Posted on 11/07/2015 12:32:06 PM PST by VinL
To walk into Ted Cruz's holding room at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday afternoon was to walk into quite the group of happy campers.
With a friendly motion and a quick smile, the Republican Senator from Texas, looking relaxed in short sleeves, his foot up on the coffee table, waves you over to the chair beside him. It's just the tiniest bit unnerving, the notion flashes across your mind, "He knows I'm with NPR, right?"
Yes, everyone knows who you are, and in spite of Cruz's brilliantly recalled denunciations of the liberal media during CNBC's debate, they're just fine with it. This is a political campaign brimming with confidence and a strong sense of momentum. Nobody here's afraid of little ol' me.
During a wide-ranging interview, the freshman senator laid out his vision for America and his presidency if elected:
Abolish the IRS and institute a flat tax
Dispatch the FBI and Justice Dept. lawyers to prosecute Planned Parenthood for fraud
Investigate the Federal Reserve Board and tie the value of the dollar to the gold standard
Deport every undocumented immigrant, including children who grew up in the U.S.
Oppose any legislation on climate change that would raise taxes or fees
Institute term limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices so turncoats like Justice Anthony Kennedy can be weeded out
Give Iran an ultimatum — dismantle your nuclear program or we will do it for you.
And it almost goes without saying, Obamacare would be consigned to the dustbin.
Cruz's strategy for winning the Republican nomination is sophisticated in its patience and cunning.
Like a football coach intimately familiar with his team's strengths and the other teams' weaknesses, Cruz has been spending his time and money building campaign infrastructure throughout the South and Midwest. That's playing to your strength. Publicly, he stays on message and doesn't attack other Republican candidates. And don't panic, don't always be reacting to what the other guys (and gal) are doing.
Did a New York billionaire unexpectedly jump into the lead? Let the political pundits sneer and joke about the supposedly hapless Cruz picking up Donald Trump's crumbs. The young senator has never felt any threat from the bombastic developer and being friendly to the new guy is smart politics.
Has the quiet doctor suddenly caught the conservative fancy? Not a problem, Cruz defends him from the liberal sharks that are closing in to tear the good doctor apart. You won't hear the Texas senator say a word about grain-filled Egyptian pyramids, scholarship offers from West Point or knife-points and friend's belt buckles, why should he? He's amused that this go-round, it's the Republican moderates at each other's throats, Jeb and Marco can have at it, let The Donald referee.
Meanwhile, Cruz has quietly amassed a campaign war chest that's second to none. Three separate Cruz superPACS with tens of millions more waiting in reserve to attack when the time comes, and it's not just Texas billionaires like technology mogul Darwin Deason, although he has them, too. Cruz takes in millions from a grass roots network of Tea Party and other insurgent Republicans in small amounts. Not unlike another freshman Senator who ran and won on a wave of Internet-driven contributions.
To switch sports metaphors from football to track, Ted Cruz reports he's just fine running in 4th or 5th place after the first lap around the track. He's trained well, feels strong and looks good, there's plenty left in the bank as it were. The two guys ahead of him appear to be straining just a bit, already. With three more laps to go, the son of a Cuban immigrant looks hungry and sharp, waiting.
On Friday night, after his speech to the National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines, I was surprised to see Cruz and his staff boarding the same small regional jet back to Dallas as me. Didn't he have a private plane, I thought the Koch brothers took care of this stuff? I'd planned to write about our interview and the day on the flight back, but as we took our seats, I was dumbfounded to see Cruz and I were seated across the aisle from one another in coach. I jokingly asked if he wanted to edit the piece as I wrote it next to him and the talented orator and Supreme Court lawyer said he'd be happy to.
I bagged it. I knew the senator wouldn't look over my shoulder, but it was just too inhibiting, and anyway, I was tired. It was late, we'd been delayed and as we taxied to takeoff, I leaned back and closed my eyes. Next to me, I could hear Cruz and the soldier he'd been seated next to, a private in battle fatigues, quietly talking Texas football.
So what if Ted Cruz has waited until now to announce his views on illegal immigration.
He will cover that when he sees Trump getting mileage out of it. Just like Make America Great Again until he was asked to stop using it, selling 1980’s style trucker hats, getting into the face of moderators at debates and now deport everyone.
Excuses excuses, bull crap, you weren’t going to support or vote for Ted Cruz anyway.
Any one who decides not to vote for a candidate because of some of his supporters is making a purely emotional decision.
