Cheated? What grade are you in?
I absolutely disagree. “New York values” rather obviously means the values of New Yorkers, regardless of how anyone wants to spin it now, and the first responders during 9/11 were New Yorkers. Nobody held their New York values against them right after they sacrificed their lives for others. Cruz could have stuck to attacking specific liberal issues (a couple of which he very briefly mentioned, along with his vague attack on the NY media and money), but he chose instead primarily to target an entire city (well, state really, since he didn’t specify). I don’t think that is a good move for someone running for president of the entire United States. This among other things is convincing me more and more that Cruz would have little chance of winning the purple states, much less any blue ones. I know if a left-wing candidate said the same things in reverse about the South as a form of criticism, I would be irate.
Trump defended his home from a one-sided attack. Good for him, because bravery, resilience, and industriousness are also “New York values.” Trump didn’t cheat; he showed the other side of the equation. What Cruz did may have been a good move in Iowa—we will see, but it may well have been suicidal in large swaths of the rest of the country among people who are not already big Cruz supporters (and I’m speaking as a Southerner originally from Virginia, who has always liked Cruz even though I’m a Trump supporter. I’ve been to NYC well over a dozen times also).
Don’t kid yourself that you are “savvy.” You are simply biased in favor of Cruz and against Trump, and that informs your opinions.