Posted on 01/04/2016 7:05:50 AM PST by Isara
DES MOINES, Iowa - Ted Cruz arrives Monday for his first Iowa trip of 2016, but he won't just be battling Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. He'll been fending off the state's influential corn lobby.
As Cruz kicks off a six-day bus tour across the state, his critics in the state's ethanol industry will be trailing close behind in a RV. They're hoping to highlight the Texas senator's opposition to a federal mandate that ethanol be mixed into gasoline at each of Cruz's planned 28 stops.
"We're going to be turning out all of our allies," said Eric Branstad, the son of longtime Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and the state director for America's Renewable Future. The group supports the so-called the Renewable Fuel Standard, which Cruz has vocally opposed. "Iowans can't trust him and we have a duty to let them know why."
In addition to trailing Cruz's bus, the group is buying newspaper, radio and digital ads to shadow Cruz, and launching robo-calls to Iowans a month before the caucuses. At one point the group considered having someone dressed in a giant corn-on-the-cob costume stalk Cruz across the state. The idea was ultimately scrapped.
"We thought about bringing 'Captain Cornelius' but ultimately that's not something that we're doing," said spokeswoman Majda Sarkic of the mascot the corn-growing industry has used previously.
Other pro-ethanol forces have hit Cruz, as well. A group called the Iowa Progress Project, run by Nick Ryan, who also works for a super PAC supporting Mike Huckabee, has aired $200,000 in anti-Cruz TV and radio ads over the issue.
The fact that Cruz has topped recent Iowa polls despite his opposition to the renewable fuel standard has the corn-industry nervous. The issue has long been perceived as a third-rail of Iowa politics and the agriculture industry here wants to keep it that way.
In 2012, two politicians who supported the standard, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, finished atop the pack. Those who didn't, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, finished far behind. And in 2008, Barack Obama backed the standard in his primary against Hillary Clinton.
America's Renewable Future has vowed to mobilize tens of thousands of caucus-goers next month.
"Ted Cruz's policy in the White House would be as its always been for him - devastate Iowa's farmers and its economy in order to pad the pockets of the oil industry," Branstad said.
Cruz's allies have attacked the fuel standard as a handout for "Big Corn." "The Governor of Iowa is a Big Corn cheerleader, and his son is running a SuperPAC hitting Cruz for not bowing to worship Big Corn," Cruz supporter and former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli wrote to supporters last week. "Tsk, tsk."
And so the ad hominems, non-sequiters, red herrings and genetic fallacies begin.
Senator Ted Cruz is running for the POTUS, not POI ... How Pandering To Iowa's Ethanol Lobby Hurts America
Nicely stated, I like people that practice what they preach.
Re:”Take your meds.”
Grow up.
And given his knowledge of bankruptcy law, he doesn't even have the excuse of ignorance.
Cruz also has personal investments in oil and gas which make his position on protecting their tax breaks look self serving.
You lead off with an ad hominem. There will be examples of the rest from Trump supporters soon.
Please click on the pictures at the top of the columns for more details on the ratings of the candidates.
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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!"
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)
To what industry-specific tax breaks are you referring?
Take your meds.
dp0622, see post #19.
These are the kind of attacks by Trumpsters we've had to deal with since January of last year.
Jpsb just happens to be one of many.
There is no longer an ethanol subsidy. But the Fuel Replacement Mandate remains.
And you left off one major problem with ethanol. Specifically:
It does absolutely nothing to reduce air pollution, which was the original reason for the subsidy and the mandate.
I’d also like to know more details about the investments in gas & oil Cruz has to which you refer.
The treatment of intangible drilling costs, active income rules for working interests, small producer exemptions, pass-through incentives, AMT exemption, etc.
And telling someone to "take their meds" is just a despicable attack isn't it? But lying is fine huh?
Assuming for a minute your unfounded implication is correct whats wrong with “big oil”?
Which he LOST.
Badly.
Please provide more details about the conflict of interests Cruz has with oil that you alluded to.
So would I...are you disputing he has them?
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