seem to now finally admit) the Republican Party of Colorado redid their election process to join a #NeverTrump movement that wouldnt be visible until the Grassroots started it around February… Brilliant

          Well even if you seriously believe that nonsense, to that I could merely say – maybe Trump should have united the party and grown his voting totals above the roughly ~35% hes stuck at so he could get enough delegates and not need those very few out of Colorado anyway. I mean, Mitt Romney (you know, the “loser” who is such a loser he cant win anything, according to Trump) managed to get to 1524 Delegates and had 60% of the awarded Delegates at this specific point in time (compare that to Trumps roughly 46%)

          Anyway, Mitt Romney is the reason that Colorado rule was changed though. Or actually, more specifically, Rick Santorum kicking the crud out of Mitt Romney in Colorado was. So Colorado changed the rules to not have a repeat of that – and they specifically changed the Rules so Jeb Bush would not see a repeat of 2012 and get beaten by Ted Cruz or Rand Paul in Colorado.

          Ted Cruz didnt complain when the rules where changed to keep him from winning though – he merely won anyway. Thats what winner do. Trump, the whiner, can whine about it all he wants, but it merely proves he is a whining loser.

          Trump is a loser who lost despite the rules being in his favor, Cruz is a winner who won despite the rules being changed to hurt him – its just what it is

          No… StotheOB, you are the one with a challenged intellect.

          I suggest you stick to harassing others who are in your low IQ range going forward. Otherwise, you will continue to prove you really are out of your league.

Twitter Feed:

Voting Female
@VotingFemale

Ruling Class ‘Rules” Akin To Communism

#NYprimary #CTprimary

#copolitics #nra #maga #tcot #ccot #pjnet

Retweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/719548022871482370

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

This is happening all over our country—great people being disenfranchised by politicians. Repub party is in trouble!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrqLQK7ecNE

8:54am · 11 Apr 2016 · TweetDeck

Conservative Pundit
@DemsRRealRacist

If you think about it, it’s Trump’s fault for not hiring any slimy GOP toadies to help him navigate the schemes of other slimy GOP toadies.
11:14pm – 10 Apr 16

impeach obama | April 11, 2016 at 12:16 pm

This ia a general question to those of you who support the current Savior of Mankind – Donald J trump, the altruist who wants to lead us to the promised land.
The patriot who NONE of his family which originated in Germany and immigrated at the turn of the 20th century.
His Grandfather nor father served during WW2 – that’s when they made their money as war profiteers.

Donny didn’t serve – though a star athlete – ‘bad feet’, bad morals more likely. he has three adult offspring – none of whom served.

Donny is such a patriot that he has built multiple hospitals and care centers for the troops – WHAT? he hasn’t? But, but, but..
instead he said ‘I don’t like people who got captured’ – no lollys for POWs.

OK – but he surely must have done something for the disabled – after all Sarah Palin with a Down’s Child supports him, right.

Oh he did mock a disabled reporter – OK fuggedabodit.

But the ladies like him – right? must be he has been married 3 times and numerous affairs (who is he dating now?).
said about FIORINA _ who would vote for that face.
Stalked Megyn Kelley and when rebuffed – pouted.

Your Hero – I’m sure gonna vote for him -NOT.

    impeach obama in reply to impeach obama. | April 11, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    To my Fellow MOT – Trump the Flexible, will be ‘evenhanded’ with the stone-cold killers of the PLO and Israel.
    He wants to ‘renegotiate’ with the Bazaaris of Teheran.

      Israel wants lasting peace.

      Every President since 1947 has attempted to negotiate peace between The Muslims and The Jews. All have failed.

      To broker a lasting peace you have to work in good faith in the eyes of both parties. This is not rocket science.

      Trump has Israel’s back. Obama stabbed Israel’s back and took sides with the Muslims.

      If you can not process that, that’s your problem.

        Obama said he had Israel’s back. He stuck a knife into it. I know where Cruz is on Israel. Trump is all over the board. I don’t know if Trump knows where he is on Israel.

        PS – I appreciate your sentiments. I spoke too harshly further down – did not see the beginning of the thred.

      Obama’s Iran deal will likely result in Israel being forced to nuke Iran to save itself from Iran’s nukes.

