Ted Cruz 2016

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
181

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

I’m trying to find the article I read on their theory of the silent majority, I keep coming up Nixon, lol. So I may be mixing up topics here as it’s been a long time since I looked into the “Birchers”. [/quote]

I’m not very familiar with the JBS, but based on the article I think what I wrote applies.

I’m pretty sure a lot of Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, will agree with things espoused by said group if the questions are just worded properly. That can figure into the “silent majority”.

But is that actual agreement, or merely people being fooled by word-play? Perhaps it’s actually about people agreeing with generalities, but disagreeing over the specifics, etc. I’m sure everyone agrees that the national debt can be lower, but how? Or that it would be very nice for us to generate more revenue, but how? And vice versa.

182

[quote]Alrightmiami19c wrote:
I like Ted Cruz. I’m interested to see if all the lefties will attack his being born in Canada if he runs for president. The same people who were calling “birthers” nut jobs for questioning Obama’s birthplace will be all over Cruz.
[/quote]

Well, I believe Donald Trump is the first one to bring it up officially.

In any case, most liberals who do bring it up will be doing it on the premise of “How does it feel to be on the receiving end, huh?” and not actually trying to make a point.

That being said, Cruz stands on shakier ground than Obama. No one disputes that Cruz was born on Canadian soil. A very strict reading of the clause means he can’t be president.

184

[quote]magick wrote:

[quote]Alrightmiami19c wrote:
I like Ted Cruz. I’m interested to see if all the lefties will attack his being born in Canada if he runs for president. The same people who were calling “birthers” nut jobs for questioning Obama’s birthplace will be all over Cruz.
[/quote]

Well, I believe Donald Trump is the first one to bring it up officially.

In any case, most liberals who do bring it up will be doing it on the premise of “How does it feel to be on the receiving end, huh?” and not actually trying to make a point.

That being said, Cruz stands on shakier ground than Obama. No one disputes that Cruz was born on Canadian soil. A very strict reading of the clause means he can’t be president.[/quote]

Cruz has courtesy to be forthcoming about the issue, a sign of a man not trying to be shady about the issue. The courts will decide, and trying to deceive the court will do you no favors.

185

Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd

186

[quote]magick wrote:

[quote]Alrightmiami19c wrote:
I like Ted Cruz. I’m interested to see if all the lefties will attack his being born in Canada if he runs for president. The same people who were calling “birthers” nut jobs for questioning Obama’s birthplace will be all over Cruz.
[/quote]

Well, I believe Donald Trump is the first one to bring it up officially.

In any case, most liberals who do bring it up will be doing it on the premise of “How does it feel to be on the receiving end, huh?” and not actually trying to make a point.

That being said, Cruz stands on shakier ground than Obama. No one disputes that Cruz was born on Canadian soil. A very strict reading of the clause means he can’t be president.[/quote]

There’s already a meme going around about it…

187

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.

188

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

189

Push,

  1. Re: previous GOP candidates: you’re too reductionist, you automatically equate correlation with cause. McCain was a moderate, but in 2008, it wouldn’t have mattered. By then, the electorate was tired of and mad at the GOP, and the House turnover in 2006 was the omen. The GOP was severely damaged by 2008, and therr is no reason to think McCain’s moderation was the cause of the loss. It likely didnt matter who the GOP ran. 2012 was similar circumstances for Romney, except he had to contend with an incumbent. And we’ve covered this before - Romney’s main weakness was his economic message, which wouldnt have been substantially different than a Tea Party candidate’s.

  2. I am not ignoring Reagan’s tax cuts - it’s just that he raised them, which is heresy. He could have vetoed all of them and forced Congressional override, all the while claiming he was protecting “true conservative principles”. Just because he had a Democratic Congress doesn’t mean he had to yield on taxes. He just did. Which, again, would be heresy to 2016 “true conservatism”.

  3. Sure I know about FOPA - I read all about it in “Unintended Consequences”, so I am sure I have an accurate picture of what really happened. But it’s like taxes - Reagan presided over a helpful bill only to capitulate later on assault weapons. By the lights of 25016 " true conservatism", he’s practically a pink McGovernite for caving on such an important issue.

  4. If the GOP wants to win a general election, yes, it will have to send up a more moderate candidate than Cruz. No question in my mind.

190

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

[/quote]

Lol…

My neck hurts from shaking my head so much.

191

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

[/quote]

Sorry man, I was speaking in a more proverbial you sense, not you specifically.

I’m not a big country fan, but some of it is pretty good stuff.

192

[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]BPCorso wrote:

When is the last time someone who was loathed by their own party representing that party for the presidency?

