Imagine how media would cover conservatives shutting down an Obama rally

John Kasich isn't the only Ohio Republican who voted for NAFTA: So did John Boehner and Rob Portman

Here 17 November 1993.

House Roll Call here.

Black Lives Matter, Bernie Sanders supporters and move on dot ogre were responsible for shutting down Chicago Trump rally

Noted here:

And perhaps more to the point, who were these protesters? As some MSM outlets almost reluctantly reported, it was a mixed bag of Black Lives Matter activists and Bernie Sanders supporters. ...

And when you need to organize this many marchers, you can’t do it without MoveOn.org taking credit and rounding up the troops. This was staged well in advance by a group of protesters who organized it via Facebook.

Like Ted Cruz, John Kasich blames Chicago violence on Trump, not on leftists committing it, supporters balk

Leftists shut down Trump rally in Chicago through sheer numbers, intimidation and violence

From a legal immigrant who was there, here:

What I did see, however, was fear. Fear from the rally attendees for their immediate safety, and fear of Donald Trump from the protesters.

More than that, I feel that I experienced today, for the first time in my life, true totalitarianism and authoritarianism, expressed laterally from citizen to citizen, in order to silence opinions from being shared. This enforcement was shared through sheer numbers and intimidation, and in a few cases, violence.

People brought their children, loved ones, and friends to attend the Trump rally. I saw an older Asian man and his white wife in attendance, and the looks on their faces when the rally was declared cancelled almost broke my heart. I saw scared children clinging to their parents’ sides as they exited the building to the screams of protesters. I saw a quiet, but excited crowd of Donald Trump supporters get thrown out of Chicago.

Worst of all, I saw the first amendment trampled, spit on, and discarded like trash.

Two-faced Ted Cruz blames Trump's own campaign for violent protests by leftists at Chicago rally

Expect defections from lyin' Ted to soar after this sorry episode.

Video here.

Only Michael Savage talked on the radio today about the Ted Cruz religion story

And even though he's a Jew, Michael Savage grasped the meaning:

Ted Cruz is a phony because he claims to be a mainstream evangelical when he's really part of the Christian lunatic fringe.

Do we really want such a person in the Oval Office?

That's all.

Rush tries to make the story today about Ben Carson instead of Ted Cruz' religion, throws Carson under the bus for endorsing Trump

Here:

CARSON:  Some people said, "But, well, you know, he said terrible things about you; how can you support him?"  Well, first of all, we buried the hatchet.  That was political stuff.  And, you know, that happens in American politics.  The politics of personal destruction and all that is not something that I particularly believe in or anything that I get involved in.  But I do recognize that it is a part of the process.  We move on because it's not about me; it's not about Mr. Trump. It's about America.  And this is what we have to be thinking about.  I have found, in talking with him, that, you know, there's a lot more alignment philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought that there was.

RUSH:  Okay, well, that's... I'm sitting here thinking, "If that's just politics, why are you so upset at Ted Cruz for believing what CNN tweeted about leaving the campaign and heading back to Florida?"  Well, no, I'm just asking.  Well, yeah. "How can you support Trump? He said some terrible things about you." "Well, we buried the hatchet. It's political stuff, you know? That kind of stuff happens in politics."  Well, he must not have forgiven Ted Cruz.  Ted Cruz didn't do anything!  Ted Cruz never said anything like what Trump said about Ben Carson.  But we're not through here.  Carson continued...

Flashback to last June here:

Dr. Benjamin Carson is one of the finest, most accomplished human beings on this planet who has done more for people than most people in politics will ever do.  And he's done it personally, not with other people's money. Dr. Ben Carson is a first-class human being and citizen.  He is exactly the kind of person that you could trust running any government institution.  You would trust him to babysit your kids.  He's just an admirable human being.  He has overcome great odds.  He's brilliant.  He's temperate.  There is everything in the world to recommend about the humanity of Dr. Benjamin Carson, and here he is on CNN today ripped and said it's unfortunate that somebody like Ben Carson will be made to look serious when Trump gets in as the clown. 

Mark Levin's problem is that he's a disciple of a disciple

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Rush Limbaugh talks about anything to avoid the Ted Cruz bombshell story of the day

For a guy who claims to take his daily agenda from the headlines, Rush Limbaugh sure made a point of not talking about them today because the headlines crucify his hero Ted Cruz as the liar Donald Trump has been telling us he is since Iowa.

In the process Rush made an ASS of himself, ultimately comparing Donald Trump to Sean Penn, and even attacking the credibility of Ben Carson, who endorsed Trump this morning.

What a jerk. Previously Limbaugh called Carson, and more than once, one of the finest people alive.

