Here's why. We do not know the kind of pressure the Leftist RNC has put on Cruz, whether it's threats to his political career or his extended family.
Remember folks, these are Marxists we're dealing with, the very people that still allows the dims to use the IRS to target Conservatives.
We hear that his backers are upset with his speech at the convention, I say bull shit, I believe his backers are feeling the heat from the leftists as well, with subtle threats of audits, or God knows what.

Look at it from this perspective, these donors stuck with Cruz because he is a Conservative, and suddenly they're upset because he stood on principle? What's wrong with this picture folks?
I'll tell ya, Cruz is thinking of others more than himself, he recognizes the enemy for what it is, and it's our very own party, so if anything this should give one yet more resolve to stand our ground and fight for what we believe in, and not this single individual.
I'll still support Cruz, and I will not compromise my values, but put yourself in his place, what's more important, your principles or your family?
He chose family.

Absolutely.  For me its definitely a wait and see what he does next.  With reports of the Trump mob threatening delegates and the way 'they' handed Trump the nomination without a roll call, I don't doubt things got a bit uncomfortable for Ted.

Also, I still believe his main objective is saving the Constitution ... they only way to ensure that is IF the SCOTUS is tilted to the right.  He also needs to look ahead to 2018 and 2020 ... if he's re-elected to the Senate in 2018 and amnesty is held back ... he will be our president in 2020.  I have absolutely no doubt.

Quote from: Ms.Independence on September 26, 2016, 09:45:03 AM
Absolutely.  For me its definitely a wait and see what he does next.  With reports of the Trump mob threatening delegates and the way 'they' handed Trump the nomination without a roll call, I don't doubt things got a bit uncomfortable for Ted.

Also, I still believe his main objective is saving the Constitution ... they only way to ensure that is IF the SCOTUS is tilted to the right.  He also needs to look ahead to 2018 and 2020 ... if he's re-elected to the Senate in 2018 and amnesty is held back ... he will be our president in 2020.  I have absolutely no doubt.

Exactly! The GOP has proven they are out to destroy Conservatives in the party, so it's kind of a given as to what kind of pressure they're putting on Cruz.

Quote from: Solar on September 26, 2016, 10:04:49 AM
Exactly! The GOP has proven they are out to destroy Conservatives in the party, so it's kind of a given as to what kind of pressure they're putting on Cruz.

In the same light; McCain, McConnell, Boehner, Rubio, et al, have all caved and that is exactly what most of us don't like about them; their pandering to the left.  No doubt about it from most everyone's perspective the man whom we thought would never cave, did just that. However, Trump has been in this all along to hand the oval office to Hillary.  Cruz knows it.  He endorses Trump, he looks good if Trump wins and he won't be blamed if Hillary wins. He will receive big donor money for 2018 and 2020 (provided the country makes it that long).

I'm done with Ted Cruz. It was a very bad investment for me so now it's time to drop him like a heroin habit.

It was a very sad day when Ted said he caved because this election is a "binary choice". That's it. That's friggin it...! A man of his stature and that's what pushed him over the edge. A "binary choice". He's picking the lesser of two evils. That's what he has become.

http://therightscoop.com/ive-never-been-never-trump-ted-cruz-at-texas-forum/

Then he comes out and states he "rented" his list of donors to Trump because everyone does it. Gezzzz friggin thank you Ted Cruz. No wonder Trump thinks i'm his personal piggy bank and best friend. I donated to Ted Cruz so he can "rent" me out to the bastard liberal Donald friggin Trump. Thank you Ted Cruz, thank you very much you, never mind.

http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/09/26/pre-endorsement-ted-cruz-found-way-benefit-trump/

I labeled him enough for the last two days. I'm done with that and done with him. My voting plans have now changed. No more writing in Ted Cruz. I will skip the box for president and go down to the senate and house and so on.

IMO...if it's okay to vote for a liberal democrat in this election than it's okay to vote for them all the time. I have no "binary choice" Ted Cruz. While you go on and help them elect a liberal democrat I will do my best to elect Constitutional Conservatives. That's the difference between me and you Ted Cruz. I stand by my principles and I will vote my conscience.

Ciao
Pissed off Bronx....!

Quote from: Solar on September 26, 2016, 09:31:37 AM
Here's why. We do not know the kind of pressure the Leftist RNC has put on Cruz, whether it's threats to his political career or his extended family.
Remember folks, these are Marxists we're dealing with, the very people that still allows the dims to use the IRS to target Conservatives.
We hear that his backers are upset with his speech at the convention, I say bull shit, I believe his backers are feeling the heat from the leftists as well, with subtle threats of audits, or God knows what.

