If that isn't Ted Cruz personified...
The guy was actually a fairly smart person in certain ways, but was a social misfit of gigantic proportions.
Posted on 02/07/2016 8:45:29 PM PST by SoConPubbie
Yesterday I told you how Ted Cruz talked about building a wall months before Donald Trump announced his 2016 presidential candidacy.
That post was misleading, and I deeply apologize.
Because Ted Cruz was actually talking about a wall years before Trump announced.
YEARS.
Here’s Ted Cruz, July 17, 2012, during his run for the Texas Senate, supporting building a wall:
MODERATOR: Mr. Cruz. You were asked during April’s Belo Debate if you support building a fence the length of the U.S./Mexico border and here’s what you said.
MODERATOR: He supports building a wall along the entire Texas/Mexico border. Is that something that you would support? Yes, no, why? We’ll start with you, Mr. Cruz.
CRUZ: Yes. We have an illegal immigration crisis and we need to do everything humanly possible to secure the border. That means fences, that means walls…
[edit]
MODERATOR: [unintelligible] wall, you said you’d support a wall —
CRUZ: I said yes to that.
MODERATOR: — even if it infringes on property rights of Texans along the way.
CRUZ: Property owners should be compensated for that [edit]
MODERATOR: Is that still your position tonight, to build a fence the length of the Texas/Mexico border?
CRUZ: I think we need to use every tool humanly possible.
MODERATOR: And that is one of them?
CRUZ: Yes.
MODERATOR: Yes? OK. Do you have any idea how much it would cost?
CRUZ: I don’t know the specific cost but I can guarantee you it is far less than the cost of illegal immigration.
The moderator goes on to berate Cruz for supporting this despite the cost. Cruz sticks to his guns. That was July 17, 2012, and the debate clip used in the second debate was from April 13, 2012. Donald Trump’s latest presidential run was announced in June 2015.
This means Ted Cruz supported a wall years before Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid.
And here is Cruz again, from July 30, 2011, supporting a wall as part of a comprehensive strategy to secure the border:
QUESTIONER: Do you favor a path to citizenship for illegal aliens already in the U.S., stricter border enforcement, and/or the building of a border wall or some other policy or combination of policies?
CRUZ: There were a lot of questions in that piece. Let me lay out my position on immigration, because I can state it simply and in one sentence. I am strongly opposed to illegal immigration. I am categorically opposed to amnesty. And I strongly support legal immigrants who follow the rules and come here seeking to work towards the American dream.
Now with respect to securing the borders, I approach this from the perspective of someone who’s spent much of his adult life in law enforcement. It makes utterly no sense that we don’t know who’s coming into this country. We don’t know the criminal backgrounds. Our borders are largely unsecured. And particularly in a post-9/11 world, that is lunacy. I support any and all possible efforts to secure the border. That includes fences, that includes walls, that includes technology, that includes helicopters, that includes drones, that includes manpower, that includes employment verification, that includes approaching it as a law enforcement priority. And right now, neither party is serious about doing that.
With respect to a path to citizenship or amnesty, I categorically oppose it. And the reason is, I’ve spent a lifetime working to defend the constitution and uphold the rule of law. It is fundamentally unfair and contrary to the rule of law to reward those who break the law. And you know, one of the people it’s most unfair to are those that are following the laws. There are immigrants who wait years and even decades to come here legally. And yet what amnesty programs say is that we’re going to take those that have chosen to break the law, and we’re going to reward them rather than insist that people follow the law. I don’t think that’s fair, I don’t think that’s right, and I don’t support it.
Thanks to @mbhouse on Twitter (here and here) for the pointers.
As others have posted, where was he in the Senate the last four years on this issue? How often has he raised it during his time in the Senate? It took Patterico all these months to dig up this interview to try to prove that Cruz stands strong in this issue. If it took that long to find this, that’s just more evidence of how AWOL Cruz has been on it. He hasn’t talked about it for four years, and you want me to believe that this is HIS issue.
What wall?
A’yup. That’s why Cruz was my choice nine months before he announced he was running. Been watching him here on FR for a long time.
If that isn't Ted Cruz personified...
The guy was actually a fairly smart person in certain ways, but was a social misfit of gigantic proportions.
No, no - you don’t understand - I’m looking for the actual physical wall that Cruz TALKED about - but I just cannot see any wall on the border with Mexico! Did somebody take it away? OH NOES! Teddy PROMISED! He SAID he was going to BUILD a wall! TED LIES! I’ll never trust TED again!
