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The Last Man Standing
When Rick Perry first said he would support the GOP nominee, Trump, after a period of mourning and absolute disgust, I soothed myself with the truth of man’s fallibility.
There are no perfect men, so there should be no idols.
I like to think my own deep respect for Governor Perry was based on the rock solid record of conservative leadership he had for 14 years, as governor of Texas.
I know it was based on his pro-life, limited government creed.
I wasn’t happy about his turn to Trump, but at least he held out for as long as he could, actively campaigning against the toad until there was no one else left.
Now those who held up Senator Ted Cruz as the icon of conservative conscience are feeling a similar sting.
Ted Cruz is just a man, and a party dog, after all.
He’s young in the field and still has many years left to actively pursue higher office, so he must play the game.
One of the reasons he gave for this turn back against what was to be a principled stand was the SCOTUS list Trump’s campaign released today, and the inclusion of his best friend, Senator Mike Lee, on that list.
Senator Lee is consistently voted the most conservative member of the Senate – even more so than Ted Cruz.
While Lee’s inclusion played a leading role in Cruz’s decision, the list will make no difference for Lee. In a statement to the Washington Examiner on Cruz’s decision to vote for Trump, Lee indicated that the new list from Trump and pledge of support from Cruz would not make Lee change his mind.
“I consistently follow certain criteria when deciding whether to endorse any candidate pursuing a federal office. Those criteria focus on each candidate’s grasp of — and willingness to work tirelessly to restore — federalism and separation of powers,” Lee said in a statement. “I am always eager to support any candidate willing to make those structural constitutional protections a priority. In this race and in every other, I will continue to use the same criteria.”
“The Supreme Court is very important and I appreciate being considered,” Lee said in a statement. “Right now I’m focused on my job in the Senate, where I’m in a good position to defend the Constitution by fighting against government overreach. Both lists that I’ve seen from the Trump campaign are fantastic. While my brother and I might disagree as to which list is better, they’re both great.”
This was about as polite of a turn down as could possibly be imagined, but it was definitely a turn down.
It may be that Senator Lee has no ambitions beyond the Senate. I think a more likely scenario is that he actually meant it when he declared his opposition to Trump.
Everyone has their own reasons to either stand or fall, and no man is going to please all of the people, all of the time.
While Cruz’s supporters are trying to work all of today’s revelations out in their minds, however, I would suggest they take comfort in the fact that there are still representatives like Mike Lee out there.
The post The Last Man Standing appeared first on RedState.
Source: http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/09/23/last-man-standing/
