BAYHAM: Choose Cruz

While attending the Republican National Convention in San Diego  in 1996 I had heard some chatter about Justice Antonin Scalia leaving the nation’s highest court to either be named the GOP presidential nominee in the event Bob Dole recognized the futility of his candidacy or perhaps joining the Kansas senator on the ticket as his running mate.

Former Speaker John Boehner admitted pushing for a Dole-Scalia ticket after the constitutional originalist passed away.

I had mixed feelings about the move.  While an electrifying pick, Scalia’s departure from the court would remove one of the most brilliant legal minds from the Supreme Court and thus creating a vacancy that would be filled by liberal jurist appointed by a re-elected Bill Clinton, making the gambit a double loss.

However there was one point in which I had no doubt: Scalia would have been an outstanding president and the only Republican in the same zip code of Ronald Reagan in terms of governing with steadfast conservative principles.

While we will not have that Scalia Administration, there is the prospect of the next best thing: a Cruz Administration.

The Princeton/Harvard Law educated Ted Cruz worked alongside Scalia while clerking for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Cruz is the only candidate remaining in the race for the Republican presidential nomination who has a consistently conservative record, from social issues to repealing ObamaCare to combating  illegal immigration.

In stark contrast, Marco Rubio, whose association with the Gang of Eight’s proposed immigration legislation and open-ended comments about a postponed amnesty for illegal aliens, has no credibility on illegal immigration.

Rubio has come off as juvenile, lazy, and unprepared in some of the later debates.  Though some people find his youthful and energetic candidacy appealing, Rubio seems to lack substance.  And I could see a Rubio-Clinton debate working out as well as the Lazio-Clinton debate of 2000.

Cruz is undoubtedly the only realistic alternative to the nomination of Donald Trump, who might be the only Republican presidential candidate to have staked out more contrasting positions on social issues than Mitt Romney.

The reality is that Donald Trump is unelectable.  Barry Goldwater unelectable.

The head to head polls against Hillary Clinton point to a “yuge” defeat in the general election.

The billionaire’s nomination will fire up the political Left while at the same time too many Republicans are declaring #NeverTrump.

While such declaratory posing might be applauded by the media, it is a troubling trend that too many Republicans will sit out November.  And when considering the close margins of George W. Bush’s two wins, the GOP has little margin for error.

Cruz is not a perfect candidate.  His jokes tend to fall flat like Fozzie Bear’s.  His tone can be grating.  And he desperately needs to find a way to broaden his appeal.  Cruz also repeats his talking points ad nauseam without scoring any traction.  Those are stylistic issues that can be refined before the general election.

That said, Cruz has defeated Trump four times, the most of any rival – five if you count his placing ahead of Trump in Minnesota.

And Cruz is the only candidate Trump supporters would potentially find acceptable to their man- not counting those caught up in the personality cult.

Cruz can be trusted on the border.  He can be trusted on appointing solidly conservative judicial nominees. And he can be trusted on tackling America’s accelerating debt problem.

And most importantly, Cruz can be trusted to wage an aggressive fight in the general election- something that had been utterly lacking in our last two presidential nominees.

Ted Cruz is not the next Ronald Reagan; he might lead to the Scalia Administration that some Republican politicos tried to engineer twenty years ago.

Don’t Waste Your Vote on Rubio in Louisiana

It should be noted that Rubio is no longer playing in Louisiana, cancelling his Baton Rouge appearance and abandoning the Bayou State and Kentucky to spend time in Kansas.  As Rubio is polling significantly below the 20% threshold to qualify for delegates, a vote for Marco is a vote for uncommitted delegates and/or a greater share of delegates for Trump in Louisiana.

If you are serious about limiting Trump’s delegate take in Louisiana, you should vote for Ted Cruz in Saturday’s presidential primary.

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