Religion Won't Save Cruz's White House Bid

[cbayer]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/24/religion-won-t-save-cruz-s-white-house-bid.html



Jacob Lupfer

NO SAVIOR
3.24.15

The Texas senator is about to learn that evangelical appeal only takes you so far in the GOP.

Given that Ted Cruz formally announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in the most overtly religious way possible, pollsters, pundits, and the public will quickly begin to speculate about the role of faith in the 2016 GOP nominating contest.

Unfortunately for Cruz, there is little reason to believe that the Republican Party is going to nominate someone who looks and talks like a televangelist. Yet evangelical elites’ stature within the GOP coalition assures that the party will cater to some—though not all—of their priorities.

Cruz announced his candidacy to a packed convocation at Liberty University. Founded by Jerry Falwell, the famed fundamentalist pastor and political operative who died in 2007, the Lynchburg, Virginia, campus is a bastion of cultural conservatism. The optics of Cruz’s speech, which reporters likened to a sermon, were clearly designed to highlight his evangelical bona fides.

Americans, and especially Republican primary voters, will now take a closer look at Cruz.

more at link

[AlinPA]

1. IMO, the bible thumpers are the base constituency of the GOP. His appeal to them, plus his

anti-government teabagger base should put him in a strong position. The tougher he talks, and the uglier his rhetoric the more the GOP base will be attracted to him.

[cbayer]

4. I don't know. The article makes a pretty strong case for the

party insiders never allowing this to happen.

[Thinkingabout]

2. In some ways he is following W's run for the presidency. I am hoping Ted will lose his

seat as senator. He is an embarrassment and if he isn't ashamed of himself there is something wrong with him.

[Wounded Bear]

6. "if he isn't ashamed of himself there is something wrong with him"

My guess is that he isn't and there is.

[Thinkingabout]

7. Something must have gone wrong in his upbringing.

[cbayer]

8. I think even those that elected Bush have some serious misgivings at this point.

There is definitely something wrong with him.

[Thinkingabout]

9. I agree.

[JaneyVee]

3. As Steve King ponders why US Jews vote Democratic...

Reverend Cruz makes his announcement at a 100% Christian college.

[cbayer]

12. At an assembly that has required attendance!

Brilliant!

[UTUSN]

5. Taking "a closer look" at him can go both ways the way Rethug voters choose!1

Sidebar: I saw the Grandpa MUNSTER actor conduct an acting class, interspersing conversation with the student audience with samples of “acting”. It was a little bizarre when the switching back and forth happened. Somebody next to me said, “Actors are strange.” I would add today, “Not so strange as Ted CRUZ!1”

[cbayer]

13. The resemblance is really striking!

Hi there UTUSN! Hope you are doing well and had an easy winter. Welcome to Spring!

[yuiyoshida]

18. More like this...

[Sheepshank]

10. My family just got through watching the Crucible

it was about the Salem Witch hunt, but also allegorical for the McCarthy era Communist hunts.

It was a very very scary reminder of what happens when religion takes over courts and legal and government systems.

I'm of the mind that fundy religious stand will actually hurt Cruz overall. Too many people want religion out of their government and the drive to push it back in by Cruz and Santorum will create a blowback.

[cbayer]

14. That is a movie that merits a rewatching, particularly at this time.

I agree with you and the author that it's going to hurt him, not help him. He will have a loud and enthusiastic backing, but I think many more are sick and tired to this christian fundamentalism invading our government.

[LynneSin]

11. As a Christian myself I won't vote for anyone who doesn't understand...

what Jesus actually did while on earth.

Cruz follows some sort of faith but it has nothing to do with the actual teachings of Jesus Christ. More like Old Testament Sharia Law with Paul Doctorine tossed in to boot.

[cbayer]

15. As someone raised as a christian, I completely agree with you.

I find the hypocrisy startling and it is completely foreign to what I understand about Jesus.

[Initech]

16. Anyone who makes their presidential candidate debut at Liberty University won't win.

Or any of the religious fundamentalist extremist schools founded by televangelists. If we're serious about separation of church and state, let's act like it and not elect someone as extreme as Ted Cruz. When you start mixing politics and extreme religion, there is zero good that comes out of it.

[cbayer]

17. I agree with you and so does the author.

He definitely has a base, but it's at the fringes and is not going to appeal to anyone anywhere near the middle or to the left.