Sunday, January 4, 2015

The Long Knives for Cruz

by BobL

So they're saying that Cruz so identified as extreme right wing that he can't win a general election (for president). Well guess what - so was Reagan. I specifically remember that...Reagan was considered so "reactionary" that there was also "no way" he could win the general election...that was the main objection to him, not really what he stood for.
And then I'm in college and a college-aged girl (who otherwise never talked politics) says to me: "I like Reagan because he won't let this country get pushed around". I knew right then that the rest would be history.
It is up to Cruz (and no one else) to present himself properly. If he can, he wins, if not he loses. At this point nothing in the media matters because the election is not today. Reagan was likely 50 to 1 long-shot at this time in 1979 because the media had, effectively, painted him as a total EXTREMIST.
But what people don't understand, or are unwilling to understand (or won't acknowledge) - once you are painted as an "extremist" the only way to go from there is up. Reagan was able to say that his first appointee to the Supreme Court would be a woman...and yet he still kept his base locked-down - he knew they would come out for him, and they did.
As we saw in 2008, a "moderate" cannot do this, because a "moderate" is always fighting to win the base over in the first place. In 2008 McCain, despite being the "perfect moderate", obviously had polling that showed he would get trounced by Obama, simply because the base had no interest in turning out - so he was forced to run with Palin (someone he disagreed with on just about everything, and likely hated too). Once that happened, the media could paint him as extreme and make sure that he didn't win - while much of the base stayed home anyway, because of the top of the ticket.
So look at the difference: Reagan can move from Right to Center (significantly), bring in a new batch of voters, and yet STILL hold his base. McCain is forced to move from Center to Right, allowing the media to paint him as an extremist (thereby pushing much of the squishy center to Obama) and for that he only picks up a small amount of support from the base.
That is how politics works here and also for the Democrats. Obama never campaigned as a left-wing radical because HE DIDN'T HAVE TO. He had his base locked-down, and thus could effectively campaign more in the center...so all the talk about "racial harmony" and "fixing this country", etc. got him a LOT of votes from the squishy center.
So let's not get fooled. Yes, Cruz can blow it, by sounding like a right-wing zealot AFTER getting the Republican nomination, but he's also very smart, and more importantly, he DOES NOT NEED TO MOVE RIGHT, as he's already got his base locked down.

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