Look at it from this perspective, these donors stuck with Cruz because he is a Conservative, and suddenly they're upset because he stood on principle? What's wrong with this picture folks?
I'll tell ya, Cruz is thinking of others more than himself, he recognizes the enemy for what it is, and it's our very own party, so if anything this should give one yet more resolve to stand our ground and fight for what we believe in, and not this single individual.
I'll still support Cruz, and I will not compromise my values, but put yourself in his place, what's more important, your principles or your family?
He chose family.

I will continue to support Cruz for hopefully 2020. I do not see anymore conservatives who has the knowledge and moxie that Cruz has.

Quote from: Solar on September 26, 2016, 09:31:37 AM
Here's why. We do not know the kind of pressure the Leftist RNC has put on Cruz, whether it's threats to his political career or his extended family.
Remember folks, these are Marxists we're dealing with, the very people that still allows the dims to use the IRS to target Conservatives.
We hear that his backers are upset with his speech at the convention, I say bull shit, I believe his backers are feeling the heat from the leftists as well, with subtle threats of audits, or God knows what.

Look at it from this perspective, these donors stuck with Cruz because he is a Conservative, and suddenly they're upset because he stood on principle? What's wrong with this picture folks?
I'll tell ya, Cruz is thinking of others more than himself, he recognizes the enemy for what it is, and it's our very own party, so if anything this should give one yet more resolve to stand our ground and fight for what we believe in, and not this single individual.
I'll still support Cruz, and I will not compromise my values, but put yourself in his place, what's more important, your principles or your family?
He chose family.

I would have given him the benefit of the doubt had he been honest about WHY he was now backing trump, he is now touting the same tired line the rest of the GOP is touting..
Its a Binary Choice, one or the other.. Bullcrap when the GOP had been saying it and now Bullcrap as Cruz says it.


I am not who I am without my principals, those do not bend and sway in the wind and I would not have the respect of my family if they did. The only thing Cruz has shown here is that first and foremost he is a Politician, he made a calculated decision to save his career, I don't fault him for it, we are after all human, but I do expect him to own it.

Quote from: Bronx on September 26, 2016, 11:04:57 AM
I'm done with Ted Cruz. It was a very bad investment for me so now it's time to drop him like a heroin habit.

It was a very sad day when Ted said he caved because this election is a "binary choice". That's it. That's friggin it...! A man of his stature and that's what pushed him over the edge. A "binary choice". He's picking the lesser of two evils. That's what he has become.

http://therightscoop.com/ive-never-been-never-trump-ted-cruz-at-texas-forum/

Then he comes out and states he "rented" his list of donors to Trump because everyone does it. Gezzzz friggin thank you Ted Cruz. No wonder Trump thinks i'm his personal piggy bank and best friend. I donated to Ted Cruz so he can "rent" me out to the bastard liberal Donald friggin Trump. Thank you Ted Cruz, thank you very much you, never mind.

http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/09/26/pre-endorsement-ted-cruz-found-way-benefit-trump/

I labeled him enough for the last two days. I'm done with that and done with him. My voting plans have now changed. No more writing in Ted Cruz. I will skip the box for president and go down to the senate and house and so on.

IMO...if it's okay to vote for a liberal democrat in this election than it's okay to vote for them all the time. I have no "binary choice" Ted Cruz. While you go on and help them elect a liberal democrat I will do my best to elect Constitutional Conservatives. That's the difference between me and you Ted Cruz. I stand by my principles and I will vote my conscience.

Ciao
Pissed off Bronx....!

Well said!!

Quote from: AmericanMom on September 26, 2016, 01:45:52 PM
I would have given him the benefit of the doubt had he been honest about WHY he was now backing trump, he is now touting the same tired line the rest of the GOP is touting..
Its a Binary Choice, one or the other.. Bullcrap when the GOP had been saying it and now Bullcrap as Cruz says it.


I am not who I am without my principals, those do not bend and sway in the wind and I would not have the respect of my family if they did. The only thing Cruz has shown here is that first and foremost he is a Politician, he made a calculated decision to save his career, I don't fault him for it, we are after all human, but I do expect him to own it.

