Imagine Ted Cruz as president: Here's what he actually said

BY ANDREW MALCOLM
09:16 AM ET



Rafael Edward Cruz (Tony Gutierrez / AP)

It was hinted. It was leaked. It was tweeted. It was finally given.

In a speech before thousands of students at Liberty University, Texas rookie Sen. Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. He's the first official contender of what will be many within a month and he started early to stop sinking in the polls.

He's a Tea Party favorite -- a favorite, not the only favorite. There will be competition for the starboard side of the GOP base in these next 12 months -- Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, maybe Huckabee and Santorum. But Cruz staked out very conservative turf. And he did it in classic Cruz style, if anything can be classic about someone on the national scene only 26 months.

As in his college debates and court cases, Cruz stood alone on-stage. No podium. No banners. And -- wait for it! -- no teleprompter.

Because, you are meant to realize, Cruz needs no reminders, no help saying what he truly believes. He's speaking every word from the heart. How else could someone utter 2,376 coherent words without a single note? Including weaving in personal stories of a childhood in a troubled family.

The performance blew away conservative pundits ("A dazzling speech"--Rush Limbaugh) and editorial boards ("He's hardly the brittle, conservative killjoy the mainstream media try to portray. On the contrary, he is charming, funny, scarily smart, a brilliant debater and more than well qualified to lead this nation"--Investor's Business Daily.)

Like most federal candidates in recent times, Cruz vowed to change Washington. And the Easter Bunny will soon deliver candies to every house.

But it was an excellent performance, a good start. Which Cruz needed. Every campaign's best day is its first, which is its last day in full control of anything. It's exciting then, full of promise, free of threats and the weariness and disappointments that inevitably come.

Scroll down for the complete Cruz transcript and watch the full C-SPAN video there too.

Whereas another short-term senator who sought the presidency can never speak without a teleprompter and without mentioning himself dozens of times, Cruz' favorite word this day was "Imagine." He said it 38 times, evoking the country that's drawn millions of immigrants with hope and ambition and the country that could be again with a true conservative at the helm undoing the damage of the incumbent.

"Instead of a federal government that works to undermine our values, imagine a federal government that works to defend the sanctity of human life and to uphold the sacrament of marriage."


Andrew Harnik / AP View Enlarged Image

"Instead of a federal government that wages an assault on our religious liberty...imagine a federal government that stands for the First Amendment rights of every American."

"Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of Israel."

"Imagine a president who says 'We will stand up and defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will call it by its name.'"

On the Democrat side, they're now imagining how unanimous must be their vote for the lone realistic candidate, whose mis-steps are mounting even as her poll numbers are sinking.

On the Republican side, this is just the beginning of the competition. Imagine the newly-formatted debates to come with the likes of Cruz, Walker, Bush, Rubio, Perry, Paul dueling over issues of real substance, not the phony ones ginned up by the MSM.

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Sen. Ted Cruz' Presidential Candidacy Speech at Liberty University

Senator Ted Cruz: Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you so much, President Falwell. God bless Liberty University. I am thrilled to join you today at the largest Christian university in the world.

Today I want to talk with you about the promise of America.

Imagine your parents when they were children. Imagine a little girl growing up in Wilmington, Delaware during World War II, the daughter of Irish and Italian Catholic family, working class. Her uncle ran numbers in Wilmington. She grew up with dozens of cousins because her mom was the second youngest of 17 kids. She had a difficult father, a man who drank far too much, and frankly didn’t think that women should be educated.

And yet this young girl, pretty and shy, was driven, was bright, was inquisitive, and she became the first person in her family ever to go to college. In 1956, my mom, Eleanor, graduated from Rice University with a degree in math and became a pioneering computer programmer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Imagine a teenage boy, not much younger than many of you here today, growing up in Cuba. Jet black hair, skinny as a rail. Involved in student council, and yet Cuba was not at a peaceful time.

The dictator, Batista, was corrupt, he was oppressive. And this teenage boy joins a revolution. He joins a revolution against Batista. He begins fighting with other teenagers to free Cuba from the dictator. This boy at age 17 finds himself thrown in prison, finds himself tortured, beaten. And then at age 18, he flees Cuba. He comes to America.

Imagine for a second the hope that was in his heart as he rode that ferry boat across to Key West, and got on a Greyhound bus to head to Austin, Texas to begin working, washing dishes, making 50 cents an hour, coming to the one land on earth that has welcomed so many millions.

When my dad came to America in 1957, he could not have imagined what lay in store for him.

Imagine a young married couple, living together in the 1970s, neither one of them has a personal relationship with Jesus. They have a little boy and they are both drinking far too much. They are living a fast life.

When I was three, my father decided to leave my mother and me. We were living in Calgary at the time, he got on a plane and he flew back to Texas, and he decided he didn’t want to be married anymore and he didn’t want to be a father to his three-year-old son.

And yet when he was in Houston, a friend, a colleague from the oil and gas business invited him to a Bible study, invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church, and there my father gave his life to Jesus Christ. And God transformed his heart.

And he drove to the airport, he bought a plane ticket, and he flew back to be with my mother and me.

There are people who wonder if faith is real. I can tell you, in my family there’s not a second of doubt, because were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been saved and I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the household.

Imagine another little girl living in Africa, in Kenya and Nigeria. That’s a diverse crowd. Playing with kids, they spoke Swahili, she spoke English. Coming back to California. Where her parents who had been missionaries in Africa raised her on the Central Coast.

She starts a small business when she’s in grade school, baking bread. She calls it Heidi’s Bakery. She and her brother compete baking bread. They bake thousands of loaves of bread and go to the local apple orchard where they sell the bread to people coming to pick apples. She goes on to a career in business, excelling and rising to the highest pinnacles, and then Heidi becomes my wife and my very best friend in the world.

Heidi becomes an incredible mom to our two precious little girls, Caroline and Catherine, the joys and loves of our life.

Imagine another teenage boy being raised in Houston, hearing stories from his dad about prison and torture in Cuba, hearing stories about how fragile liberty is, beginning to study the United States Constitution, learning about the incredible protections we have in this country that protect the God-given liberty of every American. Experiencing challenges at home.

In the 1980s, oil prices crater and his parents' business goes bankrupt. Heading off to school over a thousand miles away from home, in a place where he knew nobody, where he was alone and scared, and his parents going through bankruptcy meant there was no financial support at home. So at the age of 17, he went to get two jobs to help pay his way through school.

He took over $100,000 in school loans, loans I suspect a lot of ya’ll can relate to, loans that I’ll point out I just paid off a few years ago.

These are all of our stories. These are who we are as Americans. And yet, for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant.

What is the promise of America? The idea that -- the revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty. And that the purpose of the Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson put it, is to serve as chains to bind the mischief of government.

The incredible opportunity of the American dream, what has enabled millions of people from all over the world to come to America with nothing and to achieve anything. And then the American exceptionalism that has made this nation a clarion voice for freedom in the world, a shining city on a hill.

That’s the promise of America. That is what makes this nation an indispensable nation, a unique nation in the history of the world.

And yet, so many fear that that promise is today unattainable. So many fear it is slipping away from our hands.

I want to talk to you this morning about reigniting the promise of America: 240 years ago on this very day, a 38-year-old lawyer named Patrick Henry stood up just a hundred miles from here in Richmond, Virginia and said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

I want to ask each of you to imagine, imagine millions of courageous conservatives, all across America, rising up together to say in unison “we demand our liberty.”

Today, roughly half of born-again Christians aren’t voting. They’re staying home. Imagine instead millions of people of faith all across America coming out to the polls and voting our values. Today millions of young people are scared, worried about the future, worried about what the future will hold. Imagine millions of young people coming together and standing together, saying “we will stand for liberty.”

Think just how different the world would be. Imagine instead of economic stagnation, booming economic growth.

Instead of small businesses going out of business in record numbers, imagine small businesses growing and prospering. Imagine young people coming out of school with four, five, six job offers.

Imagine innovation thriving on the Internet as government regulators and tax collectors are kept at bay and more and more opportunity is created. Imagine America finally becoming energy self-sufficient as millions and millions of high-paying jobs are created.

Five years ago today, the president signed ObamaCare into law. Within hours, Liberty University went to court filing a lawsuit to stop that failed law.

Instead of the joblessness, instead of the millions forced into part-time work, instead of the millions who’ve lost their health insurance, lost their doctors, have faced skyrocketing health insurance premiums, imagine in 2017 a new president signing legislation repealing every word of ObamaCare.

Imagine health care reform that keeps government out of the way between you and your doctor and that makes health insurance personal and portable and affordable.

Instead of a tax code that crushes innovation, that imposes burdens on families struggling to make ends met, imagine a simple flat tax that lets every American fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. Imagine abolishing the IRS.

Instead of the lawlessness and the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesty, imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders. And imagine a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those who come to achieve the American dream.

Instead of a federal government that wages an assault on our religious liberty, that goes after Hobby Lobby, that goes after the Little Sisters of the Poor, that goes after Liberty University, imagine a federal government that stands for the First Amendment rights of every American.

Instead of a federal government that works to undermine our values, imagine a federal government that works to defend the sanctity of human life and to uphold the sacrament of marriage.

Instead of a government that works to undermine our Second Amendment rights, that seeks to ban our ammunition imagine a federal government that protects the right to keep and bear arms of all law-abiding Americans.

Instead of a government that seizes your e-mails and your cell phones, imagine a federal government that protected the privacy rights of every American.

Instead of a federal government that seeks to dictate school curriculum through Common Core imagine repealing every word of Common Core. Imagine embracing school choice as the civil rights issue of the next generation that every single child, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of wealth or ZIP Code, every child in America has the right to a quality education.

And that’s true from all of the above, whether it's public schools, or charter schools, or private schools, or Christian schools, or parochial schools, or home schools, every child.

Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of Israel.

Instead of a president who seeks to go to the United Nations to end-run Congress and the American people, imagine a president who says “I will honor the Constitution, and under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Imagine a president who says “We will stand up and defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will call it by its name."

