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2016 Republican presidential primary, 2016 RNC convention, Glenn Beck, Nebraska, Primaries, Ted Cruz, West Virginia
“It’s important that this not appear as though we are pulling a stunt at this convention” Ken Cuccinelli to the New York Times “This is about protecting movement conservatism.”
Actually, it has nothing to do with conservatism, everything to do with winning since the voters has spoken, and Ted Cruz having suspended his campaign one week ago while in the process of siphoning off delegates is talking about unsuspending his campaign.
The Cruz crew working behind the scenes with the Senator from Texas holding on to his delegates through this summer’s Republican Party Convention this July in Cleveland, Ohio is moving to commandeer the RNC platform thereby wrestling the presidential nomination from the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.
The latest Ted Cruz talking point is that if the senator from Texas wins the Nebraska GOP primary today, he will jump back in.
What shall we deduce from said statement? Ted Cruz only appeared to suspend his campaign, something that will please Cruz supporters…only? (Lyin’ Ted Cruz?)
The Hill by Ben Kamisar
Ted Cruz floated the possibility of restarting his presidential campaign if he wins Nebraska’s GOP primary on Tuesday and avoided saying whether he supports Donald Trump‘s bid for president.
Cruz, who suspended his White House run last week, said he does not expect to win Nebraska’s primary but is leaving the door open.
‘We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory,’ he said Tuesday on conservative host Glenn Beck’s radio program.
‘If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly.’
Cruz demurred on supporting Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, because the Republican National Convention and general election are still months away.
‘This is a choice every voter is going to have to make. I would note, it’s not a choice we as voters have to make today,’ Cruz said when asked about supporting Trump. …
It is not about the voters. The voters have spoken. Cruz was obviously smarting from his exchange with Trump supporters last week; a nightmarish two weeks followed by his loss in Indiana but having regrouped its business as usual.
Now about stacking the deck against Donald Trump.
New York Times by Jonathan Martin
Senator Ted Cruz’s supporters are mounting an effort to seize control of the Republican platform and the rules governing the party’s July convention, the first indication that Mr. Cruz will not simply hand his delegates over to Donald J. Trump.
In an email sent Sunday to pro-Cruz convention delegates, a top aide to the Texas senator wrote that it was “still possible to advance a conservative agenda at the convention.”
“To do that, it is imperative that we fill the Rules and Platform Committees with strong conservative voices like yours,” wrote Ken Cuccinelli, who was the campaign’s former delegate wrangler and a former attorney general of Virginia. “That means you need to come to the national convention and support others in coming, too!”
Mr. Cruz is planning a Monday evening conference call where, as Mr. Cuccinelli writes, Mr. Cruz’s former officials plan to “discuss what we can do at the convention to protect against liberal changes to our platform, and how we can right the wrongs in the rules from 2012!”
The “wrongs” Mr. Cuccinelli was referring to are the changes pushed through at the last convention by supporters of Mitt Romney that would have made it harder for a candidate’s name to be placed in nomination.
But Mr. Cruz’s supporters and other conservative activists are also deeply concerned about Mr. Trump’s general election agenda, and want to ensure that he does not alter the party’s platform. Since locking up the nomination last week, Mr. Trump has made clear he intends to run a populist campaign against Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, indicating he is open to higher taxes and an increase in the minimum wage.
The party’s convention rules and policy platform are determined every four years by temporary committees comprised of a select group of convention delegates. The rules and platform are then ratified or rejected by all the delegates at the convention.
With the assumption that the party’s nomination would not be decided on the first convention ballot, Mr. Cruz spent considerable time this spring electing delegates favorable to him to the July convention in Cleveland. So while he is out of the race, many of his supporters will still be delegates. And while many convention delegates are bound to support Mr. Trump on the first ballot, they are free to vote their conscience on matters relating to convention rules and the platform. …
Except that Cruz is not out of the race. He merely put forth the illusion of same.
… The email, which carries the “Cruz-Fiorina” logo, was forwarded to The New York Times by a convention delegate.
Reached by telephone, Mr. Cuccinelli authenticated the message. As for Mr. Trump’s rhetorical shifts in recent days, he said, “nothing I’ve seen since a week ago has been surprising to me.”
But Mr. Cuccinelli said Mr. Cruz, who has been silent since withdrawing from the race last Tuesday, had no intention of trying to rewrite convention rules in an effort to deny Mr. Trump the nomination….
Beck has obviously refilled his meds over the weekend. Below is this morning’s exchange between Glenn Beck and Ted Cruz.
No coincidence that Beck interviews Cruz on the morning of the Nebraska primary.
What about last week’s televised press conference where Cruz announced that he was suspending his campaign? Oh, that….which pretty much means that everything that has occurred since within the Republican Party can be chalked up to nothing more than a distraction and an opportunity for Ted Cruz to catch his breath while continuing to work behind the scene.
While dismissing his behavior and that of the #NeverTrumpsters these past months, Beck on today’s radio program (audio at bottom of post),Beck accused the GOP of using Alinskyite tactics (which they are but they’re not alone) against conservatives.
Interestingly enough, while sharing his newfound revelations, Beck mentioned that Rience Priebus was in negotiations with someone at Mercury in the hopes of meeting with Beck and scheduling an on-air interview. However, since Cruz suspended his campaign, Priebus backtracked and is no longer taking or returning calls from Beck’s people.
Teachable moment: While Beck never mentions it, it does seem that he was burned by his establishment collaborators.
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