Yeah because they will be going back over to the Hillary Clinton camp as the cross over Voters.
Just so you know, those whom Donald Trump appeals to, the blue dog “ Union “ Democrats and liberal Independents.
Remember ? From the Trump supporters ? Donald Trump has “ broad appeal “.
I’ve been waiting for months for him to be clear about the illegals here. I’m happy with this answer.
I’m still backing Trump because he came out with a strong illegal immigration plan ling ago, while I was waiting for Cruz to make up his mind. And Trump took all the flak and took it well.
But now I’ll have no problem backing Trump/Cruz ticket or backing Cruz for the #1 spot if Trump is out.
As you have said many are tired of the same old political BS.
However that’s how Obama and his minions caught many hook, like, and sinker in 2008 with the catch praise “ Hope and Change “ ..... Keep that in mind.
“Meanwhile the Trumpettes are doing a great job of alienating the very voters Trummwill need to win.”
I find a lit of Cruz supporters being quite nasty. Unlike the class act he is.
Oh wow...didn’t realize it was so soon. I would love to go. Do you know what time? I work til 3:30.
Well excuse us but Ted Cruz is the one who may have been helping Trump formulate his policies in the first place.
...Well excuse us but Ted Cruz is the one who may have been helping Trump formulate his policies in the first place...
No, it is Jeff Sessions who helped him formulate his policies.
While some of Donald Trump’s supporters will argue , whine, harp about some supposed phantom legislation that Ted Cruz is suppose to have stated, Donald Trump’s companies have sought for 1,000 H-1B workers.
His club in Florida has applied for 70 H-1B visas.
So while they condemn Ted Cruz for some supposed phantom legislation Trump’s companies are doing the very thing they oppose and make excuses for Trump.
So is Trump’s companies seeking 1,000 H-1B workers and his club in Florida applying for 70 H-1B visas contradictory.
So far none of the Trump supporters have refuted or disprove what Trump’s companies are doing.
They just spin and wiggle by making excuses and Trump gets a FREE PASS on it because ?
A. Just because, ....... Because he is a businessman so he is allowed to .
B. They say those H-1B’s are actually a different “ Type “ of jobs, H-2B jobs...
Really. Keep it up. You are helping Trump more than you will ever grasp.
Riiiiight, reverse BS logic..
Helping Trump by exposing his supporters contradiction on H-1Bs, right, got it.
Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.
Hillary Clinton is just plain awful, and truly frightening.
The Corker bill was most certainly not phantom legislation.
That was a really stupid thing to vote for. It is going to result in real harm.
That doesn’t mean I’m against Cruz as a result, but I really can’t put in words how angry that bill being passed into law makes me.
He shouldn’t have done that.
No man. It's pretty obvious you don't get anything.
I don’t remember Cruz being in favor of any of the things I mentioned before Trump was in favor of them.
Sessions was definitely helping Walker, but then Walker decided to let himself be bought out, I think. No other explanation. I don’t know whether Sessions was helping Trump. I tend to think not. Trump has plenty of excellent advisers.
Cruz ran in 2012 with talk of stemming the tide of illegals. The above is a 2013 article that rails against him for his views of kicking out little kids and others that are here illegally.
Excerpt:
“...and in particular, to take off the table a path to citizenship. So I [Cruz] hope that’s what they choose to do.â€
Here’s the question Ted Cruz hasn’t answered: If there’s no path to citizenship, what are his plans for the 11 million aspiring Americans? It seems like there are three options: mass deportation, self-deportation or a permanent underclass.
We received some insights from Cruz on this subject last August, when he said Mitt Romney should end the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA)...
Asked by Telemundo whether Romney should reinstate deportations of young people granted deferred action, Cruz said, “I do.â€
[Compare to Trump’s views in 2012]:
Romney’s solution of “self deportation†for illegal aliens made no sense and suggested that Republicans do not care about Hispanics in general, Trump says.
“....It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote...He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country.â€
The GOP has to develop a comprehensive policy “to take care of this incredible problem that we have with respect to immigration, with respect to people wanting to be wonderful productive citizens of this country,†Trump says.
Looking ahead, Trump says his top-rated NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice†is now shooting its 13th season....
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Donald-Trump-Ronald-Kessler/2012/11/26/id/465363/
it goes from 1:30 to 4pm at a church on Curry Ford. Can you get out early? :) if you pm me your email i can send you the invite that has the eventbrite tickets
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