We will defend the United States of America.

Now, all of these seem difficult, indeed to some they may seem unimaginable, and yet if you look in the history of our country, imagine it’s 1775, and you and I were sitting there in Richmond listening to Patrick Henry say 'Give me liberty or give me death.'

Imagine it’s 1776 and we were watching the 54 signers of the Declaration of Independence stand together and pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to igniting the promise of America.

Imagine it was 1777 and we were watching General Washington as he lost battle, after battle, after battle in the freezing cold as his soldiers with no shoes were dying, fighting for freedom against the most powerful army in the world. That, too, seemed unimaginable.

Imagine it’s 1933 and we were listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tell America at a time of crushing depression, at a time of a gathering storm abroad, that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Imagine it’s 1979 and you and I were listening to Ronald Reagan. And he was telling us that we would cut the top marginal tax rates from 70 percent all the way down to 28 percent, that we would go from crushing stagnation to booming economic growth, to millions being lifted out of poverty and into prosperity abundance. That the very day that he was sworn in, our hostages who were languishing in Iran would be released. And that within a decade we would win the Cold War and tear the Berlin Wall to the ground.

That would have seemed unimaginable, and yet, with the grace of God, that’s exactly what happened.

From the dawn of this country, at every stage America has enjoyed God’s providential blessing. Over and over again, when we face impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. You know, compared to that, repealing ObamaCare and abolishing the IRS ain’t all that tough.

The power of the American people when we rise up and stand for liberty knows no bounds.

If you’re ready to join a grassroots army across this nation, coming together and standing for liberty, I’m going to ask you to break a rule here today and to take out your cell phones, and to text the word constitution to the number 33733. You can also text imagine. We’re versatile.

Once again, text constitution to 33733. God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe God isn’t done with America yet.

I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America, and that is why today I am announcing that I’m running for president of the United States.

It is a time for truth. It is a time for liberty. It is a time to reclaim the Constitution of the United States.

I am honored to stand with each and every one of you courageous conservatives as we come together to reclaim the promise of America, to reclaim the mandate, the hope and opportunity for our children and our children’s children. We stand together for liberty.

This is our fight. The answer will not come from Washington. It will come only from the men and women across this country, from men and women, from people of faith, from lovers of liberty, from people who respect the Constitution.

It will only come as it has come at every other time of challenge in this country, when the American people stand together and say we will get back to the principles that have made this country great. We will get back and restore that shining city on a hill that is the United States of America. Thank you and God bless you. ####



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Posted before...
Cruz is starting out in the hole, but he will be a real handful for the other candidates. He has a clear well-defined conservative message and he can deliver that message in a manner that will impress a lot of voters. His debating record is outstanding.

Today he asked his audience to “imagine” his platform...
Economic Growth
Energy Self-Sufficiency
Repealing Obamacare
Personal, Portable, Affordable Healthcare
Simple Flat Tax
Abolishing The IRS
Secure Borders
A "Legal" Immigration System
Religious Liberty
Defending The Sanctity Of Human Life
Protecting The Right To Keep And Bear Arms
Protecting Privacy Rights
Repealing Common Core
School Choice
Standing With Israel
Denying Iran Nuclear Weapons
Defeating Islamic Terrorism

He would get my vote.

And mine.

I would vote for Cruz. Haven't heard him say a thing I didn't like yet.

About time the Cruz missile was launched.

I listened to the speech. I'd vote for him, in a heartbeat. What a breath of fresh air!


maddog

Cruz all the way now a decent VP to go with him!

I'd vote for him.

A great speech from a great and intelligent speaker, however, as a young one term Senator he doesn't have the experience to handle the top job. Also he is too conservative to make the cut.

I would figure him to be a real contender in the not too distant future.

The liberal money would go ape %^$^% if he won...
I personally think it impossible for him to get the support needed. But I like what he says , and would vote for him.
Watch how fast the liberals bring up the fact he was not born in the US and how important it is. Being born in Canada to a cuban father and a white mother makes him more like the average american more and more....
Remember I like the guy and I know there is not one candidate out there you could not find dirt on.
Read this link
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3022115/posts

The only ones against him are liberals.

You got that right.......in a heartbeat.

I'll guarantee that anyone that doesn't have their head square up their azz realizes he'd do a better job than the krapp we have "in charge" now....

What the h@ll do you think that useless clown in office now is? A one term Senator with no experience! Along with NO F*CKING BALLS OR BRAINS.

Just "Better than what we have now", is not good enough.

As soon as Cruz is allowed to communicate without the MSM filter, he is going to turn a lot of heads. The more he speaks on the stump, the better.

Normally, I would say its too early. But he needs to get to know people. More stump time for him, helps.

His note less speech was really awesome. Even some liberals gave him accolades on no visual aids to help him. He is really, really smart IMO.

He explained the America that I believe in.


RAS

It would a lot of political skills to do what he wants.

Has he shown any such skills?

I AGREE with him, I just don't see any demonstrated ability.

BMT

Just ask Harry Reid; Cruz is a bully

Your right, he didn't develop a forked tongue yet. A few more years in Washington should prepare him for the top spot. The current one in the white house is an exception, he was born with one.

Cruz may be just what the country needs.
Experience? --- what does that matter?
What we now have had zip---

I disagree, the middle of the road Republicans sure has hell don't want a real conservative.

The difference between Cruz and the cum clot we have now, Cruz loves this country.

"Middle of the road" Republicans elected Barack Obama. No "if's", "ands" or "buts" about it.

Yep!

That is exactly what people said about him in Texas, just before he beat an unbeatable candidate in an unwinnable election for the US Senate.

Maybe that's why we have more confidence than some. We've seen what he...and honesty, can do.

He was born I Canada, can he even run?

Good lord.

Lt. gonna have 14 months of that question,along with other garbage about Ted Cruz.

Yes, and perhaps even more important he grew up as an American, not in a foreign environment, learning religions and teaching that this country was NOT founded upon.

See why Scott picked Tn. to retire in?

He's counted as a genius in his new home.

Exactly. You make my point.

YES! This has been hashed over and the courts have stated he is eligible.

"Middle of the Road" Republicans did not elect BHO.

Conservatives who stayed home and did not vote for two very good men did.

That too, but by definition, "middle of the road Republicans" are also "middle of the road Democrats".

Lets imagine this.....


2016 10:46 AM MAR 23, 2015

Let’s Be Serious About Ted Cruz From The Start: He’s Too Extreme And Too Disliked To Win

This is going to be painful for you true believers but here we go.....

By HARRY ENTEN

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s newly minted presidential campaign is the media equivalent of a juicy rib-eye that robbers use to distract a guard dog during a heist. He’ll get a ton of media attention, and he’ll get to spread his message — which may be all that Cruz is after — but Cruz almost certainly has no shot of winning the nomination, according to every indicator that predicts success in presidential primaries.

Your friends are looking for you walt. You better get home now.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1262

Keep working on it my man...The "Clown Show" is almost here.

You are the "clown show."

Mog,very good.

I don't think I've seen that one. Mossberg 4×4 custom stock, no name scope from ctd, 7 mouser? Am I close this time?

Cruz is just pandering to the rich, he would be the worst thing that ever would happen to this country....

Nope,it's a Interarms Mark X Mini-Mauser .223 Rem.

243, 55 nosler varmageddon, TW? brass cci br primer, 48.0 blC2 (over max work up to it) 4026 fps +/- ~10.

It's just a shame we can't keep Obama permanently, ain't it?

I thought the 240 was the smallest gun you had. Been hiding anything else?

Differences aside..I think (hope) we can all take pleasure in how the lefties heads are spinning..Funny chit.

Cruz is on the Kelly File now.

Looks like it "might" work. Good shootin' there Mog.

Killed 3 ground squirrels today with a .17HMR. Long shot... ohh..... maybe 50 yds.

Good Grief, you must live in fantasy land

Sako Vixen .222 Rem and a Leupold 2x-7x.

. .

Good speech. I 'm in.
Now, who for the number 2 slot.

Hitlery, unfotunately, is probably the best choice in today's fd up political landscape.

BTW.
Scott sees this he's gonna call ya a fugger.
Lol

Was hoping they'd be more vmax ish . These seem to overpenetrate a bit. Also can't usually watch hits through the scope. I fired 50 rounds and killed maybe 12. All under 200 yards. I'm not much of a long range guy.

Not sure if I nicked this one, or it went straight through.

12 out of 50,schit you may be better than me!

Looks like whiplash.

I use to think the same about Dick Cheney and then I stopped drinking!

That one is sweeet! Sure you wanna be posting a wood stock here on the fire?

Bugger off,Mog and I are discussing varmints!

I'll risk it.

Good interview with Megyn! He must be doing something right, cause all the Libertard socialist, Obama loving news media channels are really trying to hammer him!

Did you expect anything different about the way the msm would treat Ted Cruz?

Rhetorical question.

No doubt! It's fun to see them all talking out of their asses! Maybe some of them will stroke out!

They have to. If he gets very far in his campaign, he will destroy all of the chosen ones, Democrat and Republican alike. We have to understand, Wall Street wants a "hey boy", not a leader, and they don't care which party they come from.

Yup.

Pretty sure none of them will have "Tingling down their leg" when Cruz speaks.

Elkhunternm: don't worry about Ted. He can handle the msm.

walt: you should start drinking again. You were a lot more fun drunk. Gasoline is the "in" thing these days. Hint, it burns a bit at first but goes pretty smooth after the first quart. Just remember, NO ICE!!!!

Mog,yes he can and THAT is going to be fun to watch!

The only ones against him are liberals. [/quote]

I disagree, the middle of the road Republicans sure has hell
don't want a real conservative. [/quote]

I tend to believe these statements to be the truth.
Cheers NC

I don't recall hearing so is Cruz a gun rights guy? I'm betting he is.

