I will start this description of the Cruz rally by saying that I awaiting a Marco Rubio rally held in a neighborhood of Hialeah in greater Miami. The rally doesn't start for 90 minutes. There is plenty of space for parking. There are some security men putting up little construction barricades to reserve space for media trucks. The venue is a school in a residential neighborhood of middle class houses done in a classic Miami style. It is an area of single family houses with grassy front yards, a sidewalk strip, built ranch style on one floor, with stucco siding, tile roofs, and covered front porches.
There is a jogger circling the track. It could be Medford's Hedrick Junior High School, except for the stucco and the palm trees.
If you have not done it yet, I suggest you look back two posts ago--to this morning--and read Thad Guyer's guest post. He reviewed some of the media on the subject, the gist of which was that Trump asked people to raise their hands and declare they would vote for him, which apparently reminded some people of something Hitler did.
This is a much more media friendly news story than a discussion of the candidate's tax plan or exactly what it means to negotiate a better trade deal with Mexico and China. It has everything the media wants: controversy, Trump, and a whiff of Hitler. It is bait for cable news.
The Cruz rally was scheduled for 10 a.m and started at 10:30. It was held in a big meeting room at Miami-Dade college in downtown Miami. It was a combination stump speech and victory speech. Cruz announced that the election on Tuesday, in which he came in second to Trump in three states but won in Idaho was "a tremendous victory" and a great night. "God bless the great state of Idaho," he said. His speech included the items I have found to be familiar:
"We will repeal every single word of Obamacare. We will pass a simple flat tax where every American can fill out his taxes on a postcard and we will eliminate the IRS. We will rein in the EPA and we will lift the boot off the neck of small business."
On citizenship for people here illegally he focused on Trump, not Rubio: "I led the fight against amnesty. Donald Trump spend 40 years funding 'open border' Democrats."
On the military: "No longer will our military be governed by political correctness. We will rebuild our military. It is shameful that we have a president who sends our fighting men and women into battle with one arm tied behind their backs. America is a nation reluctant to fight but when we stand up for liberty we go into battle with overwhelming force, we utterly destroy the enemy, and then we come home."
He ended his talk with the usual request for people to be active, to volunteer, to vote, to go to and to bring friends. The basic idea was for people to commit to some action--something he says every time, as does everyone else. It is a standard part of every stump speech conclusion. But he added that Donald Trump (said with a sneering tone), "Donald Trump wants you to raise your hand a swear a loyalty oath." Trump has it all backward, Cruz said. The American people don't need to prove their loyalty to Trump. The candidates for the presidency need to prove their loyalty to the American people.
So now I understand the kerfuffle. Cruz found a way to draw a distinction between himself and Trump. Cruz only asks that people do things for him, agree to show up to vote, and to recruit friends: good things. Cruz is objecting to Trump doing essentially the same thing. There is a distinction here--Trump asks people to raise their hand while Cruz asks people to bring a friend. It is a classic example of a "distinction" without any real difference.
Both candidates are doing what every sales person does after explaining the benefits of the product: ask for the order.
There is a jogger circling the track. It could be Medford's Hedrick Junior High School, except for the stucco and the palm trees.
If you have not done it yet, I suggest you look back two posts ago--to this morning--and read Thad Guyer's guest post. He reviewed some of the media on the subject, the gist of which was that Trump asked people to raise their hands and declare they would vote for him, which apparently reminded some people of something Hitler did.
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| About 35 cameras now. He is big time. |
This is a much more media friendly news story than a discussion of the candidate's tax plan or exactly what it means to negotiate a better trade deal with Mexico and China. It has everything the media wants: controversy, Trump, and a whiff of Hitler. It is bait for cable news.
The Cruz rally was scheduled for 10 a.m and started at 10:30. It was held in a big meeting room at Miami-Dade college in downtown Miami. It was a combination stump speech and victory speech. Cruz announced that the election on Tuesday, in which he came in second to Trump in three states but won in Idaho was "a tremendous victory" and a great night. "God bless the great state of Idaho," he said. His speech included the items I have found to be familiar:
"We will repeal every single word of Obamacare. We will pass a simple flat tax where every American can fill out his taxes on a postcard and we will eliminate the IRS. We will rein in the EPA and we will lift the boot off the neck of small business."
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| Big Cruz Crowd |
On citizenship for people here illegally he focused on Trump, not Rubio: "I led the fight against amnesty. Donald Trump spend 40 years funding 'open border' Democrats."
On the military: "No longer will our military be governed by political correctness. We will rebuild our military. It is shameful that we have a president who sends our fighting men and women into battle with one arm tied behind their backs. America is a nation reluctant to fight but when we stand up for liberty we go into battle with overwhelming force, we utterly destroy the enemy, and then we come home."
He ended his talk with the usual request for people to be active, to volunteer, to vote, to go to and to bring friends. The basic idea was for people to commit to some action--something he says every time, as does everyone else. It is a standard part of every stump speech conclusion. But he added that Donald Trump (said with a sneering tone), "Donald Trump wants you to raise your hand a swear a loyalty oath." Trump has it all backward, Cruz said. The American people don't need to prove their loyalty to Trump. The candidates for the presidency need to prove their loyalty to the American people.
So now I understand the kerfuffle. Cruz found a way to draw a distinction between himself and Trump. Cruz only asks that people do things for him, agree to show up to vote, and to recruit friends: good things. Cruz is objecting to Trump doing essentially the same thing. There is a distinction here--Trump asks people to raise their hand while Cruz asks people to bring a friend. It is a classic example of a "distinction" without any real difference.
Both candidates are doing what every sales person does after explaining the benefits of the product: ask for the order.
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