Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cruz, Jindal shine as Paul fades
The Hill ^ | September 26, 2014, 05:11 pm | Alexandra Jaffe and Cameron Joseph

Posted on 09/27/2014 5:43:39 AM PDT by SoConPubbie

It was Ted Cruz's party at the Values Voters Summit in Washington on Friday.

The Texas Republican senator began the event with a deeply religious and emotional speech, pacing the stage and speaking with the cadence of a preacher, repeatedly rallying the crowd to its feet and jumping into an eager throng of supporters after his address.

ADVERTISEMENT
But Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal emerged as a surprising star of the conference with an alternately fiery and funny address to the crowd Friday evening, which brought them to their feet for a standing ovation with his closing declaration that “we are ready for a hostile takeover.”

Crowds seemed far more skeptical of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who spoke just after Cruz. While they warmly welcomed Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), he responded with a lecturing speech that earned few applause.

Paul tried to make a case for how his libertarian ideals would mesh with their religious fervor. But his reception to the faithful was tepid, with many skeptical of his seemingly ambivalent comments on abortion earlier this year despite his focus on the issue during Friday's speech.

Jindal likely put himself on the map with his warmly-received speech that wove his personal story together with conservative red meat and witty jokes and jabs at Obama. 

Though he polls in the bottom three of most surveys of the potential GOP presidential field, it seemed clear on Friday that Jindal would make an aggressive candidate if he runs, and would find considerable support among the GOP’s social conservative base.

Prior to Jindal’s address, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins praised all the potential candidates, but said Cruz got people excited because of his blunt style.

“At the heart what they are looking for is leaders who will say what they mean and mean what they say. They’re not looking for nuanced speeches. I think that’s why Ted Cruz gets such a strong reception — he just says it like it is. He doesn’t kind of shuck and jive, he says what he means," he told The Hill. 

Cruz delivered a speech that veered from the emotional to the fiery, running from his family's own struggles when his father briefly left to the persecution of Christians abroad. He drew standing ovations when he called on the crowd to "vote Harry Reid out" and when he said when a Republican wins the White House in 2017, (drawing yells of "you, you" from the crowd), the party would repeal “every word of ObamaCare.”

Paul sought to merge his libertarian-leaning philosophy with social conservative beliefs on Friday, telling the religious crowd at the summit that the two go hand-in-hand and calling for a religious "revival" in the U.S.

"Where there is liberty there is always plenty of space for God," Paul concluded at the end of a speech at times punchy and professorial.

Paul drew applause when he said President Obama "acts like a king" and effectively worked the crowd's fury at oppression of Christians abroad, saying that until Asia Bibi, a Christian sitting in prison in Pakistan, "is freed, Pakistan should not receive a penny of U.S. aid."

But he avoided gay marriage, and while he sought to assure the social conservatives he was with them on abortion, the way he framed it leaves question marks for the movement, especially after comments this spring on Roe v. Wade that many read as ambivalent.

"The debate isn't really about whether government has a role in protecting life. The debate really hinges on when life begins," the ophthalmologist told the crowd. "Don't tell me that 5- and 6-pound babies have no rights simply because they're not yet born."

Perkins admitted that Paul isn't fully trusted by the movement, though he said it was clear Paul was looking to "bolster those credentials" on opposition to abortion with his opening video focused on the issue.

"His needle points more toward the libertarian viewpoint. There is a skepticism of libertarianism," he said.

Santorum, who placed second in the 2012 GOP presidential primary with the help of social conservatives, received standing ovations when he arrived and departed, but for much of his speech the room was dead silent, a stark contract to Cruz and Jindal’s receptions. 

The Pennsylvania former senator delivered a somber and hectoring speech focused on "existential threats" from the Middle East and a push to keep the GOP from abandoning social issues like gay marriage and abortion. 

"Quit being scared and start being activists and making things happen in America," he said in one of the few lines of the speech that drew applause. "Do something." 

