Jazz Shaw at Hot Air sees this and another recent poll as indicators that, as national security moves to the fore among the nation's concerns, there's some shaking-out going on:
This move seems to be turning into a trend rather than a blip. The last CBS poll from Fridayalready had Cruz moving into a very solid second place behind Trump (30 to 21) and the Q-Poll numbers only solidify and continue the same arc.Recent events in Paris and Syria seem to be driving the election cycle for now and that may explain a lot of what we’re seeing. First, it’s worth noting that while Trump is down a bit from two weeks ago, it’s not by much. Almost all of Cruz’s surge seems to have come at the expense of Ben Carson. Looking at national opinion polls regarding America’s view of Barack Obama’s dismal handling of ISIS and national concerns over Syrian refugees, should we really be surprised at who is doing well in Iowa? Trump and Cruz have been two of the strongest advocates for American strength in this crisis who have managed to do so without shooting themselves in the foot constantly. (Sorry, Dr. Carson.)I’ve been waiting quite a while to see a big move by Cruz. His performances at each and every debate have been extremely solid and he’s looked (at least to me) like one of the most consistently presidential figures on the stage. Still, that didn’t seem to resonate with the public as all the attention remained focused on the Trump vs Carson battle. It may have taken a true moment of clear and present danger to the nation for the candidates to get a chance to strut their stuff and lay out their vision for protecting the nation. Cruz seems to have finally caught the attention of at least the Iowa voters in that regard.
I've posted more than once collections of S-H's bombastic outbursts and exhibitions of narcissism. I've also discussed what we can learn about his support base from the comment threads under news stories or opinion pieces about him. (Actually, you can sometimes find such revealing spewings in comment threads under stories that are tangentially, if at all, concerned with him.)
Here's an example from the thread under Shaw's piece:
Cruz is a lying POS.Pro-amnesty.pro-TPP-pro H1B visas.Typical lying politico who talks a great game but is still owned by the donor cronies.Will most definitely stay home next November if he is the nominee because any RINO is a threat to this country’s survival just as uch as a progressive socialist pig.Trump 2016 or nobody!Yes, indeed, now there's someone who knows how to take the full measure of his fellow human being.
I'm going to go a bit out on a limb and assert that this is typical of the Squirrel-Hair enthusiast. The one-note johnny obsession with the single issue of immigration. The obvious ignorance, as demonstrated by the assertion that Cruz, the model of integrity, is a liar. The RINO accusation. (I guess this person was MIA when Cruz stood on the Senate floor and called Mitch McConnell a liar.) The vulgarity (we all know what the "s" in "POS" stands for.)The exclamation point. (I'm surprised nothing was in all caps. That's a standard feature of Trump-bot rantings.)
Something that distresses me a great deal is the clear excitement the S-H phenomenon has sparked among certain talk-show hosts I'd long admired as solid three-pillared conservatives. The worst is Laura Ingraham, who cannot contain her giddiness when sharing his latest poll numbers or rally attendance figures. In her case, at least, I can understand it to some degree, given that she had become a two-note johnny (trade and immigration) prior to the rise of S-H. It's clear that the ponderous tone of her program in the last year (repeating her canned phrases - "middle class Americans seeing stagnant wages," "manufacturing jobs going to China") is a deliberate move to position herself as a populist and not necessarily any longer a conservative. But Rush Limbaugh? If ever there was a public figure who was not reluctant to opine at the drop of a hat, it's El Rushbo. Yet he now devotes much if not most of his broadcasts now to gushing over the S-H phenomenon, always careful to qualify what he's doing with the veneer of objective analysis. Today, he played the Kasich and Jeb commercials that, with some, but not really much, overlap, offer soundbites of the ridiculous utterances of S-H from recent times. Including the one about how Hillionaire has "surrounded herself with some really smart people." Then Rush says, "They can run ads like this if they want to, but they're wasting their money. They think this will encourage Trump supporters to change their minds, as if this kind of talk bothers them."
How about saying that it ought to bother them?
Because it ought to bother them.
The scariest thing about the S-H phenomenon is that it, once again, just as when this country twice elected a problematic-in-the-extreme figure utterly devoid of substance, character or an understanding of America's essence (I'm speaking of the Most Equal Comrade), demonstrates the rot of the nation's character that has set in. Post-America is mortifyingly shallow. We go in for pretty-boy icons who mouth grandiose platitudes, or we go in for wild-man rock stars.
But maybe not ultimately.
Maybe a Constitutional scholar who puts God first, who speaks like a dignified grown-up, who opposes Freedom-Hater-care on every level and has sought to repeal and / or defund it at every opportunity, who understands what a marriage is and isn't, who understands that fossil fuels are the only sensible energy forms for us to focus on, per the verdict of the free market, and, yes, who understands that illegal immigration erodes the rule of law, national sovereignty, economic opportunity, and American culture, is what we're gravitating toward after all.
Ted Cruz is clearly the best candidate that the GOP could nominate for president. A couple of others would be pretty good. A couple more would still be preferable to Hillionaire. Squirrel-Hair is in none of those categories.
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