      This is what happens when an Israel-hating Communist takes sides instead of negotiating a “lasting peace” in the Middle-East.

      Israel will not go willingly into the night.

        impeach obama in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 1:51 pm

        Trump has no idea how to deal with the fakestinians and neither do you in your remarks – these stone-cold killers are hated by all the arabs – their only ‘friends’ are the Jew haters.
        The great irony is that the GCC is openly baking Israel and yesterday there was an emissary from iraq vising Israel.
        http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4789531,00.html

          You are talking out of your imagination.

          I don’t believe anyone can broker a lasting peace in the Middle-East. That is no reason not to try.

          Let me explain to you, what “trying” means. It means hurting little people, something Hillary and her friend Donald specialize in. It means a freeze that stops people from improving their home, or from building a home for their children – and their money is still tied up. (You have to put 30% or so down in Israel.)

          If you want to do that even though you agree there is no hope, then you are a sadistic sociopath.

          What the EFF are you ranting about?

          Ya know, I like to debate rational informed folks.
          That leave you out.

        But the deal arguably obligates the US to stop Israel. Cruz wil throw it out – of this I can be sure. Will Trump? Well, it depends on the hpase of the moon, doesn’t it?

DINORightMarie | April 11, 2016 at 12:25 pm

Love these “concern trolling” articles – like the NYT and the rest are upset that Cruz is not “likeable”……

They always tell you who they fear. ALWAYS.

Trooper York | April 11, 2016 at 2:02 pm

It seems to me that Cruz is a deeply unpleasant man. I did not think that about him before I really got to know him. I was a big fan of his when he was fighting the Republican Establishment.

I have a lot of respect for Mitch Daniels. He would have a decent shot at the nomination but he didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want to expose his wife and family to what politics would do to them. Cruz not so much. If his wife is as fragile as it seems why is he running? Is it worth it? Is he so arrogant that he thinks he is the only one who can do what needs to be done? I get that you need a yuge ego to run for President but does he love power more than his wife? Some people do for sure. Jerry Ford. Nixon. Clinton.

When I found out about his wife’s history I couldn’t believe that he would put her to the test. Maybe I am crazy but makes me not want to vote for him. Is that strange?

    Zachary in reply to Trooper York. | April 11, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    Weak attempt at concern troll.

    This is the one of the best arguments against votign for Trump – even if he winns the general – I have ever seen. After all, who was attacking Cruz’s family?

      StotheOB in reply to mzk. | April 11, 2016 at 2:56 pm

      Did you know that one of Trumps most vocal longtime Friends, Confidants and Employees, Roger Stone, literally has a Nixon tattoo on his back?

      Some things you just cant make up…

        One of Ted’s closet friends, Glenn Beck, is a certified whacko of biblical proportions. My goodness, he is a certified train wreck. What the hell was Ted thinking, hooking up with Beck?

        AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          One of Trump’s closet friends, VF, is a certified whacko of biblical proportions. And I quote VF:
          ~~~
          “The imagination of the neurotic is something to behold. “

          (Truer hairballs were never coughed up.)

          “No one -no one- tells me what to think or write. I wouldn’t even accept donations at my blog.”

          (And she won’t accept criticism or your opinion. She will accept catnip.)

          “What I do is a labor of love for my country. It can’t be bought and sold as a commodity like sugar beets or sorghum.”

          (She deals in hallucinogenics.)

          So, what’s an attention-seeking, grandiose megalomaniac narcissist to do?

          #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorderTheCure

There was also, you know, an actual vote in Wisconson.

Considering it was life or Death for Ted, he probably got most of his voters out.

And the Republicans did beat the democrats in votes on that primary. But if Ted cannot get more than 70% of the Trump voters (He was polling 50% of independents among the 5 candidates and drew heavily who came from the regions that almost always go Democrat), then Wisconson is out.

    StotheOB in reply to rotten. | April 11, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    Yet again, Facts dont support this claim…

    First, roughly 66% of Trump supporters have been saying they will vote for Cruz in a general. Considering most of Trumps people are otherwise non-voters or Democrats moving over to the Republican side in an operation-chaos plan to make him the nomination, thats extremely positive for our prospects.

    But the real argument for Cruz comes from where he gains his strength and his expected candidates weakpoints.