[/quote]

Your youth is quite evident with this post.
[/quote]

I like Ted Cruz. Although I don’t agree with everything he has done; he has done a great job representing Texas and we need someone that is willing to ‘muddy the water’ occasionally. Speaking as someone that was around in 1980…Cruz in no Reagan. Despite the rhetoric, Reagan was a pragmatist not an ideolog. He was a master at selecting his battles and negotiating. I don’t recognize either characteristic in the current version of Cruz. He may be fit to be an adviser to ‘The Man’, but he’s not ready to be ‘The Man’.

Just a few bullet points on Reagan and his ability to balance priorities…

*Ronald Reagan looked to revenue increases, broadening the tax base, closing loopholes and raising taxes. Yes, he raised taxes in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987."
*During his administration, the top income tax rate decreased from 70 percent in 1981 to 28 percent in 1986. But to combat a rising deficit and debt burden, Reagan also approved increased taxes.
*In 1982, The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act raised taxes by $37.5 billion per year, and the Highway Revenue Act raised the gasoline tax by $3.3 billion.
*In 1983, Reagan signed off on legislation to raise payroll taxes and tax Social Security benefits for some higher earners.
*In 1984, the Deficit Reduction Act included increases in taxes on estates and distilled spirits and ended some business tax breaks, to the tune of $18 billion per year.
*In 1985, Reagan signed legislation making permanent a 16-cent federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes, then worth about $2.4 billion a year.
*In 1986, the Tax Reform Act lowered the top income tax bracket from 50 percent to 28 percent. To pay for the reductions, however, the legislation closed a number of tax loopholes.
*In 1987, Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act that extended the telephone excise tax and eliminated a real estate tax deduction loophole.

However…
*When Reagan took office in 1981, federal taxes were 19.6 percent of GDP, the highest level since World War II. That figure dropped to 17.3 percent during his first term and rose to 18.2 percent at the end of his second term.

And and more critical review from a left leaning web-site…
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/

Although it might appear I’m critical of Reagan nothing could be further from the truth. IMO…we have no better leader since; precisely because he was able to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’ and make decisions despite the background noise. Cruz may be a good Senator, but he’s not Presidential material at the present time. [/quote]

Exactly. Reagan was a great pragmatist, and intentionally so. Such pragmatism would be viewed as a disqualifying sin to true believers in 2016.

Think about it - imagine if Scott Walker had presided over big tax cuts as governor, only to have raised taxes after the Wisconsin legislature changed hands to Democrats.

His candidacy would be DOA for the party members insisting on a “true conservative” as the 2016 nominee.

193

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

[/quote]

Sorry man, I was speaking in a more proverbial you sense, not you specifically.

I’m not a big country fan, but some of it is pretty good stuff. [/quote]

No it’s not. :slight_smile:

jnd

194

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

[/quote]

Sorry man, I was speaking in a more proverbial you sense, not you specifically.

I’m not a big country fan, but some of it is pretty good stuff. [/quote]

No it’s not. :slight_smile:

jnd
[/quote]

[i]Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz said his musical tastes changed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Cruz, who said he grew up on classic rock, told CBS This Morning that he was disappointed in the way rock as a genre responded to the tragedy. But country music, he said, was different.

“Country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me and I have to say, it just is a gut level…I had an emotional reaction that says these are my people,” Cruz said. “And so ever since 2001 I listen to country music and I’m an odd country music fan because I never listened to it before 2001.”[/i]

Where does it say he abandoned classic rock? It looks to me like he said country music’s response to 9/11 moved him on an emotional level so now he listens to it.

I used to listen to Eminem, Dr. Dre, etc… exclusively. Now I rarely listen to any rap at all unless its still on my 5+ year old gym mix. I pretty much only listen to classic rock at this point. The mixed tap from Guardians of the Galaxy is my new jam…

I hope I’m not as ignorant as you are four decades into my life.

FTR, I hate country music. There’s a shit ton of people that love it and it has zero to do with their IQ.

195

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:

Look, there is no massive base of sleeping hard-right voters that a Ted Cruz can ignite to a victory. [/quote]

You talking about Birch’s silent majority?

If so, I think they exist, but only on a per issue basis, and include D letter voters too. As in, if only one or two issues was at stake, yes you would see ground swell for the right person.

However, being POTUS is about dozens of issues, which tampers this, and means no one candidate will get it all right and wake a sleeping giant. [/quote]

They exist in some degree, for sure, but if it is a big number of people, where were they in 2008 and especially 2012 when (by their lights) a black socialist was minutes away from raising a communist flag over the White House? If they exist in large numbers, and they can’t be motivated to vote under those circumstances, they’ll never show up to vote.

