Really Right

New York Times says Trump no longer needs Indiana to win.

The main reason is Mr. Trump’s success on Tuesday among Pennsylvania’s 54 unpledged delegates. Even though none of them are officially bound to a candidate, 31 of the 54 spots went to delegates preferred by Mr. Trump. And before the election, others had said they would vote for the winner of their district (Mr. Trump won all of the state’s districts). My colleague Jeremy W. Peters reported that Mr. Trump “appeared to have won about 40 of Pennsylvania’s 54 unbound delegates.”

Trump Doesn’t Need Indiana

These delegates put Trump within spitting distance of 1,000

Also, why did Cruz give Carly half a million dollars? That’s strange.

Trump got 109 delegates out of a possible 118 yesterday. Pennsylvania is a little odd. Of their 71 delegates, 17 are based on the popular vote and Trump got all of those while 54 are based on that screwy ballot as shown in my previous blog yesterday. (Per RPC, these delegates are “At Large” and not pledged to any candidate.) That mess apparently has yet to be sorted out and isn’t included in the delegate totals shown on the Real Clear Politics website. Both RCP and Fox agree that Trump is now at 954 delegates.

There are 502 delegates remaining in the delegate hunt. Trump needs 283 to win outright.

Trump will clearly win in California and New Jersey. In California, Trump has increased his lead over Cruz by five points in the last week and Trump is just starting to campaign in the state. California and New Jersey are worth 223 delegates Thus Trump needs to pick up 60 delegates between 8 other states. He is leading in Indiana-another winner take all state—worth 57 delegates.

I’m still saying by this time next week, Cruz will be suspending his campaign.

The next question is who will Trump select as his V.P.?

from Sean Hannity

Pennsylvania ballot from today. Don’t tell me the Party Leadership wants an informed electorate. Pick three what?

It’s really bad when the Democrats have a more informed choice.

Trump is right when he says the system in broken.

Ted is campaigning as a Christian and a Constitutionalist. Unfortunately, he has failed miserably at both.

As a legislator, Ted has had many years to offer his ideas for solutions to what he sees as ailing this country. Has he done so? NO. Ted has held it back from his constituents and fellow legislators. None of the ideas he is putting forward as solutions now has he previously put forward as proposed legislation. There is no legislative package of bills that he can point to and say this is what I think should be done to make this country great again.

Ted has failed at the most basic of all government: Self-government. The gulf between his actions and words is a vast chasm. Ted claims to be a Christian. At the very least, a Christian should love his enemies and pray for them. He should strive to exhibit the love of Christ to those around him.

So does Ted Cruz love Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and the rest? NO. Ted acts like General Sherman marching on Atlanta. If he can’t have it, then he burns it to the ground. Does he respect the process and system that has allowed him to run for President? NO. He wants to win at all costs and if he can’t then he’s willing to tear down the whole Party just to advance himself. Strip away all his rhetoric and B.S. and you will find that it’s all about Ted.

Another thing a Christian should be is a man of his word. Again, Ted Cruz seems to operate according to “Rules for Radicals” or “The Prince”. Look at what happened this weekend in Maine.

The fiery and controversial governor claimed on Friday that the Trump and Cruz campaigns had previously reached a “unity deal” to elect delegates to the national convention in proportion to results of the state’s 5 March caucuses.

Such an allocation would deliver 12 Cruz delegates, nine for Trump and two for John Kasich, the Ohio governor.

However, LePage, a Trump supporter, said on the eve of Maine’s state convention that the Cruz campaign had reneged on the deal, believing they could fill all 20 elected delegate slots on the ballot. “I can’t stand by and watch as Cruz and the Republican establishment forcibly overrule the votes of Mainers who chose Trump and Kasich,” said LePage.
Maine Governor and Ted Cruz

This pattern of repeatedly stealing delegates that he did not earn is something that is harmful to the political process not just in this cycle but forevermore.

God created government and gave us this nation. Cruz has repeatedly proven that he has a contempt for the system that he says he wants to lead. This is troubling. Isn’t that our complaint against Barack Obama?

Ted Cruz is willing to ride roughshod over anyone to thwart Donald Trump from being President. The allies of Cruz are the Republican Establishment that will do the same thing to Cruz once his utility is no more. Cruz has turned this campaign into a suicide pact. He will win at any cost or burn the place down; at this point, maybe both simultaneously.

Cruz has also joined forces with John Kasich. On social issues these men are opposites but the enemy of my enemy…

Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio have agreed to coordinate in future primary contests in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald J. Trump the Republican presidential nomination, with each candidate standing aside in certain states amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump cannot otherwise be stopped.

In a statement late Sunday night, Mr. Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said that the campaign would “focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.”

Minutes after Mr. Roe’s statement, the Kasich campaign put out a similar message. The Ohio governor’s chief strategist, John Weaver, said that his campaign would shift its resources to states in the West and “give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.”
Cruz and Kasich Team Up

Ted has given up winning outright because he can’t and is now committed to trying for a contested convention. Ted, by your willingness to put your thumb on the scales, you have proven you are unfit to be President.

