Cruz to enter GOP race for President

NJlonghorn said:
Very true -- especially someone who hasn't been on the national scene in many years. However, his positions on abortion and gay rights are based on actions taken in Ohio within the last year or so. He seems to have dug in his heels on those issues.
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Depends on what you mean by "dug in his heels." If he's presented with pro-life legislation or gay marriage legislation, of course he's going to follow his beliefs and sign the legislation, and it would be political suicide for him not to. He is a social conservative. You're not likely to find a pro-choice or vocally pro-gay marriage Republican nominee. However,, shouldn't you make your decision based on what the person is likely to do in the office for which he or she seeks?

I can tell you that I have to do that myself. I'm strongly pro-life, but at the state level, I often break with the GOP and vote for pro-choice Democrats. Why? Because the state has already done about as much as it can to stop abortion and because there would be little or nothing a Democrat could do to undo what has been done. That makes the issue a lot less relevant to me, and I'm not going to support someone who advocates crooked government, just because he happens to be pro-life. That's why I was willing to vote for Bill White over Rick Perry and for Letitia Van de Putte over Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor. (I skipped Wendy (Davis) v. The Wheelchair (Abbott). They both nauseated me for different reasons.)

Consider the gay marriage issue. The US Supreme Court is likely to answer the question this year, and most likely, it is going to answer the question in favor of gay marriage. However, even if it doesn't, really the only thing the President could do to force the marriage issue against gay marriage is by a federal marriage amendment. Considering where the electorate is, do you think that's a serious option for a President Kasich to try to advance? How much effort did President Bush (who wore his social conservatism on his sleeve more than Kasich does) at a time when doing so would have been MUCH easier than it will be in 2017? Not much. The most he'd do is give it a nominal amount of lip service, and even that is unlikely.

Agreed. I don't agree with him on all social issues, but at least he's a 70% guy, not a 90% guy like Perry or Cruz.
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Ideologically, the difference between Kasich and Perry and Cruz may only be 20 percent, but the big difference is in priorities and the constituencies to which they appeal. Perry and Cruz are crusading ****-flingers (or at least Perry pretends to be when it's politically expedient), and they appeal to culture warriors within the GOP. Cruz hasn't been around long enough to establish much of a record, but Perry has. He made gay marriage a core issue every chance he got and was politically in the sack with religious conservatives in every race he had. Texas has banned gay marriage three times (twice while Perry was governor), and he loaded up the vitriolic rhetoric and exploited the issue to its fullest both times and probably did so more than anybody in Texas.

Kasich is a social conservative, but he understands that as a policymaker, his priorities are to solve the real issues that government is intended to solve while living within its means, and his record has been consistent with that. Furthermore, as a statewide officer of a swing state, he has made appealing to moderates and Democrats a key political priority for him. So though there may only be 20 points difference in ideology, the difference in how he'd actually govern is much more substantial.

And for what it's worth, I think social issues are somewhat bogus. Both parties use them hard to motivate their respective bases, and I think they use them to divert attention away from their failings. Furthermore, most of them do it by demonizing the other side with shrill rhetoric far more than actually doing anything substantive to promote their own side. In reality, I don't think most Democrats are Christ-haters, and most Republicans don't really want a theocracy. Frankly, I care about them less and less as time goes by.
 
Seattle Husker said:
I can't tell if that's funny or sadistic! Cruz's campaign attempts to give him a more personable side are very eerie.
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How about the liberal-made cartoon response?
This was by the WAPO's guy

Can you imagine the uproar if someone portrayed Obama's kids in this manner?
Oh
My
Gawd

Cruz.gif
 
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