# Ted Cruz Presidential campaign discussion thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774 "2015-03-23T14:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 45
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/881 "2016-04-14T03:13:29Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > “Hard core socialist/communist.” lol [**When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro and the Sandinistas Could Teach America a Lesson** As mayor of Burlington, Sanders praised the regimes of Nicaragua and Cuba—claiming bread lines were a sign of economic health and press censorship was necessary in wartime.](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/28/when-bernie-sanders-thought-castro-and-the-sandinistas-could-teach-america-a-lesson.html) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/882 "2016-04-14T03:35:29Z")
And a fulsome bwahahahaha to you too, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/883 "2016-04-14T03:40:09Z")
_Richard Parker: and a fulsome bwahahahaha to you too, sir._ -Posted from CubanGovPhone4 running CheGv4.32, loc: block 17 daily breadline ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/884 "2016-04-14T04:13:14Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > [\*\*When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro and the Sandinistas Could Teach America a Lesson](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/28/when-bernie-sanders-thought-castro-and-the-sandinistas-could-teach-america-a-lesson.html) As they could, and a most precious lesson indeed, as you know very well. Not perfect, perhaps not even admirable, but precious nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/885 "2016-04-14T04:15:20Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > _Richard Parker: and a fulsome bwahahahaha to you too, sir._ > -Posted from CubanGovPhone4 running CheGv4.32, loc: block 17 daily breadline What does that even mean? ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/886 "2016-04-14T04:27:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What does that even mean? It means that it’s especially stupid to flaunt one’s privilege by using one’s fancy, internet connected, capitalist byproduct gadget to laugh off Sander’s preference for forms of government who’s unfortunate citizen’s are often unable to provide themselves with basic foodstuffs or toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/887 "2016-04-14T05:25:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > As they could, and a most precious lesson indeed, as you know very well. Not perfect, perhaps not even admirable, but precious nevertheless. Yes. Don’t feed the countries that sponsor them. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/888 "2016-04-14T20:21:10Z")
Running for President to challenge Cruz’s right to do so: [http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/law-professor-candidate-challenges-cruz-citizenship-n554046](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/law-professor-candidate-challenges-cruz-citizenship-n554046) I have no doubt myself that Cruz is a natural born citizen within the meaning of the Constitution, but I love the idea of running just to gain standing to argue otherwise in court. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/889 "2016-04-14T20:33:36Z")
[Cruz thinks North Carolina’s bathroom law is “perfectly reasonable”.](http://www.salon.com/2016/04/14/ted_cruz_praises_north_carolinas_perfectly_reasonable_anti_lgbt_bathroom_law/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/890 "2016-04-14T20:45:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Running for President to challenge Cruz’s right to do so: [Law Professor Challenges Cruz on Citizenship, Candidacy](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/law-professor-candidate-challenges-cruz-citizenship-n554046) > > I have no doubt myself that Cruz is a natural born citizen within the meaning of the Constitution, but I love the idea of running just to gain standing to argue otherwise in court. If Lyin’ Ted was faithful to his originalist views, he’s not eligible. Not that I subscribe to such an idiotic interpretation of the Constitution. And I also believe him to be eligible. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/891 "2016-04-14T20:49:14Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > We won’t know how crazy Cruz is until (if) he gets the nomination. > > All candidates run to the wings in the primaries. Hillary and Bernie have been saying absolutely nutty stuff to please their bases. So nutty that even Paul Krugman had to take Bernie behind the woodshed. But Bernie has been saying this stuff for years. He’s been consistent – still under-qualified, in my view, but a consistent critic of Wall St and a proponent of $15+ / hour minimum wages nevertheless. Some of his ideas are actually becoming somewhat mainstream among the core of the democratic party. I don’t really see Bernie shifting too much to the right because he probably believes the country will shift to him instead. And with wages flat-lining the way they are now, he might be partially right. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > My guess is that Cruz will change the tone of his rhetoric significantly, if not the substance. But he’ll be pushing his ideas as ways to help the poor, minorities, students, etc. He’ll walk back his abortion comments by saying that states should decide and it’s none of his business. About the only thing Cruz can truly walk back are the republican party’s positions on minorities. As a member of a minority group himself, he is in that rare position for republicans, which is being able to identify with someone other than crusty rich or opioid-addicted whites. But we’re still beginning to see a ceiling to Ted Cruz’s appeal. He will not do well in states that are less devout and more educated. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Trump will completely flip. He’ll sound like a progressive if he gets the nomination, and by the time the Presidential election comes along he may even try to beat Hillary by going to the left of her. The man has no principles and can’t hold a coherent thought to save his life, so he’ll go wherever he thinks the votes are. Trump has no ideology. That has been both a blessing and a curse. Had he not been such a complete and utter douchebag, and had he exerted more control and run a somewhat more disciplined campaign from the start, he might have actually had a chance to pull off one of the greatest the political heists of all-time. But as with Cruz, there is a ceiling to Trump’s appeal. