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Thomas Sowell Endorses Ted Cruz
Noting with sorrow Justice Scalia’s death, Sowell begs his readers to sober up:
The vacancy created on the Supreme Court makes painfully clear the huge stakes involved when we choose a President of the United States, just one of whose many powers is the power to nominate justices of the Supreme Court.
After enumerating these, and indirectly reminding readers that the next president is apt to be a wartime president, he makes his views about Trump perfectly clear:
Against this background, the frivolous rhetoric and childish antics in the televised political “debates” are painful to watch. If ever there was a time to choose a president with depth, rather than glitter or glibness, this is it.
Trump’s behavior is often that of an “overgrown spoiled brat,” he remarks:
If, by some miracle, Trump became president, what kind of president would he be? Do we need another self-centered know-it-all in the White House to replace the one we have now?
He suggests the Republican candidates be judged by their track record in running a governmental organization. He seems to think none of the governors are electable. This leaves him, by a process of elimination, with the painfully inexperienced Cruz and Rubio. He consoles himself with the thought that Cruz, at least, was attorney general in Texas. Rubio has no comparable experience, and Sowell suggests that his inexperience shows.
He concludes, “We can only make our choices among those actually available.”
So by a process of elimination, he endorses Cruz. Pretty much holding his nose, as far as I can tell from the prose.
I can’t argue with his logic, but I’m hoping for a miracle, because I do not look at Ted Cruz and feel confident. Or see him as electable. Do you?
Published in General
Ted has made one major mistake: he persists in believing that the Republican “base” is as big as the Dem “base”. His comments in the linked article about Republicans running toward the middle really do not work. I think that Campbell, etc. are correct here. Cruz’s people even quote Campbell, and he corrects their inferences. Part of his error is in miscounting and mischaracterizing the “evangelical” vote. It is usually defined badly, and also does not vote monolithically the way African-Americans vote for a perceived black candidate.
Anecdotally–I know: insert *eyeroll* here–I gather that Cruz is loathed by everyone I know (except conservatives) to a degree that I haven’t seen among any of the other candidates, including Trump. Folks who are not staunch conservatives feel about him what conservatives feel about Hillary: deep, deep loathing. Now, I won’t hesitate to vote for Cruz if he is the GOP nominee because I am a conservative. Period. But do I like him? No. So I’m with Claire that I do worry about his electability.
The relentless anti-Cruz drumbeat in the media seems to have been quite effective.
I had a discussion with my 82-year-old father the other day, where he said he didn’t like Cruz because he’s “a liar”. I asked him why he thought so, or to give an example, and he didn’t have any substantiation.
He gets all his news from the MSM, and doesn’t use the ‘net at all.
The Cruz situation reminds me of the Gingrich one, where he too was loathed, in large part, I think, because he threatened the Progressive Republican gravy-train.
Can’t have that…
Thanks, Columbo! Sabo, the creator of the very popular “Ted Cruz with Tattoos” will be at CPAC this year along with the creators of the “Mockingjay” symbol seen around the country. I’ll see about rounding them up for the inevitable Ricochet Meet Up we will be planning on!