These were easily the most telling three hours about the limitations of one Rush Hudson Limbaugh since his prescription drug scandal years ago.

A truly pathetic performance unworthy of the conservative cause.

Campaigning for Cruz: Limbaugh compares Donald Trump to Sean Penn. Isn't such a comparison a tactic of the left?

He just said Trump admires the strength of the Chicoms putting down the Tiananmen Square freedom movement the way Sean Penn admires the likes of communist strongmen Chavez and Castro.

See?

Update:

Here's the money quote:

[Trump] was simply admiring the strength or pointing out what a powerfully strong government can do.  Hey, this is why what's-his-face, Sean Penn, loves Castro.  It's why Sean Penn loved what's-his-face down in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.  They envied the power.  No question about. 

Rush is willing to jettison conservative principles and cross this line because his loyalty to Ted Cruz is more important than those things are.

Total hypocrite. 

Rush knows Ted Cruz is toast

Rush is doing all but endorsing Ted Cruz on the show today.

National Review joins Mark Levin in endorsing the guy who's been lying about his real religion

Ted's a dominionist, so now we know what's the matter with Kansas (24 delegates)

And Idaho (20 delegates).

So lying Ted Cruz has been misrepresenting himself as a Southern Baptist when he's really a Pentecostal

And a pretty kooky Pentecostal at that:

While Ted Cruz proudly proclaims he is an Evangelical Christian, his campaign takes pains to hide the truth that Cruz and his pastor father, Rafael Cruz are Pentecostal Christians, a fact further hidden by having Ted and Heidi Cruz’s belong to the congregation of First Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Houston, as their home church. ...

Rafael Cruz is a pastor with Purifying Fire International Ministry, although in January 2014, as Ted Cruz was preparing his presidential swing, Rafael Cruz scrapped the group’s website after various blogs began identifying the ministry as rooted in “a radical Christian ideology known as Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism.”

Dominionism calls on anointed Christian leaders to take over government to make the laws of the nation in accordance with Biblical laws. Rafael Cruz, at the Pastor Larry Huch’s New Beginnings mega-church in Bedford Texas, outside Dallas, on Aug. 26, 2012, in a Dominionist sermon proclaimed his son, Ted Cruz, to be the “anointed one,” a Dominionist Messiah who would bring God’s law to reign.

Some people could sincerely mistake Ted Cruz for having followers who salute him like a Hitler, too

Video here, where they're really "laying on hands".

Hm, Hillary Clinton defender David Gregory's wife Beth Wilkinson is the lawyer for Cheryl Mills and other Clinton aides

David Gregory, quoted here:

"I think there's no reason to suspect that she's even a target in a criminal probe....I thought it was a bit pointed as a question, and I think it was fair for her not to answer."

h/t Chris Plante 

(story)

Ted Cruz' dog whistle to the left/liberal consensus, insinuates Trump supporters give him the "Sieg, Heil!"

A new low for Cruz.

From the transcript of the Miami debate last night, here:

CRUZ: ... You know, at Donald's rallies recently, he's taken to asking people in the crowd to raise their hand and pledge their support to him.

Now, I got to say to me, I think that's exactly backwards. This is a job interview. We are here pledging our support to you, not the other way around.

Trump causes a disturbance in the Ministry of Plenty, where "Intel" isn't just a partner but a conjunction

Trump is smart to ask Republicans to embrace the new voters he's bringing in to the process

He opened the debate with that sentiment, and closed it the same way.

I hope the Republican Establishment is listening.

Trump made a good point about delegates

Getting half, 1,237, to get the nomination is entirely arbitrary.

The primary/caucus system is messy, inconsistent and hardly a level playing field in some respects.

Trump's dim view of gridlock isn't encouraging

Gridlock is built in: It's called the separation of powers.

Ted Cruz is a disgusting liar about Trump rally pledges

Trump doesn't ask people to pledge "to him" but "to vote for him" at the primary.

CNN's asking softball Cuba questions to help boost Rubio

Rubio has the right attitude toward Cuba.

The Miami audience ate it up.

So Ted Cruz is for boots on the ground in Syria against ISIS, too

So the only one of the four who hasn't been for this is Donald Trump, but now he says he will send them in.

Very disappointing.

Previously he was for letting the Russians carry the load.

John Kasich shouldn't speak French if he can't pronounce it

rapprochement |ˌrapˌrōSHˈmäN, -ˌrôSH-|

Ted Cruz is a doctrinaire free-trader who won't punish trade malefactors

He has no solution for the mercantilist war on America waged by China et alia. Meanwhile America will continue to bleed jobs.

