An interesting question about political dirty tricks
Is the Cruz campaign moral? Exclusive: David Kupelian spotlights candidate's move to switch delegates from Trump April 4, 2016
Here’s a simple question that desperately needs an answer.
Donald Trump won the Arizona primary in a landslide, 47.1 percent to Ted Cruz’s 24.9 percent, giving the GOP front-runner all 58 of that winner-take-all state’s delegates.
Right now, the Cruz campaign is engaged in a “furious” on-the-ground campaign in Arizona – and in other states won by Trump, including Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee – to convert Trump delegates into Cruz delegates on a second ballot, should there be a contested GOP convention this summer.
The question is: Is this moral?
Trump calls it “crooked as hell.” But let’s back up a little.
As the Washington Examiner reported Monday, in a story headlined “Cruz snaring Trump’s Arizona delegates” and posted in the lead position of the Drudge Report:
Zitat Sen. Ted Cruz is out-hustling Donald Trump and looks set to ensure many Arizona delegates will defect to him in a convention floor fight.
The Texas senator, who ever since Iowa has played a stealthy ground game in contrast to Trump’s chaotic populism, is taking steps to snatch the Republican presidential nomination from The Donald at the convention in July.
The New York businessman easily won last month’s Arizona primary taking 47 percent to Cruz’s 25 percent, scooping up all 58 of the state’s delegates. That’s nearly 5 percent of the 1,237 Trump needs for the nomination, and they’re tied to him on the first ballot.
But Cruz, exploiting deep opposition to Trump among grass-roots Republicans, has been far more active in Arizona than Trump, insiders say. He’s recruiting candidates for the available 55 delegate slots, that along with the other three delegate positions filled by party leaders, would be allowed to vote for him in a multi-ballot contested convention.
The Gateway Pundit blog gives the same story a more harshly partisan slant, headlining its post, “Dirty Ted Cruz Moves to Snatch Up Trump’s AZ Delegates – Supporters Cheer Sleazy Move.”
But let’s just confront the question, not necessarily in a partisan way:
Regardless of whom you support for the GOP presidential nomination, ask yourself whether what Team Cruz is doing is moral or “sleazy”? There doesn’t seem to be any question that it’s legal. But setting aside legality, which hinges on the complicated and arcane delegate rules that vary from state to state, the question is: Is it moral?
Is it fair for the Cruz campaign essentially to thwart the will of Arizona primary voters who overwhelmingly chose Donald Trump and intended their delegates to represent their choice? Are you OK with Team Cruz feverishly recruiting and converting delegates duty-bound to support Trump on the first ballot into Cruz supporters on all subsequent ballots?
What does this mean for Arizonans’ and other Americans’ right to vote?
“Trump has no real organization in Arizona,” GOP strategist Sean Noble explained to the Examiner. “Cruz will get most/all Arizona delegates on second ballot.”
I am troubled by this. The Cruz campaign is going from state to state, after each primary election has been decided by voters, in efforts to turn Trump delegates into Cruz delegates: Do you believe this is right?
One member of the Cruz team, Republican legislator David Livingston, majority whip of the Arizona House of Representatives, is, according to the Examiner, “engaged in a furious round of phone calls, texts, emails and meetings as it attempts to place loyal delegates.”
I’d like to know what you think about this. I’m not really interested in comments like: “Trump can’t win in November, so Cruz has to do this stuff to stop Hillary from being elected” or “Trump is also sleazy” or “Trump is so evil, Cruz has to stop him whatever the means.” Those are just excuses.
I simply want to know if you really believe overturning the crystal clear will of Arizona (and other states’) voters is a moral thing to do in pursuit of the presidency.
Its not just sexual purity, although that is certainly one of the definitions (#6).
But more to the point (see definitions #'s: 1-5) its a matter of right conduct or ethics that defines morality.
How ethical was it for Cruz to hire Jeff Roe, a man known for being extremely unethical and is even accused of being a contributor to a man's suicide because of his campaign tactics.
How ethical was it to commit fraud in Iowa?
How ethical is it to have a campaign so grounded in lies that the opposition can rightly refer to you as "Lying Ted"?
How ethical is it to seek to 'steal' delegates from other candidates?
How ethical is cheating (the constant stories we hear of vote fraud and machine tampering)?
How ethical is it to be ineligible and lie about that ineligibility thus duping voters who have not studied the natural born issue?
I can go on an on here so I'd have to say based on the accepted meaning of the word "moral" - that the Cruz campaign is anything but a moral campaign!!
But those things are really not the worst.....the worst is that Cruz claims to be a Christian.....a moral man.....waves the Bible around.....yet is conducting the most immoral campaign I've ever witnessed in my lifetime other than Obama's. That's the worst and the most egregious for me personally.
How ironic that a man running as a 'values', small government, anti-establishment candidate, and who has stated that responsibility for actions by campaign staff and PACs starts at the top has not disavowed any of the fraud, outright lies, half lies, possible machine tampering by the eGOP, his staff, and corporate funded PACs.
Illegitimi non Carborundum
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
Every other campaign in history was smart enough to keep a ground game going in the state to keep their delegates or make sure their own people get selected as a delegate. Donny has decided it is smart to fire everyone the moment a states contest is over and forget about it.
It seems to me this isn't an issue of morality (since Cruz is following the rules everyone agreed to prior to the race) but an issue of blatant stupidity. Donald Trump is easily the stupidest candidate to run for President ever and people should realize their vote is meaningless to him considering the way he treats it when it is time to get delegates seated.
Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.