I think they are smallish in number and influence, and operate marginally at the fringe along with groups like the Pacific Northwest anti-government moonbats, Lyndon Larouche types, and separatists. I know JBS has tried to mainstream a little more, but I don’t get the sense they are a significantly large group who can turn out waves of voters.

EDIT: typo.

196

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
Cruz flip flops on his musical taste?

“I love Van Halen, Sabbath, Zep, Priest, Deep Purple, and Rush, but 9/11 happens and now I like Toby Keith”???

WTF. The only thing that could cause such a drastic change in musical taste is a closed head brain injury.

jnd[/quote]

You’re the second person I’ve seen mention this.

Is this what the country has come to. A person’s musical taste is now some indication of their ability to govern?

What someone listens to now, compared to what they used to, for whatever reason, is now an “issue” that will “sway a voter”?

I’m just going to come out and say that if this is the type of dirt people are going to use to try and discredit Cruz, he has an exponentially better shot at not only POTUS, but completing the clean sweep Nixon barely missed, than I assumed prior.
[/quote]

A. It’s not “DIRT”, it is just a weird thing that someone would change their musical taste on a dime. I like all types of music- but I really like music. There is no single event that could make me all of the sudden like a type of music and abandon my previous musical tastes. Having kids meant being exposed to Raffi and all of that, it’s not like I all of the sudden fell in love with that music.

B. The type of music that you like tells me absolutely nothing about your ability to govern…

C. Country music is for people with low IQs.

jnd

[/quote]

Sorry man, I was speaking in a more proverbial you sense, not you specifically.

I’m not a big country fan, but some of it is pretty good stuff. [/quote]

No it’s not. :slight_smile:

jnd
[/quote]

[i]Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz said his musical tastes changed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Cruz, who said he grew up on classic rock, told CBS This Morning that he was disappointed in the way rock as a genre responded to the tragedy. But country music, he said, was different.

“Country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me and I have to say, it just is a gut level…I had an emotional reaction that says these are my people,” Cruz said. “And so ever since 2001 I listen to country music and I’m an odd country music fan because I never listened to it before 2001.”[/i]

Where does it say he abandoned classic rock? It looks to me like he said country music’s response to 9/11 moved him on an emotional level so now he listens to it.

I used to listen to Eminem, Dr. Dre, etc… exclusively. Now I rarely listen to any rap at all unless its still on my 5+ year old gym mix. I pretty much only listen to classic rock at this point. The mixed tap from Guardians of the Galaxy is my new jam…

I hope I’m not as ignorant as you are four decades into my life.

FTR, I hate country music. There’s a shit ton of people that love it and it has zero to do with their IQ. [/quote]

For your sake, I hope you are as ignorant as me 4 decades in. Since we both dislike country music, I suspect that our ignorance levels will be close (and much higher than people that like country music).

jnd

197

[quote]jnd wrote:
For your sake, I hope you are as ignorant as me 4 decades in. Since we both dislike country music, I suspect that our ignorance levels will be close (and much higher than people that like country music).

jnd
[/quote]

I’ll rather take that head trauma you mentioned over ignorance if given the choice.

198

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
For your sake, I hope you are as ignorant as me 4 decades in. Since we both dislike country music, I suspect that our ignorance levels will be close (and much higher than people that like country music).

jnd
[/quote]

I’ll rather take that head trauma you mentioned over ignorance if given the choice. [/quote]

Listening to country music gives you the same effect as a closed head injury, so get some Toby Keith and proceed…

jnd

199

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
For your sake, I hope you are as ignorant as me 4 decades in. Since we both dislike country music, I suspect that our ignorance levels will be close (and much higher than people that like country music).

jnd
[/quote]

I’ll rather take that head trauma you mentioned over ignorance if given the choice. [/quote]

Dude, I think he’s busting your balls at this point.

If I remember correctly he is a very reasonable fellow. Whom I think works with statistics because he has a very solid grasp of polling etc.

200

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]jnd wrote:
For your sake, I hope you are as ignorant as me 4 decades in. Since we both dislike country music, I suspect that our ignorance levels will be close (and much higher than people that like country music).

jnd
[/quote]

I’ll rather take that head trauma you mentioned over ignorance if given the choice. [/quote]

Dude, I think he’s busting your balls at this point.

If I remember correctly he is a very reasonable fellow. Whom I think works with statistics because he has a very solid grasp of polling etc.
[/quote]

It takes my sarcasm meter until around noon boot up. Until then my, “SMH, no fucking way dude actually thinks this,” meter runs on overdrive…