"Denying Iran Nuclear Weapons"

Iran has FULLY POSSESSED the capability, materials and expertise to build nuclear weapons for the past 10+ years; so far, they've chosen not to do so. It is estimated that they could assemble a nuke in a few weeks if desired; it might not be the most efficient, but then it would probably be more powerful than the Little Boy dropped on Japan in 1945.

Some sort of nuclear agreement is needed to keep abreast of their intentions and verify what they are doing. Cruz's statement to deny them nukes is hollow chum for the gullible fish in the world - or maybe he's misinformed.

He's a Big time 2nd Amendment supporter!

http://www.ontheissues.org/domestic/Ted_Cruz_Gun_Control.htm

Well.... Granted... Cruz is not as well informed as you.

But you ain't running, so we'll settle for him.

I like what he has to say. He is what this country needs.

JD338

Nobody's perfect, but so far Cruz has kept his word. To me, that's important. When he starts lying, I'll stop supporting him. He is setting a high bar for the competition.

What a joke, he saids he's going to repeal Obamacare , but now he's going to go on it, what a clown.

Querds like you assure us we're on the right track.

The "Future" is NOW b*tch

Bet many people never thought you'd turn into this smegma breath fairy that you are now. They were wrong

I reckon that answers my question in spades!

He must believe that gun control means being able to hit what you shoot at, huh.

Next door to you? Since you share the same outhouse opinions

We some one to fix the mess that has been created and bring America back being #1 in the world. Number one in power, in markets, in production, in peace keeping, not to be messed with, and in space exploration.

That's liberalspeak for "he wants to return the country to the state it was in when it was clearly and by far the greatest in the world."

Following the constitution is too extreme?

Great speech w/o a teleprompter! Given the choice, I'd take Cruz over the one term Senator that was elected in 2008 and 2012 to the Presidency.

Yes liberty is such a bad thing what were we thinking...

I'm for Cruz. I doubt he or any Republican can win from here on forward, so I say let's nominate ideologically pure ones from now on.

I notice in this discussion that the democrats never really point out any Cruz policy they disagree with. They just call him a clown, or say he's "too extreme." Maybe they should just come out and say it. They don't like Cruz because he's Hispanic.(PC would be white hispanic) Typical racist democrats. This kind of crap never ends from them. If nothing else I hope Mr. Cruz can put a stop to these bigots when he gets to the whitehouse.

Libs mostly run on feelings, they don't like is practical attitude and they feel he is bad. Facts never enter the mind of a liberal.

And they're racists.

What libs want is gun control, gay marriage and obamacare.

I am not sure racism runs down one side or the other. I know folks on both sides of the line who are outspoken racists. I will agree there are many liberal racists.

Yes, and lose again to the Huseins of this world.

Define "ideologically pure". Bet your "pure" would be not my "pure".

They are free to move to a country that has those things. Our country has a constitution that prohibits such legislation.

Cruz may be a long shot this time but he will be the man in 2020... if theres still elections then.

I saw his interview with Megyn Kelly.

Not impressed. Never led anything.

BMT

get a clue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz

I am a Race Realist !
I damn well believe in "FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION" that this damned Government has taken away from U.S. and left U.S. with Trillions of Dollars of DEBT, broken "No Go" once Great cities filled with Hostile "inhabitants" bent on killing U.S. and Our Culture in an "undeclared" War... AND "they" want to get paid by U.S. While "they" are commiting these Atrocities.
So get your head out of your axxe, wake TFU and stop parroting this bullschat liberal "racist" krap nonsense.

Wow you really don't have a clue do you? Oh well you come from the state that elected a Liberal SNL member to represent you.

The ones who voted for it, but exempted them selfs from it are the clowns. Why don't Pelosi, Casey and the rest of the Democratic ilk that voted for it sign up?

For me ideologically pure is following the Constitution. Of course, after so many years of abuse and disregard, following the Constitution is easier said than done. It will be a long term process for sure.

I only heard snippets of the speech.

I'm all for repealing Obamacare

but I hope there isn't a worse train wreck replacing it

instead of talking about repealing Obamacare, I'd rather he talk about what he is going to do to make health care affordable (maybe he did, I don't know) - and not some pie in the sky, deep down we all know it will never happen but we're going to vote for him because he's not Obama kind of answer.

We have enough candidates giving those answers and no shortage of people telling me I should vote for the guy because of it.

I want to vote for someone with solutions to problems, not just being the anti-Obama. Not saying that Cruz is, but repealing Obamacare is only half the solution - and potentially it could be worse than what we have now.

Now I get it.

He's ugly.
He's not American enough.
His wife works for a guy who knows a Jew.
The New York Times says he doesn't have a plan.
He hasn't been a politician long enough.
Liberals won't vote for him.

What was I thinking?

I said before , I like the guy and if he sticks to what he says, I am All in. But there is the sticking point. What politician sticks to anything anymore. Look a Boehner he is a shell of a man he once started out as. As soon as the get in office the big money deals start pulling to a point where they become self serving and forget the rest of us. I wonder how many in the Congress are invested in the health care industry now.

The only choice we have is between "politicians". The trick is to nominate the most Conservative "politician" who has a chance of being elected.

Ted Cruz is not the man.

"Ted Cruz is not THE man."

And you are not A man. You are a scarf model.

The last conservative to get elected as POTUS had no chance.

The problem is many of us don't see enough conservative and we see too much politician.

not to mention that it seems most of us have our own definition of what conservative is.

I haven't really formed an opinion on Cruz - the are positives and negatives, but in the end - I have a growing belief that governments attempt to do anything just results in us getting screwed that much more.

Proof that 'conservatives' are our own worse enemy. White Yankees won't vote for him.

If Conservatives voted their conscience, we would have had a President Perot.

Yet you voted for a community organizer

+1

And democrats are racists.

Aint that the truth.

Sounds to me like he has a real desire to run the govt by the Constitution. The How and What Not will come later with a man with a right heart.
I haven't heard anything bad about him. I haven't heard one report of him waffling and switching directions to suit voter opinion polls. He sounds like a christian, conservative, small govt Constitutionalist. He makes the communists nervous, as evidenced in this thread, he males the RINO's nervous, he's not an established career politician but yet he clearly understands the game.
I don't understand what's not to like about the guy?? If you want to take the country back would you like a more experienced politician and WHY? Isn't career politician synonymous with "they're the problem"?
Look how much bad our inexperienced Pres is able to accomplish. Based on that alone, don't you think a man bent on smaller govt and fiscal responsibility could have a significant impact on our lives for the better?

Again, as far as I can see, there's no reason to want for more at this time. Maybe that will change. I will say, I wish he was a little less comfortable with the role of political speaking. Maybe that's just his style of speaking, but he is definitely a politician to listen to him speak. But at least he has the convictions we hold most important.

As for the naysayers on this thread, they're clearly just plants, so disregard their opinion right out of the gate. They're here to spread discord and create doubt. Their opinions are not valid in any real way. I feel sorry for them that their lives are so shallow.

I voted for Perot.

"He can't win."


Gerald Ford 1976

NYT 1980

" he's not an established career politician but yet he clearly understands the game."

THAT is a real good point.

"He can't win"
"He's not electable"
"He can't beat Hillary"
"He doesn't have enough experience"

From the left, straight into the wussified ears of squishy republicans.
They'll pick our candidate again.


Cruz is unique........he doesn't give a f***

About liberals or Republicans

sent him a 100 bucks today.

Talk is cheap in a Presidential Election , but i would vote him or any other person as long as he wasn't a Democrat

A city cannot be racist, people are racist or not. I am not. I don't care is a person is black, white, red, brown, tartan plaid, or even I nice paisley. I may not like a hood rat gang banger but that has nothing to do with his race of colour, it has to do with who he is and I am damned sure not a liberal. I just refuse to paint groups of people with a wide brush and recognise there are goo and there are azzholes in every group.

I am not sure just what freedom of association means in your context but if has to do with the political correct crap being pushed down our throats I agree.

This Pac NW cracker suer would!

Read my Lips - I believe 19% voted for Perot.
Can you hear that whooshing sound, that's NAFTA taking American Jobs to foreigners

way to go!
Millions of Us like minded Americans need to get involved... that means MONEY and lots of it!
If kooky Ron Paulian libertarians were able to raise 10's of millions of $$$$ with a "Money Bomb" practically overnight, backing a T(ed)rue C(ruz)onservative with $$$$ should be the GOAL.
Somehow or other my wife and I plan on MAXING out for TED CRUZ!!

Freedom of Association! WE lost that with "Open Housing" and the "Block-Busting" techniques of the 60's and CONTINUES today with Section8 housing and all the other krap we're TAXED for.

Ferguson Missouri was once a Nice Place to live and raise a family... wtf happened?... as MANY Great American Cities once were.

Think about the destruction of wealth that has happened BECAUSE we DON'T have "Freedom of Association" ! I don't need to live with or near negras to feel fulfilled. This "camel" is IN the tent! As my European aunt once said as she observed living conditions in Southside and Westside Chicago - "this is worse than Chernobyl"

"racist" is a term the LEFT uses to beat Conservatives over the head with. "Race Realist" is the term I use to describe what I have seen and experienced over a lifetime of negra behavior!

Holder and Obozo are the two biggest "white people" haters I've ever seen!

Hopefully the voters who stayed home last presidential election because Romney wasn't perfect will rethink the results of their actions. You let someone from inner city Detroit or New York tell you who is going to be the best leader.

If you don't vote for the republican nominee you are in effect voting for HIllery (Warren, Biden etc)

Cruz has spent his life molding himself to be a politician.

Today, that means that he's a warmonger and an Israel firster.

Politicians aren't the answer.

I know he had a better-than-good turnout in Barrington and Lincoln. Other venues in NH sounded positive, but I'm not exactly certain so won't comment.

I like what I'm seeing/hearing.

Sincerely,
White Yankee

I voted for Perot. I worked in a Naval Shipyard. I had a Perot sticker on my desk.

I was told in no uncertain terms that voting for Perot endangered my job and the jobs of my coworkers because Perot would cut government waste including unnecessary naval ships being built.

