Ted Cruz Said He Was a Christian First and an American Second?

snopes.com ^ | 2-4-2016 | Dan Evon

[Citizen Zed]

TRUE: In February 2016, a rumor started circulating online that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz had said that he was a "Christian first" and an "American second." While these words were a genuine quote from the Texas, they were typically presented in a manner that lacked context. The quote first appeared in a 20 January 2016 article by Politico about a campaign stop Cruz made in New Hampshire. Cruz was asked to respond to comments that former Kansas senator Robert Dole had made to the New York Times in a recent interview questioning Cruz's loyalty to the GOP, and he responded by saying that his allegiance to the United States and to conservative principles trumped his party membership (and that his commitment to his religion ranked higher than them all): ["It is exactly right that in terms of who I am, I am a Christian first. I am an American second. I'm a conservative third. And I'm a Republican fourth. And I'll tell ya, there are a lot of Americans who feel the same way."] We've found no video that captured this remark from Cruz, but the quote was also documented by the Washington Post. Cruz has made no secret of his plans to court conservative Christians during his presidential campaign.  He announced his run in March 2015 at Christian college Liberty University, saying he hopes to fight the federal government's "assault" on religious liberty, and he also pledged to "defend the sanctity of life" and "uphold the sacrament of marriage."

[Jemian]

If Christ is not first in a person’s life, He is not really anywhere in that person’s life. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. Further, we are commanded to have no other gods before Him.

Everything else will then fall into its proper place.

FYI, today, February 5, 1855, two protestant missionaries first set foot on the island of New Guinea. Today, many others, including me, follow in their footsteps. There are over 250 language groups on this island; most don’t have a Bible in their own language. Please consider being a Bible translator.

[D Rider]

God, Country,Corps

[IC Ken]

Re>Ahead of Jesus CHRIST?

If Cruz believed this why did he do such evil in Iowa to win. He sells his soul for a few votes. He is losing his honest, incredibility and integrity. He is becoming an insult to all Christians.

[jwalsh07]

God, family, country. Raised that way, will die that way. And there is more than one Trump supporter that would hope that is expedited. :-)

[jwalsh07]

Yeah, a candidate slandering another candidate as a homicidal psychopath is beneath contempt!

[Reaper19]

So basically all US Marines are disqualified in your eyes?

[Responsibility2nd]

This is as it should be. Ask Trump; he’ll agree.

The 2 Corinthians said so.

[IC Ken]

Re>Christianity demands that it be first above everything else.

So does Islam.

Again I am looking for a President not a preacher.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Snopes? I must be missing the signifigace of this.

God, Family, Country!

[nclaurel]

I hope Cruz means that and will never again lie or commit fraud in his campaign. In honesty he will be upfront about who funds him if he is Christian first. Americans can understand campaigns are expensive and need funding. Being honest would make him more palatable.

[SeekAndFind]

If Cruz believed this why did he do such evil in Iowa to win.

Article Link: http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/02/03/ben-carson-gets-hoisted-petard-isnt-pretty-video/

Reporter: Do you regret, uh, announcing that that you were going to be going back to Florida and spurring some of this confusion?

Carson: Well, I didn’t make that announcement. Uh, I guess somebody talked to … other people…

Reporter: Well, your campaign told the press.

Carson: You know, *I* didn’t say it, so don’t blame me. [laughing]

Reporter: But you’re here telling us that people should know what’s going on in their campaign and hold people accountable, I mean that’s [crosstalk]

Carson: Well, let me ask you this question, is it okay after being on the road for after three weeks to go home to Florida and get a fresh change of clothes? Or is that a problem? Does that make someone into an evil, horrible person?

..... So, to summarize:

Carson admits his own campaign staffer talked to the media and said he was going to Florida.
Carson takes no responsibility for the actions of this staffer.
Cruz staffer tweeted a media report based entirely on what the aforementioned staffer said.
According to Carson, Cruz should take responsibility for that staffer.

---

So Carson knew his campaign leaked this to the press. Then got angry that it snowballed from there.... He is kinda burrying the lead here isn't he.

And going home to get a change of clothes? Is Iowa or New Hampshire so rural that he can't send staff or go himself to buy some more clothes?

Article Link: http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/02/03/ben-carson-gets-hoisted-petard-isnt-pretty-video/

Reporter: Do you regret, uh, announcing that that you were going to be going back to Florida and spurring some of this confusion?

Carson: Well, I didn’t make that announcement. Uh, I guess somebody talked to … other people…

Reporter: Well, your campaign told the press.

Carson: You know, *I* didn’t say it, so don’t blame me. [laughing]

Reporter: But you’re here telling us that people should know what’s going on in their campaign and hold people accountable, I mean that’s [crosstalk]

Carson: Well, let me ask you this question, is it okay after being on the road for after three weeks to go home to Florida and get a fresh change of clothes? Or is that a problem? Does that make someone into an evil, horrible person?

..... So, to summarize:

Carson admits his own campaign staffer talked to the media and said he was going to Florida.
Carson takes no responsibility for the actions of this staffer.
Cruz staffer tweeted a media report based entirely on what the aforementioned staffer said.
According to Carson, Cruz should take responsibility for that staffer.

---

So Carson knew his campaign leaked this to the press. Then got angry that it snowballed from there.... He is kinda burrying the lead here isn't he.

And going home to get a change of clothes? Is Iowa or New Hampshire so rural that he can't send staff or go himself to buy some more clothes?

[Teacher317]

God Country Corps

[TheThirdRuffian]

Maybe Cruz should throw a couple hundred into the communion plate like Trump.

[11th Commandment]

GOD

FAMILY

COUNTRY

Good enough for the Marines, good enough for TED!

[conservativejoy]

Carson’s campaign put out a poorly worded press release that CNN ran with. Cruz’s campaign passed on the CNN story. There was nothing unethical in that and not a single person has come forward to say they changed their vote. Many precincts have reported that they didn’t know about the story until the next day.

This is sour grapes. Carson would have still come in 4th no matter what and he needs to learn to take responsibility for his own campaign.

[Sirius Lee]

It’s weird that there are no stores with fresh clothes in Iowa. This is the real story and nobody in the MSM is picking up on it. Iowa is out of clothes.

[M Kehoe]

It's called seeing the "bigger picture."

5.56mm

[catfish1957]

communion plate

LMAO!!!!!!!

Wow...tough times at that church. Plate having to do double duty for both communion and the offering.

[so_real]

Good. Priorities in order.