John Kasich is in the black in Ohio because he gets an extra $2.5 billion a year in Medicaid from the feds

Because he signed up for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, contrary to what his legislature wanted.

Social Security tax rates have been raised 20 times since 1937, they can be raised again and the world won't end

John Kasich just said he wants to legalize people here illegally

This is unfair to everyone who came here legally, people who obeyed our law.

Trump is right. They have to go.

Cruz has momentum? He needs 61% of remaining delegates, up from 59% on Monday

Trump needs 54% of remaining delegates, unchanged from Monday (the difference is a rounding error).

Cruz' momentum has slowed by 3.4%.

Conservatives don't realize how much Ted Cruz owes to George W. Bush because talk radio never mentions it

How is it that Rush Limbaugh's closest thing to Reagan is a Bushie, hm?

Reported here:

The Bush-Cruz connection is clear. Ted was George W.’s brain when he ran for president. A top policy adviser, Ted maneuvered for Solicitor General in Bush World but settled for a plum at the Federal Trade Commission. Ted’s a Bush man with deep ties to the political and financial establishment.  Ted and wife Heidi brag about being the first “Bush marriage” – they met as Bush staffers. Cruz was an adviser on legal affairs while Heidi was an adviser on economic policy and eventually director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice. Condi helped give us the phony war in Iraq. Heidi then went to the Bush U.S. Trade Representative as a top deputy to U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Zoellick, who wired Heidi’s membership in the Council on Foreign Relations and job at Goldman Sachs. The bailed-out bank then loaned Cruz $1 million secretly to finance his Senate race. Cruz would also borrow an undisclosed $1 million loan from Citicorp.

Camille Paglia likes Trump's swaggering retro machismo, is repelled by Cruz' weirdly womanish face

Here:

Cruz’s lugubrious, weirdly womanish face, with its prim, tight smile and mawkishly appealing puppy-dog eyebrows, is like a waxen mask, always on the verge of melting.

Carly Fiorina, call your office.

Ted Cruz is a numbskull: He should try to co-opt Trump's voters, not insult them

Ted Cruz, quoted here:

“Donald does well with voters who have relatively low information, who are not that engaged and who are angry and they see him as an angry voice," Cruz told The Brody File on Wednesday.

Trump now needs 54% of the remaining delegates to get to 1237

That's 779 delegates needed.

901 of the remaining 1442 delegates available are in 17 "winner take all" contests.

But Colorado (37) and Wyoming (29) delegates, still unallocated, are still in play at their respective state conventions, to be concluded by mid-April.

Plus delegates for Carson (8) are in play because he withdrew.

Ohio surplus due to Medicaid expansion, not to John Kasich's special skills

The Toledo Blade reported here . . . a year ago:

COLUMBUS — The infusion of billions in federal funds to pay for expanded Medicaid coverage in Ohio has had the side effect of dramatically increasing the state’s ability to put away money for a rainy day, as well as its power to borrow.

Ohio expects to finish the current fiscal year with a surplus of $970.4 million. It will transfer more than half of that amount at the last minute to help pay for proposed income tax cuts, unemployment compensation interest payments to the federal government, a proposed student debt reduction program, and other items.

But the remaining $374 million would be transferred to the state’s so-called rainy-day fund, budgetary reserves capped by law at no more than 5 percent of the general revenue fund. That would bring the balance in the fund to just under $1.9 billion, well above the current balance of roughly $1.5 billion.

John Kasich's Ohio miracle is totally phony and depended entirely on federal money through Medicaid expansion under Obamacare

No wonder John Kasich took the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.

John Kasich has been bad for Ohioans, is already poison for the presidential race, and will be terrible for the country if allowed anywhere near the Oval.

From the story here:

Wal-Mart is a perennial leader, and at the time had nearly 18,000 Ohio employees covered by Medicaid, followed by McDonald’s with over 14,000 jobs. Next in line, respectively, came Kroger, Wendy’s and Bob Evans with a combined 17,000 plus workers using Medicaid.

So when Gov. Kasich went around his very right-wing legislature, which didn’t want to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, he was thinking about more than the normal people “living in the shadows.” He saw $2.5 billion a year in federal money and knew he could both shed state expenses and give aid and support to a few of Ohio’s biggest corporations, which are too cheap to pay their workers a living wage, defined by enough income to pay their expenses without being “dependent” on government safety net programs like Medicaid. John Kasich loves to talk about personal responsibility for individuals, but has nothing to say about the same responsibility to the biggest, richest corporations.

This observation on what Gov. Kasich was doing came from a progressive economic think tank that gets little attention at the legislature. Zach Schiller, a spokesman for Policy Matters Ohio, said Ohio’s safety-net services, including Medicaid, food stamps and cash assistance, “shouldn’t have to be used in significant ways by multimillion-dollar companies getting tax breaks. They should be able to adequately pay their employees.”