    Cruz has won the Youth Vote in every state I am aware of exit polls from. Its constant, going back to even Iowa, where the Youth of the Republican Voters is turning out for Cruz. The reason is that the Youth have been on a strong Libertarian streak, and Cruz is easily the most Libertarian candidate of the entire field really (outside of Paul, who upset his base horribly though)

    The Libertarian aspects of Cruz will likely help at least a little with the Black Vote as well. Im not saying he is going to get a bunch of Black votes, but they are not energized to vote for Hillary anyway – if the Libertarian aspects of Cruz has Blacks feeling a little more comfortable with him, it could lead to many just staying home instead of turning out for Clinton (they will likely turn out like we’ve never seen to vote against Trump though)

    Cruz is also being propelled by the Grassroots. We are never, ever, ever counted in polls though – which is why Cruz has been able to consistently outperform his polling by an average of 10%. That has been the biggest problem for candidates like Romney and McCain; we grassroots despised them and in turn didnt get out to work on their behalf (or even vote for them, in many cases) It should also be pointed out this is a major issue for Trump as the Grassroots hates Trump more than even Romney/McCain

    Then, Cruz is Hispanic. The media desperately wants people to forget it, but they can not take away the fact he is Hispanic. He would be the first Hispanic President ever. That is going to have an affect on the General Election voting. Even if he gets only an extra 5% of Hispanics voting for him solely because of that, it already makes it extremely difficult for Hillary to win. And there is a strong possibility he can get up to 10% greater Hispanic vote than Romney did (a percentage high enough to where Romney would have beaten Obama in 2012)

    There are signs everywhere that Cruz would be able to beat specifically Hillary; the ones I point out are not the only. And that is before we even get into the fact that Hillary is the single most unliked possible Nominee ever (well, outside Trump and 1992s David Duke, who score about equally according to polls)

Trooper York | April 11, 2016 at 2:12 pm

I am not a concern troll. I just find Cruz to be a very unpleasant person. Somebody said to me so was Nixon. Look how that turned out. If Cruz is elected he will walk into the White House with everyone basically hating his guts. Democrats. Trump supporters. The Gope establishment. How is he going to get anything done?

Hey maybe that is a good thing. A constipated government might just what we need.

    Ragspierre in reply to Trooper York. | April 11, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    What you wrote pretty well described Ronald Reagan.

    Not Nixon. A lot of people LOVED Nixon, despite him being a Progressive ninny.

      I don’t think Nixon was a progressive. He just felt forced to govern as one.

      Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | April 11, 2016 at 3:01 pm

      “Forced”…

      No. Nixon WAS a Progressive in the bone. Think Teddy Roosevelt.

      Nobody forced Nixon to institute wage and price controls, to gin up the EPA, or to adopt fascist economics with AMTRAK.

      But he did. And more.

        StotheOB in reply to Ragspierre. | April 11, 2016 at 3:16 pm

        This is just incorrect, and disregards all the work done together with Goldwater and Reagan.

        Nixon was not always what he eventually ended up becoming – and he became that Progressive-looking guy largely because he became desperate to hold onto power in every possible way he could think of. Insecurity was the root of his Progressiveism, not his initial beliefs

    After his first term, as the Watergate scandal started, Nixon won 49 states – everything but DC and the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. So I would say that if he’s like Nixon, we should do well.

    (Nixon was later destroyed, together with the entire party, by a coup d’etat from the Left and the media. We have hopefully learned our lesson and not let them do that again. The Democrats have.)

Twitter has a place for one-eyed myopic self-aggrandizing twitter critters. #Litterbox.

As a campaign manager I ran a few campaigns for state office, and one for Congress, in my state. There are a lot of candidates like Slap Chop who nail the “surface” elements of campaigning, and have no idea what a ground game is, what it looks like, and what it’s good for. Then they conclude that “nobody can win as a Republican” or whatever, and disappear again.

You have to get inside the machine and learn how it works before you can defeat it. What Slap Chop is doing is complaining he didn’t win the Indy 500 when everybody knows he’s the best milk drinker around. You have to work on the ground, not just make speeches and buy air time.