When words like: lie, steal, defraud; are the hallmarks of your campaign, I think it’s safe to say that you are not doing it for the love of God but for yourself.  Cruz is the worst type of hypocrite because his actions actually blaspheme the Lord he claims to serve.

Many of my peers at church disagree with me but I have seen this playbook up close and personal. Some of us are trying to learn from the past and it makes us angry when folks are hell-bent on repeating it again. I told Ted to beware the Ides of March, unfortunately for us, Ted is charging full speed down the way that ends in destruction. Will he finally see the light or feel the heat?

Cruz is toast but most of his followers are slow to realize it.

Trump will win all five primaries next week and Cruz is currently running third in most of these states. The result is that Trump will approach 1,000 delegates. Once this number enters the public discussion, support for Cruz will further erode. Remember success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.

Reality is setting in with the politically astute. Last week, my friend—the Sith Lord—was ready to be a city coordinator for Cruz—this is a volunteer position. After New York, he has seen the writing on the wall.  Yesterday he accepted a paid position with the Trump campaign. Trump will get virtually all the delegates in California.

Donald Trump just began to roll-out a plan to campaign in California. Ted Cruz has had an organization here for the last year. So whatever Trump is polling at now is his floor. He can only go up from his current numbers. Statewide, he is leading Cruz in California
Trump 41 %
Cruz 23 %
Politico: Trump California Poll

Cruz hit the iceberg on Tuesday and many are heading for the lifeboats. Trump is the inevitable nominee and thankfully there will not be more than one ballot in Cleveland.

Here is latest on the presidential race.

Bottom line is Trump needs 63 percent of the remaining delegates to win outright.

Both Cruz and Kasich are mathematically eliminated from winning under any scenario.

Trump will win most of remaining delegates in April. He is strong in the North East. This will put him to about 950 delegates.

May looks good for Trump also. He will likely win most delegates from these states. I think the 2/3 delegate goal is achievable for him. This would put him near 1,081.

If this scenario plays out then California might be in play for once. I’d be surprised by this if it really happens. Trump will win New Jersey, New Mexico, and California and thus the presidential race for the Republican nomination.

From this point on, Trump will be perceived as the nominee and momentum will begin swinging his way. Prior to the June 7th vote, I think Cruz will see the light and suspend his campaign.

I saw Sheriff Scott Jones speak on Monday. This is the first time I have heard him speak since announcing his run for Congress. Jones is a champion of Second Amendment issues and was comfortable talking about everything touching on this issue.

When he fielded questions on abortion and federal funding of Planned Parenthood he stumbled badly.

First Jones said he was pro-choice and later corrected himself—after some audience prompting—that he was pro-life.

When asked about Planned Parenthood funding he gave a really peculiar answer—one that frankly can’t withstand any scrutiny.

He said he would withhold funding if PP couldn’t differentiate between abortions and other services that they provide to women. If Congress could fund women’s services except abortion, he would be OK with federal funding of PP.

Jones is trying to sound reasonable to the pro-choice crowd but this answer is a steaming load of …. and he knows it.  In government, it’s not what you do but what you call it. Bureaucrats think in terms of funding and categories. If Jones voted to partially fund Planned Parenthood, all PP would have to do is a few simple budget gimmicks and they could be whole with no changes to their business model.

Let’s use a real world, non-abortion example.
Several years ago, California implemented a temporary sales tax (there’s an oxymoron for you) following a serious earthquake. Then when the tax was due to expire, the Dems said, let’s extend the tax and designate the revenue for law enforcement. This of course sounded good, so it passed. (Voters are so easy to fool.) But what really happened? If you said nothing, then you’re right.

The vast majority of counties in California—and there’s 58 of ‘em—had no funding increase in law enforcement. Surprise! They took the sales tax money and gave it to law enforcement as they were supposed to but then they took away other revenue and gave it to other departments in their counties. Other counties took the funds and spent them on road improvement and things like that. Their justification was that cops need roads to respond to emergency calls.

Bottom Line: No counties hired additional officers or did anything meaningful to improve public safety.

So if Jones agrees to only partially fund Planned Parenthood, how can I claim that they will be fully funded?
It’s simple. Planned Parenthood moves some budget numbers around and then increases the amount of money they need from the government. By boosting the amount requested for the other services, Planned Parenthood will be fully funded.

Remember that in Washington, budgeting doesn’t work like the real world. You ask for money and if you get less funding than you asked for then that is a budget cut—even when you get more than last year.

Example
Suppose Homeland Security wants a seven percent increase for the next fiscal year. They end-up getting five percent from Congress. In Washington speak; Homeland Security suffered a two percent budget cut for next year—even though they got five percent more money.

In like manner, Planned Parenthood can play budget games and still be fully funded. As a bonus they get the public relations opportunity to claim that they suffered a huge budget cut at the hands of heartless Republicans while laughing all the way to the bank.

Jones knows that this is how the game is played which is why his answer is so weak. It’s disappointing, but I think he would be better than the current officeholder.