Then afterwards I was blamed for Clinton getting elected.

Kind of the same thing I read here about Obama.

Met too (1992). It was my first opportunity to vote in a presidential election and my experience was similar to yours.

I did not vote for Perot.
By mid-summer Ross had blown his early poll lead and his campaign was in shambles. Many of his volunteers did not want to sign his loyalty oaths. He blamed Bush and the CIA when he quit in July.

So I decided to vote for Bush.

First of October, Perot got back in the race and took about equal votes from both Bush and Clinton; no electoral votes.
I was afraid at the time that Ross would hurt Bush and help Clinton because he was still blaming Bush for his lower numbers.

I was wrong about that, but I still think Perot is a nutcase.

You get a clue:


Your Data, your link:

Clerkships
Cruz whilst serving as Solicitor General

Cruz served as a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1995[7][10] and William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States in 1996.[6] Cruz was the first Hispanic to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.[44]
Private practice

After Cruz finished his clerkships, he took a position with Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, now known as Cooper & Kirk, LLC, from 1997 to 1998.[45] While with the firm, Cruz worked on matters relating to the National Rifle Association, and helped prepare testimony for the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.[46] Cruz also served as private counsel for Congressman John Boehner during Boehner's lawsuit against Congressman Jim McDermott for releasing a tape recording of a Boehner telephone conversation.[47]
Bush Administration

Cruz joined the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser, advising then-Governor George W. Bush on a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law, immigration, and government reform.[45]

Cruz assisted in assembling the Bush legal team, devising strategy, and drafting pleadings for filing with the Supreme Court of Florida and U.S. Supreme Court, the specific case being Bush v. Gore, during the 2000 Florida presidential recounts, leading to two successful decisions for the Bush team.[10][48] Cruz recruited future Chief Justice John Roberts and noted attorney Mike Carvin to the Bush legal team.[46]

After President Bush took office, Cruz served as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department[6][48] and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.[6][20][48]
Texas Solicitor General

Appointed to the office of Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott,[7][49] Cruz served in that position from 2003 to 2008.[10][28] The office had been established in 1999 to handle appeals involving the state, but Abbott hired Cruz with the idea that Cruz would take a "leadership role in the United States in articulating a vision of strict construction." As Solicitor General, Cruz argued before the Supreme Court nine times, winning five cases and losing four.[46]

Cruz has authored 70 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.[7][20][31] Cruz's record of having argued before the Supreme Court nine times is more than any practicing lawyer in Texas or any current member of Congress.[50] Cruz has commented on his nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court: "We ended up year after year arguing some of the biggest cases in the country. There was a degree of serendipity in that, but there was also a concerted effort to seek out and lead conservative fights."[50]

In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz drafted the amicus brief signed by the attorneys general of 31 states, which said that the D.C. handgun ban should be struck down as infringing upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.[31][51] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[31][52]

In addition to his success in Heller, Cruz successfully defended the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 5-4 in Van Orden v. Perry.[10][20][31]

In 2004, Cruz was involved in the high-profile case, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow,[10][20] in which he wrote a U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of all 50 states.[53] The Supreme Court upheld the position of Cruz’s brief.

Cruz served as lead counsel for the state and successfully defended the multiple litigation challenges to the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting plan in state and federal district courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court, which was decided 5-4 in his favor in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.[10][54]

Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt to re-open the cases of 51 Mexican nationals, all of whom were convicted of murder in the United States and were on death row.[7][10][20][31] With the support of the George W. Bush Administration, the petitioners argued that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to notify the convicted nationals of their opportunity to receive legal aid from the Mexican consulate.[46][55] They based their case on a decision of the International Court of Justice in the Avena case which ruled that by failing to allow access to the Mexican consulate, the US had breached its obligations under the Convention.[56] Texas won the case in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court holding that ICJ decisions were not binding in domestic law and that the President had no power to enforce them.[46][55]

Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America,[49][57] by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,[58][59] and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.[60][61]
Private practice

After leaving the Solicitor General position in 2008, Cruz worked in a private law firm in Houston, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, often representing corporate clients, until he was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Texas in 2013.[10][34][62] At Morgan Lewis, he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.[62] In 2009 and 2010, he formed and then abandoned a bid for state attorney general when the incumbent Attorney General Greg Abbott, who hired Cruz as Solicitor General, decided to run for re-election.[19]

****

Career as a wonk and a politician.

Although I agree with him politically--He is a careerist WONK, an insider.

Reagan honed his skills as a governor.

Eisenhower honed his skills as the leader of the entire Allied Forces.

I'll take Walker.

BMT

I doubt it, but I would. It ain't hard to read between the lines.

The last thing Cruz is...is a Washington insider.
Cruz, Reagan, Eisenhower and Walker are or were all politicians.
Damn good ones.

Cruz's wife just left her "Texas" job at Goldman Sachs.

Ted Cruz is an insider playing for votes.

BMT

Why are you people so scared of him?

Damn, Bows, never thought I would agree with you but you are spot on about nutcase Perot.

Sarah in 2016

They don't like him because he's Hispanic.

I think he was a nutcase too, but I was twenty when I voted for him. That's why I could never get behind Ron Paul. All the best ideas in world won't cut it if you make people believe you have bodies hidden in your crawlspace. Hopefully Rand's Mom's chromosomes are alpha.

Who will run who is not a politician.

Right? A Jewish-Canadian Salt Water Mexican. Bwhahahaa...

Travis.

I've been called a racist every time I mentioned one of obama's crimes for the last 6 years. I'm not going to forget that any time soon. Its my turn to throw that card out on the table.

On second thought I'm guessing he'd run as a dem. I don't think a republican would have that kind knowledge concerning std's. Scratch that idea.

I'm with you dood...nobody is as racist as a liberal. It's the only thing they have to excite and maintain their base.

On his worst day Travis would be a thousand times better than what we have now and Travis might get his feelings hurt by my saying only a thousand times.

But is people don't want a politician in office who do they want? They say we don't want an insider but name one politician who is not an insider.

again, try and keep up

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-criticism-goldman-sachs-wife

Facts are stubborn things:

1-He wants a job as THE chief executive, he has never held such a job before (not even as mayor).

2-His wife took a job as a Wall Street insider.

3-His Private sector experience is very small.

4-No military Experience.

Again, I agree with his positions. But I choose a proven Leader--I take Walker.

BMT

Being a politicin is fine. No one hires an NFL quarterback for their great work in college basketball.

Governors are the guys who have done the job. Picking a Governor is like drafting a QB from a major College FOOTBALL Program. Higher chances of success.

Again, Walker, Perry, Christie, Bush all have that Experience.

I prefer Walker. Over the above list all but Christie have a better chance of success in the day to day operations of the country than Cruz does.

BMT

GFY

Sorry, the quote screamed for it!

You place a lot of importance on being a politician. The man is well versed in law.



OMG, a vice president of a houston bank. The horror.



No it isn't. As a lawyer he has tons of experience; and a lot with the supreme court.




I'll give ya that; but he listens to his generals and advisers, he'll do fine.

I'd vote for walker also if that was the choice; but no one is hated by the liberals more than Cruz. Because of that, I'll back him to the wall

Ok. So if I got this right the only way we will win is if we find a conservative community organizer who's never done anything in politics other than vote present while serving his term as a senator, and will kiss liberal ass. I read the whole thread and that's what I've gathered so far.

Oh yeah! Needs to be a homosexual albino transvestite muslim as to not upset the democrats.

Got anyone in mind?

So, explain what you see?

Cruz is a showboat.

I would prefer Walker with more time as governor and some military epxperience.

Bush 43 had a very good experience package (Business, Military, Governor) and did OK.

Jeb's is not as good.

The downside is that the Bush family BELIEVES in Government.

Reagan had Deep Experience and was widely read. No one in this group has Ronnie's Chops.

Prefer Walker, I will hold my nose and take Jeb or Perry.

I'll vomit voting for Christie. But I will do it. I won't vote for a third party person.

BMT

A leader that can uphold the Constitution is all we need. Pretty easy.

Teddy scares you poor squishies. The fear of losing has shrunken many-a-scrotum.

Yes it did and thanks for your reply.

I like Cruz and I like Walker. Not real hot on Cristie but he would better than any Dem they run. Heck, I even like Allen West but he is to smart to run.

Cruz/West ticket would spin some MSNBC heads.......life couldn't possibly be that good.

Wouldn't that cause mass liberal heart attacks.

+1

Cruz has stuck to his guns. Pun intended.
Walkers has some flips and flops to explain.

I love the guy with Mathews who starts out by saying (about Cruz)- "..he 'stumbled' on to the fact that Obamacare is extraordinarily unpopular".

I liked Perot's key points but my concern would have been him trying to apply his limited knowledge in other areas. He wasn't a man to solicit advice. I think he was right about NAFTA, I think he was right about government spending - but in the bigger picture I believe now he wasn't ready for the position. His depth stopped at those issues.

But it was a learning experience - its made me realize just how few men really are ready for it. It made me shake my head at people promoting Herman Cain as a viable presidential candidate.

I was listening to a man talk about Cruz yesterday - and he is generally despised in the Senate by many of his own party , however I suspect he's deeply respected by many in the house. The democrats *want* Cruz because they believe he'll be a divisive candidate to the party.

The talking head said that Cruz has well thought out, deep political ideologies - that whether you agree with them or not, there are no holes in them, unlike Sara Palin (yes, Bowsinger he actually said that and used her as an example of a candidate with no direction in their philosophy)

I haven't said this about a politician in a long time but if came down to him or Hillary , I'd vote for Cruz, and I'd want Cruz over Christie or Bush. Matter of fact, Cruz would have to do some pretty horrible stuff for me to ever think Christie or Bush would be a better choice. Not that I'm a Hillary or Democratic supporter but I just haven't been interested in voting GOP over 3rd party in quite awhile.

I'm not a Walker fan - he just seems like he's one lobbyist away from being a Boehner , McCain or McConnell.

But its a long season and there are alot of landmines waiting for all these candidates.

