Heritage Action presidential scorecard rates Cruz near-perfect

Politico ^ | 11/09/15 | Shane Goldmacher

[Isara]

The hard-line conservative arm of the Heritage Foundation has tough criticism for much of the 2016 field, but high praise for the Texas senator.

Many of the lines in the scorecard appear destined for future attack ads.

Jeb Bush, for instance, is accused of having "kowtowed to the state's environmental lobby" in Florida. Chris Christie "has shown favoritism toward well-connected real estate developers." Rand Paul's "views at times veer outside the conservative mainstream." And Donald Trump backs "massive tariffs that would damage the American economy."

Cruz, by contrast, manages to emerge with barely a blemish, only softly worded critiques of his adopting "sound policies advanced by others" rather than crafting his own.

Heritage Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, has no current plans to endorsea presidential candidate, but it clearly intends to be a player. Both The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action have become increasingly aggressive since former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint resigned his seat to take over the foundation in late 2012. Heritage Action held a major "Take Back America" forum in September in South Carolina that was attended by 10 candidates (Trump cancelled at the last minute).

"Americans are looking for a president who can speak to the real anxieties they're facing, not simply manage the status quo in Washington," Heritage Action CEO Michael A. Needham said in a statement.

Unlike its congressional scorecards, Heritage's "presidential platform review" does not assign specific percentage scores to candidates. But the new report reveals Cruz is a darling of the hard-line organization.

"Cruz has been willing to pay a political price for taking on government favoritism," the report reads.

The group even forgives Cruz for one of the few trespasses he has made against their positions, voting for a bill that served "as a bargaining chip for [Export-Import Bank] allies to secure reauthorization." The report credits him for later switching his vote and then publicly attacking Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for allegedly lying about his plans.

Bobby Jindal, who is running hard to the right in Iowa, receives among the more glowing reviews. So does Marco Rubio, who angered the right with his pursuit of a comprehensive immigration plan after first being elected with tea party support.

The two current front-runners in the polls, Ben Carson and Trump, were dinged for their lack of a record on conservative causes and a lack of specifics in their visions. "His unconventional foreign policy prescriptions raise more questions of significant consequence than they answer," Heritage writes of Trump.

Bush was singled out for some of the most biting critiques. "Has shown favoritism toward Florida special interests and supports amnesty" for undocumented immigrants,reads one bullet point.

In its 2016 assessment, Heritage dings Bush for not supporting recent efforts to defund Planned Parenthood this fall because he said he opposed precipitating a government shutdown. The report accuses him of "playing to President [Barack] Obama's talking points rather than reinforcing conservatives."

Lawmakers, often to the frustration of GOP leadership, closely track Heritage Action's congressional scorecards as the group seeks a more combative stance toward the Democrats and downgrades Republicans who seek to compromise with them. In 2013, for instance, DeMint was a leading proponent of the anti-Obamacare tactics that led to the government shutdown.

In all, Heritage analyzed the records and promises of a dozen Republicans: Cruz, Bush, Carson, Trump, Christie, Jindal, Paul, Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Rick Santorum.

They did not include former New York Gov. George Pataki or Sen. Lindsey Graham, who failed to meet the criteria for Tuesday's debate.

[Isara]

Heritage Action's Presidential Plateform Review (Full Report)

[Isara]

Presidential Candidates Comparison (Bush vs. Carson vs. Cruz vs. Rubio vs. Trump)

Please click on the pictures at the top of the columns for more details on the ratings of the candidates.

Budget, Spending & Debt
Civil Liberties
Education
Energy & Environment
Foreign Policy & Defense
Free Market
Health Care & Entitlements
Immigration
Moral Issues
Second Amendment
Taxes, Economy & Trade

More at Conservative Review: https://www.conservativereview.com/2016-presidential-candidates

Note: If you don't like the ratings for any reason, please contact Conservative Review's Editor-in-Chief, "The Great One," Mark Levin. But I have to warn you that you may get this response from him: "GET OFF THE PHONE, YOU BIG DOPE!"