Colorado changed it’s selection rules in August. That’s 9 months of ground game time. Senator Cruz used it; Slap Chop ignored it. The result: 34-0. This is neither dirty, nor surprising. I have seen it happen at my state’s party convention too.

    StotheOB in reply to Scott Anderson. | April 11, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    Ive heard/read many Democrats and Progressives even mentioning/complaining that Cruz has run one of the best campaigns they have ever seen, comparable to better than even Obama in 2008. They especially hate it because no republican candidate has ever done anything like it, instead always just taking things for granted (similar, but not to the extreme, to Trump)

    Cruz really has taken this extremely seriously, and when it gets to a General Election, will be well positions to take advantage of every option available to him. That is an extremely positive aspect (yet, ironically one Trumpeters are whining about endlessly as if its a bad thing we have an actual beyond competent option for a change! Makes you want to bang your head against the wall its so stupid)

    stevewhitemd in reply to Scott Anderson. | April 11, 2016 at 4:38 pm

    Cruz clearly looks as though he’s learning the inside game. The data mining, the delegates, the micro-targeted advertising, and so on. That’s a necessary step for a national candidate these days.

    You can’t fob that off on your staff, either, or you’ll end up with “campaign consultants” who talk big, take your money, and don’t deliver (ask Mittens about his data mining team in 2012). You have to know enough to ask the right questions and make sure that the team you put in charge gets the job done.

    Cruz looks like he is doing that. Rubio clearly didn’t, Jeb hired somebody, and Kasich, as best as I can tell, doesn’t have enough resources to try. Trump, as best as I can tell, didn’t believe he needed a big ground game or data-mining game to win; he thought he could do a lot of ‘free TV’ and overwhelm everyone. That worked right up to just recently; it’s not clear to me that it will work much longer. It’s certainly not going to work against Hilarity in the fall campaign as the networks will be giving HER all the free TV.

    So kudos to Cruz at least for learning how to do this. It’s one of the prerequisites (not the only one) for being president — you have to win the job.

The way for him to win is to not actually hold a vote. Just award him the electoral college delegates.

Welcome to the new America. Voters? Who needs them?

    mzk in reply to forksdad. | April 11, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    You mean like Trump has been awarded delegates way out of proportion of his votes? He gets a few thousand more and six times the delegates? Somehow we never hear complaints about THAT.

    This is America, where we don’t elect Presidents based on a plurality, and we don’t elect people because “everyone else is so bad and who knows”. That’s not America – that’s 1930’s Germany.

      Sammy Finkelman in reply to mzk. | April 11, 2016 at 5:13 pm

      This is America, where we don’t elect Presidents based on a plurality, and we don’t elect people because “everyone else is so bad and who knows”. That’s not America – that’s 1930’s Germany.

      Hindenberg was voted for in that basis – he was persuaded to run for re-election in 1932 in order to stop Hitler. But Hitler had to be stopped every time.

    Ragspierre in reply to forksdad. | April 11, 2016 at 3:22 pm

    I heard a female caller to Rush today say that Colorado delegates would not identify who they were supporting.

    Either…

    1. she lied

    2. she’s one of the stupidest people on the planet, or

    3. those delegates were some of the stupidest people on the plant, along with anyone who would vote for them.

    Conversely, I find this account much more credible…
    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/04/from-the-colorado-gop-convention.php

      Sammy Finkelman in reply to Ragspierre. | April 11, 2016 at 5:08 pm

      They are legally unpledged maybe.

      If I read Powerline right, Cruz was the only Presidential candidate who sponsored a slate. There were 600 candidates for 17 statewide positions but Cruz had picked people to vote for. People didn’t want to vote for Trump delegates so they ddin’t vote for anyone they didn’t know.

      The people who could vote were themselves selected from smaller caucuses. Theer were about 3500 delegates and a couple of thousand more alternates and guests at the Convention Arena in Colorado Springs.

        Sammy Finkelman in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 5:11 pm

        Cruz showed up in person, which had the subtext of communicating that the Cruz delegates were really his.

        His best applause line came about Israel (this is one place Trump is wobbly – or pro-Russian, which is the same thing.)

        StotheOB in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 5:19 pm

        It seems most every one is pledged. Trying to remember the tweets I was watching, I believe there were 4 unpledged but Cruz supporters and the rest were strongly pledged.

