WalterCan wrote:
Conservative groups aren't lining up behind Cruz because they think he's the best candidate, but because they think he's the only candidate.
I think a big factor in these endorsements is 2012 when Evangelicals split between Gingrich and Santorum, which helped Romney. They probably decided that they were going to avoid that this time around.
The problem though is that these decisions are coming really early. I'm not convinced that Cruz can close things out in Iowa, and there's still time for another candidate to surge.
Walter, you touch on an important point.
Many of us did not see Cruz' appeal to evangelical leaders as having any strength because, I think, Gov. Huckabee would seem to be the obvious pick of people like Bob Vander Plaats. We were blindsided by the push of certain evangelical leaders to "coalesce" this time--an early argument promoted by Ted Cruz and his father Rafael Cruz, who calls himself a pastor, though he has no church, no congregants, and perhaps no seminary training. This, for starters, is deception that has not been examined by evangelical leaders with any carefulness.
In order to hopefully "unite and conquer" Rafael senior and his son Rafael Theodore "Ted," began implementing their plan going back many years, for him to use the US Senate as a springboard to become President. Rafael often said that his son had been "anointed" of God to become President.
Gov. Huckabee had kindly written the foreword to Vander Plaats book, "If...7:14" and had helped him campaign to become governor of Iowa. Strangely, that has all been placed aside, forgotten. With typical zeal some Cruz fans are now calling the senator "7:14;" that is, they feel he is the embodiment of revival and the answer to the book's authors for a man who can usher in a new day in conservative politics. The "worship" of Cruz by his fanatics ("fans" for short) reminds us of those who first got thrills and chills listening to Obama speak. All reason, even principle, is set aside by a fanatic determination to win with the methods of the world, including not only getting the donor class to back you, but also to mine all our Facebook pages through the use of a partnership with the same psychological campaigning group that Obama used to defeat Romney. Not only is Cruz using that firm, he also is being been endowed by the Cruz campaign with $15 million dollars in donations.
What I find so dangerous to the future of the evangelical movement is that the Family Leader organization and other Christian leaders have so quickly placed their approval and endorsement on one that who is devoid of governing experience, one who has not been fully vetted to see if he is indeed a conservative in all areas. Like Obama, a stunning speech has the ability to sway these leaders. Pastor Rick Warren in 2008 was impressed by Obama, a slick lawyer with oratory skills; others including myself were impressed by Cruz's famous Obamacare filibuster speech. Or at least the length of it, the seeming courage and strength of determination to kill Obamacare. What happened to that? Zero. That ineffectiveness to do more than speak concerns me greatly.
The Bible tells us to be like the Bereans, who were more noble than some of the other congregations, and examined carefully every statement of Paul to see if what he preached was true.
We are seeing, potentially, a repeat of the problem we have in the White House now. This man from the conservative side is like Obama was, lacking experience in true governing, and leaving his post to campaign at taxpayers expense. He can be bought. Cruz is especially weak, it seems, in gaining any sort of broad ability to work across the aisle and to draw leaders to support conservative goals, either fiscally or morally. It is a big zero with this Congress, in pushing back the Obama agenda, even within the Republican Party. There is no coalescing of conservative goals that Cruz has brought, only more division and anger and lack of resolve to defeat Obama and his goals. The deficit has continued to soar at an even faster rate. It is one thing for Republican conservatives to speak; it is another to work together and get something done. The recent disgusting compromise and deal-making with Obama by Republicans agreeing under Paul Ryan, in the middle of the night, to pass the President's Omnibus spending bill of over a trillion dollars shows how very weak Cruz is in actually getting good bills passed. He has been absent, campaigning, when important votes have come up. He knows nothing of bringing people together, particularly of bringing both sides of the aisle to a more conservative point of view, something which Gov. Huckabee mastered in Arkansas to the extent that it is now a red state, while it was one of the bluest before his tenure.
The Family Leader board in Iowa was influenced to believe that Cruz was the man sent from God, not Huckabee, and that because one important pillar of their decision would be financial backing, and because billionaires and banking and legal organizations were funding Cruz, this qualified him over Huckabee. But Mike Huckabee had been meeting with billionaires who saw his abilities and would have funded him fully if he would give up his stubbornness in not compromising "little issues" like defense of life (and opposition to abortion) and traditional marriage. As a man of principle Mike Huckabee knew he could never live with himself or be who he claims to be if he took this funding under those conditions.
We have a few questions for Christian leaders supporting Cruz, "blindly," it seems. Why would you force unanimity at the Family Leader and say it was just individuals endorsing, not the group? Did Cruz agree to lay aside his social conservative views and particularly his strategies going forward, in order to get the money of Wall Street, banking, legal firms, and a psychological campaign firm based in England that helps third world leaders oust their presidents? Why does Cruz follow Huckabee around to steal his ideas without attributing anything to his elder statesman? Why would he crash the event for Kim Davis, planned for days by Huckabee's team, hoping to get on stage as a supporter of religious liberty when he had not lifted a finger for the event?
Ted Cruz is the ultimate opportunist. These are harsh words, but true. They have little to do with my feelings of sympathy for Huckabee, or anger against Cruz personally, but it has more to do with my great disappointment and sorrow for some in the evangelical field. I am concerned that this will further divide us, this campaign to "coalesce" that has been placed upon them.
God alone knows whether this analysis of Cruz is accurate. But the more one watches, for instance, the more serious questions are being raised about just what he would agree to do for his own election. What ground has he already given away for endorsements and funding? What plan could he find, other than compromise with the Democrats, to lead in Washington D. C.? When I watched the video of uptakes from the youtube campaign video, that was made to make his family absolutely glow with love and goodness, I was appalled. He had his s mother crying because she did not want to share painful details of her marriage with Cruz, Sr. His nephew had no good word to say about Uncle Cruz for the camera. His father was getting angry. His cousin had to give another hug that looked more real. His daughters had to try at least seventeen times to correctly follow his ending statement: "My name is Ted Cruz" with their reply, "And we approve of this message." We have to at least pause and wonder.
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