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Bernie will stay true to his ideals - and lose horribly to Cruz if he’s nominated. Would he beat Trump? I have no idea. I don’t believe the U.S. is ready for a hard core socialist/communist. He’ll lose worse than Mondale and Dukakis did. The country has moved left since them, but not nearly enough. I think. If Trump runs as a third party candidate, Bernie would probably be able to pull it off. I think he’d have a puncher’s chance against Trump one-on-one. The most dangerous opponent would be either Cruz or an as yet to be named tandem. Cruz could probably squeak one out against Sanders for the reasons you allude to, though I wouldn’t call him a communist - he’s not. That won’t keep ordinary folk from thinking that, though. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Hillary will do what the Clintons always do - she’ll triangulate. The day after she gets the nomination she’ll discover that she really loves businesses, and she’ll find some prominent social justice warrior to throw under the bus. She’ll notice that immigration really is an issue that needs to be dealt with, and she’ll talk endlessly about how ruthless she’ll be in the war on terror. Then she’ll try to do what her husband did and try to find that fine line to walk that doesn’t enrage any of her constituents while peeling off moderate Republicans and independents. Whether she has the skill to do that is not clear. Hillary does probably have the best chance at winning, though she’s got vulnerabilities of her own. I think both Sanders and Clinton would be vulnerable if national security became a more serious issue between now and November, or if the economy suddenly went into a dive. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/892 "2016-04-14T21:35:28Z")
Did anyone see the CNN ‘town halls’ they did with each of the GOP candidates this week? They had the candidates’ families participate. Cruz actually came across as somewhat likable with the help of his wife and daughters. I still think he’s a slimeball, but for anyone on the fence about him–he might have swayed them a little. Heidi Cruz is confident and relaxed and congenial in front of an audience. Their daughters were cute. The older one is 8 years old and kind of stole the show for a bit. I have a feeling she’ll be a handful for her mom and dad in another 8 years. Trump and Kasich and their families did well, too. With Trump’s kids, though, I sometimes feel like they’re a cult and Donald is their god. Their constant, fawning praise of the Donald feels a little disingenuous at times. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/893 "2016-04-14T21:56:54Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I think both Sanders and Clinton would be vulnerable if national security became a more serious issue between now and November, or if the economy suddenly went into a dive. 😕 Considering W’s utterly disastrous track record in both fields and Obama’s not-quite-so-bad record, why in the world should voters at this point trust the GOP brand more than the Dem brand on national security **or** economics?! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/894 "2016-04-14T21:57:33Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Did anyone see the CNN ‘town halls’ they did with each of the GOP candidates this week? They had the candidates’ families participate. Cruz actually came across as somewhat likable with the help of his wife and daughters. I still think he’s a slimeball, but for anyone on the fence about him–he might have swayed them a little. Heidi Cruz is confident and relaxed and congenial in front of an audience. Their daughters were cute. The older one is 8 years old and kind of stole the show for a bit. I have a feeling she’ll be a handful for her mom and dad in another 8 years. > > Trump and Kasich and their families did well, too. With Trump’s kids, though, I sometimes feel like they’re a cult and Donald is their god. Their constant, fawning praise of the Donald feels a little disingenuous at times. Yeah, I saw them. Kasich trying to sell the small-town thing, Trump trying to sell that he’s not an idiot (both fails to some degree). Not overly surprising on the Trump kids, really. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind Dad being Prez, but you also have to remember that their livelihoods pretty much depend on him. I think Cruz actually improved his standing the most of the three, once the family came on stage. It’s still an infinitesimal amount, but he ‘won.’ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/895 "2016-04-14T21:58:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Trump and Kasich and their families did well, too. With Trump’s kids, though, I sometimes feel like they’re a cult and Donald is their god. Their constant, fawning praise of the Donald feels a little disingenuous at times. Also, as we all know, “Donald Trump Wants to B\*ng His Daughter.” ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/896 "2016-04-14T22:19:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Also, as we all know, “Donald Trump Wants to B\*ng His Daughter.” He is just not as uptight talking about sex as you are. He’s a New Yorker. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/897 "2016-04-14T23:08:46Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > He is just not as uptight talking about sex as you are. He’s a New Yorker. Sorry, not even New Yorkers justify incest. Ultimately, though, I don’t think it’s really about that, but about Trump preening himself for having a beautiful daughter (not overly surprising on either count, but more self-aggrandizement). Not sure whether she’d find that discomfort-making or not. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/898 "2016-04-14T23:18:13Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > He is just not as uptight talking about sex as you are. That would be OK if he kept his locker-room attitudes in the locker room. Adults don’t even \*think \*what he says. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/899 "2016-04-14T23:19:14Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > He is just not as uptight talking about sex as you are. He’s a New Yorker. And New York ain’t West Virginia. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774/900 "2016-04-15T03:44:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 Considering W’s utterly disastrous track record in both fields and Obama’s not-quite-so-bad record, why in the world should voters at this point trust the GOP brand more than the Dem brand on national security **or** economics?! Republicans have regained their advantage on the issue in polling. My theory is that it’s because the voters figured out that Democratic tough talk during the Bush years about Afghanistan was a political stance they didn’t really even mean. I don’t think Democrats would support an invasion of a country that harbored terrorists that attacked us if it happened again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774.md?page=44) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/715774.md?page=46)