Cruz, Trump, Kasich refuse to commit to eventual nominee

BREAKING NEWS
Cruz, Trump, Kasich refuse to commit to eventual nominee


All three GOP candidates backed away from their pledge to support GOP nominee

By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 11:04 PM ET, Tue March 29, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

(CNN)Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich all stepped back from their earlier pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee during Tuesday night's CNN town hall.

"All of us shouldn't even have answered that question," Kasich said of the pledge party officials asked all the candidates to sign in September.

"No, I don't anymore," Trump said, when asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if he continued "to pledge to support whoever the Republican nominee is?"

Trump said he has "been treated very unfairly" by the Republican National Committee and party establishment figures. The billionaire front-runner accused rival Cruz of "essentially saying the same thing" in response to a question about the pledge.

Earlier, Cruz had told Cooper when asked the same question: "I'm not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and my family ... I think nominating Donald Trump would be an absolute trainwreck, I think it would hand the general election to Hillary Clinton."

Trump said Cruz "doesn't need to support me, I have tremendous support right now from the people."

"I don't really want him to do something he's not comfortable with," he said.

The party loyalty pledge initially came up during the first GOP debate in August 2015.

At the time, Trump was the only candidate in the Fox News hosted debate to decline to rule out an independent presidential bid.

But by September, Trump had agreed to an RNC-sponsored vow.

"The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. And for that reason, I have signed the pledge," he told reporters at Trump Tower of the written Republican Party loyalty pledge. "So I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and for the conservative principles for which it stands."

The pledge, circulated by GOP officials, stated: "I, ________, affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is."

The pledge continues: "I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politi...dge/index.html

Well, it's perfectly understandable. The "pledge" was a stupid thing to begin with. The only reason the RNC asked for such a stupid thing was because they wanted Trump to pledge, they really didn't care about anyone else. So, it back-fired on the RNC and the other candidates. They're all breaking it, so Trump graciously cut them all loose tonight so they don't have to torment themselves any longer.

Maybe now, the media will shut up about it and find some important questions to ask the candidates.

We can hope, anyway.

It shows you what their word is worth. Diddly squat.

Exactly. They all wanted it because they thought they would beat Trump and he would go third party. Now that's he winning and they're losing, they have the sore losers pout and can't bring themselves to honor their pledge. They're not only losers, they're poor dishonorable losers. But like Trump says, who cares? He doesn't need their vote and he doesn't need their support. Ben Carson is the only good honorable loser among them.

Trump takes back pledge to support GOP nominee

By KYLE CHENEY
03/29/16 09:48 PM EDT
Updated 03/29/16 10:47 PM EDT


Donald Trump has rescinded his pledge to support the Republican nominee for president.

Asked during a CNN town hall whether he stood by the earlier pledge — which he signed in September after meeting with party chairman Reince Priebus — Trump said: "No, I don't."

"We'll see who it is," he told moderator Anderson Cooper.

Trump said he had been treated "unfairly" by the Republican National Committee and the GOP establishment. He said he was unsure whether the Republican establishment was plotting to take the nomination away from him during the convention in Cleveland.

He also said he didn't need Ted Cruz to promise to support him should Trump win the nomination.

"I’m not asking for his support," Trump said.

"I don't want his support; I don't need his support; I want him to be comfortable," Trump said, taunting Cruz for dancing around the issue of whether he would support Trump if Trump were the nominee.

The Cruz campaign declined to respond to Trump's comment, referring to Cruz's earlier statements, when he repeatedly dodged whether he would back Trump as the nominee.

"Ted has said he does not make a habit of supporting people who insult his wife," Cruz communications director Alice Stewart said when asked whether Trump's remarks affect Cruz's decision regarding backing the nominee, echoing comments Cruz has been making for several days.

Trump reiterated his support for the ultimate GOP nominee as recently as early March, when he said during a debate with Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio that they all deserve some credit for energizing the party this election cycle.

Later Tuesday night, Kasich backed off the pledge to support the ultimate GOP nominee too, suggesting he'd wait and see if it's someone he believes is good for the country.

"Frankly, all of us shouldn’t have even answered that question," he said, referencing when, in an early debate, all of the candidates were asked to raise their hand if they'd agree to support the eventual nominee.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-g...#ixzz44MJ7mFlT

Pledge is Dead and good riddance to it. No American should be bound to vote for anyone for any reason to have the right to run for office on their party's ballot.

In political speak "They all flip-flopped."

In English, "They all lied to us." Again.