Republicans may have to do some world-class needle-threading to come up with a presidential nominee who can win in November. New York magazine blogger Ed Kilgore believes that even if such a candidate exists, it’s not the “hammer-headed movement conservative” Ted Cruz.
“Unity candidates are reassuring and have a knack for making you see your own reflection in their soft and soulful eyes,” wrote Kilgore in a Monday post. “Cruz has the persona of someone who's been told by his crazy father a thousand times that God has chosen him to redeem America from its secular socialist captors…[He] does not represent a natural compromise between those who want to lower their marginal-tax rates and melt the polar caps and those who mainly want to ensure they'll never have to ‘press one for English’ or hold their tongues in the presence of women and minorities ever again.”
From Kilgore’s post (bolding added):
Ted Cruz took a break from his usual performance as a hammer-headed movement conservative yesterday and tried on the ill-fitting, but perhaps essential, clothes of a party unifier…
[From Politico:] Ted Cruz on Monday acknowledged he's concerned about how a contested convention might “fracture” the party ahead of the general election, especially if Donald Trump lashes out should he lose the primary…
…[Cruz] does have some natural ties to the Trump constituency in terms of being a Republican more eager to shoot terrorists as they allegedly cross the border than over in some godforsaken Middle Eastern country…
…[But] you just don't get the sense that the junior senator from Texas was cut out to be a unity figure, even for a party suddenly divided between Satan and everybody else. Unity candidates are reassuring and have a knack for making you see your own reflection in their soft and soulful eyes. Cruz has the persona of someone who's been told by his crazy father a thousand times that God has chosen him to redeem America from its secular socialist captors. He's in the presidential race not to unite Republicans but to smite Babylon and maybe bring on the End Times. He thus does not represent a natural compromise between those who want to lower their marginal-tax rates and melt the polar caps and those who mainly want to ensure they'll never have to "press one for English" or hold their tongues in the presence of women and minorities ever again.
