Posted on 03/24/2014 8:50:18 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
MASON CITY, Iowa By now, Sen. Ted Cruzs tea party credentials are unassailable. But as he mulls a presidential run, hes reaching out to other key parts of the Republican base, including Christian conservatives who dominate the Iowa GOP caucuses every four years.
With enduring friction between grass-roots activists and the establishment that Cruz so often denounces, a candidate who can appeal across several factions would have an edge. That was a subtext for his latest visit, with a side trip last week to a corner of Iowa where no Texas politician pops up by accident.
After an introduction that mentioned Obamacare protests at the U.S. Capitol, Cruz drew an allusion to a biblical battle.
I was just waiting for you to say they circled it seven times and then they blew their trumpets, he quipped. I look forward to being there next time when the walls of Jericho come to the ground.
This was Cruzs fourth Iowa visit in eight months. Hes scheduled to be in New Hampshire twice in April. The only mystery isnt whether hes testing the waters for a presidential run, but how far he can go.
I love the guy, said Brenda Muth, a farmer with 3,600 hogs on 1,700 acres. Hes just strong in his faith and beliefs. He doesnt waver at all. I am like, happy, happy, happy. He, to me, is the one.
Muth was one of 200 or so Republicans gathered Tuesday night from all corners of Cerro Gordo County, and all wings of the party tea partiers and libertarians, evangelicals and business owners. Cruz offered something for all of them.
One minute he played the populist, railing against the political establishment and big business. The problem, he said, is entrenched politicians in both parties.
. . . . .
On Twitter: @toddgillman
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
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Cruz doesn’t support Shamnesty, CommieCare, gun grabbing, nor big grubment. Ya can’t say that about the rest.
He’s even burnished his lib creds by running off to that commie funeral circus in South Africa. No base left uncovered.
Ted Cruz can also be expected to attract other factions: for example, Hispanic-Americans, particularly Cuban-Americans like himself; supporters of Sarah Palin, who has endorsed him; and people who oppose ObamaCare and remember that it was Ted Cruz who had the courage to lead a government shutdown of this health-policy debacle in order to delay its implementation.
There also must be a group of people, even living on Iowa pig farms and in the snows of New Hampshire, who will rejoice that they finally have a presidential candidate of proven intelligence, a Harvard magna cum laude, no less, to vote for.
Cruz/Carson 2016
I like Cruz a lot, but I think the real issue is how can he win a general election as opposed to whether he can unite the GOP. Time will tell if he can develop a message that attract voters outside the GOP.
It’s all academic (about Cruz) IF the voting system is CORRUPT.... even the republican primary’s..
Most seem to forget a KNOWN democrat “bitch” was chosen at the 2012 republican primary’s(Romney)..
INSTEAD of a panoply of actually conservative candidates..
WHO WERE REJECTED... most harshly..
Right after the 2010 elections.......... something STINKS about that primary..
The republican party seems to have become “Animal Farm”..
With republicans sheared culled and butchered like sheep..
Myth ROMNEY !!!!. pullleeeese..
And many republicans if not registered as independents have become so in their hearts..
The republican voting apparatus has been PENETRATED... and abused.. in many districts.. obviously..
Romney should have been laughed off the stage..
BUT WASN’T.... i.e. Romney was friends with Ted Kennedy..
Time for a Party Civil War... many(most) republican elites are spies and traitors to the Constitution..
Clean it UP (( -OR- )) burn it down...
You mean social conservatism, Romney did great with Independents, he was the first one to win hugely with them, and lose the election.
Stop Pandering to Karl Rove and the GOP fear mongers and vote your principles. The horse race is not governance and prognostications do not win liberty. Our liberty will only be secured by the brave who defy the odds for the sake of something that transcends handicapping the show elections. It is true that corruption must defeated every step of the way. Liberals will vote in open primaries to select the loser- RINO, the injustice department will work with operatives to throw the vote count, and unprincipled self aggrandizing republicans will try to defend their power by defaming the principled challengers, but those who believe in something greater than personal power will have the heart to stand fast against the odds and the odds-makers. Ted Cruz appears to have the character and he has the courage, but I wonder if his supporters have the courage or will they run to the pick of the odd-maker and the propaganda media. His Achilles heal is the question of his eligibility.
Bless your heart!
Ansel12 would be the first to agree with you. Check his posting history.
Lou Budvis, on the other hand, might not.
LOL, Ted Cruz is fully American and fully qualified to run for President.
And I’d like to thank all those conservatives who didn’t vote for Romney for the 2nd term of 0bama - /sarc. Making opposition to gay marriage a major issue is a loser.
I also note that traditionally conservatives opposed Roe v. Wade by saying that this should be left to the states - which would be the effect if Roe were overturned. There is nothing wrong in saying that gay marriage and abortion are state issues as the Constitution says nothing about them and therefore should be state law issues.
Got it, drop opposition to the homosexual agenda and gay marriage, and drop efforts to fight abortion nationally.
As Paul runs to be the most powerful man in the federal government you want to ignore gay marriage and abortion in the military and federal hospitals, homosexuals in the military and gay marriage in federal employment and immigration.
A call to move hard left.
No, it’s a call to adhere to a strict interpretation of the Constitution which reserves these issues to the States as the Constitution does not address them. This has been the conservative argument against Roe for decades.
Which state is it that dictates gay marriage in the military and federal employment and immigration, and abortion for federal military, and gays in the United States military?
Gays in the military is over as an issue. There have been gays in the US military since Von Steuben and there always will be. Maybe there has been some evidence about gays in the military being a actual detriment, but I don’t know of it. I think it’s even harder to make the argument against gays being employed by the federal gov’t. Even Ronald Reagan opposed a measure which would have barred gays from working in California schools. How many people are affected by gays in immigration policy? My guess it that the number is very small in comparison to the negative attention that opposing it would produce.
Enough with that weasel pro-gay evasion, and untruth.
Which state is it that dictates gay marriage in the military and federal employment and immigration, and abortion for federal military, and gays in the United States military?
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