Posted on 12/25/2015 1:04:28 PM PST by Isara
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign stop at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Newton, Iowa November 29, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich |
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee - Four hours before Ted Cruz was expected to arrive at Farragut High School, Tammy Purcell exclaimed cheerily, "I want to make sure I get in there. I want to give him this birthday cupcake," she said, explaining why she was the first person in line to see Cruz. She had come at 6 a.m., wielding a cupcake in one hand and a sign reading "Happy Birthday Ted" in the other as she waited outside in the damp fog that had enveloped the school.
Purcell was just one of many supporters who habitually line up outside the schools and civic centers hours before the doors open in order to get a good seat. And that's not lost on the senator, almost always lingers afterwards to show his appreciation.
Forty minutes after Cruz finished giving his stump speech in the high school auditorium in Knoxville, he was still there working what remained of the crowd. "We got two minutes so we're going to a couple more pictures then we got to go!" Cruz's young body man Bruce Redden told the people left. Two minutes passed as the senator continues to pose with supporters who were still lined up. Redden raises his hand to summon him, and Cruz without missing a beat interjected, "I tell you what -- we're going to do a group picture."
Cruz, who has focused much of his campaign on winning over Iowa Republicans, has seen his polling tick up, and lately he's been looking beyond Iowa to the southern states, which will hold primaries in the days and weeks immediately after the early February contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
That expanded effort - and the desire to hold onto the feel of retail politicking - is a more difficult endeavor because the crowds coming to see Cruz have surged in concert with his rising poll numbers in early states and nationally. Well over a thousand people showed up for rallies in Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama over the weekend.
Cruz's desire to work the crowd also creates some scheduling challenges. Campaign press secretary Catherine Frazier estimates that Cruz spends anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour after events meeting voters. Combined with the large crowds, this meant that the campaign could only realistically fit in two events a day during the "Take Off with Ted" tour through the Southern states, despite having a private jet.
"It's positive for our campaign in that it's an experience they'll have for a lifetime," campaign manager Jeff Roe said.
Cruz seems comfortable with the open dislike of nearly all of his Senate colleagues (something that he celebrates on the campaign trail). He's said as much -- in one debate, when asked to tell the audience about a weakness, he said, "If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home." It turns out, in fact, that the voters who turn out for his events like him plenty.
"I have done a few campaigns over the years, and know a few candidates. I have never seen anybody that adores the people that come to his events like he does," said Roe, who suggested it would have been easy for the candidate to take it easy over the holiday, "It's his birthday. It's very close to Christmas. It'd be very easy for him to take a couple of days make some fundraising crowds and hang out and here we are. It's because he loves people to interact, he love to hear their stories, and I think it makes him a better candidate frankly. That's not something you can teach. There's no strategy to this."
It's something that the people who come to see the Senator find endearing. "I can't believe he's still here right now," exclaimed Clyde Cummins of Kodak, Tennessee as he worked his way up to greet Cruz, "but that's the kind of guy I think he is."
You may have missed this chart. Remember to go to the Conservative Review site and read the detail. Remember that this is a Conservative site.
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
I don’t think anyone on FR has missed that chart. LOL
Yes, unfortunately working in the fed government is not like working in the private sector...and this is one of the big problems. And yes, we need to follow the constitution but it doesn’t require the current ridiculous labrynith of agencies, budgets, and the ever popular always talked about but never fixed waste fraud and abuse. There are a bunch of lying scheming greedy bastards in our government who need to see an end to their gravy train.
Practically all of Congress and the POTUS would have been fired long ago if they had been in private business.
Great chart. Thanks!
Trump supported TARP, auto bailout and Porkulus bill, i.e., Trump is for big government and big businesses.
And, of course, he is for Renewable Fuel Standard (ethanol mandate), so governement can pick winners and losers.
Trump's Record on Free-market Issue: (from the Conservative Review)
Trump has a terrible record on free market issues. The only bright spot is the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing, but this glimmer is countermanded by his repeated support for bailing out Wall Street and the auto industry, and increased stimulus spending. Of particular concern is Trump's belief that the government can use eminent domain powers to seize private property in the name of private economic development. This comes as no surprise, given his support for using eminent domain to profit his own company.