Carly Fiorina endorses Cruz in incoherent rant against Trump, ineffectively equating him with Hillary Clinton

Here:

"The truth is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin," Fiorina said Wednesday, ripping the GOP front-runner.  "They aren't going to reform the system. They are the system."

Fiorina noted that many in the Republican Party are "horrified by Donald Trump. I'm one of them," she added, describing Cruz as "the only guy who can beat Donald Trump."

"Ted Cruz has always been a constitutional conservative," Fiorina said, adding that he "didn’t care if he got invited to the cocktail parties in D.C. ... It is time now to unite behind the one man who can beat Donald Trump, who can beat Hillary Clinton, who can beat the D.C. cartel. It is time to unite behind Ted Cruz," Fiorina said to roaring cheers.

I thought everybody in "the system" hated Trump, indeed is "horrified by" him to the extent of the #NeverTrump movement among Republicans, unlike Clinton who is the darling of her political party, the host of the cocktail parties, and the queen of Wall Street cash.

Carly should check out the concept of synonyms: The system = the cartel = The Establishment.

It's hard to imagine two things more deadly to "the system" than enforcing immigration laws and rewriting "free-trade" agreements to benefit American workers instead of American corporations.

You know. Like Hewlett-Packard. 

Did that ARG poll in Michigan showing Kasich +2 over Trump turn out to be total BS or what?

Democrat turnout in Michigan's presidential primary was up 97% over 2008, so how is Donald Trump's big win here caused by Democrat cross-over votes?

The big story in Michigan is that Democrats turned out in force in the closely fought race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. It was a two point race that went down to the wire, won by Bernie by 20,000 votes out of 1.18 million cast.

But the conventional wisdom among Republicans is we're supposed to believe that there were enough large numbers of Democrats left who were energized to cross over and vote for Donald Trump to take him to victory over "real" Republicans like Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio.

This has to be the kookiest theory yet promoted by The Stupid Party.

I think Trump was chosen here by heretofore inactive Republican-leaning voters, not by Democrats.

God knows there's millions out there who never participate in elections. In Michigan we typically have trouble getting turnout to 20% of the voting age population. In presidential election years it averages 18.32%.

Turnout yesterday broke records going back before 1980, at 34%.  

Republican turnout was up over 30% from 2012, and over 50% from 2008, but Democrat turnout was up a whopping 97% over 2008 when Hillary and Obama famously duked it out.

A total of 601,219 votes were cast in the 2008 Democrat Primary, but in 2016 1.18 million. (There was no Democrat primary here in 2012. It was a pro-forma caucus in which 195,058 votes were cast, the vast majority for the incumbent president Barack Obama.)

Democrats were too preoccupied yesterday fighting over Hillary and Bernie to care much about Donald Trump.

That's the good news for Trump supporters, and the bad news for his Republican opponents. Donald Trump is remaking the Republican Party with support from people who appreciate his issues and strong leadership instead of theirs: manufacturing jobs, illegal immigration and trade.

Yesterday they came out of the woodwork to vote for him.

Tampa Bay Times eviscerates Marco Rubio's long accomplishment-free record

"Throughout his political career, Rubio has focused on promoting himself and preparing for his next move rather than providing leadership to effectively address the challenges of the moment. Relying on a charming personality and a smooth speaking style, he has been more talk than action, more gimmick than substance, more opportunist than committed public servant. The result is a thin resume, a reputation for failing to pay attention to detail and a tendency to bend when the political winds shift. ... Let's remember that Rubio's single term in the U.S. Senate has been devoid of a single significant accomplishment ... A vote for Rubio may be a protest vote — but it won't be a vote for someone who is prepared to be president."

Read the whole thing here.

Trump drives Republican turnout 52% above 2008, 32% above 2012 in Michigan primary

Michigan Republican primary 2008: 869,169 votes cast (Romney: 338,316)

Michigan Republican primary 2012: 996,499 (Romney: 409,522)

Michigan Republican primary 2016: 1,318,297 (99% reporting, Trump: 481,296)

Trump 2016 creams Romney 2012 and McCain 2008 in Michigan Republican presidential primary

Donald Trump 2016: 481,296

Mitt Romney 2012:   409,522

John McCain 2008:   257,985

With just four still in the race, The Stupid Party in Michigan wastes 45,470 votes on 9 former candidates

In denial of Trump sweep of Michigan counties, Rubio supporter Rep. Bill Huizenga of Zeeland maintains West Michigan will never vote for Trump

On the Steve Gruber Show in the last segment.

