OT: An Important Message from Ted Cruz

Elmer Gantry reincarnate.

He's the con man Rubio should be after.

But you know what we're going to get... the GOP will figure out how to finagle the convention and put up another g.. damn establishment type candidate and Hillary will win and finish the job of trashing the United States that Obama started.

But that's what happens in a country when you have an electorate with an education ranking of about #23 in the world, and in free fall, clutching a "smart" phone in their permanently deformed hands. ...Jim Thompson

"On publication in 1927, Elmer Gantry created a public furor. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from pulpits across the United States.[4] One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author."

Yep, as my mom always used to say: "You know when people get really angry when you write words that aren't patently offensive, you've probably hit paydirt."

Because if Elmer Gantry was just wack-out lunatic nonsense, normal people would just chuckle and say "Wow, what a lunatic" and go about their business

You shouldn't run down your education system. You should pay your teachers better. Rote learning forces up the scores in many countries. The end result though is frozen people who can't go and "do". I have to say though that there is a curious interaction when bright young people from that kind of country e nd up in super active "can do" US universities. They will often excel ther e. They bring the self discipline to learn the "hard parts" while still hav ing the mental flexibility at 18 or so to transition from a rigid frozen "n o do" mental state to an active mental state.

Actually, what's going wrong with the United States is rising income inequa lity, and that started under Reagan. Some income inequality is fine - the G ini index in the Scandinavian countries is 0.25, rather than zero, but anyt hing much over 0.3 is bad news, and the US is now at 0.45, worse than Russi a at 0.42, but marginally better China at 0.47.

Obama has pointed out that this is a problem, but the Republican-dominated Congress doesn't see it that way.

Bernie Sanders does talk about investing more in education, which is where Scandinavia and Germany put a lot of the money they get by collecting more of the GDP in taxes, but no Republican is going to waste money on educating the masses when it means that they will be less likely to vote Republican.

Jim, you've got this one wrong. Rubio is the one who ran against Charlie Crist in FL promising to oppose Crist's amnesty leanings, then joined the S.744 Gang-of-Eight amnesty.

I read that bill and opposed it. Among other things, it made lots of aliens eligible for Obamacare subsidy, even as the sponsors insisted it didn't.

Cruz is the one who stopped that bill by rather a few brilliant moves exposing it, then pressing his case in the House.

The Establishment wants amnesty; that episode is just one of the reasons McConnell hates Cruz.

Rubio, deflecting, now says Cruz *supported* S.744. A flat-out lie.

I've followed both men intently since before they were elected. Supported both. Cruz has always done exactly what he said he would, Rubio has not.

Rubio's slicker, but Cruz does what he says.

Cheers, James Arthur

Interesting! I certainly don't consider Rubio "slicker"... he strikes me as a little school-boy robotic spouter, unable to fabricate even one sentence without rehearsal But Cruz always makes me feel like he's a little slippery with the truth. ...Jim Thompson

Rubio's eloquent, and it's not forced. But he seems to do it from convenience at times, rather than conviction. And then he does the other thing.

Yep, he clerked before the Supreme Court, won cases arguing before it as Texas' Solicitor General. Sometimes that trips my automatic laywer- suspector circuit too. But that's delivery only, a question of style. I've found in each case his substance has always been solid as a rock.

Whatever goes on in public, Senators are supposed to be able to bank on one another's honor when one gives another his word. The institution depends on it. McConnell faked Cruz into voting for something based, on a McConnell promise. Cruz called McConnell out on the Senate floor(!), something which is simply not done.

That guy has guts.

Cheers, James Arthur

Hi James, Can I ask you if you will be able to vote for Trump if he is the nominee? I feel I could hold my nose and vote for Hillary, but with Bernie .... I might be looking at some other third party candidate. Libertarian or whatever... kinda a "none of the above" vote. (I guess Gus Hall is not on the ballot :^)

I know you really like Cruz.

George H.

Good Gawd! A vote for a Democrat is a vote to finalize destruction of the country.

Besides... the Democrat nominee is going to be Biden... did you not take note of DOJ giving immunity...

The way I see it... a day before the Democrat convention Obama drops the bomb... Hillary is indicted (there's still bad blood between the Clinton's and Obama)... Biden is nominated by acclamation... without spending a dime to run in the primaries ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Hi Jim, I guess I figure the country will survive no matter whom is elected. If there was someone more moderate on the GOP side... say Romney again. Then I'd consider that.

I think it's a lot harder for those sort of things to happen these days... though it's fun to think about.

George H.

Reagan wasn't the first actor to become president. They *all* were.

I am the opposite. I could hold my nose and vote for Hillary, but would have no trouble voting for Bernie. But here is a tidbit I found about Trump just now. I was looking up Reagan and found this.

On Sunday, CNN host Jake Tapper asked the current GOP frontrunner if he?d disavow the support of racist groups like the Klan and one of its former leaders, David Duke, who recently threw his support behind the Donald. Rather than just flatly reject the endorsement from Duke, the well-known former face of the Klan, Trump claimed ignorance.

?I don?t know anything about David Duke, OK?? Trump said on the show ?State of the Union.? ?I don?t know anything about what you?re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don?t know.?

