I must be simple.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Yep Trump knew no endorsement was coming accord to Cruz 3 days prior and that Cruz provided his speech several hours prior and they let him go on.

Basically used Cruz to stir up the people, and followed it up with Newts speech that lambasted Cruz..

Trump is pretty good at this stuff....

I watched the video of him speaking this morning and what I got out of it was:

-Trump went to Cruz and asked him to speak. Cruz told him he wouldn’t be endorsing him and Trump wanted him there anyway.

-A few days ago they spoke on the phone and Cruz told him again he wouldn’t be endorsing him and Trump still wanted him there.

-Cruz said they saw the speech yesterday and if they didn’t like it he was happy to get on a plane and go home, but he figured the Trump people believed his speech would encourage people to not stay home. The Trump people didn't ask him to change it.

-Trump had surrogates getting people to boo the speech they saw hours before.

So, it's pretty evident Cruz repeatedly made it clear what he was going to say and Trump repeatedly accepted it. Drudge even had the story yesterday that he wasn't going to endorse him. I'm guessing someone leaked it to him after reading Cruz's speech. Trump then chose to turn this into a dog and pony show instead of making last night about Pence and beating Hillary. Now everyone is fighting again.

Cruz made the choice that while he once "enthusiastically raised his hand to support the nominee" he could no longer do so after Trump went after his wife and family. He has to live with that and what happens next, but so does Trump. Last night was not a good thing for anyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stuPk3dj_So

quote:

in response to the news that Cruz was going to make a speech that did not explicitly endorse him, Trump intentionally chose to escalate the situation by leaking the news to friendly delegations and instructing them to boo Cruz to make this a bigger deal that it otherwise would have been. If Trump's delegates had not booed and caused a ruckus, but instead had remained silent or applauded at Cruz's exhortation to vote for down ticket races, everyone today would be talking about Pence and his speech, and the discussion would be about positive things associated with Trump and Pence and how they are going to move forward after the convention to at least possible victory.

I'm sorry, but that's a bunch of bull. I listened to that speech, and I was loving it and the audience was too. They were cheering what Cruz was saying. Even Donald Jr. was clapping along. But as the speech was winding down, it became obvious that Cruz was pointedly not going to endorse Trump, and at that point I shook my head and walked out of the room. It would've surprised me if those in the audience hadn't booed.

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
I would love to discuss this further, but don't want to gum up this thread. Good post but I stand by my opinion that NATO is no longer in the US interest.

No problem. I have to say I feel for you folks. If I was American, I would probably have died weeks ago from banging my head on the table over the choices I'm being given for November.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

in response to the news that Cruz was going to make a speech that did not explicitly endorse him, Trump intentionally chose to escalate the situation by leaking the news to friendly delegations and instructing them to boo Cruz to make this a bigger deal that it otherwise would have been. If Trump's delegates had not booed and caused a ruckus, but instead had remained silent or applauded at Cruz's exhortation to vote for down ticket races, everyone today would be talking about Pence and his speech, and the discussion would be about positive things associated with Trump and Pence and how they are going to move forward after the convention to at least possible victory.

I'm sorry, but that's a bunch of bull. I listened to that speech, and I was loving it and the audience was too. They were cheering what Cruz was saying. Even Donald Jr. was clapping along. But as the speech was winding down, it became obvious that Cruz was pointedly not going to endorse Trump, and at that point I shook my head and walked out of the room. It would've surprised me if those in the audience hadn't booed.

Yes, he can make all the excuses he wants but the country comes before his pride. He sold us out at the moment where he could have been that the person to unify the party.

quote:

Originally posted by BansheeOne:I have to say I feel for you folks. If I was American, I would probably have died weeks ago from banging my head on the table over the choices I'm being given for November.

We'll be OK. The US is overdue for a shakeup.

When Cruz realizes that he needs to save his tanking political career, he will endorse Trump. Might not be until September, but it will happen.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

in response to the news that Cruz was going to make a speech that did not explicitly endorse him, Trump intentionally chose to escalate the situation by leaking the news to friendly delegations and instructing them to boo Cruz to make this a bigger deal that it otherwise would have been. If Trump's delegates had not booed and caused a ruckus, but instead had remained silent or applauded at Cruz's exhortation to vote for down ticket races, everyone today would be talking about Pence and his speech, and the discussion would be about positive things associated with Trump and Pence and how they are going to move forward after the convention to at least possible victory.

I'm sorry, but that's a bunch of bull. I listened to that speech, and I was loving it and the audience was too. They were cheering what Cruz was saying. Even Donald Jr. was clapping along. But as the speech was winding down, it became obvious that Cruz was pointedly not going to endorse Trump, and at that point I shook my head and walked out of the room. It would've surprised me if those in the audience hadn't booed.

