Ted Cruz presidential race 2016: Whose worst nightmare?
Some conservative leaders reportedly are urging Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to run for president in 2016. That could be a nightmare for either Democrats, other Republicans, or even Cruz himself.
(Page 2 of 2)
“Those on the right who attack and assail them for daring to fight for their beliefs while in the Gomorrah that is our nation’s capital are the problem,” writes Erickson.
Skip to next paragraph
Washington Editor
Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.
Recent posts
-
05.01.13
Ted Cruz presidential race 2016: Whose worst nightmare? -
05.01.13
Gun control forces take fight to New Hampshire, Sen. Kelly Ayotte -
05.01.13
Paul Ryan gay adoption: Is his support a big deal? -
04.30.13
Ron Paul slams Boston police. Has he gone too far? -
04.30.13
Did Mark Sanford blow his last best chance to win votes in House race?
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Other Republicans'
See above. The rest of the GOP might groan if Cruz entered the race. He’d certainly be a foil for Chris Christie – can’t you already see them shouting at each other over whether the New Jersey governor should have praised President Obama’s efforts in the wake of superstorm Sandy? And Cruz would compete with Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, and probably others for the role of chief conservative contender. Immigration, an issue on which Cruz is to the right of Rubio, would become even more important.
“How excited do you think establishment Republicans will be after all the post-2012 wooing of Latino voters to see the primaries turn into a referendum on whether the party betrayed conservatism by supporting a path to citizenship?” writes Allapundit today on the conservative site Hot Air!.
His own
It’s also possible that Cruz could be the Rick Perry of 2016 – a candidate who crashes and burns due to his own words. And we don’t just mean calling lawmakers “squishes.” Cruz’s unsubstantiated charges against then-Senator Hagel drew an angry response from GOP Sen. John McCain, even though Senator McCain opposed Hagel’s Pentagon nomination as well.
And Cruz in the past has embraced lots of “conspiracy theories” that now may come back to haunt him, writes Ian Millhiser at the liberal site Think Progress. According to Millhiser, these include charges that communists have infiltrated Harvard Law School (which Cruz attended), that Islamic law threatens the US, and that George Soros has led an international conspiracy to abolish golf.
“If Cruz runs, he would give voice to the conspiracy-minded John Birch Society wing of the Republican Party that the National Review’s founder [William F. Buckley Jr.] fought so hard to purge several decades ago,” writes Millhiser.
RECOMMENDED: 14 Republicans who might run in 2016
Previous
Follow Us