Rubio didn't win a single county.

Donald Trump's little known involvement as a material, early supporter of Ronald Reagan

The UK Daily Mail reported here in May 2015:

'Donald Trump was on the Reagan Finance Committee in 1979-80 when most of the New York financial elite were for George Bush or John Connally,' the former campaign aide told Daily Mail Online, on condition of anonymity.

Trump and his father Fred were in the room when Reagan announced his candidacy in New York City in 1980, he explained, adding that without Trump the 40th president might have been dead in the water.

'When the phone company said it would be 30 to 60 days before they could install our phones at the Reagan for President headquarters on 52nd street,' he recalled, 'I called Donald Trump. They installed the phones the next day.'

'Donald also let us use his helicopter to fly our delegate petitions to Albany, where we filed 15 minutes before closing at the board of elections.'

And Fred Trump 'loaned the campaign some space in a building he owned in Queens,' the Reagan veteran said. 'Donald got us space on 52nd street. They were among a handful of Reagan's earliest New York Supporters.'

Mayor Rudy Giuliani endorses Trump, but oh, sorry Schatzi, with no "Sieg, Heil!"

Rubio NOT surging in Florida: only 300 show for rally

Kiss of Death: Romney does robocalls for Rubio and Kasich, but not for Cruz

In other words, for establishment-acceptable candidates only.

Story here.

Rush is right: With President Trump Democrats will be talking impeachment on Day Two

Hooah.

Outlier poll in Florida tries to shape opinion pro-Rubio, not measure it

Outlier poll in Michigan tries to shape opinion for Kasich, not measure it

Poster Boys for Prophylactics

John Kasich

Marco Rubio

Laugh of the Day: Talk radio in Michigan this morning gets no calls from Democrats because they're not up yet

Just now on The Steve Gruber Show.

Trump is deliberately not countering opposition TV ads on TV, using Facebook and Twitter instead: Huge mistake?

He's also using ads during conservative talk radio programs, but overall his is a very risky strategy which may already explain why Trump is not farther ahead than he should be.

This may spell big trouble, dead ahead.

Facebook and Twitter require active participation. Television is passive and reaches more people. Facebook is ubiquitous but the irony is the owner is the big player behind the amnesty enemy. And Twitter is a sewer dominated by the thug left. They'll never vote for him anyway. At best he communicates effectively only with those who already support him.

Trump is proud of winning on a dime against losers like Bush who spent millions, but I don't think the strategy is sustainable.

This is crunch time, and Trump's not crunching.  

Trump still has a big problem on H-1B flip-flop, appearance on Savage Nation today did nothing to assuage fears he's just telling people what they want to hear

Sympathetic critics like Laura Ingraham are exactly right that the time has long since passed for Trump to stop winging it, show more discipline, and spend some money on TV ads.

We're voting for him in Michigan tomorrow, but I predict Trump is going to disappoint us going forward even more than he already has.

It's almost as if he's prepared to hand this thing over to Ted Cruz, who doesn't give a fig for anything but himself.

One way or another, we're going to get the government we deserve, good and hard.

From the story here:

"Furious supporters of Donald Trump . . . are now FORMER supporters of Trump".

Mark Steyn gives Kathy Shaidle a mention on the Rush Limbaugh Show

Quotes her hoping that Trump doesn't turn out like that other Austrian . . ..

WaPo graphic shows Trump did best in Texas at the border with Mexico

Here.

The remaining candidates' wives

Jeanette Rubio

Karen Kasich

Heidi Cruz

Melania Trump

Jane O'Meara Sanders

Mr. Hillary Clinton

Does Mark Steyn actually oppose Donald Trump?

It seems so.

He just said in the opener today that Trump needs 58% of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination, which to Steyn appears to be too difficult to accomplish.

This just isn't so.

Trump needs 53.6% of the remaining, the least of all the candidates and close to his level of support through Super Tuesday.

That's 853 delegates, after Rubio won Puerto Rico yesterday, out of 1592 remaining.

Cruz needs 937, which is 58.9% of the remaining.

Steyn appears to have Cruz mixed up with Trump.

Was that on purpose?

Michigan Republicans boo Romney the "loser", call for his deportation

Byron York reports here:

Trump instinctively sensed that he could bash Romney in Romney's home state with no consequences at all. "This guy Romney came out yesterday," Trump began, which brought on lots and lots of boos. "The hatred he has, the jealousy, the hatred, it's hard to believe."

More boos. "You guys should like him, right?" Trump said. Still more boos.

'Deport Romney!" yelled a man in the crowd.

"Thank you," said Trump.

"Loser," yelled a woman near me.