        Also, MSNBC had on the ground interviews they aired with I believe 3 of the Cruz supporters who are now headed to Cleveland; maybe more. NBC/MSNBC were by far the best news organization out of Colorado, with two of the best ground reporters interviewing and keeping tabs on all of the events. This guy specifically was working his tail off for info & news:
        https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff

Sooo WEEEE….

The Cruz supporters are in a foul mood today… talks of banning commenters with whom they disagree. 🙁

Guess being a messenger is not a popular job.

What Happens In Colorado Matters, Y’All

    Ragspierre in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    Bu…bu…but you PRETEND to be a Cruz supporter…!!! OR a supporter of Cruz supporters. HAH…!!!

    Oh. Wait. I get it.

    You lie. Like for months, playing a role here.

    (I would never advocate banning you. You make too good a demonstration of T-rump sucking, lying, trolls!)

      There he goes again with the personal attacks… back to true form.

      It must really suck to be you, Rags. Vilifying everyone with whom you disagree never wins an argument rather, it is a childish tantrum. Carry on…

    StotheOB in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    No one is talking about banning “commenters” – I was merely talking about banning one very specific person; a person who doesnt comment as much but instead often merely copy/pastes whatever Trump (or whatever conspiracy website) told them to

    You dont seem to care about facts, you dont seem to care about a differing of ideas, you dont seem to care about anything other than drowning out other peoples posts with your endless, obsessive copy/past parroting. And its every single articles comments I read where you are doing this.

    So yes, if ever there was a person who is probably worthy of a ban, well, yeah…

      So… you want me to relay your desire that I be banned from commenting at Legal insurrection to the Professor or not?

      Just say the word…

        Merlin in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 4:09 pm

        Geez, don’t go away mad… just go away.

          I’m as far from angry as one can get. On the contrary, I’m quite enjoying all this. So, no… I am not going to take myself off the comment section, Merlin.

          Merlin in reply to Merlin. | April 11, 2016 at 4:20 pm

          Didn’t think for a second that you would pass up those troll checks. Everybody’s gotta eat.

          Amusing…

          So now you insinuate I am a hired professional commenter?

          Lawdy Lawdy… I haven’t been accused of that since I pissed off a group of very nasty Obama-Huggers by daring to call Obama’s sorry ass out daily on a CNN website.

          Then they accused me of working for the website.

          The imagination of the neurotic is something to behold.

          No one -no one- tells me what to think or write. I wouldn’t even accept donations at my blog.

          What I do is a labor of love for my country. It can’t be bought and sold as a commodity like sugar beets or sorghum.

The GOPe is already in deep trouble with voters and has been for years. This latest stunt goes quite far in enraging many voters even further…

Twitter Feed:

Fox News
@FoxNews

Special Report: @realDonaldTrump says #GOP delegate selection process is corrupt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp0EC5k1bzA&feature=youtu.be via @BretBaier

12:55pm · 11 Apr 2016 · Twitter Web Client

16 Retweets 22 Likes

The only way Cruz has a shot at winning the general election is for Cruz to win all the delegates from all the remaining primaries and go into the convention with 1237 delegates on the first ballot.

Anything else and Cruz will not be supported by Trump voters and he will lose as badly to Hillary as Goldwater did to LBJ.

And that is before the democrats try to disqualify him from the ballot for not being a natural born citizen and before the democrats and the news media start hanging the crazed religious nutjob bigot label on him with his kill the gays pastor friend in Iowa.

    StotheOB in reply to Gary Britt. | April 11, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    First, polls have continually shown at minimum 50%, and up to 66% of Trump supporters will only support Cruz. There are tons more people in the #NeverTrump campaign than will ever be opposed to Cruz – and thats regardless of how desperately Trump tries to bring Cruz down to his basement level of credibility (seriously, why do you Trump diehards never recognize that only David Duke in 1992 had worse numbers than Trump. Trump is a laughingstock of almost the entire nation, and you honestly want him to be the nominee. Thats sad)

    Second, Trump keeps saying he is bringing out new voters who have never voted or stolen Democrats and such. If we are to believe Trump (never something someone should do) then it doesnt matter anyway – his voters apparently never existed to begin with and have never been a factor in previous elections. Thats what Trump feels at least, so no big deal at all that those people are being lost…