Trump supported the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of London, allowing public authorities to seize private land for economic development by private investors; Trump said, “I happen to agree with [the decision] 100 percent.” (National Review) This is no surprise given Trump’s attempt to use eminent domain in his own line of work. (Institute for Justice)
Trump supported President Obama’s 2009 stimulus, saying: “The word stimulus is probably not used in its fullest…you know, certain of the things that were given weren't really stimulus. They were pork, as we call it, or they were gifts to certain people. But overall, I think he's [President Obama] doing very well. You do need stimulus and you do have to keep the banks alive.” (CNN)
Trump supported TARP, saying, "You had to do something to shore up the banks, because ... you would have had a run on every bank." (CNN)
Trump supported the 2008 auto bailout, saying, “I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent. You cannot lose the auto companies. They’re great. They make wonderful products.” He also said that the federal government could “easily save the companies.” (Daily Caller)
Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the debt market, saying quantitative easing creates “phony numbers” that mislead the marketplace and “will not ultimately benefit the economy. The dollar will go down in value and inflation will start rearing its ugly head.” (CNBC)
Donald Trump has a history of using eminent domain to complete business deals. Multiple times Trump has supported the use of government agencies to take possession of homes and businesses for use in his private business plans. Eminent domain seizures are reserved only for public use of property rather than abuse by the government taking property from one individual and giving to another. (Washington Post)
Donald Trump has sought and received crony capitalist tax breaks for his commercial properties in New York. These tax breaks, and even an abatement, force the property taxes of other property owners to rise at the expense of the connected. Special treatment for one business or industry over another with the tax code conflicts with free market principles. (National Review)
In 2009, Trump supported Barack Obama's call for limits on the pay of executives. (CNN)
Thanks for sending this...I will read later today.
But right now I think Cruz has an excellent resume for Attorney General and maybe Jeff Sessions should be VP in the first term and Cruz VP for the second term. Cruz would have deep experience at that point.
No, I didn't. I cited his mention of his state of mind when he GOT to college---a typical cocky high-school kid, going into the Ivy Leagues.
Wasn't long before that changed, and I seriously doubt Cruz goes around today "regretting" teenaged behavior, as you try to mischaracterize.
Regardless, THAT'S what you want to focus on regarding Cruz? If it is, you might be better off looking at the liberal sleaze you support.
When Cruz was in high school, he was traveling all over the state of Texas, giving lectures on the Constitution. Has Trump ever MENTIONED our founding documents?
I did see one of his fans here say, "Well, but he knows the Constutiton exists." LOL!
But yeah...we're going to obsess over arrogance from a teenager more than a quarter of a century ago instead of the arrogance of your bloviating gasbag hero.
Careful. Not everybody who feels that way about Congress is going to make an exception for Ted Cruz. For a lot of people out there, Ted has more in common with his colleagues than with themselves.
I think you better look up the definition of the word. Citing something from Cruz’s book doesn’t qualify.
On the other hand, the hysteria and the keening and the hymn singing to that liberal Manhattanite varies from slobber into outright worship. You’re right in there with your talk of obsessively watching Trump’s every TV appearance to admitting you’re “addicted” to him.
Not healthy. Not at all.
Yeah, you make it well known these days that you have no use for Cruz. But, like quite a few of you Trump fans, your views concerning Trump and/or Cruz have done an amazing 180 over time:
To: ScubieNuc
While I figured weâll all be called hypocrites for supporting Cruz should he decide to run, I have to remember what it will take to save this country and he seems to be one hell of a guy. I think he could do it...he is that strong and even James Carville has acknowledged his huge talent.
21 posted on 8/20/2013, 12:43:41 AM by Aria ( 2008 & 2012 weren’t elections - they were coup d’etats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
To: Hostage
OK..I get that. Cruz is definitely genuine - not beholden to the finger in the wind.
Thanks!
13 posted on 2/21/2014, 3:36:55 AM by Aria ( 2008 & 2012 weren’t elections - they were coup d’etats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
I kind of think your mention of “finger in the wind” is ironic. Like I said, looking at old Trump/Cruz threads is very illuminating; it hardly seems credible that so many people could have flipped so completely.
It leads me to wonder how many of you Trump fans really support him when you log off FR, and how many of you pretend it because you’re afraid to buck what you see as the forum trend...you think it’s better for you to go along.
I got over that kind of crap in junior high, myself. I’m sticking with the Constitutional conservative. Under no circumstances will I abandon my principles to support that liberal reality TV celebrity.
Maybe, maybe not. I was a little suspicious of that quote.
1) It sounds a little too specific -- the idea that Ted would only study with people from Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, not Brown or Penn.
2) It sounds a little like a joke.
3) That way of thinking may be common enough at Harvard Law. Maybe everybody is like that there.
4) His roommate, who was in the study group, didn't go to an Ivy League school and says the story was not true.
We have to agree to disagree. My priority is the U.S. Constitution for all Americans, not cronyism for Fortune 500 companies.
Hey, I liked Cruz but I like Trump better. I may change my mind again between the two...that’s what this process is all about.
You’re getting awfully personal with your criticism. Not good.
Personal how” By looking at your posting history?
Too bad, it’s there.
Don’t think you’re going to come onto a Cruz thread trying to smear him and get hugs in return. If you dish it, you’ll get it back. Try to take it without whining.
I didn’t mean looking at my posting history...
Who is whining...not me. I guess I could go back and forth with you but I’m not going to do it. “not healthy”.
That silly polka-dot graph you post constantly is ridiculous. For example, Trumpâs 2A policy is better than any other candidate, with his national concealed carry idea.
And that you say to contact some outside group if we do not like the ratings is you just trying to deflect responsibility that YOU are posting this simplistic hogwash over and over.
I am going to post this comment every time I see your silly polka dots! (The fact that I have also mastered cutting and pasting is hardly impressive, is it, LOL)
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