The anger and frustration did not stop with political figures. A number of people complained to me about conservative media, which they believe hasn't treated Trump fairly. "I'm a National Review reader," said a man who walked up to me during Trump's speech. "I can't even look at the site anymore. It looks like Salon. Nine stories tearing [Trump] apart, man. I don't get it."

Ted Cruz: The sleaziest dirty tricks campaigner of modern American history

So says Conrad Black here.

And Conrad Black knows a thing or two about that.

Turnout in Republican primaries is nearly 49% higher than in Democrat contests to date

Popular votes for Republicans are running at 10.1 million vs. 6.8 million for Democrats, unless you count Rubio and Kasich as Democrats, in which case Democrats are winning by 35%.

Unify the party you poster boys for prophylactics.

Mitt Romney is Democrats best friend in 2016

Trump popular vote in LA, KS, ME and KY yesterday beat both Romney in 2012 and McCain in 2008

Trump garnered 230,443 votes in Louisiana, Kansas, Maine and Kentucky yesterday, beating Romney's total in 2012 (north of 174,000) and McCain's total in 2008 (north of 214,000). Ted Cruz received 230,209 popular votes.

In Kentucky neither Trump nor Cruz beat Romney or McCain but together the first and second place finishers yesterday garnered north of 154,000 votes, beating Romney's 117,000 in 2012 and McCain's 142,000 in 2008, both late May contests in those years unlike in 2016.

Turnout in Kentucky in 2016 exceeded 225,000, eclipsing the previous contests significantly. In 2012 turnout was only 176,000, even weaker than 2008's 185,000. Enthusiasm for Romney in 2012 had also been down in Louisiana, where McCain previously in 2008 had mustered 18,000 more votes than Romney did four years later.

In Louisiana, Kansas and Maine Trump beat Romney 2.6:1 and McCain 2:1 despite losing Kansas and Maine to Cruz yesterday, who himself obliterated Romney in Kansas 5.8:1 and McCain 8.75:1. In Maine Cruz crushed Romney 4:1 and McCain 8:1. Cruz yesterday beat the former GOP candidates for president 2.75:1 and 2.2:1 in Louisiana, Kansas and Maine combined.

Despite Trump winning the popular vote yesterday by 234 votes in the four contests, Cruz won 16 more delegates than Trump.

Ted Cruz is a "me too" wall builder and is soft on illegal immigration: Trump's central ideas in June 2015 speech predate Cruz' by five months

Noted here:

Cruz unveiled his immigration plan in November, the first plank of which is to "build a wall that works" — a suggestion that his call for more border agents, surveillance and biometric entry-exit tracking is simply a more sophisticated version of Trump's blunt-force proposals. "The unsecured border with Mexico invites illegal immigrants, criminals, and terrorists to tread on American soil. I will complete the wall," the plan says in yet another nod to Trump.

Not only did it take five months for Cruz to copy Trump's ideas, the only wall Ted Cruz ever mentioned in his own speech announcing his run for president in March 2015 was the Berlin Wall.

Securing the border is just a one-liner in the speech among many other one-liners, and unlike Trump Cruz emphasized legal immigration in the speech, a nod to his long-suspected softness on the issue:

(APPLAUSE)

Imagine abolishing the IRS.

(APPLAUSE)

Instead of the lawlessness and the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesty, imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders.

(APPLAUSE)

And imagine a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those who come to achieve the American dream.

(APPLAUSE)

Instead of a federal government that wages an assault on our religious liberty, that goes after Hobby Lobby, that goes after . . ..

Peter Beinart notes leftists are upset with liberals who won't "undo systemic justice"

Leave the typo as it is, Peter. You got it right the first time.

The Detroit News adopts Mitt Romney's talking points against Trump ahead of the primary, but still won't tell us how it really feels

Here, calling him an opportunist, shallow, delusional, volatile and a fraud.

What, that's all?

How it holds back I can hardly tell!

"He may not be a racist, misogynist, nativist xenophobe. But too often he sure sounds like one."

Come on, why don't you tell us how you really feel, Nolan?

Cowards. Just like Romney.

John Kasich, lunatic Bushie who wants to start a hot war with Russia over Ukraine, Finland or Sweden

From the debate in Detroit:

In Russia, we need to tell them we're going to arm the Ukrainians with defensive lethal weapons. And we're going to tell Putin if you attack anybody in Eastern Europe in NATO, you attack Finland and Sweden, which is not in NATO, consider it an attack on us. And he will understand that.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48) says "This is belligerent nonsense". 

Momentum for all GOP candidates has slowed since Super Tuesday, but Trump's Mo is still tops

Momentum for all GOP candidates was slowed by Super Saturday yesterday, but Trump retains the easiest path to 1,237 despite a bitter attack from Mitt Romney and the establishment on Thursday morning and an ugly debate in Detroit on Thursday evening.