    Third, birther nonsense again? Seriously? Come on, how long is Trumps pitiful obsession going to be trotted out by you desperate clingers in attempts to bring down Cruz? You would think the simple fact that Trump has never acted on his absolute endless threats of lawsuits the last 3 months would clue you all into the fact that Cruz is eligible. If he wasnt, then Trump is the dumbest person on the planet – he probably could have gotten to 1237 had he merely gotten a case even semi-respected in a court. Trump knew he would be laughed out of the court though, so he didnt…

    conservative tarheel in reply to Gary Britt. | April 11, 2016 at 6:11 pm

    which Trump supporters … the democrats ?
    or the 60% of republican voters that say they
    will support either Cruz or Trump whoever has the
    nomination ?

Sammy Finkelman | April 11, 2016 at 4:59 pm

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, according to soemthing I heard on the Sunday shows are viewed unfavorably by more voters tahn anyone since they have been doing such polling in 1972, which means more unfavorably than either Richard Nixon or George McGovern.

Maybe Ted Cruz does slightly better.

Cruz does better than Trump, but Kasich does better than Cruz against the Democrats (now maybe that’s because he’s less well known) and Sanders does better than Clinton against the Republican candidates. Maybe not with the same people but overall. At this point.

Those poll results are pretty consistent across many polls.

    Pour vous, Sammy…

    Twitter Feed:

    Voting Female
    @VotingFemale

    Despite Media’s Hatred: Trump’s Favorable Rating Rivals Reagan’s in 1980

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/04/despite-media-smear-trump-unfavorable-rating-rivals-reagans-1980/

    #NYPrimary #tcot

    http://pic.twitter.com/ajv6zQMEuM

    1:30pm · 10 Apr 2016 · TweetDeck
    View Tweet Activity

    6 Retweets 6 Likes

      Sammy Finkelman in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 5:16 pm

      What about Trump’s un-favorable ratings?

        StotheOB in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 5:32 pm

        They dont want to talk about that – they just want to parrot what they have been told in desperate hopes its somehow true

        Ignored is the fact that Reagan did not have 100% name-ID and as soon as he was visible to the population as a whole, the people realized he was not the “crazy, right-wing extremist, cowboy” the media tried to say he was. He was everything but.

        Trump, with his 100% name-ID and horrific unfavorable are earned – he really is hated by nearly 3/4 the population, and there is no way he can change that. The only shot he has is to make everyone else seem as bad as him. Hence his campaign of divide and conquer he has been trying.

        Cruz is ironically the one in a nearly identical situation to Reagan in 1979. Trump is meanwhile most comparable to David Duke in 1992 or George Wallace in 1968 as far as his favorables and limited base he will never be able to expand or unify with the rest of the voters

        That question can’t be serious Sammy unless you think there are twin polls; one called favorable and the other one called unfavorable. Are you ok?

        Sammy Finkelman | April 11, 2016 at 5:16 pm

        What about Trump’s un-favorable ratings?

        If you were informed you would already know that at this point in the 1980 primary, Reagan’s unfavorability percentage matches Trump’s right now.

        If you had actually read the article linked to in the tweet you would understand.

        yeez…

      Ragspierre in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 6:42 pm

      I go by Dim Jim Hoft’s cartoon of a blog now every day just to see how sucky his sucking has become.

      It’s really sad…and hilarious…to see how far “conservatives” like ol’ Dim Jim have strayed in pursuing their own cult god, Mr. Establishment.

      Nothing they USED to SAY they supported is evident anywhere, it all being burned down in the fervor of T-rump worship.

      Drudge is headed in that direction, too. Making his website a mere cartoon of its former self, and his former positions on issues mere shadows.

      It’s something we’ve long noticed and commented about…those of us who actually believe what we’ve said; the sad, soft belief in small government, private health care, the Constitution, market economics, etc., etc., that some of these people USED to profess, and that now is all burned down in their T-rump fever.

      PLUS how they’ve openly turned on those of us who still hold those same values.

      T-rumpism has made ghosts and ghoul of so many “conservatives”.

