Posted on 02/25/2016 10:11:05 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
Ted Cruz, A Personal Look At A Humble Man
Kevin Mooneyhan National Program Director, Tea Party Patriots
The 2016 Republican Presidential Primary has effectively dwindled down to a three man race filled with all kinds of noise that can make it difficult for the American people to know who they can trust.
Having had the opportunity to meet most of the Republican candidates and look them in the eyes, I can tell you that Ted Cruz is the best candidate to uphold the Constitution and put the interests of the American people first.
I first met Ted in 2010 at an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference, which is a conference for state legislators that was being held in Washington, DC. He was there to speak on a panel about the Health Care Compact, a project of interstate compacts that would effectively transfer the regulatory authority for health care from the federal government back to the states. My boss at the time was also speaking on the panel, which led to our meeting.
After the panel discussion, a group of us decided to eat breakfast in the hotel lobby. Ted and I ended up sitting down at the table first. We shared a five-minute conversation before the rest of our group joined us and in that time we spoke casually, introducing ourselves and talking about why we were there. This was my first impression of him and he was extremely humble and somewhat soft spoken. It is something that has stuck over the years.
During our chat, he told me he planned on running for the U.S. Senate seat representing the state of Texas. In all honesty, I thought to myself that there's no way someone this humble and unassuming could ever be a Senator from Texas of all places. But, sure enough he announced his candidacy and fought a huge uphill battle against the political establishment of the state that claimed the most recent former President of the United States. It was a tough fight, but he won when no one thought he could. This proved to me that he was a winner.
Since then, I have had the opportunity to work with Senator Cruz and his staff on important issues. He and Senator Mike Lee led the fight to defund Obamacare, he and Senator Jeff Sessions led the fight to stop Marco Rubio and Chuck Schumer's amnesty bill, and he led the fight to stop President Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal. My team at Tea Party Patriots were working alongside Senator Cruz to organize grassroots support for all of those efforts. In all of my interactions with Ted Cruz, he has consistently been the same man of conviction, ready to stand up and lead the way to defend the Constitution and to keep the promises he made to his supporters. In private, he has always been the same humble man that I met in 2010.
Most recently I spent some time with Ted Cruz in Iowa for a campaign event where my boss, Jenny Beth Martin, and Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund officially endorsed him for president. I wanted to share this backstage image of him prior to going on stage to give his stump speech. To me, this is the Ted Cruz that the public has rarely seen.
To the general public, he may come across as the "smartest guy in the room" when he's giving a speech or when he's in a debate (he usually is), but backstage that night, he was the same humble person I met six years ago before he was a U.S. Senator. When he arrived at the event, he made it a point to speak to everyone backstage. He then found a place to sit down and quietly reflect before going out to give his speech.
That moment of reflection truly personified his humility and with all of the baseless attacks being thrown at his character in recent weeks, I felt obligated to share this candid moment. The American people still have plenty to learn about the most trustworthy and consistent conservative running for president in the 2016 race. I can only hope that they will look to the people who have fought side by side with him over the years rather than to his current political rivals who will apparently say anything they can to stop him from winning the nomination.
Kevin Mooneyhan is the National Program Director for Tea Party Patriots and a Political Advisor for Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund.
Yes. Marco did the right thing. He didn’t run for reelection. Unlike Rand Paul.
I’m hoping both of them go back to their homeland of Cuba after the whipping Trump is going to give the cuban twins on Tuesday!
I can think for many words to describe Ted Cruz, humble is not one of them.
I disagree.
I had the pleasure of seeing him at a SC rally and shaking his hand afterward. I watched him speak to numerous people as I waited. Humble is a good description. Genuine. Likable.
You may disagree with him on policy; he may not have a yuge enough ego for you, but I think this rot about his being “dirty” and a “liar.” Are way out of line.
You are getting really desperate with this stuff, to a point it’s a turn off to your candidate and slowly not becoming mine.
Awwwww, whatsamattah? Did someone type something than hurt your little feelings? Bless your little heart. That was so mean of them. Why, that would be almost as mean as someone who displayed an unnatural fixation with Glenn Beck's having cried publicly and then feeling the need to incorporate it into conversations where it's a complete non sequitur. People can be so mean, can't they?
I can think of many words to describe Ted Cruz, humble is not one of them.
All this slanderous libel on a good man sickens me. If you have to push down a man just to get your lowly man to look tall you are backing the wrong man.
A great Town Hall and I also immensely enjoyed son Eric’s “Town Hall” in Nevada as well. He was fabulous and direct on all questions! A chip off te old block! These kids do their father PROUD!
Trump will run his cabinet like a CEO.
He will not allow anyone except the best and brightest to fill executive positions.
I’m predicting his VP pic will be someone who can keep up.
That is a very short list and may not be a name any of us has ever heard before. (in a good way not a Admiral Stockdale way)
Molly, that is fine...and it is your choice.
I see things differently, and have explained why...and also explained why, should Cruz not get it, and Trump be the nominee that I will whole heartedly then support him.
The bottom line is beating Hillary or Sanders...and I will support any of these current candidates in that...but particularly Cruz and Trump, and in that order.
I don’t see a problem here. What part of “...but what it would do is remove the pathway to citizenship”... did you miss?
Trump is for touchback amnesty...the most delusional, unrealistic and expensive form of “immigration reform” one could imagine. First deport them (at a huge expense to taxpayers) and then let them back in? What kind of asinine, idiotic reform is that?
Thank you for posting!
Uh...yeah....you should be preaching that to Donald Trump...since, he seems to think that lying about and slandering his opponents is the only 'way to win'. Art of the Deal, my ass!
All candidates have issues and gaps. I favor Trump but am well aware of his imperfections. I feel the same way about Cruz. But no one on the GOP side compares to what Hillary could do in the way of rank corruption or Bernie in the way of misguided socialism if they win the White House.
“He and Senator Mike Lee led the fight to defund Obamacare, he and Senator Jeff Sessions led the fight to stop Marco Rubio and Chuck Schumer’s amnesty bill, and he led the fight to stop President Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal.”
All this is true, and Kate’s Law as well.
TPA? It has been around since the 1970’s. Cruz would only support it if the Ex-Im bank was removed. It wasn’t, and that’s where he called out McConnell.
H1B visas? I will call that a mistake, one he has since revisited in light of the abuses associated with it. Yet, I have not heard a huge cry against them from any candidate to date. Rubio has a proposed “I-squared” bill that is far worse.
Cruz is doing what we Texans sent him to do, as he said he would.
I will vote for him all day, every day, unless there is a bigger gaffe, bigger than those mentioned so far, that comes along in the future.
I believe he is a good and honorable Senator and I believe that he would make a good and honorable President.
If not this time, maybe next time, should he choose to run again.
Proof? Link?
If Cruz wins, I'll support him fully.
I like them both, for different reasons. I dislike them each, for different reasons.
There is a conservative case for both. The rest of them, not so much.......
Not winning a county in South Carolina is quite humbling
Teriffic Don! Right on!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.