I think the ship has already sailed for Rand, although I'd love for him to figure out a way to redeem himself. Cruz is stealing his thunder and he's hasn't faced the firing squad of scrutiny on his personal property views.

Caught a clip of Dennis Miller doing Miller time with O'reilly from last night. Miller says if Cruz wants to stop getting heat, all he has to say is "I am here illegally"

For now, Cruz is the only game going on. Hope he builds on it while he can.

There you go painting with that broad brush again. Do you also believe that all blacks are ni66ers and that all southerners sleep with their sisters?????



I like Cruz and Walker. Cruz will be crushing during debates and speeches but Walker has proven to be a doer even while under fire.

Where Cruz could really shine is if he could convince the old school democrats that they actually have conservative values. Stop the trend of blindly voting dem without actually listening to what the candidates stand for. His style of speaking could possibly get that across to enough folks to make a difference.

Or maybe all of us Yankees will just vote "D" to piss off steelhead.....

Cruz/West ticket would be a gift from Heaven for Mrs. Clinton. MSNBC and the rest of the Liberals would be overjoyed.

Liberals cannot reach the level of joy, let alone, be overjoyed.

Take Mrs. Clinton for example.....

Cruz/West would be a gift for those that believe in the Constitution as well.

imagine that? a level playing field to pursue happiness, no guarantee of finding it because of the poor choices you make

yep that ticket would be great fodder for the liberals, the MSM, the parasites of society and the odd wine maker

I have an honest question for you. What is extreme about what Cruz espouses?

He's very extreme, and a blackmailer

Very true but a Cruz -anyone ticket would be a slam dunk as well.


By the way....Who is Allen West? Did he hold office somewhere, sometime?

Scared you're gonna have to go back to the "hospital"?

I love Ted Cruz! Check my past posts and you will see my moniker has been Palin/Cruz 2016.


Ted Cruz...The man who puts the "Clown" back into "Clown Show"

Fixed it for you

I did not realize that you had a think for old white ladies Itppowell. You are a sly dog!

what a chithead...back to that lib ball washing HSO ...site for u ....

So typical of a Liberal.
Name some stances he is for that you are against instead of calling names.
Anything, just let the 3rd grade cheet you and other liberals always resort to go. Give some substance.

like some put the hole in butt......

Right. So, not theSpanker.

Good luck with that. Ad hominem attacks are the only tool available to those who are incapable of formulating an intellectually honest argument.

Cruz ""helped prepare testimony for the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton""" got to love him for that alone.... better Cruz than the less than 2 week ice cream clerk and poster hanger from chitcargo- lostinsaneobama

You are an idiot.

You used the wrong word, but that was expected.

More common-core spelling.

More idiocy from you.


In short, not only are you incredibly stupid, but misinformed, misguided, uneducated and unAmerican.


If the ticket was Cruz/Gowdy, would you go kill yourself?

"If the ticket was Cruz/Gowdy, would you go kill yourself? "

ROR @ that one.

Good luck with that. Ad hominem attacks are the only tool available to those who are incapable of formulating an intellectually honest argument.


Damn! Now that was good!

Intellectually honest conversations are only valuable when there's someone intelligent and well informed on the other side. Otherwise they are a complete waste of time.

Commie? Too easy for a man with a simple mind and no argument to pul the "Commie" card.

You can do better man!

NorthWestChicago.. NorthWestBoston..NorthWestFrisco.. They all have something in common..

If you sit in on a second grade class, you might learn to spell.

Jackass.

"Commie" is an all-encompassing term for anyone (like you) that hates America.

Want to read spanky's response to this question.

I know,but it'll be worth a chuckle or two.

Or... an answer for someone who has nothing to add but still wants to pretend that he does. .....Joe McCarthy perhaps?

Nothing, nothing at all. I like him and everything he stands for as I like Perky and everything she stands for.

But neither have a chance of being the Republican candidate or the President.

We must nominate the most Conservative person WHO HAS A CHANCE OF BEING ELECTED. Why is this so very difficult for many here to understand?

who has a chance of being elected?


if Obama proved one thing, it's that anyone can be elected, even a flop eared, cowardly, lying POS that's only been a community organizer.

that's the trouble with America, it's been puzzified. Lawsuits over fistfights (sheesh) guys like nwa and Spano that shudder to think a guy that espouses following the law of the land as POTUS???


perish the thought, it makes the bed wetters squeamish

That logic gave us Romney and McCain. The same logic said Reagan "can not win". Why is THIS so very difficult for many here to understand? In fact, it's not logical at all...it's just an excuse that cowards use to maintain status quo.

And who is that?

I don't yet know, however I do know it will not be Cruz or Perky. When we decide whom to endorse we will announce first on the 'fire. Standby.

For those who somehow know that candidate so-in-so can not win in the GOP primaries...maybe should take a look at their past elections...

I am bumping the Cruz thread on how he beat the Texas GOP Good-Old-Boys Club as one example.

Cruz can't Win? Ask Dewhurst.

I don't take a menses to figure it out. States that are 90%+ white go Obama and states that are 60% white go Republican.

I'd be lookin' at em' too...!

Powerful speach, I am with Ted Cruz!

As much as I hate to say it Spanokopitas and his people were dead right last time.

nailed it Lt. Pat

This is not meant to bash CRUZ, but merely an observation.

A one term junior Senator, who is a brilliant speaker, at the very fringe as to the ideology of his party, as Senator did not really introduce or pass any legislation, has not shown any knack for being able to be a consensus builder to accomplish things.

These observations summarize Obama, and Cruz. What is striking is the core similarities between Cruz and Obama, as far as their political background.

How do you know that Cruz or Palin cannot win?

To be fair, you must also identify the striking differences, including the fact that Obama is a pathological liar, a communist and hates America. I can live with Cruz being the photo negative of Obama.

The list of legislation posted by ltppowell that has been introduced by freshman Senator Cruz is a long one.
Lots of good stuff in that list. Too bad it did not get passed.

Governor's have a big advantage over Senators when building their resumes. Except on foreign policy.

If nothing else, lets consider Cruz and Obama's professional careers prior to being elected to the Senate.
_______

Obama

Community organizer and Harvard Law School
Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.[31][33] He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[34] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[35] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time.[36][37] He returned to Kenya in 1992 with his fiancée Michelle and his half-sister Auma.[36][38] He returned to Kenya in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.[39]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[40] president of the journal in his second year,[34][41] and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard for two years.[42] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[43] After graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude[44] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.[40] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention[34][41] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,[45] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[45]

University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney
In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.[45][46] He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[47]

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[48]

He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. His law license became inactive in 2007.[49][50]

From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project, and of the Joyce Foundation.[31] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.[31]

Legislative career (1997–2008)
As Illinois State Senator (1997–2004)
Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama

Obama and others celebrate the naming of a street in Chicago after ShoreBank co-founder Milton Davis in 1998
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[51] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.[52] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[53] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.[54]

He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002.[55] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[56]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[57] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[53][58] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[59] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[60]
____

Cruz

Clerkships

Cruz whilst serving as Solicitor General
Cruz served as a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1995[7][10] and William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States in 1996.[6] Cruz was the first Hispanic to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.[44]

Private practice
After Cruz finished his clerkships, he took a position with Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, now known as Cooper & Kirk, LLC, from 1997 to 1998.[45] While with the firm, Cruz worked on matters relating to the National Rifle Association, and helped prepare testimony for the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.[46] Cruz also served as private counsel for Congressman John Boehner during Boehner's lawsuit against Congressman Jim McDermott for releasing a tape recording of a Boehner telephone conversation.[47]

Bush Administration
Cruz joined the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser, advising then-Governor George W. Bush on a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law, immigration, and government reform.[45]

Cruz assisted in assembling the Bush legal team, devising strategy, and drafting pleadings for filing with the Supreme Court of Florida and U.S. Supreme Court, the specific case being Bush v. Gore, during the 2000 Florida presidential recounts, leading to two successful decisions for the Bush team.[10][48] Cruz recruited future Chief Justice John Roberts and noted attorney Mike Carvin to the Bush legal team.[46]

After President Bush took office, Cruz served as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department[6][48] and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.[6][20][48]

Texas Solicitor General
Appointed to the office of Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott,[7][49] Cruz served in that position from 2003 to 2008.[10][28] The office had been established in 1999 to handle appeals involving the state, but Abbott hired Cruz with the idea that Cruz would take a "leadership role in the United States in articulating a vision of strict construction." As Solicitor General, Cruz argued before the Supreme Court nine times, winning five cases and losing four.[46]

Cruz has authored 70 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.[7][20][31] Cruz's record of having argued before the Supreme Court nine times is more than any practicing lawyer in Texas or any current member of Congress.[50] Cruz has commented on his nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court: "We ended up year after year arguing some of the biggest cases in the country. There was a degree of serendipity in that, but there was also a concerted effort to seek out and lead conservative fights."[50]

In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz drafted the amicus brief signed by the attorneys general of 31 states, which said that the D.C. handgun ban should be struck down as infringing upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.[31][51] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[31][52]

In addition to his success in Heller, Cruz successfully defended the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 5-4 in Van Orden v. Perry.[10][20][31]

In 2004, Cruz was involved in the high-profile case, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow,[10][20] in which he wrote a U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of all 50 states.[53] The Supreme Court upheld the position of Cruz’s brief.

Cruz served as lead counsel for the state and successfully defended the multiple litigation challenges to the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting plan in state and federal district courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court, which was decided 5-4 in his favor in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.[10][54]

Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt to re-open the cases of 51 Mexican nationals, all of whom were convicted of murder in the United States and were on death row.[7][10][20][31] With the support of the George W. Bush Administration, the petitioners argued that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to notify the convicted nationals of their opportunity to receive legal aid from the Mexican consulate.[46][55] They based their case on a decision of the International Court of Justice in the Avena case which ruled that by failing to allow access to the Mexican consulate, the US had breached its obligations under the Convention.[56] Texas won the case in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court holding that ICJ decisions were not binding in domestic law and that the President had no power to enforce them.[46][55]

Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America,[49][57] by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,[58][59] and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.[60][61]

Private practice
After leaving the Solicitor General position in 2008, Cruz worked in a private law firm in Houston, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, often representing corporate clients, until he was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Texas in 2013.[10][34][62] At Morgan Lewis, he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.[62] In 2009 and 2010, he formed and then abandoned a bid for state attorney general when the incumbent Attorney General Greg Abbott, who hired Cruz as Solicitor General, decided to run for re-election.[19]

In all honesty, if he run 10 or even 20 years from now, it would make him better president.