        Rags? You remind me of… Glenn Beck. (By the way that is a towering condemnation)

          “The imagination of the neurotic is something to behold. “

          (Truer hairballs were never coughed up.)

          “No one -no one- tells me what to think or write. I wouldn’t even accept donations at my blog.”

          (And she won’t accept criticism or your opinion. She will accept catnip.)

          “What I do is a labor of love for my country. It can’t be bought and sold as a commodity like sugar beets or sorghum.”

          (She deals in hallucinogenics.)

          So, what’s an attention-seeking, grandiose megalomaniac narcissist to do?

          #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorderTheCure

    StotheOB in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    Kasich only does better because most of the country ignores him. If people ran negative ads against Kasich for even a couple weeks, he would plummet like that you cant believe. Romney was bad in his past stances and actions – Kasich is horrific.

    Similar is going on with Sanders on the Democrat side. He would be so much easier to run against than Hillary, if he managed the nomination

      Sammy Finkelman in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 5:24 pm

      Kasich only does better because most of the country ignores him. If people ran negative ads against Kasich for even a couple weeks,

      What kind of negative ads could they run?

      he would plummet like that you cant believe. Romney was bad in his past stances and actions – Kasich is horrific.

      It’s Republicans who might defect from Kasich. he would do better among Democrats and independenets. Kasich really sometimes very obviously waffles, like he did about the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick garland, at least on TV, hinting he might find him acceptable.

      Theer are better Republican candidates than Kasich – like – obviously – Paul Ryan. But not Romney.

      Similar is going on with Sanders on the Democrat side. He would be so much easier to run against than Hillary, if he managed the nomination.

      We would think so. I’d say Republicans or conservatives Republicans would like him less. Mike Blooomberg is one such person. Sanders’ big problem is foreign policy and some related issues. On the economy, he can’t do much of anything wrong without Congress.

      As for climate inspired regulations and other trendy things – they are not deciding issues.

        StotheOB in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 7:30 pm

        Sorry, didnt see this earlier

        Anyway, if anyone really wanted Kasich out of the race (Cruz doesnt until they are out of NY area) they could just hammer him with nothing more than his Obamacare support and Immigration stances. You run ads on merely those two things and his numbers would tank without even having to get into all the rest.

        He could never get Republicans and Independents to turn out for him because of that. And as far as Democrats – never going to happen. They dont want Hillary because they dont trust her. If you were to draw a picture of the person they are afraid she will betray them and become though, its kinda John Kasich. They might as well vote Hillary and hope she doesnt become him (which is exactly what they will do)

        Oh, and if Sanders was the nominee we would have months of ads explaining what Socialism actually is. He would be toast having to open up that argument.

Sammy Finkelman | April 11, 2016 at 5:01 pm

The reppublican Party may be doomed to split – the question is the size and composition of the pieces.

A 3-way split and the loss of 36 Electoral votes in the south and 55 in the north (New York and Connecticut) directly attributable to the split, did not prevent the Democratic nominee from winning in 1948.

    The likelihood of a real honest to goodness third party with real muscle and teeth increases by the day, in view of the stunts being pulled by the GOP & The DEMs in their respective primaries.

    There are millions and millions and millions of voters, on both sides, who are fed the hell up with being treated as human batteries by the Matrix.

      Sammy Finkelman in reply to VotingFemale. | April 11, 2016 at 5:26 pm

      There’s more than one possible third party. In a Trump-Hillary Clinton race, a third party candidate could actually win.

        I realize you are just being sarcastic. No one with an IQ above a gnat actually believes that.

        StotheOB in reply to Sammy Finkelman. | April 11, 2016 at 5:40 pm

        If Trump s the nominee somehow, its almost guaranteed there will be a 3rd party so Republicans can try and keep their seats in the house, senate and local elections. There is no way most candidates will get anywhere near Trump, and he would have to run solo across most of the country even if he had the Republican R next to his name.

        Most likely option for a 3rd Party will be a Libertarian. The states which Trump and Hillary are hated most are West of the Rockies, in the North East and even around the Great Lakes. Those locations have been experiencing a big Libertarian streak, and a good Libertarian 3rd party guy could possibly bridge the Cruz & Sanders voters to pick up EC Votes in those areas. In that case, no one would meet the number of EC votes needed and the House would be able to pick our new President.