I'd say I'm with you on this one as well.  Who is to say there were any physical threats.  That's conjecture at this point.  I will say that I understand his position but I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger on forgiveness at this time.  At 46 days or so out why not just tone it down and not say anything?  It's not like his supporters were clamoring for him to endorse Trump.  I stand by my 1st assessment that the threat Priebus made to preclude him from ever running again at least as a Republican, hit home and he caved.  That or he got a better offer from Trump maybe for the SC.  On that, I'd be more wary since Trump's promises mean zero. Not so sure about writing the name in either.  Bronx's idea of just skipping the presidential vote is something I'll have to decide. I will also say this.  Like many, I'll have a hard time taking him at his word here on out. Not saying I reject him outright forever but more leery of trusting him after what Trump did to him and his wife, what he himself said and after that we get this...an endorsement of this asswipe. Sorry Ted but you did yourself more harm than good IMHO.

Let's see ...Trump comes out and smears his wife and family; Cruz fires back at the convention, the crowd boos him and his wife is hurried away to a safer location and Cruz is not allowed back into the holding room. Meanwhile he is criticized for not adhering to his original promise to support the GOP nominee and is also criticized for telling people to vote their conscience. Meanwhile his big donors begin to pull away. Next, Greg Abbot (supposed long time friend) governor of TX tells Cruz that he needs to get on board and Castro (D), McCaul (R) and Perry (R) are already threatening his seat. 

Trump threatened Cruz and and told him he would create Super Pacs and spend millions against him for not endorsing him.

Priebus came out and vowed to punish those who didn't support the GOP nominee.

As this is all happening he meets with Pence; and Pence asks him what is it going to take to get Cruz on board (obviously they need Cruz and his supporters) and Cruz tells them he needs assurance as to the SCOTUS justice.  Trump camp complies; Cruz comes out and states he's going to support Trump in order to stop Hillary and in hopes to secure justice appointments in line with Scalia and to keep the commitment he made to endorse the GOP nominee ... now people are angry because he kept his word on that.

Got it.  All in the day of politics ...but hey at least these threats against Cruz are out in the open ... who knows what else has been thrown at him lately.  My hunch is it probably goes a lot deeper than this.

Unfortunately for Cruz he had a choice ... walk away from everything he's worked for (as 2018 and 2020 would be nearly impossible without big donor funding) or endorse Trump in an attempt to stop Hillary along with a minute chance at saving his Senate seat and maybe running for POTUS again.

Im still not voting for Trump

Quote from: Ms.Independence on September 26, 2016, 04:58:14 PM
Let's see ...Trump comes out and smears his wife and family; Cruz fires back at the convention, the crowd boos him and his wife is hurried away to a safer location and Cruz is not allowed back into the holding room. Meanwhile he is criticized for not adhering to his original promise to support the GOP nominee and is also criticized for telling people to vote their conscience. Meanwhile his big donors begin to pull away. Next, Greg Abbot (supposed long time friend) governor of TX tells Cruz that he needs to get on board and Castro (D), McCaul (R) and Perry (R) are already threatening his seat. 

Trump threatened Cruz and and told him he would create Super Pacs and spend millions against him for not endorsing him.

Priebus came out and vowed to punish those who didn't support the GOP nominee.

As this is all happening he meets with Pence; and Pence asks him what is it going to take to get Cruz on board (obviously they need Cruz and his supporters) and Cruz tells them he needs assurance as to the SCOTUS justice.  Trump camp complies; Cruz comes out and states he's going to support Trump in order to stop Hillary and in hopes to secure justice appointments in line with Scalia and to keep the commitment he made to endorse the GOP nominee ... now people are angry because he kept his word on that.

Got it.  All in the day of politics ...but hey at least these threats against Cruz are out in the open ... who knows what else has been thrown at him lately.  My hunch is it probably goes a lot deeper than this.

Unfortunately for Cruz he had a choice ... walk away from everything he's worked for (as 2018 and 2020 would be nearly impossible without big donor funding) or endorse Trump in an attempt to stop Hillary along with a minute chance at saving his Senate seat and maybe running for POTUS again.

Very well said.

Hopefully all  the emotion has died down enough to think this through without Glenn Beck's insane input - equating David Duke to Ted Cruz...

Consider the options Ted Cruz actually had.

1.  Endorse Trump at the convention.  Bad idea, IMO, all those who abandoned the 2nd most conservative Senator... ahem, would have abandoned him sooner, and possibly people such as myself, "Why did he just roll over after all the CRAP, Donald just dished his way!?".  He got absolutely NOTHING for his endorsement, and so we all lost 2x...  Timing was really poor, Ted needed to demonstrate to Donald, he's not gonna be bullied.

