Exclusive: Ted Cruz: Marco Rubio Has Same Foreign Policy as Obama, Hillary Clinton

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% ratcheted up his attack on fellow contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79% Monday by comparing his foreign policy worldview to that of President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During a speech in New Hampshire Monday, Rubio slammed Cruz as an "isolationist" and mocked the loquacious Texas senator by noting that ISIS could not "be filibustered."

Cruz told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on his campaign bus in Iowa that he wasn't surprised by Rubio's assault.

"It's not surprising that Senator Rubio, and others in the Republican field, are launching more and more desperate attacks," he said. "We should protect the United States of America first. That means we shouldn't engage in the kind of military adventurism that has characterized Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and sadly, far too many establishment Republicans including Marco Rubio."

Cruz specifically pointed to Rubio's support for intervening in Libya in 2011 as being in line with Obama and Clinton's foreign policy.

"In Libya, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton led NATO in toppling the government there," Cruz said. "Senator Rubio enthusiastically supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in toppling the government in Libya. The result was Libya became a lawless war zone governed by radical Islamic terrorists and that has profoundly endangered our national security."

In his foreign policy address Monday, Rubio stood by his support for intervening in Libya, but he blamed the Obama administration for engaging in only "half-measures in Libya instead of doing what it would take to prevent terrorists from taking hold - terrorists who ultimately took the lives of four Americans in Benghazi."

Ted Cruz on Immigration

End Obama's illegal amnesty via Congress' checks & balances

Q: How to respond to the split within your party on immigration? What you're saying is that the Republicans should vote to fund the governments for all departments except one: no funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which handles immigration, rescinding President Obama's executive action, and if he vetoes that, he's responsible for shutting down the department. The problem is that's almost exactly what you did with the government shutdown across the entire government in 2013 with ObamaCare, and it backfired badly on your party.

CRUZ: All across this country, Republicans campaigned, saying: if you elect a Republican Senate, we will stop President Obama's illegal amnesty. We need to honor what we said. We should use the constitutional checks and balances that we have to rein in the abuse of power of the executive. Step #1 is if the president implements this lawless amnesty, that the Senate will not confirm any executive or judicial nominees.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2014 interview of 2016 presidential hopefuls, Nov 23, 2014 ___________________________________________________________

Defund amnesty; and refuse any nominees until rescinded

Q: How would you rescind President Obama's executive action on immigration?

CRUZ: We should use the constitutional checks and balances that we have to rein in the abuse of power of the executive. Step #1 that I have called for is the incoming majority leader should announce if the president implements this lawless amnesty, that the Senate will not confirm any executive or judicial nominees, other than vital national security positions, for the next two years, unless and until the president ends this lawless amnesty. That is an explicit authority given to the Senate.

Q: Are you saying the Senate should refuse to confirm the president's new nominee for attorney general?

CRUZ: We have to rein in the executive. In the Federalist Papers, our Framers talked about a president who would behave like a monarch. And step #2, we've got is the power of the purse, and we should fund one at a time the critical priorities of the federal government, but also use the power of the purse to attach riders.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2014 interview of 2016 presidential hopefuls, Nov 23, 2014 ___________________________________________________________

No path to citizenship for 1.65 million illegals in Texas

When discussing what to do about the 1.65 million illegal immigrants living in Texas, Cruz weaved into the Second Amendment, alleging his opponent didn't support gun rights. "What does this have to do with the question?" Sadler asked before fiercely denying his opponent's allegation. Cruz again said he didn't support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in America, while Sadler said the opposite, as expected.

Source: WFAA-TV Dallas-Fort Worth on 2012 Texas Senate debate , Oct 2, 2012

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Give police more power to ask about immigration status

Cruz accused Dewhurst of using his position as head of the Texas Senate to kill a bill last year that would have given police more power to ask anyone they detain about their citizenship status--a charge Dewhurst denied.

Both agreed that the US has failed to secure its border with Mexico, and said they oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants and the Obama administration's new directive allowing many young illegal immigrants brought to the US as children to be exempted from deportation.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle on 2012 Texas Senate debates , Jun 22, 2012 ___________________________________________________________

Boots on the ground, plus a wall

Border wall: James and Leppert oppose a wall, Dewhurst and Cruz tout "boots on the ground" and a wall in some places.

Source: BurntOrangeReport.com on 2012 Texas Senate Debate, Apr 18, 2012

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Triple the size of the Border Patrol

Cruz on immigration: Wants to triple size of Border Patrol. Says Dewhurst supported in-state tuition for kids of illegal immigrants.

Dewhurst: I have always been against an amnesty program. "If they want to be a citizen, they ought to go home and reapply."

Dewhurst says he was against tuition for children of illegal immigrants.

Source: KVUE coverage of 2012 Texas Senate debate, Mar 29, 2012 ___________________________________________________________

Strengthen border security and increase enforcement

Ted Cruz has worked to strengthen border security and help ensure that America remains a nation of laws. Among other efforts, he has worked on efforts to increase penalties for felons who enter the country illegally.

Ted authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of 10 states in Lopez v. Gonzales, urging the strictest enforcement of laws punishing those with prior felony convictions who entered the country illegally.

Source: Campaign website, www.tedcruz.org, "Issues", Jul 17, 2011

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http://www.ontheissues.org/International/Ted_Cruz_Immigration.htm

Cruz has a very different foreign policy approach than Bush did. Cruz says we should not engage in nation building and regime change and should only engage militarily when it is clearly in the interest of protecting the U.S. This is what Reagan believed, as well.

Yes. Cruz seems to be positioning himself as 1/2 way between Rand and Rubio.

Rubio is at the extreme full neocon side, Rand is at the other extreme isolationist. You saw this come out in the debates, Rubio (and presumably Jeb) wants big defense budgets, lots of projection of force.

Cruz and Trump are the two candidates who have articulated something in between, which I think is where not only most GOP primary voters but most Americans are.

Still there is reason for some caution with Cruz. His positions seem to have evolved during the campaign, perhaps reacting to the success of Trump's. Critics of Cruz have noted the prevalence of neocons on Cruz's foreign policy team: Ted Cruz's closest counsellors are neocon VIPs. Highlighted in that article are his lead foreign policy advisor, Chad Sweet:

With a diverse background, starting as Director of the CIA, Chad Sweet went into the world of big banks, from Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley to VP with Goldman Sachs. He would then work for the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush Administration. Currently he is the Co-Founder of Chertoff Group.

Victoria Cortes:

Having served as director of research for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and as an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Coates has a track record of supporting a neoconservative foreign policy. In 2012, she was an advisor to Rick Perry, whose campaign was in support of sending troops back into Iraq.

A couple others are James Woolsey and Elliot Abrams. Both are real leaders in the neocon movement.

Of course the source of this particular article is from the John Birch Society newspaper, who are notoriously concerned with the CFR as well as some Conservative groups that don't adhere to their positions.

Caroline Glick, writing at Real Clear Politics praises Cruz for a new foreign policy vision. As one would expect her focus is on Israel. It's a good article: Ted Cruz: A Fresh Approach to Foreign Policy but it actually sort of reinforces the idea of Cruz is kind of a NeoCon.

Here is another breakdown: Ted Cruz's NeoCon Problem

I think there is complete agreement in GOP circles that Obama and Hillary (and Kerry's) foreign policy has been a complete failure.

There is still a lot of difference of opinion on how much of a failure Bush's foreign policy was. This was highlighted early in the race when Jeb was asked if, knowing what he knows now, would have still support his brother's decision to invade Iraq.

How would Ted Cruz answer that question?

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