here we go. another switch ?

nbc tweet:

Ken Cuccinelli says VA delegation is one team & he'll be on floor tonight to support #TrumpPence

Ken Cuccinelli tells me he wishes he could have vetted #TedCruz speech, not used 'vote your conscience'

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

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.

Do you really believe there wouldn't have been a negative reaction against Ted regardless? Seriously? No matter what, Ted's speech was going to overshadow the night. His non-endorsement of Trump was blatantly obvious; an in your face proclamation in front of millions. Sorry, but that's going to steal the headlines.

Define endorsement.

I'm ready to move forward to the good stuff. Trump makes his speech tonight. Then off to the races!

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

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

No.

So, what should happen on election day? Anything at all? I ask this because you don't want Clinton and you don't want Trump and seem unwilling to decide between the two.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I'm ready to move forward to the good stuff. Trump makes his speech tonight. Then off to the races!

Ssame here. Time to move on.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Define endorsement.

Here ya go:

en·dorse·ment
inˈdôrsmənt,enˈdôrsmənt/
noun
1.
an act of giving one's public approval or support to someone or something.
synonyms: support, backing, approval, seal of approval, agreement, recommendation, championship, patronage, affirmation, sanction; informalbuy-in
"the proposal won their overwhelming endorsement"

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Define endorsement.

Here ya go:

en·dorse·ment
inˈdôrsmənt,enˈdôrsmənt/
noun
1.
an act of giving one's public approval or support to someone or something.
synonyms: support, backing, approval, seal of approval, agreement, recommendation, championship, patronage, affirmation, sanction; informalbuy-in
"the proposal won their overwhelming endorsement"

Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

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

No.

So, what should happen on election day? Anything at all? I ask this because you don't want Clinton and you don't want Trump and seem unwilling to decide between the two.

I'm at a rhetorical loss; this election cycle is horrid.

The prominent options are life long corruption, intentional mishandling of classified material, and democratic progressive, or authoritative, big government, Constitution destroying, petty demagogue. Each is practically a caricature of the worst accusations thrown by the opposing side.

A Hillary Clinton win stuffs SCOTUS for the next 30 years, as well as the junior benches, escalates Obama's attacks on State sovereignty, and likely means another round of BRAC.

Simultaneously, what good can be expected from Donald Trump? He's surrounded himself with incompetence, there's zero assurance he'd be able to get strong candidates for SCOTUS, (Prior Republicans actively intended to do so, and barely batted .400), has the barest understanding of any policy he talks on, and actively attacks the Constitutional Limitations.

Every time I get close to thinking I can hold my nose and vote against Hillary by choosing him, his campaign does something extremely retarded. They always seem to take the most destructive option to the problems the campaign faces, on the level of C4 versus a flyswatter.

Why they invited Ted Cruz is beyond me. Why they maintained the invitation after he made it clear he wouldn't explicitly endorse Trump is even more bizarre. With the public release of his appearance, and full fore knowledge of the speech, they could have played it better, as I hinted above. Instead, they took Hardest path.

Imagine the long term damage to Constitutional values if he becomes the face of conservatism.

I think Trump played the whole thing. The RNC is all everyone is talking and thinking about. Everyone will tune in to see his acceptance speech. Everyone tuned in last night to see if Cruz would endorse. He did not, and now more people will tune into the RNC-reality show and see what Teflon Don will say in response, if anything at all.

In doing, he created ratings and let his foe (Cruz) hang himself on live TV. Cruz lost all his support (mine included) and wiped out all hope of running in 2020. Plus there's the mental warfare played on Cruz when he flew in during Cruz's speech the day before and drowned him out, the jumbo-tron losing power during Cruz's speech and Trump making an appearance during Cruz's closing. He triple-smacked him around and basically delivered the message that Cruz is insignificant.

Well played, DT. Well played.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
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?

I commented about this in one of these threads.

I suspect Ted Cruz, at least in part, believes this to be the case. In some way, whether by his own misguided volition or by placing too much faith in the advice he's being given, he's been able to rationalize that playing such long odds is the smarter, better move, which is somehow combined with another misguided belief that he both ever could have won this time, and that he could again, in 2020 or so, rally enough support again to win then.