Santorum received standing ovations at the beginning and end of his speech. 

Jindal offered both an indictment of the Obama administration, which he said doesn’t stand up for religious liberty and has made “America not only weaker but the world a more dangerous place,” and a vision for rejuvenating the American Dream “that my parents taught me.”

He described that as an “America where we are forever young, an America where our best days are ahead of us, not behind us, an America where circumstances of your birth don’t determine your outcomes as an adult, where we’re not guaranteed equal outcomes, we’re guaranteed equal opportunity.”

Perkins said Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who spoke Friday evening, often gets the same type of response; the evangelical leader said the social conservative movement is “just looking for somebody who’s going to speak the truth and not make apologies for their conservative views.”

Huckabee held his own in the evening session, mixing folksy humor and his Baptist preacher background to slam Obama's foreign policy — and by extension, Clinton's.

He keyed off former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign ad featuring a ringing phone at 3:00 a.m. to argue that Obama isn't answering the call of the presidency.

"I think we know who we don't want to answer it," he said to laughs and claps from the crowd.

"On Sept. 11 two years ago the phone did ring and I guess it went to voicemail because when the desperate calls for help came from Benghazi, Libya, nobody answered that call," he said. "And today the phone's still ringing. The phone is ringing in Syria where ISIS has set up shop."

Cruz will need to eat into Huckabee's base if both run. The former Arkansas governor has led preliminary polls in early-voting Iowa, driven by his strong appeal to evangelical Christians in a state he won in 2008, while Cruz has lagged behind.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: cruz; paultard; tedcruz; texas; valuesvoters; valuesvoterssummit
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 last
To: ican'tbelieveit

Huckabee won a lot of states in his last run. So, yeah, at least in 2008 a lot of people liked him. Including, as I recall, Chuck Norris.


41 posted on 09/27/2014 4:20:04 PM PDT by Jack Black ( Disarmament of a targeted group is one of the surest early warning signs of future genocide.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Jack Black
Here is Larry Sabato's take. As of Sept 6. (Pretty level headed political forecaster): Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball - 2016 Presidential

His take is interesting. He brakes candidates into 4 tiers, and ranks them in the tier. At this point there is no first tier of likely candidates. The second tier is: Jeb, Rand and Paul Ryan. The third tier is: Rubio, Cruz, Walker, Christie, Portman, Kasich, Jindal, Perry and Santorum. The last tier are called "Wild Cards": Romney, Huckabee, Pence and Ben Carson.

I don't agree with everything, but it's an interesting read for political junkies. He has Jeb trending down and Rand and Ted both trending up.

42 posted on 09/27/2014 4:34:53 PM PDT by Jack Black ( Disarmament of a targeted group is one of the surest early warning signs of future genocide.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'
Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists]
[Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat]
Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"
I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.
[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]
Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance
...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.
[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]
Rand Paul's immigration speech
...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.

Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.

Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.

Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.

If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...

This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.

Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform
Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...
[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

43 posted on 09/27/2014 7:55:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Patton@Bastogne

Newt in 2016!


44 posted on 09/28/2014 12:05:20 PM PDT by IWONDR
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: IWONDR
.

IWONDR,


I personally believe that Newt Gingrich will indeed make a presidential run in 2016.

There's evidence that strongly suggests that he will, albeit I can't divulge my sources.

Newt's the "smartest" REAL conservative in the room, a step better than Ted Cruz (who I also like).

My suggestion is that Ted Cruz invite Newt as Campaign Manager and then as Presidential Chief of Staff ...

or Vice President.



Sign Up for Newt Gingrich's E-Newsletter

Newt Gingrich 2012 Speech – Constitutional Removal of Radical-Liberal Federal Judges


=====================================================





"We have to frankly break the back of the secular-socialist machine, elect people committed to representing the American people, and then methodically rip the system apart."

~Newt Gingrich, 2012


=====================================================





45 posted on 09/28/2014 2:04:28 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson