Posted on 12/23/2015 11:19:33 AM PST by Isara
Politico released a report Wednesday morning of more leaked audio from a Ted Cruz Manhattan fundraiser earlier in December, this time of an exchange between Cruz and a donor on the subject of same-sex marriage, but even MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panel questioned the report’s potential implications.
The alleged dispute: Cruz said following this summer’s Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage would be “front and center” in his 2016 campaign. But in his luncheon with Manhattan donors, Cruz softened his tone, saying that the issue is one to be left up to the states.
Politico
After playing the leaked audio and reading a statement that Cruz made on the subject in July, “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist brought in the report’s author, Mike Allen, and said that the entire MSNBC panel “shrugged” at the report.
“Mike, as we listen to this, I think we all shrugged a little bit,” Geist said. “I think he was just talking broadly there about defending the Constitution, which is something he has said consistently.”
When asked if there is a “problem” between what Cruz said last summer and what he said at the fundraiser, Allen said that people are just used to “hearing the red meat Ted Cruz.”
“What we’re hearing here is him navigating a very different crowd,” Allen said. “This is fundraiser in midtown Manhattan at the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm, and someone there says, ‘Im against your view on gay marriage; it’s the one place we differ. Is it a top three priority for you?’ And Senator Cruz says ‘no’ and then gives what he’s always said about referring it to the states. So we see the senator navigating a crowd that is not entirely friendly in a different tone volume than we’re used to seeing on the stump.”
When asked by show host Joe Scarborough if Cruz’s opponents think they “have something” to use against the Texas Senator, Allen said that rival campaigns will attempt to contrast Cruz’s tone to one crowd and his tone to a different crowd.
“Well Joe, what opponents think, is that they’re going to try to make a case of, as you said in your led in, ‘New York Ted,’ ‘Iowa Ted,’” Allen remarked. “Not so much that he says something different, but that he emphasizes different priorities in different settings.”
Watch the segment below via MSNBC:
By: Amanda Carpenter (Conservative Review)
Oh, I could hear the balloon deflating all the way from the Politico headquarters.
Phllloooooooopppphhtt.
Last week, on the day of the highly-watched GOP presidential debate, someone gave Politico’s Mike Allen an enticing piece of catnip to put in his insidery morning email. Secret audio tape would soon be published on a conservative news site supposedly showing that Ted Cruz talks much differently to NYC moderates than Iowa evangelicals. “These leaks are designed to undermine Cruz’s authenticity,” Allen wrote.
The prospect of a juicy secret recording flew around the Internet.
People reported on the prospect of the audio tape, before ever hearing a word of what Cruz said. All by design, to be sure, just like Allen wrote. The whole intent was to plant the notion that Cruz is a big phony - without a shred of evidence.
Days and days went by. Nothing. Then, finally this morning Politico published the story. The day before Christmas Eve. Aka the holiday news dump. They didn’t have the goods. Someone put one over Mike Allen.
Now that it’s finally out, what did Cruz say? Absolutely nothing he hasn’t said in public before.
“During the question period, one of the donors told Cruz that gay marriage was one of the few issues on which the two disagreed. Then the donor asked: “So would you say it's like a top-three priority for you — fighting gay marriage?”
“No,” Cruz replied. “I would say defending the Constitution is a top priority. And that cuts across the whole spectrum — whether it's defending [the] First Amendment, defending religious liberty.”
The story went on:
“A well-known Republican operative not affiliated with a 2016 campaign said by email when sent Cruz's quote: "Wow. Does this not undermine all of his positions? Abortion, Common Core — all to the states? ... Worse, he sounds like a slick D.C. politician — says one thing on the campaign trail and trims his sails with NYC elites. Not supposed to be like that."
Hilarious. These operatives don’t seem to understand that the Constitution happens to cover religious liberty issues. Like marriage. And, pretty much everything else!
Moreover, as Politico even admits, Cruz has made the exact argument in public places, including during interviews with Stephen Colbert and Jay Leno!
Specifically, when Stephen Colbert suggested that Cruz believed there should be “no gay marriage,” Cruz stopped him and said, “Let’s be precise. Under the Constitution, marriage is a question for the states, if you want to change the marriage law--”
Colbert then interjected the “Constitution doesn’t mention marriage.”
And Cruz explained, “That’s exactly why it’s a question for the states. The 10th Amendment says if it doesn’t mention it, it’s a question for the states. That’s in the Bill of Rights. Everything that is not mentioned is left to the states.”
Cruz went on,
“I don't think we should entrust governing our society to five unelected lawyers in Washington. Why would you possibly hand over the rights of 320 million Americans to five lawyers in Washington to decide these are the rules that govern you? If you want to win an issue, go to the ballot box and win at the ballot box. That's the way the Constitution was designed."
So, there you have it. The secret recordings of Ted Cruz show nothing that was secret at all.
The story someone sold to Mike Allen is a big nothing burger.
If the tapes show anything, it’s that Cruz is willing to talk about a hot button topic many conservative politicians avoid like the plague in front of anyone. And he does that regardless of whether he is in a church in Iowa or at a Manhattan fundraiser.
Which, by the way, Ted Cruz, that fire-breathing conservative, can attract Manhattan donors? While talking about his position on gay marriage? That sounds downright electable.
All in all, it sounds like Ted Cruz not only got a donation from the New York donor who recorded and leaked the audio, but a bonus in-kind contribution too.
But the MSM doesn’t say squat when Hillary speaks in a Southern accent to black people. lol, give me a break.
Poor enemedia. They’ve tried their damnedest to take down Trump and have nothing to show for it. Now, they are trying the same thing on the runner-up with comparable results.
politico and other leftwing rags are dying to cause trouble for Cruz and to sabotage his presidential campaign.
They haven’t found anything yet, but they will keep trying, even if they have to invent something.
1. Stop muslims from coming here until we figure out who is killing us.
2.We have a 19 trillion dollar deficit.
3.Our Mexican border is open. Build the damned wall and get these illegals out-a here.
4 get new supreme court Justice!!
Get off his back.
How is that even inconsistent? The Supreme Court took the issue out of the hands of the states.
Politico and all the gopedemocrats hope it causes trouble.
Allahpundit at Hot Air thinks that Cruz himself might be leaking these silly things to the press.
Great post, great argument. Top 3?
Constitution
Defense
Economy
Any POTUS who could restore those Big Three, would be the greatest in history. I’m thinking Ted Cruz is just the man.
The LSM was beside themselves when they learned of this “secret’ recording and how it was going to blow Ted out of the water. I’m sure Ted is sorry to dissapoint them.
I am pretty sure this audio will work in Cruz's favor. He's already got the Evangelicals. He needs the moderates and libertarians. This sort of statement encourages them rather than discourages them.
Good stuff. Let’s summarize the dirt on Cruz over the past couple of weeks.
1) He said he thinks he would be a better president than Trump and that he beleives he’ll win.
2) He opposed the Rubio’s Gang of 8 through brilliant tactics.
3) He said his priority is the constitution.
I still prefer Trump by a wide margin,=. However, after 100-plus years of unconstitutional activity by the federal government and 8 years if an active attempt by OZero to just kill off the Constitution once and for all, it’d be good to have a constitutionalist in the White House - and Cruze and Trump are the only ones running.
Imagine what it would mean to have a president who really enforces the Constitution.
Imagine the shocked look on the faces of CongressCritters when the president sends across a budget that doesn’t fund the EPA, the Dept. of Education, the Federal Highway SLUSH Fund and a myriad of other agencies that exceed the enumerated powers. Wow. In one swift action, we’d be rid of welfare, Obamacare, federal public housing, Social Security (I say refund the money people paid in and end it now), Medicare Medicaid, the Federal Reserve and lots of other socialist crap.
Hundreds of thousands of worthless bureaucrats would be out of work, but the economy would soar. Maybe some companies would see pity on the federal workers and take them.
Right after the “gay marriage ruling” I wasn’t really concerned yet about ISIS, we yet didn’t have an actual terrorist attack in the USA that the Liberals used to push gun control instead of worrying about Islamic terrorism, didn’t have a known Christian genocide going on with Obama only caring about male military aged Muslim “refugees”, and the GOP was worthless but at least deadlocked instead of giving Obama everything he wants.
Yea gay marriage isn’t on my top 5 radar anymore.
It’s always good to have exact transcripts. The media plays extremely fast and loose with both quotations and summaries. Fox News played yesterday’s slam on Trump using an ‘obscene’ word as they described it by beeping out the word all day. You’d think Trump has said Hillary had had her “____ _____ed”
Turns out is was ‘schlonged’, and now it’s being said all over the media TODAY.
Even today they say that “Trump wants to ban all Muslims”. Which isn’t true because Trump said “temporary ban” while Congress fixes this issue. Apparently, listening to them this morning this is still awful, and he should have said Syrian refugees.
That, of course, totally ignores the fact that the female shooter in San Bernardino came our way via Pakistan and Saudi, iirc. If I remember the details, not one single 911 hijacker came from Syria.
That MONSTER. I am so changing my vote!
/sarc
Said it before, and I’ll say it again. As long as faggot-marriage stands, America is no longer a country I’ll ever lift a finger for, nor fight to preserve.
Allahpundit at Hot Air thinks that Cruz himself might be leaking these silly things to the press.
Allah going the conspiracy route.
Good.
Cruz says leave it to the States. This is one issue that can’t be left to the States. How do you recognize a marriage in one state, but not in another. Americans don’t stay in one state. We move. So is the marriage recognized in the state they move too? What about the children they were allowed to adopt in one state, but couldn’t adopt in another State?
Will the gay couple be allowed to be parents in the State that doesn’t recognize the homosexual marriage? What about next of ken, wills, etc. in the state not recognizing the marriage?
This isn’t the same as gun laws, where you forbid guns from entering a state or allowing guns into a State. I don’t see how it will work.
We already saw that the judges don’t let the States set the laws for marriage.
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