After Super Tuesday, Trump needed 51.45% of remaining delegates* to clinch the nomination with 1,237. Now he needs 52.57% of the remaining after Saturday's contests. His Mo has slowed by 2.2% but overall remains better than Cruz', who did well yesterday with indignant Christian Kansans and oddball libertarian Mainers.

Cruz has seen his Mo slow the least of all the candidates yesterday, needing 56.67% of remaining delegates after Super Tuesday to needing 57.64% now, or slowing by just 1.7%.

Rubio and Kasich, however, have both had flat tires on their journey to 1,237 yesterday.

After Super Tuesday, Rubio needed an untenable 63.17% of remaining delegates, but now he needs 68.17%. His Mo is down 7.9%.

And Kasich not only had a flat yesterday, his ball joint broke, too. Needing 67.93% of remaining delegates after Super Tuesday, he needs 73.62% now. His Mo is down 8.4%. He clearly sees himself as a monkey wrench, attempting to yet queer both upcoming Michigan and Ohio just enough to set the conditions for a contested convention in his home state of Ohio this summer.

Not very sportsmanlike. But hey, that's the establishment for you.

*Don't forget Ben Carson who dropped out on Friday when calculating delegate allocations. He has eight in his pocket.

Rubio and Kasich both want to send US ground troops in large numbers back to the Middle East

From the debate in Detroit:

BAIER: Gentlemen, the next topic to discuss is terrorism. Senator Rubio, ISIS is a big topic of conversation on Facebook. We have a map that shows the conservation about ISIS around the country. You proposed sending a larger number of American ground troops to help defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq...

RUBIO: That's correct, and Libya. ...

KASICH: Fortunately in Libya, there's only a few cities on the coast, because most of Libya is a desert. The fact of the matter is, we absolutely have to be -- and not just with special forces. I mean, that's not going to work. Come on. You've got to go back to the invasion when we pushed Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. We have to be there on the ground in significant numbers. We do have to include our Muslim Arab friends to work with us on that. And we have to be in the air.

And we -- it should be a broad coalition, made up of the kinds of people that were involved when we defeated Saddam. Now, you've got to be on the ground and in the air both in Syria and Iraq. And at some point, we will have to deal with Libya. I am very concerned about ISIS getting their hands on the oilfields in Libya and being able to fund their operations. The fact is cool, calm, deliberate, effective, take care of the job, and then come home. That's what we need to do with our military foreign policy.

Trump 2016 v McCain 2008 through the Super Tuesday primaries: Trump wins by 45%

Trump beats McCain in every state except for liberal Vermont, 3.358 million to 2.317 million:

IA: Trump .045m v McCain .016m

NH: .100m v .089m

SC: .239m v .148m

NV: .034m v .006m

GA: .501m v .305m

TN: .332m v .175m

VA: .355m v .244m

MA: .311m v .204m

VT: .019m v .028m

MN: .024m v .014m

AL: .371m v .211m

OK: .130m v .123m

AK: .007m v .002m

TX: .757m v .708m

AR: .133m v .044m.

Trump in 2016 also beats Romney in 2012 by 33%, 3.358 million votes to 2.519 million, losing to Romney only in Texas (prefers homeboy Ted Cruz) and Vermont (prefers liberals).

Incidentally, despite Romney outperforming McCain overall in this comparison which ought to be a natural outgrowth of increasing population, he underperformed McCain in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Minnesota, Alabama and Oklahoma in 2012, an ominous sign for Romney. There was little enthusiasm for the man in too many places, which his recent demonstrations of disloyalty only underscore.

But Trump is crushing them both.

John Kasich stumbles, associates himself with bitter Mitt Romney remarks

Laugh of the Day: NY Times calls CPAC a "gathering of traditional conservatives"

Here:

As polls showed Mr. Trump likely to capture the Louisiana primary on Saturday, the biggest prize among states holding contests this weekend, the party establishment in Washington seemed seized by anxiety and despair. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, a long-running gathering of traditional conservatives, attendees feared that they were witnessing an event that has not occurred in more than a century: the breaking apart of a major American political party.

CPAC is dominated by a bunch of libertarian wankers who in 2013, 2014 and 2015 picked Rand Paul as their man for president. You remember him. He flew high in the polls until Donald Trump appeared last summer and shot him out of the sky. Before 2013, CPACers picked other well known losers like Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Jack Kemp.

The only "winner" they picked was George W. Bush in 2000, and we all know how that's worked out.

Everyone has nostalgia for the Reagan years, not the Bush years.

