Ted Cruz Presidential campaign discussion thread

[eschereal]

@Rick_Kitchen

Some dude is following Ted Cruz around Iowa accusing him of liking Nickelback.

Could be worse. He could be accusing Cruz of liking k. d. lang (who is from Alberta as well).

[adaher]

@elucidator

Indeed, the important thing we have to remember is that both sides do it. Good catch, there, addy!

No, the important thing to remember is that it’s legal. The Clinton Doctrine states that anything not expressly illegal is not a scandal.

[CarnalK]

What’s legal is important to remember. So I think all the calls to arrest Cruz should stop right now. However, a guy who likes to bash government overreaching can rightly be called a dick when he pulls a Big Brother scare scam on voters. No?

[Measure_for_Measure]

@adaher

No, the important thing to remember is that it’s legal. The Clinton Doctrine states that anything not expressly illegal is not a scandal.

Interesting if true. ::snort:: Hey, it’s an improvement over the Nixon Doctrine: “The President is above the law.”

Cite: My posterior.

[SlackerInc]

@eschereal

Could be worse. He could be accusing Cruz of liking k. d. lang (who is from Alberta as well).

Why would that be worse?

[Measure_for_Measure]

Oh man, Nixon actually said something like that. “…when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/05/19/13066/nixon-bush-illegal/

[Locrian]

@SlackerInc

Why would that be worse?

k.d. lang is homosexual. Latest news says Cruz don’t like 'em.

[Merneith]

@Rick_Kitchen

The Cruz campaign is sending out mailings to Iowa voters saying they (and their neighbors – and they list the neighbors’ names and voting records) labeled “Voting Violation”, telling them that their voting history is a public record and they need to go out and vote in the caucus to increase their voting score.

The state Secretary of State is angry about it, even though he’s a Republican because, among other things, the mailer mentions the Secretary of State’s office as if it’s an official mailing.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People - Ted Cruz, Way!

[LSLGuy]

@Measure_for_Measure

Interesting. In other contexts this can work. It’s clear that the campaign has access to the same research as I do.

How Data and Social Pressure Can Reduce Home Energy Us [INDENT]…even without smart meter data, companies such as Opower have learned that comparing a customer’s electricity use with neighbors is an effective way to spur action.

“Here’s the really interesting thing that we found: the behavioral and social motivators are stronger than data,” says Ivo Steklac, the chief sales and strategy officer at Tendril. “What we’ve discovered is that while its great to have smart metering and be able to provide real-time data to you and your home, that is not necessary.”

Instead, what’s necessary is persuading people that there is a crowd to join. Noted psychologist Robert Cialdini, who works with Opower on behavioral science, once ran a famous experiment with hotel towels. Telling guests that reusing towels was good for the environment did almost nothing, but when a placard in the bathroom suggested that most of the hotel visitors reused them, such usage went up 30 percent. It works basically the same way with electricity: If your bill suggests that everyone on your block is using less than you, you will strive to catch up.[/INDENT] In other words social sanction is a more powerful motivator than economic incentives.

Now personally, if I received a letter like that from a politician I modestly supported, I’d be strongly tempted to show up and vote against him. ISTM, that while the Cruz campaign is knowledgeable about techniques for manipulating the public, they lack a certain social intelligence. In other words, they are creeps.

Here’s what really irks me about that.

The smart meter data is fact-based. OTOH, saying “Most guests reuse their towels; you should too.” is simply fact-free advertising. They could put up those signs when not 1 in 1000 guests actually re-use towels.

Applying this to politics is going ever deeper into an area where not only are facts rare, but we’re ever more accepting of the idea that there are no facts at all, and that that’s 100% OK.

Is there any evidence the Cruz mailings were actually factual about the neighbors’ voting records, or did they just make up those facts too?

[SlackerInc]

They are made up, which strangely makes them simultaneously more dishonest yet less creepily privacy-invading.

And there’s the denunciation by the Iowa Secretary of State in the Des Moines Register. If I were advising the Rubio campaign, I would move hell and high water to get some sweet old ladies to freak out, calling their kids and grandkids in a panic about their “violation”, and get the attention of Des Moines Register reporters in time to get into the Monday paper.

[septimus]

Robert Reich now shows in my Facebook Newsfeed (I must have clicked Like at the wrong time). I’ll Unfollow him soon, but might as well report his recent comment about Mr Cruz.

[QUOTE=Robert Reich]
It’s important to differentiate two different kinds of anti-government conservative: those who want a smaller government, and those who want to destroy government. The first are principled conservatives. The second are dangerous traitors to the system of governance America depends on.
Ted Cruz is in the second category. Yesterday, Iowa’s secretary of state criticized the Cruz campaign for sending out a mailer to potential Cruz voters disguised as an official document, suggesting they had a legal obligation to show up at Monday’s caucuses. Cruz was unapologetic.
Just as he precipitated the federal government shutdown several years ago, urged House members to go off the “fiscal cliff,” and created such havoc in the Senate that all of his Republican colleagues oppose his candidacy, Cruz’s willingness to undermine our governing system in pursuit of his own goals is unbounded.
Ted Cruz is not a small-government conservative. He is an unprincipled wrecking-ball.
What do you think?
[/QUOTE]

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@SlackerInc

…And there’s the denunciation by the Iowa Secretary of State in the Des Moines Register. If I were advising the Rubio campaign, I would move hell and high water to get some sweet old ladies to freak out, calling their kids and grandkids in a panic about their “violation”, and get the attention of Des Moines Register reporters in time to get into the Monday paper.

That would be very cool.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Cruz’s tour bus got stuck in the mud and had to be towed.

[running_coach]

@Rick_Kitchen

Cruz’s tour bus got stuck in the mud and had to be towed.

Too bad they couldn’t harness his ego.

[elucidator]

Hey, just wanted to pull it out of the mud, not fling it into orbit!

[Elendil_s_Heir]

That’s the orbit of Neptune, by the way.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Rick_Kitchen

The Cruz campaign is sending out mailings to Iowa voters saying they (and their neighbors – and they list the neighbors’ names and voting records) labeled “Voting Violation”, telling them that their voting history is a public record and they need to go out and vote in the caucus to increase their voting score.

The state Secretary of State is angry about it, even though he’s a Republican because, among other things, the mailer mentions the Secretary of State’s office as if it’s an official mailing.

@Locrian

Clearly, this is the most childish thing I could think of any candidate doing. From reading the article, you get a note teasing you saying, “youdidn’tvo-ote, youdidn’tvo-ote”, calling out your close neighbors and then assigning a point system that means absolutely nothing. So he tries his best to shut out voters (poor, democratic christians), now encourages by reverting to a sandbox strategy?

As ridiculous as it is, I’m betting he gets 2nd place on Tuesday. :mad:

Another GOP campaign did broadly the same thing in 2014, but I can’t remember who.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Despite that scummy tactic, looks like Cruz won Iowa: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/politics/iowa-caucuses-republican-speeches/index.html

[eschereal]

@Rick_Kitchen

Cruz’s tour bus got stuck in the mud and had to be towed.

Just a bit over a week ago Ted Cruz was quoted as saying, “I’m not going into the mud …”

[Measure_for_Measure]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Another GOP campaign did broadly the same thing in 2014, but I can’t remember who.

Republican Party of Iowa.

How Ted Cruz used good political science to design a disastrous mailer