Here is where Obama managed to kill the virtual fence also... thanks for your post. I was curious about what stopped the wall building.
March 16, 2010: DHS Announces Termination of Funding for Virtual Fence Along the Southwestern Border
Secretary Napolitano announced that, effective immediately, DHS would redeploy $50 million of stimulus funding originally allocated for virtual fence technology because “the system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines.”
Blech Blech Blech
He lost me for good at the TPP. way back
“Nobody is clean. Everyone flip-flopped. Everyone is fudging the truth. Supporters are twisting words to try to defend their candidate. “
That simply isn’t true in Trump’s case. He’s never been in public office, so he cannot (at least not yet) be taken to task for not delivering on what he’s promised he will do. Cruz and the rest OTOH are ALL established politicans and none of them has a record of accomplishment insofar as illegal immigration is concerned. The Two Amigos(i.e. Cruz and Rubio) can’t wait to make a path for their blood relatives, and “The Governors” haven’t done jack about illegal immigration in their respective states except to talk the issue to death. So we do have a record for all these guys and it isn’t anything to write home about. I think we have an “inkling” that none of them would do anything more than take the “cheap labor express” money and do nothing.
I don’t recall Ted sponsoring a bill in the Senate to build The Wall.
But you say he talked about it years ago. Well, alright. I guess that’s the same thing to some people.
Trump stole the idea from Cruz.
I don’t think facts really matter. Here in FR, where Conservatives use to meet up and discuss the news and events of the day... who use to come have constructive commentary from a Conservative point of view...
And now we have FR that shows (via an interesting caucus system) that the majority here support a candidate for POTUS who, until announcing his run on the GOP ticket, has a long history of supporting candidates and positions that run contradictory to the Conservative values formerly the foundation of FreeRepublic.
I remember fondly the lambasting of Flip-Flop Kerry... yet this same discussion board now seems to have an overwhelming love for an even bigger flip-flopper.
Exactly WHAT is MEASURABLY, and CONSISTENTLY Conservative about Donald Trump?
It’s not his position on abortion (I think it’s awful, but It’s a woman’s choice)
It’s not immigration - Trump was in favor long before he decided maybe a fence would be a good idea...
It’s not health care - he is on record supporting ObamaCare, praising socialized medicine in other nations, etc.
Or maybe it’s his position on homosexual “rights”? Oh wait - this is the same guy who has said repeatedly that he will push forward for “gay equality”...
Well surely it is Trump’s position on property rights, right? Oh- wait, Trump not only is a HUGE supporter of imminent domain, both on the government’s side, as well as for corporate use (which he has benefited form himself)...
Maybe it’s Trump’s steadfast support of the 2nd Amendment? Oh, wait - he has repeatedly stated that no-one but police and the military need so-called “assault rifles” (including the ever-popular AR). He also is in favor of lengthening the “waiting period” for firearms purchase.
Hmmmm...
Oh, so now international law trumps our Constitution? So now international law prevents the U.S. from securing its own borders ... You’re off your rocker. Go back to Texas, and take your Teddy bear with you.
I seem to recall former Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) pushing through a bill that essentially defunded the fence.
So, he has no details other than “make them pay for it”, I take it.
I bet they will handle any aid cuts by stopping what little drug enforcement cooperation they do today, and let us be flooded. That is a known running threat for anyone who has paid any attention to US/Mexico relations.
Mexico also has government programs to help people learn how to get into this country and how to obtain benefits and work under the table once here. It is their second highest GDP line item, just below tourism.
Trump is naive on international affairs.
How about we compare I.Q.s Trump’s is 179 (1:500,000 people) What’s yours, sparky?
They go to the back of the line - try 5-10 years before they “get back in,” genius.
The Constitution does not work the way you seem to think the Constitution works.
Oh, so Trump “stole” the wall - that your favorite TEDdy bear never built - except in his imagination.
Follow the money. There is so much corruption and greed involved with keeping the borders open. First and foremost, this is a national security issue.
He can start by pushing through a tax on remittances to Mexico.
Next, he can pull the plug on the foreign aid we send them every year.
Maybe even go so far as to tear up the NAFTA agreement and place tariffs on all Mexican goods.
I think those three are a good start. I'm sure others have even more creative ideas.
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