Yes, he can make all the excuses he wants but the country comes before his pride. He sold us out at the moment where he could have been that the person to unify the party.

Really? Donald Trump had a number of options in responding to knowing that Ted Cruz wasn't going to endorse him.

Don't put him on the stage. Neutral option.

Put him on the stage, accept the statements, then parlay 'vote your conscience' into an attack on Hillary, the crooked liar that she is. Positive Options

Put him on the stage, arrange an attack against him because held true to not making an explicit endorsement, causing the non-endorsement and reaction to overshadow the speech given by Mike Pence. Destructive Option.

Lyin' Ted Cruze validates his monicker. He pledged to support the Republican nominee.

Love Rush's take on this. Master stroke by Trump as he knew ahead of time what Cryin' Cruz was going to say. Made the entrance at exactly the right time focus attention on himself. End result many Cruz supporters now fully behind trump. Hell even some @nevertrumpists moved to defend Trump from Cruz. Again a master stroke. LOL Gotta love Rush. Screw all the other pundits.... they're clueless. That said I hear Dr Krouthammer (SIC) said Cruz's speach was the longest suicide note he'd ever seen read. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Lyin' Ted Cruze validates his monicker. He pledged to support the Republican nominee.

By what expectation does support equal an endorsement?

He isn't attacking Donald Trump, set up strikes against Hillary, and congratulated Trump on winning the nomination.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Love Rush's take on this. Master stroke by Trump as he knew ahead of time what Cryin' Cruz was going to say. Made the entrance at exactly the right time focus attention on himself. End result many Cruz supporters now fully behind trump. Hell even some @nevertrumpists moved to defend Trump from Cruz. Again a master stroke. LOL Gotta love Rush. Screw all the other pundits.... they're clueless. That said I hear Dr Krouthammer (SIC) said Cruz's speach was the longest suicide note he'd ever seen read. LOL

Listening now, and wholeheartedly agree. Great analysis by Rush.

domcintosh, would you have Hillary as President? That's all I want to know.

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Lyin' Ted Cruze validates his monicker. He pledged to support the Republican nominee.

By what expectation does support equal an endorsement?

He isn't attacking Donald Trump, set up strikes against Hillary, and congratulated Trump on winning the nomination.

Love semantic word games. At what point in his speech did Ted say he would support Trump's candidacy?

I am for letting a person hang themselves if they choose to do so.

It is honest, in spite of attempts along the way of "politeness" (or rather Political Correctness) It is preferred to the dishonest hand shaking and back slapping, while positioning a knife in the back of your "friends".

Cruz had a choice. He was granted the stage.

He chose poorly.

Let him swing.

If the tables were turned and Trump had made the same bad choices, alienated his base (that he built), and Cruz had not tried to "out Trump, Trump", and Trump would have continued an offensive under the guise of "representing the people", when he was only inflating himself, then I would be saying the same thing for the same reasons.

Cruz cares about Cruz. Trump cares about US. It has been his message all of his life in anything I have seen or read of him and what he has said over the years.

His core value is this country and doing what he believes to be right and moral.

It resonates with a good many Americans, and to the groups of people who are against Trump, I would not find myself in any of their company.

At this point in time and the state of the Union, there is no other choice that brings the most to the need.

Trump is far from flawless, but I believe him when he says that he plans to see America Great, again.

And I will continue to live my life on the side of that which moves that game piece forward.

I am but 1/320,000,000th of the component, but I will end my life on my last breath doing what I believe to be the right thing.

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Lyin' Ted Cruze validates his monicker. He pledged to support the Republican nominee.

By what expectation does support equal an endorsement?

Cripe. Your logic is taken right from Slick Willie's what "is" means playbook. Parse away dude!

quote:

If voting for Donald Trump is voting your conscience, what was wrong with the speech?

It was those words that made me explode last night. "Voting your conscience" was the phrase used by the dump Trump crowd in their attempt to get a rule change. The change would have allowed the delegates to vote for whoever they wanted even on the first convention ballot.

That crowd was led by Ken Cuccinelli and Mike Lee. The inside team for Ted Cruz.


It is a code phrase used to say "don't vote for Trump".

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
domcintosh, would you have Hillary as President? That's all I want to know.

No.

It's my pleasure to award this participation trophy to all those still supporting "lying ted"

Honest question: is it possible that Cruz did the right thing for the long term? Perhaps Cruz still has presidential aspirations? Perhaps Trump, if elected, fails miserably to meet expectations and/or takes actions that are largely unpopular (especially for the left). Does Cruz's current position and actions allow for plausible deniability for a future run at the presidency? One that both Cruz and Trump agree upon for the long term? Or is Cruz wrong on all counts and am I showing my naiveté again? Or does this keep Cruz viable for future runs in the event that Trump is reviled after 4/8 years?