        It would probably be that 3rd Party Libertarian if such a chain of events played out.

        As far as who it might be? Justin Amash is a guy I am pulling for personally – he might be able to do it extremely well.

          If you change that to “If Trump is cheated out of his win” I would agree.

          Why do you seem to be obsessing over what I comment, SoftheOB?

          When you reply to me, it’s another opportunity for my commentary in return. SMH

          StotheOB in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 7:37 pm

          Huh? Ive ignored 95% of your posts, including most of your posts trying to defend why you think you are a credible poster instead of the parrot I pointed out.

          BTW, I wasnt replying to you here – I was replying to Sammy. You are the one replying to me.

          Oh, and lastly, do you even realize how stupid you sound saying stuff like “steal it from Trump”? I mean honestly, if Trump is too pitiful to get to 1237 delegates like even crud Frontrunners generally did, well then he is a loser. Period. End of story. No need to “steal” anything from someone who never got it to begin with. That is where we are.

          So when a fight has no winner (as is the case here) we got to the rules and the judges make the determination. The judges, in this case, are the local Delegates who get to select the Convention Delegates. And the Grassroots which elected said Delegates hates Trump and his whiny, narcissistic, anti-Constitution rear. That is why Trump will never, ever, ever be the nominee once Trump proves beyond doubt he is a loser and doesnt get to 1237

          You have directly replied to at lest 50% of my comments, SoftheOB.

          StotheOB in reply to StotheOB. | April 11, 2016 at 9:30 pm

          …*sigh*… Fine, I’ll reply to you once more just to point out how yet again you have posted complete and utter nonsense with absolutely no basis in fact:

          I count 6 replies of mine to you.

          I count 43 posts posts of yours in this article.

          So I have technically ignored 86% of your posts, not too far off of my hyperbolic estimate of 95%

          (I do also have one other post about you which was under one of your posts, but that clearly wasnt a reply to generate a conversation)

          Funny side-note: I count you as having 12 replies to me, meaning 28% of yours posts here have been to something Ive said. My having still kept replies to only 6 pretty much indicates how much Ive worked to just flat out ignore most of your obsessive, worthless, parroted input

Sammy Finkelman | April 11, 2016 at 5:37 pm

Trump seems to be repeating something Ronald Reagan did when he opened up his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

New York Times editorial on Saturday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/opinion/mr-trump-reopens-the-wounds-of-a-hate-crime.html?_r=0

Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at a Republican Party fund-raiser on Thursday in Patchogue, a village on the south shore of Long Island, about 60 miles from Manhattan…

… Patchogue is where Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, was fatally stabbed in 2008 by a white teenager, one of a marauding gang of high school boys who had made a nighttime sport of assaulting Latino men. The Republicans will be toasting Mr. Trump in a dance hall called the Emporium, on the same street as the crime scene, steps away from where Mr. Lucero fell.

That attack helped to identify Long Island with vicious anti-immigrant attitudes and violence. After the killing, scores of Latino residents came forward to say that they, too, had been hunted and harassed by white youths for years. The Suffolk County Police Department had routinely ignored their complaints; widespread reports of racial profiling and other police abuses prompted a Justice Department investigation and oversight…

..Anti-immigrant tension has been a chronic condition there since at least the late 1990s and early 2000s, when day laborers in a community not far from Patchogue were abducted and beaten and other residents were firebombed in their homes….. Mr. Ramirez and local officials, particularly Patchogue’s mayor, Paul Pontieri, struggled for years to repair the damage of the Lucero killing and of the blighted Levy era. Defying stereotypes, neighbors and volunteers continue to welcome and protect vulnerable newcomers, most recently the Central American children from the influx at the Texas border, hundreds of whom have been placed with relatives or sponsors on Long Island. Somebody has to be sabotaging Donald Trump.

I really don’t understand the ” Unlikable ” claim at all.
Ted seems like a heck of a nice guy to me.
The party hates him as he is a threat, along with the Democrat party, but that is par for the course.
Just business.
I really don’t see it. I have to chalk it up to ” Wishful thinking ”
Or, possibly, there just isn’t a legitimate front to attack him on.
Oh… that is it. They must be scared to debate him.

No, I have no idea why people say he is un-likable at all.