Mr. Cruz officially drops out

[Balog]

Yeah, call it what you want, but I don't want Hilary in the White House.  You just think Obama was anti-gun.  I think she takes it a bit further.  I'll vote my gun rights if nothing else.

IMO, I am afraid that Trump's worst enemy might be the belligerent Trump supporters who seem to think this election is some sort of sports tournament and everyone who lost has to stay home.  They may not understand that they might need Cruz supporters to vote for their guy in November.

House Republicans will resist anything Hillary tries to do about guns. But I think they'd support President Trump's "common sense reforms" after another Sandy Hook.

[Balog]

And that is where I start disagreeing.  I don't like the All or Nothing thinking.  There are no perfect candidates.  Staying home until a perfect candidate shows up will mean you will always stay home.  If Reagan were running, he would probably be considered a well spoken big govt, liberal Republican.  If you think you have a perfect candidate, you probably just don't know him well enough. 

Serious question: if it was a choice between Hillary and Bernie would you still feel that way? No perfect candidate, lesser of two evils etc.

[Northwoods]

Which is why I supported Ted Cruz.  To expand upon what Larry Correia posted on FB yesterday:

Let point that out again:

Did I love Cruz? No. Because I was hiring an employee, not a god. He was the least likely to rape the Constitution.

That right there.  I want someone who understands the employee manual (aka the Constitution) and won't use his phone and pen to re-write the parts that he doesn't like and feels "constrains" him.   An employee who almost might get the other employees to follow the g-ddamn handbook, and perhaps get rid of some of the deadwood.   Was Ted perfect ?  Hell No.  Far from it in fact.  but he was (is) closest to what I want to see in a President this cycle, hell in fact in a long time.   I was looking for a drinking buddy or bestest friend.  I wanted someone that would follow the rules that were laid down over 200 years ago.

Pretty good summary of my opinions on the matter.

[Fitz]

Serious question: if it was a choice between Hillary and Bernie would you still feel that way? No perfect candidate, lesser of two evils etc.

Neither of them has an "R" next to their stuff on CSPAN.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

What is this "no longer accept a conservative Republican candidate" mess you write of?  There has not been a solidly conservative POTUS candidate from the GOP in decades.  Go on down the list:
RomneyCare author
McCain of the open border
GWB x2, the compassionate, not solid conservative
Dole, GOPe incarnate
GHWB, of "kinder, gentler" fame
Reagan, who might qualify, but in retrospect was not as conservative as his fanbois say.
Chevy Chase, the comedian that played at being a presidential candidate (Ford)
Nixon of EPA fame
Goldwater, who in 1964 I would say qualified as a sold conservative.

2016-1964=52 years

And the candidates before Goldwater were not conservatives until you go back to Calvin Coolidge in 1923.

Yeah. The Republican party is not a conservative party. It simply has a significant number of conservatives in it, but not significant enough to win primaries.

I doubt Cruz would've come this far if it weren't for Trump beating down the opposition.

[Perd Hapley]

I doubt Cruz would've come this far if it weren't for Trump beating down the opposition.

I noticed he had that effect. I was hoping he'd fizzle out, after the field was ripe for Cruz. Oh well.

[RoadKingLarry]

I was just getting too much "Nehemiah Scudder" vibe off of Cruz and the longer he went the worse it got.

[Ron]

There certainly was nothing subtle about the way Cruz referenced his Christianity. I'm sure him and I share much regarding theology as well as political philosophy.

He has made a lot of the right stands over the years and is on the right side of a lot of the issues, generally.

Unfortunately he was just a terrible candidate for a national office. His references to God and faith were all aimed at preaching to the choir. In a post Christian world ignoring or alienating the sizable non-Christian block of voters is a losing strategy. He came off like Glen Beck to me on a few occasions, that's not presidential. Also a  US Senator whose married to a Goldman Sacks banker has a high bar to reach to have any authenticity as a populist.

Not that there was/is anything presidential about Trump. Trump has just had a more broad based appeal as a nationalist along with his populist rhetoric. Reality TV, casino's, TV "wrestling" and beauty pageants all give Trump a head start when identifying with "flyover country". 
    

[roo_ster]

I must say the ragequitty butthurt wave that went out over the internet the last 24 hours tickled my schadenfreud bone, especially after all the abuse heaped on trunp supporters with such condescention. 

I figure a goodly proportion will get over it soon enough when the sting is not so fresh and after they think with a bit more clarity on what made cruz unappealing even to a majority of socons and other conservative sorts in the gop primary.