"Competitors" Needn't Be "Enemies"

Via our "friends" at the WSJ

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The Ted Cruz-Donald Trump Iowa debate over who is the phoniest “outsider” candidate is certainly entertaining, and we’d say they’re both right. Neither is an authentic populist, though they’re playing one on TV and Twitter.

* I WOULD HOPE THAT NEITHER IS AN AUTHENTIC "POPULIST."

(*SNORT*)

* FOLKS... IN CASE THAT ONE WENT OVER ANYONE'S HEAD...

(*CHUCKLE*)

* THAT WAS THE WSJ TAKING AT SWIPE AT BOTH MEN...

(*GUFFAW*)

The brawl is also valuable for the political education it is providing some of the radio talkers who did so much to elevate Mr. Trump as a billionaire revolutionary. Suddenly they’re unhappy that the businessman they championed against “the establishment” is calling out their new favorite son, Mr. Cruz, as a member of the establishment. He’s even whacking the Texan for low-interest loans from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and what until recently was his dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship.

* AGAIN... NOTICE THE SUBTLE SUGGESTION THAT THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "THE ESTABLISHMENT." (VIA PUTTING THE TERM IN QUOTES.)

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN AMUSEMENT*)

* AS TO GOLDMAN-SACHS...

(*SMIRK*)

* DESPITE ANY "TIES"... EITHER MAN WOULD BE FAR TOUGHER ON THE CRONY CAPITALISTS THAN WOULD BE THE WSJ's CANDIDATE (JEB BUSH) OR THEIR PLAN B CANDIDATE (MARCO RUBIO).

(*SMIRK*)

Mark Levin dipped into his reservoir of irony to order Mr. Trump to “cut the c---.” Mr. Trump, who used to tweet his gratitude to Mr. Levin for his support, now ignores him. Populism untied to any conservative principle doesn’t always end up where you’d like it to go, does it?

* MARK LEVIN IS FAR MORE RIGHT THAN WRONG... BUT - NEWS FLASH - HE'S HUMAN. HE HAS HUMAN FAILINGS. AND SOMETIMES HE'S JUST PLAIN WRONG. BUT, AGAIN... THIS ISN'T ABOUT LEVIN... THE OBJECTIVE OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE IS TO BUTTRESS THE ESTABLISHMENT (THE SUPPOSEDLY NON-EXISTENT ESTABLISHMENT) VIA SCATTER-SHOT TARGETING OF ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO IS ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT.

* FOLKS... I CAN'T STRESS IT STRONGLY ENOUGH... READ THE WSJ CAREFULLY. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT IN THE END... THERE'S A REASON IT'S NAMED THE "WALL STREET" JOURNAL.

(*WINK*)

Mr. Cruz does deserve support in Iowa for one of his positions: His lonely opposition to the renewable fuel standard that mandates ethanol use and enriches producers in the Hawkeye State. The Senator refused to bow before King Ethanol last year, and he’s mostly held fast even though Iowa is where anti-subsidy Republicans typically go to repent.

(*SINCERE STANDING OVATION*)

* YEP! ABSOFRIGGIN'LUTELY! CRUZ IS RIGHT... TRUMP IS WRONG!

Mr. Cruz wobbled briefly this month when he wrote in the Des Moines Register that the EPA should eliminate its rules that effectively prevent fuels with more than 10% ethanol. The ethanol lobby, aka America’s Renewable Future, quickly bragged on its website that Mr. Cruz had at last seen the beauty in subsidized fuel by coming to “eliminate the EPA blendwall,” which he said “makes it illegal for ethanol to expand its market penetration.” The lobby wants at least 30% ethanol.

But this wasn’t good enough for Terry Branstad, Iowa’s six-term Republican Governor, who called for Mr. Cruz’s defeat this week at the Renewable Fuels Summit in Altoona.

“Ted Cruz is ahead right now. What we’re trying to do is educate the people in the state of Iowa. He is the biggest opponent of renewable fuels. He actually introduced a bill in 2013 to immediately eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard. He’s heavily financed by Big Oil. So we think once Iowans realize that fact, they might find other things attractive but he could be very damaging to our state,” Mr. Branstad said.

* GO, TED, GO!

Mr. Trump quickly tweeted the news with “Wow, the highly respected Governor of Iowa just stated that ‘Ted Cruz must be defeated.’ Big shoker! [sic] People do not like Ted.” He didn’t mention ethanol, or that Mr. Branstad’s son Eric runs America’s Renewable Future.

* Er... HE'S COMPETING WITH CRUZ FOR THE GOP NOMINATION...

(*CHUCKLING AS I SHAKE MY HEAD IN AMUSEMENT*)

Mr. Cruz struck back by saying “the Washington cartel” favors ethanol, but in reality it’s the Iowa cartel, which means ethanol refiners and corn and sugar beet growers. But the Texan is right that ethanol is one of America’s worst corporate-welfare cases.

* CRUZ IS RIGHT!

The mandate flows in higher profits to a handful of ethanol producers and keeps the price of corn artificially high, all other demand being equal. This raises the price of food. Al Gore and the greens once supported ethanol but gave up on it when studies showed it did nothing for the environment because of the energy expended in its production.

* GOTTA GIVE GORE AN "ATTABOY" FOR THAT ONE! (PLEASE DON'T QUOTE ME, THOUGH!)

(*GUFFAW*)

So for those of you keeping track of this outsider feud on your establishment scorecards, mark ethanol as one for Mr. Cruz. In this case he’s standing on principle.

* "IN THIS CASE..." IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS, "OUR FRIENDS" AT THE WSJ ARE LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR ATTACKING CRUZ ON OTHER FRONTS IF THEY CAN FIRST GET RID OF TRUMP.

* BEWARE... THE FAUX-CONSERVATIVES. BEWARE THE CRONY-CAPITALISTS. BEWARE THE NEOCONS. BEWARE THE OPEN-BORDERS CROWD. (IN OTHER WORDS... BEWARE THE WSJ.)