2. Endorse Trump in late October.  Bad idea, IMO, absolutely nobody has anything to gain, except maybe Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and whoever has him as a whipping boy an extra month.  Trump gains the fewest from Ted, and Ted still gets nothing.  "Nothing" meaning, advancing the Constitutional Conservative cause.

Should Donald win, he still would have Ted as an adversary in the Senate, and both are pretty big mouths - neither one would have had the time to "make nice" if Ted waited much longer, or if Ted didn't LEVERAGE his support.  This is the only advantage Ted Cruz has left, Donald NEEDS Ted to get over the "top", Statesman Ted Cruz sees the opportunity to box Donald into a Conservative SCOTUS corner...  So who actually "gave in"...?    The "deal" was made with Mike Pence, and a really interesting alliance might be forming, thanks to Pence.

3. Endorse Trump mid-way, let Pence broker the deal, and emphasize the SCOTUS pick (Mike Lee) as the top-of-the-list, come out and say, these are our ONLY choices (a Cruz demand), and let Donald work on uniting the party... ie., get Ted Cruz off-the-radar and focus on Hillary.  Sean Hannity was running out of breath trying to shame Ted, but, everyone KNEW, without Ted's backing it was game-over.  Donald doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to suddenly start apologizing.  Why not make-a-deal, put this to bed, via Pence, "Mike, go see if there's something we can offer Ted to get him onboard."

It was critical the deal was struck BEFORE the debates, otherwise, the war-on-two-fronts would have just festered and gotten worse.  They both brought closure, and Donald admitted, he really valued Ted Cruz's endorsement - a 180 degree switch.   Mitch McConnel's days might be numbered, he's been making backroom deals with the Democrats - if Cruz and Pence get "chummy" and sync up on policy initiatives, guess who becomes Trump's whipping boy... Mitch.  (would that be on Pay TV?)

I don't think Trump wants to "run anything", even less the USA, he probably wants to get 'the right people' in place and use the bully pulpit to impress friends and create a lasting legacy - Mike Pence might ... could have a greater influence on Trump, if Conservatives line up behind Pence.   "Donald... you really want to get something done?   We got these Conservative guys on our side, let's run with it and 'make America Great'..."   Of course I'm speculating, this Mike Pence pick always puzzled me, I understand why Trump would pick him - but after the election... should he win, then what?

Wifey and I were wondering... what if Trump just wants the "trophy", or deny Hillary the "trophy", and is planning an exit?  Pence becomes Prez .... what if Mike Pence picked Ted Cruz to solidify the nomination for 2020 with a Pence / Cruz ticket?   I'd vote for that.
Don't get pessimistic here, Ted Cruz is still in the Senate, he has a lot of support, and with the right coordination with Pence, we Conservatives might have the Liberals screaming like stuck pigs in 6 months, with a neutralized McConnel, rubber stamping Cruz.

-------------------------

Glenn Beck is an idiot, a short-sighted, lead by emotions, fool.   He would have rather had Ted Cruz fall on the sword, be martyred, labeled a sore loser and be run out of the Senate, than Ted leverage his position and gain something we all really want.  Glenn is thinking like a "King-maker"... get his "perfect" guy elected and lead us all to ultimate victory over unsurmountable odds.  The David Duke comparison (by implication / example) was a low blow to a guy trying to survive to fight another day in the Senate.  It's going to take several elections, and educating the electorate to take the GOP back and send the Liberals packing.  BTW, we're probably always have some RINOs, but what the heck, we'll take their vote if it's for OUR agenda!  We don't need to have every slot filled with a Conservative - we just need their votes as the Conservative agenda marches forward.   Here's the real rub.   If Glenn turns off Cruz supporters - we're gonna lose a good Senator - is that what we want?  Like I said, we just got a SCOTUS commitment out of Trump - everyone needs to recognize we GAINED something from a position of weakness - should I just come out and say, "Ted's Tactical move was brilliant, he just turned lemons into lemon-aide."   Better yet, Donald Trump NEEDS Ted Cruz, and dispatched Mike Pence to make-it-happen.


Pence, Cruz, Lee and others are playing the long game.   They know there will be some collateral damage fighting against both DNC and MSM.   IMO - Cruz played this like the Libs, he "got something" instead of sulking in the corner & someday coming out empty handed.  Why go down "fighting" if there's more to gain in the long run, live to fight another day, right?   Ted Cruz's "timing" was pretty darn good, everyone wins, best of all, we've gained "conservative ground" in a seemingly hopeless situation.