Traditional conservatives emphasize traditions like the church, Christmas, English, marriage between a man and a woman, homeownership, babies and law and order, all of which are expendable to libertarians but are essential to conservatives because they are essential to maintaining continuity with the American past which gave us the nation in the first place.

If conservatism is cracking up in America, it's because of the continuing bad influence from libertarian lunatics, but I repeat myself.

Grand Rapids, MI in February 2016 experienced a temperature anomaly of 2.7 degrees F above normal on average

Temperature averaged 29.5 degrees F.

The very long term mean average temperature in February, however, is 24.4 degrees F using the full NOWdata, so NOAA is saying the normal average is 26.8 based on a smaller data set which does not incorporate the full record available. Otherwise the anomaly would be 5.1 degrees F, not 2.7.

Do these people know what they're doing?

Precipitation was 0.99 inches above normal, coming in at 2.78 inches. The very long term mean precipitation average is 1.76 inches in February, however, not 1.79.

Snowfall was 14.8 inches, 1.7 inches above the mean average of 13.1 for the month calculated going back to the beginning of the record. January is typically the snowiest month at 18.5 inches, followed by December at 15.9 and then February at 13.1.

Heating degree days in February were 10.35% below the very long term mean of 1140 at 1022. Cumulatively for the season HDD are running 827 below normal (4077 v 4904), about 16.9% to date, thanks to the El Nino.

Partly due to the warmer winter weather than normal, my natural gas consumption in February is down almost 26% year over year. But I also remedied an attic insulation defect last summer.

The current very strong El Nino now averages 2.2 on the enso index for four consecutive measuring periods

The 1997-98 El Nino averaged 2.18 for five consecutive periods.

The 1982-83 El Nino averaged 2.1 for three consecutive periods.

The current El Nino is eleven periods long so far, averaging 1.49, the '97 was thirteen total averaging 1.56 and the '82 was fifteen total averaging 1.30, according to the most recent data.

Illegal immigrant flood is Bush's fault, and Mexico's: W's 2008 anti-human trafficking law prohibiting immediate deportation is the magnet

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports here that Mexico just sends their problem north to us, and Bush's law requires us to waste time and resources tracking down the traffickers, all while it's in Obama's political interests to be lenient:

Fleeing punishing poverty and brutal gangs, tens of thousands of people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras started surging across the border in 2014. Their numbers fell toward the end of that year and stayed lower in early 2015 before rising sharply again. Between October of 2015 and January of this year, apprehensions on the southwest border were more than double the number from the same period the year before. Most of those who were caught are from Central America. Some are from Mexico. ...

A 2008 anti-human trafficking law — signed by President George W. Bush — prevents the government from immediately deporting them. Instead, the government is required to feed, shelter and provide medical care to them until they can be released to the care of sponsors, who are usually relatives. Meanwhile, the children undergo deportation proceedings in federal immigration courts in Georgia and other states where they can seek relief to stay in the U.S. ...

[T]he government is in a better position to respond to the surges this year because it has opened several processing centers — converted warehouses — for the apprehended immigrants in McAllen, Texas. At those centers, authorities try to identify their smugglers and the routes they took to get into the U.S.

One impediment to building a decent wall to stop this flood is that much of the border land is privately owned.

Now you understand why Trump is talking up eminent domain. Talking about taking land to build a pipeline from Canada to the Gulf is simply preparation for taking land to build the Great Wall of Trump.

Trump is serious, folks.

Tea Party Patriots pat themselves on the back at CPAC in Maryland while Trump heads to Kansas to talk to the people

Noted here:

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said the businessman "has no business thinking he is Tea Party. Trump is about love of himself," she said. "But the Tea Party is about love of country and the love of our constitution."

The Tea Party in South Carolina begs to differ, giving about equal love to Trump and Cruz.

Bruce Bartlett goes off his meds again

Here:

[T]he system is out of balance, creating gridlock even as the public cries out for action on serious problems such as our deteriorating public infrastructure, epitomized by that in Flint, Michigan. ... The government was shut down, increases in the debt limit are constantly at risk, nominations to even the most minor administration positions are blocked and, now, the president has been denied the opportunity, which is his right under the Constitution, to name a new justice to the Supreme Court.

Let's see.

Incompetent Democrats failed to treat the water of the Flint River properly before tapping it, ruining Flint's infrastructure.

Republicans gained seats after the government shutdown. Maybe they should do it more often.

Republicans subsequently extended the debt limit until after Mr Teflon is gone so as not to interfere with the president's many golf outings and vacations.

The president still can name whoever he wants to whatever he wants.

Meanwhile the public cries out for Donald Trump, not action.