(It?s worth noting that this was either a lie or he?s forgetful: Trump ended a brief 2000 Reform Party bid for president, in part, by disparaging Duke, calling him ?not the company I wish to keep.?)

My GOD! If Trump knows nothing about the KKK or white supremacists... what *does* he know about? Obviously he was pretending as an expedient. Would he pull that move with other governments? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with (fill in the blank)".

On Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 10:28:39 AM UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote :

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He wasn't arguing before the Supreme Court, he was fabricating justificatio ns for the delusional conservative trash, like Scalia, to use in their favo rable rulings. You have the mentality of a two year old if you don't know h ow that works, it's more important to study the history and psyche of the j udge than the law, child.

That so-called brilliance will pass once he finally reaches puberty...

You're demented.

To be clear, I size these guys up the same way I choose a MOSFET for a design, sizing up the parameters, etc. It's not love or loyalty that guides me, it's not a football game and I'm not rooting for anyone from personal attachment; if I thought Marco were better, I'd vote for Marco.

So it's not that I personally like Cruz, it's that he's been steady as a rock, on the right side in word and deed, forever, even when severely tested.

Rubio says the right things but went polar opposite on a key issue, denies it, and now tries to blame the guy who stopped him--Cruz. Unacceptable on all counts. If you have a change of heart say so and explain it. That's possibly okay, but don't rationalize, don't deny it, and never lie about it.

Trump, ohhh, Trump. He's been on the wrong side of everything until ten minutes ago, and now he's a convert. Maybe he is, maybe not, but IMO when voting for President you need to be sure.

Trump's for ethanol, one of the worst examples of government favoring an industry at everyone else's expense. (And, I might add, just a few weeks after signing a questionnaire saying he'd oppose it.) If he's recently seen the light, this doesn't show that he 'gets' it.

Trump's right on some issues depending which day of the week it is. Trump could throw a few badly-needed patches on a few rotten floorboards that need patching, like repatriating foreign profits, simplifying taxes, and enforcing immigration law, all of which could be tremendous(tm).

I don't think he's serious about half the wilder stuff he throws out. He could do a lot of good. But to me he's still a mostly big-government guy, an unknown quantity, protectionist--would start a Smoot-Hawley trade war--a crony-government guy, and not aimed at the nation's most fundamental issue: the feds are in too many things, trying to micromanage things they were never meant to, and are fundamentally, inherently unable to ever competently control.

They're screwing things up.

I don't want someone to better manage me. We've got too much management. Ordinary people, with great ideas, can't act on them. We're at a place where you can't start a daycare, or sell cakes and cookies to your neighbors, do laundry, start a taxi service or a beauty salon, or be a handyman, without a raft of formal licenses, forms, EPA inspection, and unobtainable permissions.

When every American who wants to can start a business, of whatever kind, can act on their dreams without legions of lawyers and CPAs and stuffy mucky-mucks' permission, that's when we blossom again.

Trump promises to be right about everything but I don't believe him. Hillary promises to be wrong about everything, and I don't believe her.

I respect Bernie as true to his heart, even though he's economically disastrous and misinformed. Hillary's as low as they come, plus she's wrong on theory, too.

I would probably vote for Trump as better than Hillary. But I hope not to be put in that position.

Cheers, James Arthur

good thing I don't have to vote, there doesn't seem to be any good choices

Trump says the things people want to hear but really has no ideas what he wants to do, saying things that no one really believes will happen and letting the other guys bury themselves with stupidity seems to have worked so far

Bernie is far too socialist and anything he intends to do will be blocked on principle

Clinton is the evil witch representing goldman sachs, but people seems to think all that matter is that she is women and not electing her would be misogynistic

Cruz is the crazy level religious fanatic that thinks the separation of church and state is a bad idea

-Lasse

Whatever goes on in public, Senators are supposed to be able to bank on one

That is what we hear every two years and loudest every four. But this time really does take the cake.

I really can't see how so many people can believe Trump is anything but a showman, like Barnum and Baily. He makes his own circus. I saw a video clip where Trump is introduced by Cristy and then Trump (only slightly off mike) says, "You can get on the plane and go home now, it's over there."

I am worried about that too, but if Obama could get the ACA through, then I think Bernie can continue to improve on the important things. I worry about what being president might do to him though. I never though Obama would turn out to be so war happy.

Who are those people? I haven't met one.

Has he said this in any but a pandering manner?

That's not right, you don't know much about this country:

The obstructionist Republicans in Congress are all heading for the unemployment lines as it is- this will only accelerate when Sanders is President.

Small differences in the parties can still have big consequences, the Democrats must stay in the White House.

I would vote for Bernie , and would never vote for Hillary. If Bernie is elected , he will not be able to get much of his program enacted. And I think he will accept that, but still move the government in the right direction.

I do not think Hillary accomplished anything as Secretary of State. Or in the Senate. And she is unprincipled. Creating a private email server to avoid having her email from being made public, ought to get her indicted.

Trump ................. Can not stand him. Having Trump and Hillary as the candidates is the worst of all possible worlds.

Dan