20 years from now, we'd be 1276 trillion in debt, and part of a gay islamic mesican caliphate

Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America,[49][57] by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,[58][59] and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.[60][61]

Being the best Lawyer is one step up from being dog poop.... Lawyers are what is wrong with this Nation. How politics became an extension the Law is a problem. Lawyers never have to balance budgets. They never serve anyone but their own interests or the interests of someone who pays them. Any of a budget minded Corporate types make Way more in the private sector to get involved in Politics. If Bill Gates or Warren Buffet types wanted to be President they could with their money and Influence. They just ain't interested in the Job.

"Senators are going to have a hard time," syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News last week. "We already tried a first-term senator,"

look it's a hypocrite chickenchit ^

I think they should run as a ticket. Cruz/Palin 2016, has a nice ring to it and the late night comedians will have an endless amount of material to work with as well!!

Because they are part of the liberal media.

Even my kids wonder why the "news" never reports the bad sshit Obama does.

Teenagers are smarter than you.

lol.

Directed at dumbass walt, not orangeokie.

Sounds like the lawyer I want defending me.

My gosh,you are scared spitless of Cruz & Palin.

Between them, Cruz and Palin have done quite well in their past elections...come from behind and with less money victories.

Cruz is a war hawk.

I realize that that's popular on this forum, but it's a loser nationwide.

If it's any consolation, it's going to be a big stumbling block for Hillary, also.

I don't think the American people are eager for a greatly expanded war in the Middle East.

Yeah.

The thing is according to nwa,Cruz & Palin shouldn't be nominated or run,because the "late night comedians will have an endless amount of material to work with." Well schit,they do that with any candidate and POTUS R or D.

Got to thinking about that after I posted.

You've got a guy in the White House right now that's absolutely anti-war, and you see where that's leading.

Here's what Conservatives think about it.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-obama-can-stop-netanyahus-iran-war/

Did you even look to see where the "poll" came from?



Shibley Telhami , Principal Investigator
A survey Sponsored by the Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland

http://www.gvpt.umd.edu/telhami/

McCain didn't get very far by singing, "bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb bomb Iran"

America has had an additional 6 years of war since then. But if Cruz thinks it's a good platform strategy, I encourage him to use it.

That would make the Democrats fractous with joy. They would be dancing in the streets. Mrs Clinton could order new curtains for the Oval Office the day that ticket was announced.

I wonder what kind of traction he is going to get with abolishing the IRS.

Sounds like a fine idea to me but that's clearly in the Ron Paul arena of politics - and I would have to think politicians from both sides would line up to shut that down.

The only way Palin would attach her name to anyone is if its a guaranteed victory.

She has too much to lose.....to lose

and while she is dumb as a box of rocks, she's smart enough to know where her future is - and that is Monday morning quarterbacking the major players to a receptive audience.

You don't seriously expect him to respond, do you Pat? You obviously handed him his ass-TWICE, and he conveniently changes the topic. SOP...

I'd be looking hard for a different horse...Cruz has an equally good chance of being crowned prom queen as president.

It would take someone dumb as a box of rocks not to know that every major election Palin won in Alaska was a race the pinheads said she was guaranteed to lose. Running behind in the polls against incumbents with a lot more money. They were always so surprised when she won...

Same thing happened when for the first and only time ever a VP pick turned the polls over and put the man who picked her in front of his opponent. Until he screwed that up again.

It would take someone dumber than a box of rocks not to know that eight years of endorsing long shots that won upset victories is how point guard Palin still plays her game.

Take someone who is really dumb or maybe just a stupid troll...

Folks,...Cruz isn't serious about running for President. It's just the latest thing he's found to call attention to himself with.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/ted-cruzs-latest-stunt-a-presidential-campaign/

Plus, I don't care for his coloring book.
He has one out you know....WTH?

You forgot to mention his education:

Education

Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas,[26] and later graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston as valedictorian in 1988.[25] During high school, Cruz participated in a Houston-based group called the Free Market Education Foundation where he learned about free-market economic philosophers such as Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Frédéric Bastiat and Ludwig von Mises.[27] The program was run by Rolland Storey and Cruz entered the program at the age of 13.[24]

Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy[28] from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1992.[4][6] While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's Debate Panel and won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.[29] In 1992, he was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year, as well as Team of the Year, with his debate partner, David Panton.[29] Cruz was a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship, making him Princeton’s highest-ranked debater at the championship.[30][31] Princeton's debate team later named their annual novice championship after Cruz.[30]

Cruz's senior thesis on the separation of powers, titled "Clipping the Wings of Angels," draws its inspiration from a passage attributed to President James Madison: "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." Cruz argued that the drafters of the Constitution intended to protect the rights of their constituents, and that the last two items in the Bill of Rights offer an explicit stop against an all-powerful state. Cruz wrote: "They simply do so from different directions. The Tenth stops new powers, and the Ninth fortifies all other rights, or non-powers."[32][33]

After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor degree.[6][34] While at Harvard Law, he was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.[4] Referring to Cruz's time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant."[35][36] At Harvard Law, Cruz was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.[10]

Cruz currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Texas Review of Law and Politics.

This an idiotic statement to make. Sometimes we need a warhawk. This is one of those times IMHO because of the disaster Tyrant Obama the Liar has made of the world.

The main fighting that we need now is against our progressive fascist rulers. Tyrant Obama the Liar was elected twice largely because McCain and Romney weren't fighters. They didn't care enough about our country and protecting it from the evils of Tyrant Obama the Liar enough to fight for the presidency.

You mean to tell me Cruz has been fighting for conservatism for 20 plus years, since he was a kid? Who'd a thunk?

I said that Cruz is a war hawk. You don't seem to disagree, so what's the idiotic part?

I said that being a war hawk is popular on this forum. You're obviously one of the herd who thinks so,...so what's the idiotic part?

Maybe you haven't paid close attention, but Hillary has been in favor of every military action in the Middle East from day one,...so where's the idiotic part?

The people have been war weary for quite some time, as evidenced by their unfavorable reaction to Obama's attempt to involve American troops in Syria,...so where's the idiotic part?

In the White House?

Reminds me sorta of the Perky pumping here a few years ago (and then there is Bows who dreams of pumping Perky). Cruz is not going to be the nominee. Trust me on this.

I'd lay money if anyone is foolish enough to take it. Bring it.

ill bet you a bottle of wine.

When you win, Roger; you'll lose.

Jackass will send you a bottle of the piss water he has in his crawl space.

Ted Cruz has as good of a chance to be elected as George Wallace had.

Maybe, maybe not, but you guys are missing the point. Cruz is, and has been, confirming what America really wants, and what Washington has become. If he stops the RNC and Wall Street from nominating a squish akin to Romney or McCain, that will surely lose, he has done well.

Cruz's political strategy is really very simple and transparent....... he intends to exploit the smouldering anger re "politics as usual" among the whole electorate.

It worked against Dewhurst in Texas and if it doesn't work nationally, it will be because too many other folks are not as smart as Texans.

hard to say its what America wants

I will agree its what a segment of the GOP wants (as of now the segment that does not control the purse strings - we should ask who the Kock brothers want?, who does Sheldon Anderson want?) and perhaps a number of moderates and outlier tea party members

but on the whole, as of now - its not enough

He'll have to do ALOT more to win the GOP, while still pulling in moderates and Reagan Democrats.

His best bet is to stay away from the social/morality legislation but I bet he won't be able to.

Its still a long time before things even start to shake out.

I mean just look at this board - Walker was the flavor of the month 3 weeks ago.

Okay, now that you described "politics as usual", what does Cruz espouse that you believe the majority of Americans don't want?

He's been doing that for 30 years. At least there isn't a lot of flip-flop baggage to contend with. It will be interesting to see when others announce, since Cruz is taking the full brunt of the Democrat owned media.

start here

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Ted_Cruz.htm

he supports defining what marriage is and is against gay marriage ( I am too but I'm talking about America, not my world view)

While I think many people are angry with Obamacare, I still see its repeal as a conservative issue, not a national one (how many times has it been tried to be repealed?).

He's anti-immigration (and this isn't a voter thing as much as it is Republicans and Democrats do not want to enforce it)

Extending unemployment benefits promotes joblesness

He's for raising the retirement age and capping cost of life increases on Social Security to inflation rate

and that's without touching on his unconditional support of Israel and hawkish opinions on war.


----------------

So, IMO, its not all that easy to see that he won't have national appeal to moderates and undecided voters who have voted democrat or not voted at all in the past due to them finding the Republican candidate unappealing.

And this is coming from someone who is neutral on Cruz. I think he has some good things to say -- although I will admit, I am cynical on every politician so I tend to take a "prove it to me" view of them.


It goes back to that 47% Romney was talking about - until any GOP candidate, not just Cruz can tap into that then I don't see how you can say they represent what the majority of Americans want

What about the 13 million conservatives that have quit voting over the past three elections and the other 30 million that vote against the status quo?

if you think Ted Cruz represents them, so be it, I won't argue.

But to say he is what America's wants doesn't address that 47%.

That 47% is a myth that sunk Romney's battleship. Rubio is to announce next week. It's gonna be interesting to watch the media get spread so thin.

I think its a myth to people that think the majority of the country share the same conservative beliefs as they do.

Don't confuse conservatives with Republicans.

Sorry, my friend, but your post typifies why Conservatives haven't held the W H [ever?] in decades.

