This seems to be Cruz's strategy. He says nice things about Trump wherever he goes.
He arrives on his own plane, dropping in for a stemwinder before jetting off again."
"He is attracting supporters — loyal, angry, often new to politics — willing to wait in the cold or the sun or the parking lot of a strip mall to see him."
"He cannot help bragging about his crowds."
“Why am I so optimistic?” Senator Ted Cruz shouted during his speech here, marveling at the venue his following now required. “Because we’re in an airplane hangar instead of a Denny’s!”
"As he vaults toward the top of the Republican presidential field, leading some Iowa polls and climbing nationally, Mr. Cruz has taken care to compliment Donald J. Trump at every opportunity. And in the throes of a seven-day, 12-city swing to demonstrate strength beyond the early-voting states, Mr. Cruz’s flattery seems at times to have taken a new form: imitation."
"In ways cosmetic and substantive, Mr. Cruz has in recent days seemed to more closely resemble the man he has been chasing — or, more precisely, quietly drafting behind — for months."
Trump seems to be getting it too. He has not said a single bad word about Cruz since that one time last weekend-that led to a rare rebuke by Right wing talk radio. He now seems to get that Cruz is the one guy he can't knock too much.
When asked if he's losing in Iowa he admitted that 'Both Ted and I are doing very well there.' Indeed. A new poll has him trailing Cruz by 9 in Iowa, it's true. But it's not that he's losing support in Iowa just that Cruz is gaining it in leaps and bounds. While Cruz now has 40 percent support in Iowa according to a new CBS poll, Trump is up to 31 percent himself in the state which is as high as he's ever polled in Iowa.
Look, you can argue about whether Trump or Cruz wins Iowa but I don't see how you argue that someone other than Trump or Cruz win. I mean between the two of them that's now 71% of the Iowa vote. Ben Carson's support has now collapsed to just 6 percent-he was at 30% in November. But add even the 6 percent and that's almost 80% for an outsider candidate.
Meanwhile Cruz is razzing the Wall Street Journal-which has been razzing him.
"Now, after a steady stream of harsh editorials panning the first-term senator, the Journal finds itself at war with Cruz, who accused the ed board of shilling for presidential rival Sen. Marco Rubio in a recent interview on “Morning Joe.”
"For the next three months, the Journal should change their header to the ‘Marco Rubio for President Newspaper,’ because their attacks – and it's going to keep coming because Marco fights for the principles they care about," Cruz said. "There is no one, no conservatives in America who think The Wall Street Journal is the voice of conservatism.”
"For many conservatives, it would seem unwise to pick a fight with one of the most important editorial pages on the Right. The ed board, which espouses the pro-business, muscular foreign policy approach of traditional Republicanism, continues to have an outsized voice in highbrow conservative circles, and the paper itself delivers news intravenously to Wall Street executives and the megadonors that fuel presidential campaigns."
"In an era where print newspapers have long been on the decline, the one exception is the editorial page and the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal for Republican primary voters especially. They’re the gold standard," said Ari Fleischer, a former press secretary to President George W. Bush."
"Calling the paper a front for Rubio, Fleischer added, is "a wrong read of the Wall Street Journal editorial page…They’re a consistent voice for conservativism, especially on economics and supply side Reaganomics."
Where has Fleischer been? Does he think the 71 percent of Iowan Republicans supporting Cruz/Trump care about Reaganomics?
"Gigot refuted the suggestion that the Journal has been soft on Rubio, noting that the paper has at times been critical of the Florida freshman, from his position on sugar subsidies to his tax plan."
"I suspect Ted knows that is silly," Gigot said. "As for who is the voice of conservatism, I’m not sure Ted Cruz gets to define what’s conservative, but our views haven’t changed very much in 125 years."
I can't read the articles (w/o some effort... or the unthinkable: PAYING FOR IT!), until my next allotment of free articles next month, but I like to scan the headlines to see who Jen is bashing each day: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/
More Cruz and Trump bashing of course... plus a pinch of Rand Paul bashing, and of course Clinton bashing (equating her truthfulness to that of Trump). Nothing new to see there except the bit on Paul (he's too insignificant to draw her attention most of the time). That and some cheer leading for one of her favorites (Graham) doing the right thing and getting out of the race. I suspect she'd be delighted if Jeb, Kasich, Fiorina and the rest of the kid's table dropped out too. She see's promise in Rubio and Christie, and that's about it. But if Trump is the nominee, I suspect she'll VERY grudgingly start saying nice things about Clinton! Lol.
I can't read the articles (w/o some effort... or the unthinkable: PAYING FOR IT!), until my next allotment of free articles next month, but I like to scan the headlines to see who Jen is bashing each day:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/
More Cruz and Trump bashing of course... plus a pinch of Rand Paul bashing, and of course Clinton bashing (equating her truthfulness to that of Trump). Nothing new to see there except the bit on Paul (he's too insignificant to draw her attention most of the time). That and some cheer leading for one of her favorites (Graham) doing the right thing and getting out of the race. I suspect she'd be delighted if Jeb, Kasich, Fiorina and the rest of the kid's table dropped out too. She see's promise in Rubio and Christie, and that's about it. But if Trump is the nominee, I suspect she'll VERY grudgingly start saying nice things about Clinton! Lol.