Posted on 02/21/2016 3:37:18 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
(CNN)Ted Cruz argued that since he's the only candidate who has been able to beat Donald Trump, he's the candidate conservatives should turn to as the chief alternative to the businessman.
"It is now apparent that the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump and that has beaten Donald Trump is our campaign," he said in an interview on "State of the Union" with CNN's Jake Tapper.
Cruz argued that while Trump has "consistently managed to score in the 20s and 30s," many voters view him unfavorably and are concerned about his chances in a general election.
"An awful lot of Republicans are very concerned that Donald Trump is not the right candidate to go head-to-head with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders," Cruz said. "And as the field narrows, we're seeing more and more people coming to us."
Cruz dismissed the idea that he underperformed in South Carolina, a state with a strong religious and evangelical population -- both attributes that should favor him. And he downplayed Trump's victory, arguing that his lead narrowed in recent weeks and the margin of victory should have been greater.
Cruz also swiped that Rubio should have done better in South Carolina against Trump because the Florida senator had endorsements from the state's popular Sen. Tim Scott, and Gov. Nikki Haley. Cruz argued that when he had endorsements from evangelical leaders in Iowa, he was able to beat Trump, not place second...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Hellary or Bernie would mop the floor with CRuz. Everything you’ve said about Trump, can be said about CRuz. He’s untrusTED....wet behind the ears (proven by his campaign mistakes).....CRuz is the one who’d be the disaster to dwarf 0bie.
NO he doesn’t lie now does he? LOLOLOL
http://twitter.com/brandonlb/status/698738959648747520/photo/1
You mean to say that this is another example of Trump bamboozleing the public with an ostensible change of heart with no evidence save for his one words.
Talk is cheap, as they say. OTOH, Cruz has walked the walk.
WOOHOO!!! Go.Trump.Go!!!
Many of us haven’t failed to observe the switched policies of Trump, which when called by Cruz, Trump reverses his position temporarily, then Trump’s followers accuse Cruz of being a liar.
The more I observe Trump’s lack of integrity, the more forgiving I am of Cruz.
http://twitter.com/_HankRearden/status/699058971907268608/photo/1
Right and Cruz walks on water? Get real....
It is getting hard to see what state Cruz can win now.
Does Trump? No. He's going to S U E!!!
If he doesn’t the Dems will....but yes Cruz will have to decide what country he belongs to....
You lie. Cruz did not cheat. He did not lie.
Quit promoting the false narrative that Cruz did anything wrong to win in Iowa. It’s total fabrication, and you know it.
They have that in common with Obamabots. It's because Trump is running on sound bytes and has nothing but insults and threats beyond the glib lines.
Beautiful! I have to copy this to usee on some dopey Cruz supporters in my tea party group.
opps sorry, but he did lie about it....
Ted Cruz is wrong about CNN’s reporting
CNN Digital Expansion 2015 Dylan Byers
By Dylan Byers
Updated 12:04 AM ET, Sun February 7, 2016 | Video Source: CNN
Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN)Sen. Ted Cruz knowingly misstated CNN’s reporting during Saturday’s Republican primary debate, despite the fact that CNN’s reporting was correct all along.
Cruz blamed CNN for a message his campaign sent to supporters the night of the Iowa caucuses suggesting Carson was going to suspend his campaign.
“My political team saw CNN’s report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television,” Cruz said during the debate.
Cruz also claimed CNN had inaccurately reported that Carson was suspending his campaign “from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15,” and “didn’t correct that story until 9:15 that night.”
That is false. CNN never reported that Carson was suspending his campaign and never issued a correction, because there was no need to do so.
In a statement out Saturday night, CNN responded, “What Senator Cruz said tonight in the debate is categorically false. CNN never corrected its reporting because CNN never had anything to correct. The Cruz campaign’s actions the night of the Iowa caucuses had nothing to do with CNN’s reporting. The fact that Senator Cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing.”
The controversy stems from a CNN scoop that was broadcast last Monday night, minutes before the Iowa caucuses began. Reporter Chris Moody received information from the Carson campaign that he would be taking a break from the campaign trail after Iowa.
Moody, and the other CNN reporters who followed up on the report, said Carson would continue campaigning after taking a break at home in Florida. His next stop, they said, would be Washington, D.C., for the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.
During CNN’s live coverage, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash called the move “very unusual,” but said nothing about Carson dropping out of the race.
Nevertheless, the Cruz campaign sent a message to supporters in Iowa suggesting that Carson might be suspending his campaign.
“The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,” the Cruz campaign email read. “Please inform and Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Cruz.”
Shortly after the CNN report came out, Carson’s campaign downplayed the significance, saying the candidate needed a fresh set of clothes. Meanwhile, political analysts generally agreed with Tapper and Bash’s assessment that it was unusual for a presidential candidate to not rush to New Hampshire. Virtually all of Carson’s rivals hurried to New Hampshire after the caucuses.
The next morning, Carson’s side started lambasting Cruz for “dirty tricks.” This prompted a half-apology from Cruz that pointed a finger at CNN.
“Last night when our political team saw the CNN post saying Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated the grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story. That’s fair game,” Cruz said in a statement. “What the team should have done is send around the follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that came out. That was a mistake from our end, and for that I apologize to Dr. Carson.”
Essentially the Cruz campaign ignored the inconvenient part of CNN’s original report — that Carson was not dropping out of the race.
In fact, Moody said so explicitly on Twitter: “He plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what the results are tonight.”
In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz assembled a coalition of 31 states in defense of the principle that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms.
Cruz presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In addition to his victory in Heller, Cruz has successfully defended the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools and the majority of the 2003 Texas redistricting plan. Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt by the International Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United States.
He beat him in a BS caucus not SC where it counts. Trump up 30 in Nevada.
“Vote for the Tea Party candidate who has stuck by his conservative principles and beaten Donald Trump! ..”
When will voters learn that empty promises don’t mean anything.
That’s why I’m voting for a candidate with the PROVEN RECORD - Ted Cruz!
I’m sick and tired of being fooled, and I certainly don’t want to vote for the liberal nominee, who brags about getting along with Pelosi and Reid. HAVE WE NOT HAD ENOUGH OF THAT with the RINOs in Congress?!
I believe the well is already poisoned. Many Cruz supporters, honestly myself included, now find Trump so repugnant that we will sit out the general election if he is the nominee.
I question whether Trump will be the nominee. I’m afraid my guy Cruz cannot close the deal this time. The unknown is how many Cruz supporters will support Rubio, or Trump, or bow out.
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