If a person is a member of the legislative branch of government and they aspire to higher office, then is it reasonable that they have demonstrated some leadership quality that makes then more worthy than their peers to run for higher office? I think this proposition is a reasonable one.

As a legislator, I would expect this person to:
• Sponsor legislation featuring innovative solutions
• Ideas that may not actually be law yet but would be in writing for all to see
• Respected by folks on both sides of the politic aisle
• Be an effective communicator of his ideas
• Have a reputation of virtue and charity
• Campaign ethically and treat opponents with respect
• Stand for what is right as opposed to politically expedient

When a legislator has no track record but his rhetoric, and little experience in his office then voters should be concerned about the qualifications of this candidate. In recent years this is especially true of junior United States Senators. Three names immediately come to mind.

Barack Obama-most known for voting “Present” in the Illinois Senate and one speech at the Democrat National Convention
Hillary Clinton-most known for sleeping with the President and killing people in Benghazi. The only Bill she ever sponsored was her husband.
Ted Cruz-a lawyer born in Texas who disrupted the U.S. Senate for a few hours many years ago and admits to going to a protestant church

All three people are trying to ride their thin legislative resumes to the White House. One did and look how that turned out. The old saying about “fool me once…” comes to mind.

I think eight years of junior Senators in the White House is enough.

So what do I expect?

I expect a series of legislative proposals (bills) that the candidate has introduced and defended in various committees. He is committed to his principles enough to put in writing what he hopes to accomplish to make his county/state/country better. His legislation and his rhetoric are in agreement and proven in the crucible of the legislative process. I’m not saying that his ideas are signed into law, but they are understood and clearly delineated.

His campaign for the Executive level is based upon two things, here are my legislative ideas and a track record of principle and perseverance working to make them a reality, and secondly, here are the legislators or candidates for legislative office that will help my ideas become law. When it comes to state or federal elections, the candidate will have a Contract with America type idea that unifies his campaign and should he prevail in the election, give a clear mandate for his ideas.

None of the three mentioned above (Obama, Clinton, or Cruz) has such a record. Neither does Rubio.

If you want an effective President, picking a junior Senator has proven to be a terrible option.

Here is a detailed memo of how Cruz is systematically stealing Trump delegates.

Who cares how you voted, Ted wants his thumb on the scales; but its OK because God is on his side.

full Cruz Memo to Delegates can be found here

Cruz instructions to hijack delegate process

This is a variation on the “gut and amend”

Hey Ted, what would Jesus do?

Many years ago, Wendy’s did an advertising campaign centered on the question, “Where’s the beef?”

A similar question was running thru my mind today after reading a blast email from my church’s Google group. It was sent by a person that is a hardcore supporter of Ted Cruz. The guy is a CPA and figured that since today was tax day, he would blast it out to us. I’m sure it’s based on an email from Cruz’s campaign.

I’m including a link from the Tax Foundation that gives an analysis of Cruz’s tax reform plan, but here is a summary:

Ted Cruz’s tax reform plan is brilliant:

—> A 10% flat tax on individuals and families (on all income);

—> Eliminate itemized deductions, except charitable contributions and the home mortgage deduction;

—> Eliminate all individual tax credits, except the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (for poor people) by 20%;

—> Eliminate the first $36,000 of income from tax (people making less than $36,000 per year would not pay any tax at all);

—> Eliminate the estate tax;

—> ELIMINATE THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX! (YES!);

Replace the corporate income tax with a flat 16% consumption tax – YES! (This would cause corporations to pay taxes on what they consume (pay for) in the U.S. (like salaries, rent, goods, services, etc.) and would eliminate all the game playing corporations do to off-shore their profits – what the government calls “inversion”.) – It is the RIGHT thing to do!

—> ELIMINATE ALL CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLES! (YES!).

 

I wrote a reply that was not forwarded to the mail list so I’m putting it on my blog just to I can be on the record.

Thanks for the Cruz plug but I respectfully dissent.

1. If this tax plan is so great then where is the legislation?

Cruz is in his second term in the US Senate and this is the first that I’m hearing all this. If this economic proposal is his heartfelt belief and is so great for the country where is the bill package? Who are his co-authors?

Cruz has been campaigning for President since he took part in the filibuster many years ago. He has given the run for President much thought and planning.

2. After New York votes tomorrow, he is mathematically eliminated from an outright win. (I’m getting told this by people involved in the Cruz campaign.)

3. The biggest practical problem in changing the tax code is how do we get from where we are to something new without ending up with both. The Federal Income Tax was a temporary tax to pay for World War I and we still have it.

What Ted Cruz says and what he does are frequently different. This is just another example.

These ideas may have some merit over the current system but I see no path for Cruz to get to the White House except possibly in the Vice Presidential slot.

I’m getting really tired of being told that I have to vote for Cruz because of his religion. I thought we are supposed to look at the content of a person’s character. Cruz’s faith has no impact on how he conducts his political life so why should I let it influence my vote?