Posted on 01/15/2016 5:58:19 AM PST by reaganaut1
...
Mr. Cruz did not just dominate much of the Republican debate, he slashed, he mocked, he charmed and he outmaneuvered everybody else onstage - but none as devastatingly and as thoroughly as this campaign’s most commanding performer, Donald J. Trump.
In the process Mr. Cruz - the high school student who once recited the Constitution from memory and the Princeton debater who dazzled judges with his ability to entrap less shrewd rivals - showed the American public that his surging candidacy is not a fluke.
Twenty six minutes into what had been a slug-free evening, a moderator asked Mr. Cruz about a question that Mr. Trump has mischievously injected into their neck-and-neck competition: whether Mr. Cruz's Canadian birth disqualifies him from serving as president.
Mr. Cruz was ready. He started off with an expression of generosity.
"You know, back in September my friend Donald said he had had his lawyers look at this every which way," he said, his hands sweeping the air to dismiss the topic.
"There was nothing to this, this birther issue," Mr. Cruz said, mimicking the man standing directly to his right.
He paused to let that sink in, as the crowd began to applaud. Then he delivered the blow.
"Now, since September the Constitution hasn’t changed," Mr. Cruz said, as the rising applause rose to a roar. "But the poll numbers have."
Hoots and hollers came from the convention hall in South Carolina.
A genuine and unfamiliar expression - nervousness - crept across Mr. Trump’s face. He clenched the podium. His leg jiggled.
But Mr. Cruz was not done.
He offered a law professor's allocution on the subject of foreign-born citizens' eligibility for the American presidency.
"The facts and the law here are really quite clear," Mr. Cruz said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Rubio’s lies will be widely exposed by noon today just like all his other lies about Cruz.
Not a Jeb fan AT ALL, but his weathervane ad against Rubio is very effective. Don’t think the ad helps Jeb, but it does a lot of damage to Rubio.
In the news today, the main takeaways from last nights debate are:
1) Cruz blew it big time on new york values comment and Trump ripped him a new one
2) Questions surrounding Cruz’s eligibility for president are valid (not by me but general consensus)
3) Rubio ripped Cruz a new one as well
If that’s winning I hate to see losing. Cruz should have crushed them all because most of his experience in life is just talking. Congrats, Ted!! LOL.
Cruz has had much experience debating. This is Trumps first time. We are electing a president not a good debater. The fact remains the same. Cruz is a Politician owned by his doners.
“Cruz can be in President Trump’s cabinet as the Sec. of Debate.”
I would have agreed with that up until Ted’s performance last night. He was probably somewhat flustered due to dropping back to second place in Iowa.
Oratory skills are useful, but alone they don’t change anything. I finally figured out one reason why Trump is so popular when listening to the GOP response to the State Of The Union . Trump NEVER sounds like he is reading or reciting. NEVER. That’s why he connects with way more people than anyone else running. Looking at it that way Trump has the best oratory skills of anyone running.
Ted won the US debate title for Princeton, and came in second in the World Championships for Harvard. The author is clueless.
Trump would make a very entertaining press secretary in a Cruz administration. That is, once he's schooled in foreign affairs, particularly regarding Russia.
Rubio unloaded on Cruz over his record of flip flops... that’s going to leave a mark.
If you look at my other postings you’ll see that I lean Trump. I would vote for Cruz (though like you I’m afraid that his corporate leanings would be his undoing....look how successfully the Dems smeared Romney).
But saying that Cruz can’t debate is just silly.
Of course you are right - all the talent, intellect, and experience that created the company Trump owns is BS. It means absolutely nothing on the presidential stage.
Pathetic.
Well, which is it?
Is Ted Cruz a slashing debater, or did he get his rear end beat like a kettle drum last night?
I’ve heard various shades of both this morning.
Trump speaks like an everyman, and Cruz is a classical statesman. Each is superb in his niche. Each is needed. I fervently hope they get back to working together and ripping up the media and the Left.
It's no surprise that a die-hard Putin butt kisser like you would be trying to knock down Cruz.
_____________________________
Ted Cruz on ISIS, Russia, Obama, missile defense, and the New START Treaty with Russia...
"If we want to actually dismantle ISIS, we need to dramatically change course. We need a real, robust campaign that maximizes our overwhelming air advantage.
We need to focus our efforts not on trying to create friends, but on supporting our real ones, especially the Kurds in Iraq and Syria who have actually had success against ISIS."
-snip-
"We can redouble our efforts to develop the defensive weapons that neutralized the offensive Soviet threat -- particularly missile defense, which has seen a 25% budget reduction under Obama, according to an analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation, and has been constrained by bad arms deals like New START.
We should not only move quickly to install the canceled interceptor sites Putin opposed in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also to develop the next generation of systems that will only increase his discomfiture.
These options do not entail a ground war in Syria, yet would effectively shake us free from the failed policies that have brought us to our current impasse.
These options set us on a new path that puts Putin on notice that the United States is reclaiming our traditional role as leader of the free world."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
**********************************************************
"I think it would be a mistake to get involved in the Syrian civil war. There have been voices in Washington eager for us to send our sons and daughters over to fight that civil war for some time. I haven't been one of them. I think the touchstone of U.S. military policy should be protecting the national security of this country."
"What we're seeing Putin in Russia do is a direct response to the profound weakness of Obama over six and a half years.
Putin views Obama as weak, as ineffective, and frankly, as a laughingstock. And, as a result, he is moving in, he is invading his neighbors, like Ukraine, he's kidnapping Estonians, and he's moving into Syria to gain a stronger foothold in the Middle East."
**********************************************************
Ted Cruz:
"We need a coherent plan to address both the specific crisis in Syria and the challenge posed more broadly by Putin's resurgent Russia.
The good news is that America still has options, if our leaders can summon the will to exercise them.
For starters, in Syria we can't double down on the failed strategies that have given Putin his opportunity to intervene.
We are now two years out from President Obama's proposed intervention after al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. ..."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
Trump spoke from his heart of hearts and from his first habnd accounts of “watching the buildings fall, being there with the first responders, the smell of death and destruction, and he character f NYC folks who immediately began a horrific clean up.”
I have always mocked NYC values and I thought Cruz was on to something, but Donald's response had me leaping to my feet and applauding. I am so proud and hopeful to support the man that Donal Trump is revealing himself to be.
Trump had Cruz squirming like a worm on a hook; he knows his birth
issue is like a pair of concrete boots. (hat tip FReeper Daniel Ramsey).
Cruz blasting anyone who dares say he isn't a citizen is very telling.
As the Bard sagely wrote Methinks he protesteth too much.
Depends on who you ask. Cruzers like me say Ted, Trumpsters say The Donald won. Both had several very strong moments, and each had a "d'oh" moment as well. The media will focus on how each was magically brought down last night. Neither was. We all saw what we wanted to see.
GOOD OME! When was the last time the world leaders stood on stage together and debated and then the one declared the winner got his way?
Huh?
Cruz never reads from notes. He recited the Constitution from memory. During an early debate he recapped 9 questions, in order they were given with the person that addressed them, off the cuff.
Trump appears genuine, but he is often at a loss for the correct words and he greatly simplifies issues without linking them to any Constitutional issue or logical need.
Bluster and brazenness have their place, but they do not qualify as oratory skills.
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