We all need to take a step back and carefully analyze the total situation. We are faced with a choice between Mrs. Lenin, or a self-aggrandizing Muppet to place in the highest office in our country. And we can wail and moan and stand on principle until there is nothing left of the U.S. but one more squalid third world socialist tyranny sitting in the mud. Standing on principle is well and good - but only if our principles are backed up by more than crossing our fingers things will play out better next election.

We need first to understand why we lost this election. We were set. We had successes in the midterm elections in which TEA based organizations across the nation ignored the establishment and selected their own candidates, forcing the will of the people on the party establishment so they had the choice of backing the peoples' selection or backing no one. We used the primary process to our advantage, rather than the usual method of waiting to see whom we were allowed to vote for.

Unfortunately, this time the establishment was prepared for us. We were all set to bring our selection to the people, giving them someone besides the usual establishment twaddle, and then the establishment brings in a spoiler - a loud mouthed egoist with exactly the right message to pull in the very demographic the TEA movement was getting ready to pull to the conservative side. The establishment learned from what happened in '10 and '14, and pulled out their own plan, and crapped all over our plans.

I've been saying this for over 10 years now. (though not on this forum until recently.) The establishment is the enemy of our liberties. And the enemy is ORGANIZED. They have the media in their pockets. They have the party system in their pockets. Sadly, TEA is NOT organized. We are a great movement, the only movement which is truly diverse, accepting a wide spectrum of ideologies. We are the only movement which TRULY accepts people regardless of race, gender, or creed. But for all that, we are a loose association of various organizations, or just groups of people tired of the same-old same-old. And that, simply, is just not enough when faced with the establishment hierarchy behind our governing bodies. If the U.S. had gone into WWII without any organization in the military, just a bunch of platoon, company, or maybe here or there a few battalion sized units, all fighting their own fight, the Germans and Japanese both would have ground us into the mud in a couple of months.  Again: the enemy is ORGANIZED.  And if we want to have ANY hope at all of retaking our Republic WITHOUT resorting to a full blown civil war, we need to get ourselves organized, too. WE cannot depend on the system to work with us. That was what failed in our attempts to get Cruz nominated. We depended on the system. We were there is SUPPORT of Cruz, but let the system put out Cruz's message. I am certain many others were out there, as I was, stumping for Cruz. But we were not organized in our message. We allowed the media to paint us falsely without a proper response.

Now we face the music of the establishment once again pulling the rug out from under the people of the Republic. First, we must analyze the current situation carefully. What kind of nation will we have after 4 years of Hillary Lenin-Clinton? What kind of nation will we have after 4 years of Donald the Duck Trump? Think carefully, because the short haul is done. One of the two establishment minions will be running the Oval Office come January 20, 2017.

IMO, while there are few, and relatively minor differences between the Marxist and the cartoon character, the bottom line comes down to what the courts system will look like. On the one hand, we face the nomination of far left, anti-constitutionalist "justices", not only in SCOTUS, but in ALL the federal courts, federal courts which hand out a thousand decisions for every one that reaches SCOTUS. And those decisions, if made by courts filled with justices picked by Clinton, will INVARIABLY be in favor of more federal power, and less freedom for the people.  That is an absolute guarantee. She even BOASTS of what she will do with the courts.

What the Duck will do with the courts is less certain. He has named names which are a heck of a lot more moderate than Hillary's picks. Her picks are sitting across the street from the left field parking lot. The ducks are at least still in the stadium.  And the sad, but simple fact is, if we lose the courts system to an even farther leftist leaning than already exists, we will not have another free election. The courts will come out in favor of policies that will so corrupt the entire electoral process that we may as well stay home. And it wil only go down hill from there.

Meanwhile, wasting ones vote to simply vote against Clinton, or voting on principle and hoping for the best, we need to start talking about 2020. NOW.  No more "it's too soon" like we did for 2016. No more "We're not a party!" resistance to getting a nation wide, solidly organized conservative movement up and running ASAP.  No, we are NOT a political party - but if we get ourselves organized we can take one over. We are a grass roots movement of Constitutional Conservatives. But we had better be an ORGANIZED grass roots movement of Constitutional Conservatives, and damned soon, or the only difference we will see in 2020 is for things to get worse.

The issue is Cruz is a Republican in a two party system. He had little choice.