[cripplecreek]

[buckalfa]

Of course, is not the Heritage Foundation the think tank that gave us the blueprint for Romney/Obamacare?

[InterceptPoint]

It is worth noting that Rubio is doing much better than Trump in the Heritage Rating. That is somewhat surprising but maybe it shouldn’t be.

And Carson/Jeb are Peas in a Pod and averaging YELLOW at best. Not good.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

I stopped reading “Politico” months back!!! They are nothing but, and open spin vehicle for the “Obamabot/Clinton Democrat Party”!!! The word “objective” means nothing to them!!! They, like the Obamabot media are dyng on the vine!!!

[V K Lee]

Leave it to Politico - how many ‘hard-line’ terms can be counted in this trivial bit of information? Politico, sitting in the trash heap of the city dump. H/T to the bozos, most Cruz fans had prior knowledge of all this, you idiots. Care to speak of o-puppet’s red lines?

[nathanbedford]

This report acknowledges what we all have long understood, Ted Cruz is the true conservative in this race.

Is detractors are reduced to mischaracterizing his role on trade, or immigration, or to smearing him with guilt by association involving his wife or his father.

Of course, the report analyzes his positions on issues but we ought not to forget the series of independent stands he has taken on behalf of conservatives, on behalf of his fellow Americans, often alone, always courageously, and usually in the teeth of resistance by the Republican establishment. No elected official has done more to expose the corrupt uni party in Washington than Ted Cruz.

This is a conservative forum, we were put on earth and in cyberspace to illuminate to the world the virtues of conservatism and to identify reliable, red-blooded American conservatives when they run for office. Ted Cruz stands so far above this field of candidates that they should be no second thoughts about endorsing him and voting for him.

[traderrob6]

Precisely.

[basil]

What’s not to like?

I’ve been a Senator Cruz supporter from the get-go.

If the thrice married Trump gets the nomination, I will have to hold my nose to vote for him.

[amihow]

Yes. They gave us Obamacare and they are Rino certain that increased tarriffs Trump supports are intrinsically bad. They are not. They are a tool to turn free and destructive trade into fair trade.

[cripplecreek]

Same.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[napscoordinator]

What is Cruz’s victory to nomination? I think he can win all the southern states but they have decided to allocate their points proportional which means that it is not a “Winner takes all”. Not sure why the decided to do that because it hurts the conservatives in the race. NJ for example is a “winner takes all” state and that person gets 51 points automatically for the winner....not sure Cruz can win NJ. But to equal a win in NJ, Cruz would have to win 4 southern states and have the same as NJ. But that is 1/2 of Cruz’s win to one establishment winner. Plus they also have a weird rule that you have to get 20 percent of the vote before getting any points at all and for some reason again that is only conservative states with that rule. Very strange that Southern Conservative States have done away with “Winner takes all”. Could that be the reason we always end up with an establishment candidate?

[napscoordinator]

Sorry to double post but I saw your synopsis about Ted Cruz and agree he probably is the most conservative but as you see from my below synopsis it might not matter due to what the Southern Conservative States have done.

What is Cruz’s victory to nomination? I think he can win all the southern states but they have decided to allocate their points proportional which means that it is not a “Winner takes all”. Not sure why the decided to do that because it hurts the conservatives in the race. NJ for example is a “winner takes all” state and that person gets 51 points automatically for the winner....not sure Cruz can win NJ. But to equal a win in NJ, Cruz would have to win 4 southern states and have the same as NJ. But that is 1/2 of Cruz’s win to one establishment winner. Plus they also have a weird rule that you have to get 20 percent of the vote before getting any points at all and for some reason again that is only conservative states with that rule. Very strange that Southern Conservative States have done away with “Winner takes all”. Could that be the reason we always end up with an establishment candidate?