Cruz comes out on top in GOP town hall

CNN ^ | February 18, 2016 | Raul Reyes

[justlittleoleme]

Three's a crowd. A trio of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination took their turns at CNN's town hall in Greenville, South Carolina, but the truth is that tonight, at least, only one of them deserved to be there.

That would be Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who won the Iowa caucuses and is polling second in South Carolina's primary that's taking place Saturday.

Were this not such an extraordinarily volatile year in Republican presidential politics -- thanks to Donald Trump -- it is likely that both Sen. Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson would have ended their campaigns by now. Instead they are lingering like self-absorbed actors who don't know that it is past time to exit the stage.

-snip-

But Ted Cruz had the best night.

His presentation combined elements of religious preaching and his experience as an attorney, and it was certainly effective.

He spoke with confidence

-snip-

To the many undecided voters in South Carolina, Cruz no doubt projected strength and a command of the issues. So much so that nobody mentioned how his shutting down the government cost the country an estimated $24 billion.

-snip

Whatever the reason for the groupings, tonight's line-up of Carson, Cruz and Rubio gave the town hall the appearance of "diversity night."

The African American, Cuban-American and Canadian-Cuban-American candidates faced voters tonight, while the three Caucasian hopefuls will meet up on Thursday. Optics matter.

[Psalm 144]

“His presentation combined elements of religious preaching and his experience as an attorney, and it was certainly effective.”

Give us more, King Felito I, Muffintop of the Mountaintop!

More!

MORE!

[MNJohnnie]

So much so that nobody mentioned how his shutting down the government cost the country an estimated $24 billion.

Wow, a single US Senator shut down the US Government! Just amazing how utterly stupid your average "political reporter" is on the topic they are suppose to be covering.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Donald Trump rode in his clown car for an hour on MSNBC.
Trump blathered incoherent solipsistic nonsense and even admitted (at a confused moment) that he supported the retention of ObamaCare.

[libbylu]

Cruz is the most honest politician I have ever seen. Love him.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

about here is I realized this was a fluff piece:

“Sen. Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson would have ended their campaigns by now. Instead they are lingering like self-absorbed actors who don’t know that it is past time to exit the stage. “

Rubio is tied with Cruz in almost all polls going forward, and I believe nationally.

Carson I could see dropping out, but there would be no need for Rubio to toss in the towel just yet while he’s neck and neck for second place.

[Hoodat]

So much so that nobody mentioned how his shutting down the government cost the country an estimated $24 billion.

Complete unadulterated BS. All of it.

[Reagan Disciple]

$24B saved.

[20yearsofinternet]

Honestly, he seems like more of a bottom to me.

[samtheman]

Not very clear from the article until you wade through the convoluted writing a bit, but for the record, Trump wasnt there.

[deport]

In about 43 hours the voters will start voting in South Carolina. