New York....

[Landrover]

I feel for you...I spent almost a year going b/w Austin and DC. It's all very disgusting. The organizations I helped represent bought many votes and won some very important battles for our industry. A majority of the politicians I met couldn't have cared less about our agenda or the nuances of what we were seeking to change. They wanted power. Their campaign got a FAT check. The money legitimized our requests. I met very few that took the time to care or understand. I've become very disenchanted by the whole political process since that point.

I have about 14 years of visits on capitol hill. Some of the years for the agricultural chemical industry, some for the pharmaceutical/biotech industry, some for Safari Club International, some for the A&M System as it relates to agricultural research, teaching & extension!
YEP, it is uglier than making HOG HEAD cheese! The disenchantment was clear as a bell after about year 5 for me. But I was able to still "dig deep" and say America is better than the 15+ other countries I have visited or lived in over the years. The system needs to be tweaked but I don't see it coming from this crop of misfits, but I will continue to plug away!

[ttechdallas]

There are plenty of good reasons to disagree with and even dislike Trump, but I don't get the hate, especially that which extends to his supporters. To me, that is more dangerous to the Republican party than Trump.

It seems like a what a lot of people are saying is that they won't vote for Trump because he is not conservative enough. And the justification for overlooking Cruz' warts is because he is a "constitutional" conservative.

Much of the analysis for Romney's losing to Obama in 2012 suggested that conservative turnout was lower than the prior election. Had just the same amount of conservatives that voted in the prior election turned out, he would have one handily.

Are we going to lose another election if Trump wins the nomination because conservatives don't think he is conservative enough?

The irony of all the moaning and predictions of Trump going independent if he has the most votes and loses the nomination is that this is exactly what the GOP is pushing him to do. Leadership is actively engaged in "anyone but Trump" activities. Cruz and his supporters openly accuse him of a being a liberal and certainly not a real Republican, while mocking what they claim are ignorant and uninformed supporters.

It's as though conservatives have crafted a definition of Republican that excludes those who don't share 100% of their social values and are not committed to laws and policies that force those values on the rest of Americans.

Maybe they are right. Maybe they are wrong. But they will never win a majority of American voters when they struggle to even win a majority of Republican voters. Even though a lot of the voters are RINO's (TIC).

[jerp]

It's as though conservatives have crafted a definition of Republican that excludes those who don't share 100% of their social values and are not committed to laws and policies that force those values on the rest of Americans.
(TIC).

I think most of us on the conservative side are realizing the battle is largely lost on many social issues. With the exception of pro-life topics, many conservatives have thrown in the towel. If there is any "values forcing" going on these days it is coming from the other side. If you express a traditional view - one that pretty much everybody held until about 15 minutes ago - you will be shouted down, ostracized and labeled a bigoted Neanderthal. Reasonable people can differ on social issues - they have and always will. While important, those are not the issues I care most about. For me it is all about the size and scope of the federal government, the relationship between the citizen and the state, individual liberty and adherence to the Constitution

[Landrover]

For me it is all about the size and scope of the federal government, the relationship between the citizen and the state, individual liberty and adherence to the Constitution

Pretty darn simple aint it! The rest is feel good window dressing to appease either the Left or Right for votes..........it is welfare for all actually. Term limits solves just about 75% of the non-sense we have been dealing with for 30 years.

[LWC]

[QUOTE=ttechdallas;11268895]There are plenty of good reasons to disagree with and even dislike Trump, but I don't get the hate, especially that which extends to his supporters. To me, that is more dangerous to the Republican party than Trump.


I don't get the hate either. Lying Ted, Little Marco, comparing Ben Carson to a child molester. Do these sound like the words of a stand up guy who lets their actions and policies do the speaking for them....someone that we can be proud to be the leader of this great country? But hey, he's going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.

Wake up people.

[Shane]

jerp nailed it. It's about the Constitution.

Trump is a lying manipulator. Full Throttle, your post started with the two most important words - "Trump says...." Trump says a lot of stuff lately that is completely the opposite of what he has said, done, and supported for his entire life. Every time he tries to sound like a real conservative, he puts his foot in his mouth and gives away the fact that he's faking it. I could not care less about what the man says, because he's a serial liar. He's a fraud.

Hillary would be an utter disaster as a President, but what would be the side effects? You have to think like a chess player. No matter who the next president is, the battle doesn't end when he/she is sworn into office. It will continue. What happens next. What will happen because of who wins the White House this time? Think long term.

Trump would destroy the Republican Party's control of Congress as well as it's chances of regaining control of Congress and/or the White House for years. Trump would divide the center-right in a bad way. Hillary would bring the center-right together, and the Republicans would most likely maintain control of Congress, if not increase their majorities. We would have a better chance of fighting against the big government liberals then. We certainly wouldn't be sitting in an ideal position with that witch in the White House, but we'd likely be in a better position with her than we would with Trump.

Neither one of them would be any good at all. Both would do damage to the nation and the Constitution. I think we'd be in a better position to limit the damage and fight back if Trump isn't the President with an (R) after his name.

I hate Trump because he's an obvious lying fraud. I don't hate Trump's supporters. I wish they weren't under his spell, and it's frustrating to watch so many people unable or unwilling to see and admit the fraud that Trump is. We have such a golden opportunity this election to get a new President that would actually value the Constitution and freedom more than big government control of everything. It's such an important fork in the road for our nation. I hate to see the opportunity wasted on a lying scumbag manipulator like Trump.

[J Wales]

Shane, that pretty much sums up my thoughts perfectly.

[Joshua Flournoy]

My first vote for president was for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976 and I have been very involved politically ever since. If Trump gets the nomination I will not vote. Based on personal integrity alone I will not vote for him, no matter how much I hate Hillary. I have pulled the lever for someone who is not my first choice, but never for someone who I believe is a miserable human being and who's election threatens not just the conservative movement but the entire 240 year American experiment. My no-vote protest will be meaningless of course but I will not be party to the unraveling.

Well Said.

[Joshua Flournoy]

I doubt very many Trump supporters see him as the best canditate ever, or the second coming of Jesus, or whatever else the proud anti-Trumps want to claim in order to make them seem like nutcases. I know I don't. Personally, I just see him as the best candidate IN MY OPINION in this very important election. The part of this election that makes me sick is how many people who aren't fans of Trump(mostly Cruz supporters) are not just attacking him, but his supporters as well as if they're somehow automatically wrong or stupid for not having the same views. People can claim whatever they want, but you just don't see that in anywhere near the amount or ferocity coming from Trump supporters directed at Cruz supporters. Granted, that's mainly coming from the admittedly small sample size on here since I try to stay away from political discussions anywhere else. What ever happened to respecting each other's views?

Being someone who participates in political discussions in multiple places, I can tell you that you are 150% wrong on this.

[Joshua Flournoy]

I would vote for Trump against Hillary if I thought him winning would be better in the long run for the country and especially the constitutional conservative movement than Hillary winning. I don't. They would both be horrible, obviously. But I'm convinced that it would actually be more difficult to ever see any hope of a conservative recovery if Trump were president. Trump would completely destroy the Republican party and the conservative movement. We'd get pretty much the same Supreme Court justices out of him as we'd get from Hillary - which is huge, and both will be disastrous long past the end of the presidential term. But Trump's insanity will cause Republicans and conservatives to get the blame, and we'll lose control of Congress. Combine that with losing the Supreme Court, and it'll be liberal rule forever after that. At least with Hillary, we'd stand a chance of keeping Congress and fighting back against some of that.

Yep.

[texansfan]

It's NY ding-dong...every channel predicted this all day. Congrats!!

I'm more impressed with TX Values & who won.

It's not that he won it's by such a YUUUGE margin
And with only 2 people in the race.
It was said Donald couldn't win a two man race.
It was said Donald can't get more than 50% of a vote.
Well, he did both here.

Cruz couldn't win 50% of his home state. Why?

Because there were 5 people still in the race. If 5 people were still in yesterday, Trump wouldn't have won over 50%, either.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY"]Queen - We Are The Champions (Official Video) - YouTube[/ame]