I think it's a case of one "believing their own bullshit" a little too much, a tad too much ego at the very least, and a faulty Risk Analysis regarding the short term costs of his play. It is directly analogous to an over confident and novice poker player over playing their hand, finally making it tk the final table of the World Series of Poker, only to flame out just before the finish line, and to be headed home empty handed instead.

Despite how my comments surely seem sometimes, I would prefer to not turn all such topics into some negative comment about religion or faith, but after seeing enough of Ted and his father and hearing the degree to which they place their faith in things like divine providence, I sincerely and respectfully think he places too much faith in his faith, to the detriment of the rest, in allowing it to cloud his judgement and otherwise brilliant mind.

Otherwise, it's all just an inflated ego or hurt feelings or something, which makes even less sense for an otherwise inarguably talented and accomplished and intelligent man.

In short, I don't think he's thinking clearly. His judgement has been clouded by too much of something. Moderation is the watchword for today. It's almost always smarter.

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.

Have you read the pledge???? You can play your silly word games, but if you knew what you were talking about, you'd see there isn't a lot of wiggle room.

"“I [name] affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for president of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is . I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.”

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:
He's surrounded himself with incompetence, there's zero assurance he'd be able to get strong candidates for SCOTUS

Damn. What planet are you on? Your "take" is about as inaccurate as possible and frankly smacks like it was drafted for you by George Soros. Gesh....

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

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

No.

So, what should happen on election day? Anything at all? I ask this because you don't want Clinton and you don't want Trump and seem unwilling to decide between the two.

I'm at a rhetorical loss

To say the least. Good luck getting it all worked out.

quote:

Imagine the long term damage to Constitutional values if he becomes the face of conservatism.

Donald Trump is not a conservative. Why would him being the president make him the face of conservatism? Trump is a moderate. Trump is miles from the left wing trolls on the other side. this is an easy choice.

Some talking head this morning offered the opinion that Cruz is playing a strategy in case Trump is defeated, so as to position himself for 2020 and say "How do I look now?" This sounds plausible. Of course, what is much more plausible is that Cruz is just a dick.

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:

quote:

Imagine the long term damage to Constitutional values if he becomes the face of conservatism.

Donald Trump is not a conservative. Why would him being the president make him the face of conservatism? Trump is a moderate. Trump is miles from the left wing trolls on the other side. this is an easy choice.

Hard to believe you put Trump and moderate in the same sentence, without sarcasm or incredulity.

It isn't my intention to claim Trump is conservative; instead, he is a threat to conservative values. Unless you support the use of the IRS to punatively attack his enemies, misuse of libel laws to attack reports that don't worship him, destruction of the economy through punitive tariffs, and the theft of private property endorsed by government Force.

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:

quote:

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

No.

So, what should happen on election day? Anything at all? I ask this because you don't want Clinton and you don't want Trump and seem unwilling to decide between the two.

Simultaneously, what good can be expected from Donald Trump? He's surrounded himself with incompetence, there's zero assurance he'd be able to get...

Incompetence? What are you talking about?

I do not understand people's hand ringing over Trump. You have two choices for President. If you cannot discern the difference between Hillary and Trump you are f'ing dense. You don't have to like Trump except to the extent that he will defeat Hillary. Period.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I think Trump played the whole thing. The RNC is all everyone is talking and thinking about. Everyone will tune in to see his acceptance speech. Everyone tuned in last night to see if Cruz would endorse. He did not, and now more people will tune into the RNC-reality show and see what Teflon Don will say in response, if anything at all.

In doing, he created ratings and let his foe (Cruz) hang himself on live TV. Cruz lost all his support (mine included) and wiped out all hope of running in 2020. Plus there's the mental warfare played on Cruz when he flew in during Cruz's speech the day before and drowned him out, the jumbo-tron losing power during Cruz's speech and Trump making an appearance during Cruz's closing. He triple-smacked him around and basically delivered the message that Cruz is insignificant.

Well played, DT. Well played.

Tony.

This is similar to what Major Garrett of CBS said. I agree: If Trump had refused to let Cruz speak at the last hour, news reports would have been negative on Trump. Poor, poor Ted. But Trump set it up for Cruz to fail and he stepped in it/on it. Bu bye Ted.