Why Ted Cruz Has My Primary Vote in 2016
The Conscience of a Rubio Conservative
Like many on the Right, I had high hopes for 2016. The presidential election looked ripe for the taking. The GOP had an extremely talented bench of candidates including several accomplished governors and senators. Hillary Clinton started to look vulnerable with her private email server scandal developing. Bernie Sanders was polling well. Diversity, for once, was on our side.
And then came “The Donald.” Like a populist wrecking ball, Trump indiscriminately took out candidates that I thought were rock solid conservatives with records that could carry them to the White House in 2016. Perry, Jindal, Walker — all left the race before Iowa. This was quite a shock to me. How could this be happening? I was a Scott Walker supporter originally, though I wanted to see Rand Paul as Vice President to satisfy my libertarian streak. Both of them tanked.
After Walker bowed out, I thought that Rubio was our best shot. He had good polling numbers when matched up with Clinton. He’s charismatic, had a positive message, and had youth on his side. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, his campaign never got the traction needed to win. I still like what Marco Rubio stands for and I respect him. I think his running for President in 2016 has done a lot for the conservative brand.
It was a tough loss, for sure. Where could I, a Rubio supporter, turn to for the GOP Primary in 2016? The answer is simple and straightforward, — I must support Ted Cruz.
Cruz? After what he did to trash Rubio? No way.
Politics is dirty business. There is no doubt about this. Rubio was the recipient of an onslaught of attacks (some less successful than others) from Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump — as he should have been. In his own way, he was a threat to all of them. In the end, Rubio unfortunately fell short in his home state and, for the good of the party, suspended his campaign to help consolidate the “Not Trump” factions going forward.
I’ve been critical of Ted Cruz over the last six months. His playing footsies with Donald Trump nauseated me to no end. “Donald Trump is terrific,” he said. No, he is not, Senator Cruz. But if I was willing to get past the “Gang of Eight” with respect to Rubio, I can overlook an ill-advised comment by Cruz earlier in the campaign about Trump.
We must focus on the goals in 2016, lest we forget. I say goals (plural), because the original goal — win the White House — has changed. Not only are we trying to stop Hillary Clinton from becoming President in 2016 we also are trying to stop Donald Trump from permanently and irrevocably ruining the GOP brand. The latter of these — stopping Trump so he doesn’t hurt the GOP downticket — may even be more important.
Why should we rally behind Cruz?
Ted Cruz satisfies The Buckley Rule, or “the rightwardmost viable candidate,” as William F. Buckley put it. Remember back in 2012, when Ted Cruz ran as a Tea Party candidate against “the Establishment” Lt. Governor of Texas, David Dewhurst? Most recently, the ACU gave Ted Cruz a perfect 100 score, as did Heritage Action. Ted Cruz is damn conservative.
Is he viable? Definitely more so than Trump. Of the candidates left, he is simply the only one who remotely qualifies.
Look at who else is left in the GOP race: Donald Trump and John Kasich. Trump is not “rightward”; he is a leftist cronyist masquerading as a European “right-wing” populist. Sometimes. Other times, he changes his position. He can’t be trusted to do anything other than to promote Donald Trump at the expense of everybody else. As for Kasich, the only real “right” thing about him is that he has a right hand. Yes, he’s the somewhat popular governor of a crucial purple state, but his approach to Medicaid, for example, is anything but conservative. But his appeal seems limited to the Buckeye State, rather than being a Buckleyite.
Cruz has the second most number of delegates in the GOP race, supporting him gives us an alternate method of stopping Trump. If Trump does not secure the magic number of 1237 delegates, we will have an open convention in Cleveland where the delegates can vote for a candidate such as Cruz, or perhaps even a mythical “Unity Candidate.” Either way, the end result would be a “Not Trump” GOP nominee, which is absolutely crucial in 2016. A vote for Cruz in the GOP primary might not necessarily secure the nomination for Cruz, but it is more likely to stop Trump from hijacking the GOP in 2016.
Even if Cruz were to be nominated and lose the general election, the downticket damage would be mitigated. A Trump candidacy could mean the end of GOP control of the Senate and the House — in addition to governorships and other seats which were “safe GOP” seats not too long ago. Nominating Cruz would help mitigate any damage to the GOP brand in 2016.
Recently, it seems that the Trump Train has hit some rough rails. Sometimes I think that Trump wants to lose because he can build his brand more as an “outsider” who “had the GOP nomination stolen from him” by “The GOP Establishment.” Whether Trump is imploding because of a lack of organization and ground game, or because of his misogyny, or whether Trump is intentionally railroading his own campaign, it matters not. What matters is that we nominate the rightwardmost viable candidate. Ted Cruz meets The Buckley Rule and this is crucial in 2016.
I’m endorsing Ted Cruz in the GOP Primary in 2016.