The guy suits you but you don't think he'll suit enough other people to win.

Do you really think that other right thinking citizens are that much different from you?

I'm not letting "47%", or 85%, for that matter, dictate who I want to get the nomination.

completely irrelevant - my focus is solely on the idea that the views of Ted Cruz represent what America wants versus a subset of what conservatives/Republicans want.

and you're telling this to a Ron Paul guy, btw

It is no myth that the last two national elections without Obama on the ballot were Conservative landslides.
Those numbers prove that best Conservative to come out of the primaries can win the next Conservative landslide.

Gee, if it's on the internet, it must be ture.

Not true if NWA posts it.

There is no confusing, they are one in the same. Conservative/ Republicans pay lip service to libertarians to get those nut jobs to vote Republican.

Just had tacos,rice and beans for supper.

Your on. How about upping that to a case? Your choice of our wines. www.crowandbear.com

Those people have not "quit voting" they voted for BHO.

That is why hussein won.

That is almost too stupid to justify a response. Almost.

Perhaps you don't understand, which is not at all surprising given your inane posts.

Allow me to explain: By not voting because you don't 100% agree with the Republican candidate is exactly the same as casting a vote for Hussein.

This is why the Halfblack has enjoyed almost eight years years destroying this Once Great Country.

Sorry, my bad. I get it now. We need to nominate somebody like Jeb so that another 3 million don't vote, right?

Could be and Mrs Clinton will jerking your tail for the next eight years.

I'm thinking that Jeb will be the nominee but I am in no way endorsing him at this time. However if he is the nominee and several million of us don't vote see above.

Right. Get your people on it.

Jackass.

Ted Cruz is just a big mouth lawyer/politician full of hot air, that talks like a TV preacher and has followers like teenage girls tailing after the newest pop music boys band.

He hasn't a snowballs chance in hell of ever being elected in this coming election.

You're WRONG about Cruz.

You're WRONG about his followers.

You're WRONG about his chances.

You're opinion has been negated. See how easy that was?

you got that chit right Jean.

i'll see your wine with my shine.

Ted Cruz is not going to be the Republican nominee. Fact. Anyone want to dispute it? I'll lay $100.00 at five to one that he will not be the Republican Nominee in 2016.

Any takers? Didn't think so. You may go back and review my prognostications in previous presidential primaries/elections. You will see I have never been wrong.

The only one brave enough to take my bet(s) was Bows. PM him and ask how that turned out.

I don't take all credit, most goes to My People who work diligently to keep me ahead of this herd.

It must take a large staff working full time to keep your head out of your ass.

You need a bigger crew.


About time for someone to re-post the pics of theSpanker wearing his wife's dickie.

No, that is an opinion, not "fact". That over 12 million conservative voters have stopped voting over a period of three election cycles is a fact. Like you say (I don't believe you by the way.), I too want the most conservative candidate that can win. Unlike you, I do not believe that the least conservative candidate is the most electable.

The only way to win is to make people believe that there is actually a prize to be won.

You didn't give anyone a chance to take. Just bloviated right on through.

Besides, if you are laying 100 at 5 to 1, that means the other person has to come up with 20 correct?

Or are you offering up 100 from the other and half a K on your end?

$100.00 is the minimum I will lay and, yes, If Cruz is elected President in 2016 the other end gets $500.00.

Any takers?

Here is an article of interest:

http://spectator.org/articles/62275/ted-cruzs-mission-improbable

The prize to be won is the negation of the likes of Hussein. I believe even you would agree Romney and McCain would have been better, much better, than the HalfBlack.

Do not eschew the possible for the perfect.

How that bet turned out was ten dollars even money. Spano always takes the favorite to win and then brags about how smart he is.

I took Sarah as a long shot and when I lost, I drug the bet out, milking it for all it was worth and all the grins I could get before I paid off.

Because I had done that, I included a small gift with the tenspot. It was the “Undefeated” Palin video.

I sent it as a parting shot and a final dig.
But also as a manifestation of why I supported and still support Sarah.

First thing, Spano trashed my gift. That was our last bet.

It is to be noted that Bows did (finally) pay off. He is an honorable man.

Any takers on my recent offering?

I didn't "trash" the video. I used it as a target for our last antenna shoot.

Like you've gone out on a limb with those bets, anyone can pick milquetoast and win those bets, you're living proof of it.

Would that be your grape cowboys? miles

Sorry, I can't afford to bet. All my extra cash is going to Cruz.

Yup I contributed...Ted raised 4 million in a week

Time will tell. The Tea Party will stand up behind somebody in the next few months and contrary to what MSNBC tells people, the Texas money is not in Jeb's pocket. I'd gladly vote for anybody that isn't a RINO. A very smart man told me years ago...pick your man and support him. That's what I'm doing. Cruz has done right by us (Texas) for years.

Jeb poll numbers have flat-lined. Walker is drifting down.

Long ways to go.

I sent Ted check, albeit a small one, as soon as he announced. I will send more as I can. miles

That doesn't make any sense. If you are so enthralled with Teddy why not bet me and send him the $500.00 you will obviously win?

Ya going to pay off in advance or do we just tell Ted to run on credit and we will pay later? miles

Zero--what's he going to do in the next year or so. Could piss off many in the swing states and change much of what Spanky's people think.
Could work in Teds benefit.

That is unless someone out on the fire knows the future.
Anyone know the future which will be history by the time we do know it.

No. No. No. Send Teddy the $500.00 NOW. You will get it back when he wins. Simple

I don't blame anybody for taking the safe bet. Benedict Arnold did the same thing.

Doesn't compute...please explain.

Spanky the troll sure fears Ted Cruz.
An is b o r I n g Zzzzzzzzzz

"For those that understand, no explanation is necessary.
For those that don't, no explanation is possible."


probably as close as a guy like you is gonna get to this Spano

Rafael preaches and his followers believe every word, and send him money just like all good TV preachers receive..

Ted has the message and conviction that decent folks want to hear, so I hope they send him lots of money.
As for you, I don't care for any of your degenerates or low information voters that got us into this mess to begin with and ........GFY

Low information voters is all there is.

High information people don't bother with it.

I fear not Teddy I wish him well. Would that he could be our next President. However that is not to be, perhaps in the future but not in the immediate future.

So I say hold your fire and support for awhile. Remember the last Harvard educated one time senator elected to high office? How has that worked out?

Obama's character and work ethic has not changed since being elected. He is the same lazy, immoral, entitled, socially promoted "light skinned African American with no negro dialect" (Quoting Harry Reid) that he always was.

What is it about Cruz's character and work ethic that you would not like to see in "high office"?

The fact that they are both a "Harvard educated one time senator" has little, if anything to do with the comparison, and is a liberal straw man. Why not add that they both had a white mother and a minority father.

Like I said I have nothing against Cruz or his platform.

Problem is in my opinion (which almost always turns out to be correct) he is not electable this cycle. Maybe later, but not now.

If you truly believe he will be the next President take my bet.

I don't know if he will, or not, but I will spend my time and money supporting a man that will be good for the country, rather than perpetrating a defeatist attitude. You are correct in your summation that there are similarities between Obama and Cruz. They both have (had) tremendous grass root support and benefit from a wave of the hate of government status quo.

Be honest. Would you have bet that Obama had a chance against Hillary early in 2007?

...and I know you have nothing against Cruz. You're just playing the odds. I mean to make those odds change.

By the way, change of status quo, is what captures the "middle vote". Rightists never want to change.

I was completely and utterly surprised that this once great country could elect such an unworthy person. And even more sickened that he could be re-elected.

My point is that this travesty occurred because many conservatives did not vote for two very good candidates. Demanding ideological purity or refusing to vote is exactly the same as voting for the opponent. Do not eschew the possible for the perfect.

Elections are decided by the 20% undecideds and Ted Cruz is not going to get those votes, whereas someone like JB has a very good chance on doing so.

$100? $500? Really?

For serious betting, get hooked up with an overseas contact.
Bovada as of last week had Cruz at 33-to-1 to make it all the way to the White House.
Overseas sites also has Cruz at about 16-to-1 to win the nomination.

In 2012 I had Palin at 33-to-1 and covered my $100 bet on her with Romney to win the nomination. I did not bet the general election. A little voice in my head kept saying that Mitt was going to mess up.

I now have a $100 on Palin at Paddy Power at a 100-to-1. If she gets in I will add to that bet at whatever the odds will be. And of course cover down with the frontrunner if it is not Palin.

I will also bet the general this time if Hillary is in. Hillary to lose.

status quo politicians and non tax paying low info voters are what have created most of the troubles our country faces.


whatever your sphere of influence, telling folks that candidates that are the most conservative can't be elected is pretty well a self fulfilling prophecy.

you're either part of the problem or part of the solution.


tip o the cap to the good men out there that still see their role as being part of the solution.


so thanks Lt. Pat and others that no matter what the odds makers say, you put your support and conviction behind the most Conservative (funny that used to pretty much stand for main stream American) candidate(s) available

I can like 'em but I'm not stupid enough to bet on 'em.

You know, Spanky, a counterfeit high roller like you is a good fit for Jeb. He don't need money and you sure as hell ain't gonna contribute any.

Palin at 100-1? Damn, Bows those are great odds...for the house. They shoulda given you 1,000,000(or more)-1. I'll give you 200-1 right now.
.

No you won't.

Spanky has a gambling problem.
Reminds me of a friend who would bet against the Bears, over under spreads, total points scored, whatever, despite being a huge Bears fan. Then when he'd lose a ton on a game he would try to convince everyone how glad he was that the Bears won anyway. Gawd I miss him, he paid for my nice fishing boat and my motorcycle and helped a few guys retire early But.... he is still a huge Bears fan.
You rock Spanky (sarc) even though your song is getting kinda old

He just a jack wagon.

Bows is the one with the gambling problem. I only bet on sure things.

You guys trying to beat down poor Spanky might want to remember he was 100% right last time.

He backed Romney

I did endorse Romney. He didn't win. Others went with others: Ron Paul, Perky, etc. They didn't win.

I never said Romney would win, only that he was the best candidate.

Now I am saying JB is the best candidate at this juncture. Notice I am not saying I'm endorsing him or supporting him. All I am saying is that he looks to be the next Republican nominee.

"Perky" didn't run in 2012.

JB is nowhere near as being the best candidate in 2016. He's a RINO and would lose if he got the R nomination.

Jeb Bush is a Democrat who the "Republican" insiders find just peachy...

Yup.

By "best" I meant that as of now JB has the "best" chance of getting the nomination.

Time, the opponent, and a campaign will tell if he has the "best" chance of winning.

I am not, at this time, endorsing him. Nor am I presently endorsing any other candidate or putative candidate. When I do endorse a candidate I will post it here first. Standby.

How does JB have the best chance of getting the nomination?

Like a talking head on MSNBC said this morning..... "He's not SCARY like the rest of them".... .

Actually.... he "scares" the hell out of me.

Yup.

Besides it's time for a "scary" POTUS.

Me too. Another Republican disaster in the making.

Opinion, my boy, opinion; nothing more, nothing less. However if you review my previous political opinions and prognostications you will see that I have seldom, if ever, been wrong.

Problem with a lot of people is that what they wish would happen is not what is most likely to happen. And then they personally insult anyone who disagrees.

you'd think a guy that has made his living publishing and working in the literary world wouldn't have so much trouble expressing his written thoughts to give a glimpse of his true personality.


but alas it seems that words fail you miserably Spano

I know of guys on here that I respect that vouch for you.

but the majority of what your posts here reflect is a self inflated, arrogant, condescending type individual.

which almost always is a measure of the person affecting such as deep feeling of inadequacy.

pity either way, that either your words don't here don't reflect the man you truly are

or the greater pity that they indeed do.

happy Easter to you.

Anyone can hold their finger in the breeze to see which way the wind is blowing even without "peeps"...This country is ready for another conservative POTUS, the question is what are we willing to do to make this happen...

Pretty well said for not including the word "azzhole".

See what I mean? Don't dispute what is said, just call the sayer names and all will be right.

Again, can anyone point to any of my political opinions and/or prognostications where I have been wrong? Please try to do so without using childish language. Use your grownup words.

Age improves with wine.

My opinion is JB has a snowballs chance in hell in getting the nomination and then winning the POTUS.

I've been wrong before and will be wrong again,but that's just being humble.

Your opinion might be as good or better than mine. Time will tell.

I cannot recall ever being wrong in political opinions and prognostications I have posted here, but that's just being humble.

Actually, just like Romney, Jeb will get the nomination unless people stand up NOW and support somebody else. Spanky puts a lot of pride in "being right" about Romney last election. I am the one that said he would lose if he was nominated. I say the same thing about Bush. It's not hard to see the trend. Approximately 3.5 million conservatives have not voted in each of the past three presidential elections. 12 million people that didn't bother because they don't believe one politician is any different than the other, and that they are all bad.

The people who didn't vote before, won't do it next time either, unless a conservative is cast as the nominee. These guys who wish these voters will adjust are just as clueless as the other "Hope and Change" guys.

Berating the people who refuse to vote for more of the same is a foolish and futile effort, because without them, you cannot win. Give them something they like, or lose.

Again.

Yeah sure and the sun rises in the West and sets in the East.

My beef is "open primaries" in some states. Where D's can vote for the R then go back the next day to being a D. I think the states that have that need to change the law,but it won't happen any time soon. Think South Carolina and Michigan are two that come to mind.

New Mexico primary is not until the first Tuesday in June,by that time the R nominee is chosen. Wish NM would make the primary much earlier,again not very likely.

I think Texas may actually get to influence the outcome of the primaries in 2016 if they succeed in moving up the date of the voting.

Great!

By your line of reasoning we are better off with eight years of BHO than we would have been with eight years of McCain or four years of Romney looking toward another four. And if JB is nominated and Conservatives again do not vote we will be better off with 4-8 years of Mrs. Clinton.

You would rather have eight years of BHO and possibly another eight years of Mrs. C than vote for candidates that don't perfectly fit your matrix? Say it isn't so.

I voted for McCain and Romney, because they were the only options I had. I will vote for Bush too (maybe),if he is the next Republican nominee destined to lose. Do you really think that nominating people that CAN NOT WIN BECAUSE PEOPLE WON'T VOTE FOR THEM is a good tactic? How fuucking hardheaded are you? You can say the same thing over, and over, and over, as much as you want, but it will not change the fact that a liberal Republican will never get the conservative vote, or get Democrats to cross over.

it's the elite syndrome Lt. Pat


there's educated idiots on both sides of the gop/dem split that believe if we don't elect the same types as we have before then we're fing up.

and truthfully, it's too far gone most likely, anyone that could/would be elected that would do this country any good wouldn't be popular for long most likely.

Establishment RINOs and the Dems like things the way they are now, kicking the can down the road and enslaving our future generations to high taxes and 2nd tier status of the world powers.

you can quit working out, spend more than you make and eat twinkies all day long, but you're still a bad azz.....for awhile

The libs have been pretty successful at getting the Texas primaries delayed with frivolous Federal court suits in the past. It would be nice to vote in one that mattered.

I will vote for the Republican nominee whomever that might. Hell, I'll even vote for Perky, RP, or GB. I won't not not vote which is exactly the same as voting for the opposition.

The alternative, like some here seem to want is to elect a successor to BHO. Nominate an "unelectable" and you got it.

Suffer through the last eight years of decline of this Once Great Country.

Here, we agree. A Romney, McCain or a Bush, is an "unelectable".

Who makes the decision that one candidate is electable or not?

Worthless media polls or some talking head with an axe to grind,who decides before one vote has been cast in the primaries?

Common sense would suggest an "unelectable" would be defined as the type that hasn't been elected for the last several election cycles.

Could be Lt.,but the way some on here throw that word around,it would seem only "they" know who is and who isn't. The great un-washed just too stupid to know any better.

And that crap is beginning to grate me mighty bad.

THAT is fact. The most important fact of all.

That may well be true but better a RINO than a DEMO. Don't vote RINO and you get the DEMO. Which is worse?

Send up a Perky or a Ron Paul or another wackjob and all is lost.

So tell me who are you supporting in this early stage?

"So tell me who are you supporting in this early stage?"

This confirms what has been pretty apparent for years....... you can't be bothered by reading posts other than your own.

Guys like you are a dime a dozen.

I saw a chick wearing a tee shirt the other day that read "Everybody is entitled to my opinion.". It was cute. On her.

Is this what you meant to say? miles

She was cute, and it was cute on her. My point is that it would not be cute on a middle aged man.

"Cute."

Continuing the ad hominem instead of supplying intelligent rebuttal to a position held by many.

I suppose we will have to agree to disagree. You believe the key to winning the White House is nominating a "moderate" candidate that will bring the "middle" to the polls. I believe a conservative candidate would win by bringing the base to the polls.

Time will tell. Again.

I knew what you meant. I was trying to be cute, I guess. I agree that the moderates have been a failure. I think as long as we let the media choose our candidates for us, we are doomed. They are our enemy and do us no favors, and we should ignore everything that they say, unless we are using it to prepare strategy. miles

Human nature makes people want to take the easy way out and bet on the man that somebody else says will win, rather than make the effort to make the right man a winner. Unfortunately, trying to make people understand this is a futile as wishing that people would vote for a candidate that they don't like.

Conservatives are no smarter than liberls, just less depraved.

our gov't is corrupt, plain and simple

the folks that benefit from that corruption (from big banks to big media) want no part of "change" or "reform" type candidates

Boehner was just as much in favor of Tea Party targeting by the IRS as the Obamas were. Anyone that supported Paul in the last election cycle was removed from any influential spots on committees by Boehner. (may he rot in hell)


Hilary just wiped her server of emails that were subpoenaed

she was Sec. of State for chrissakes! It's already almost out of the "news" cycle.

what a bunch of bs, politicians from both sides keep peeing on our heads and tellin us it's raining.


How long would Tricky Dick lasted if he told us and our then reps in Congress that no tapes existed?


You guys that "get" something is rotten in Denmark, realize the need for vastly different leadership in this country.

unfortunately that puts you in the minority

Spanky has a very inflated opinion of itself.
His opinions are as arseholes - everybody has one, except Spany has a bigger one which he's not hesitant to let everyone know...
Boring... Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

this is what conservatives are up against....
---------------------------------------------
There is little doubt that Jeb Bush possesses strong credentials for appealing to Hispanic voters.

He speaks fluent Spanish. His wife, Columba, was born in Mexico. For two years in his 20s, he lived in Venezuela, immersing himself in the country’s culture. He was born in Texas and is a former governor of Florida, two states with large Hispanic populations.

But on one occasion, it appears, Mr. Bush may have become a bit carried away: He listed himself as Hispanic on a 2009 voter-registration application in Miami-Dade County.
--------------------------------------------
and in another moment
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“If Bill Clinton is the first black president, then I’m definitely the first Cuban—or Latino—governor of Florida,” Bush said at an luncheon sponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Network, which is a part of of the centrist and pro-amnesty American Action Network.

As National Journal noted at the time, “actually, the first and only Hispanic governor of Florida” was Republican Bob Martinez (Martinez was governor from 1987-1991 while Bush served from 2001-2009).

A RINO is not going to get much of the Hispanic vote, no matter what he pretends to be. A conservative will get a significant portion.

Jeb is counting on that Hispanic vote. That he has the inside track.

He won't get it. Half the Hispanics are liberals and the other half are conservatives.

I don't think that is how its going to work at all

you can be brown, black or white and be a hispanic, its a culture he speaks spanish has a hispanic wife and kids so the argument could be made he's hispanic. i don't consider myself hispanic even though my mother was. i don't speak spanish and wasn't raise in the culture.hell there are asian hispanics in mexico.

I can't speak for Jamaicans and such, but conservatives carry about 40% of the Texican vote every election.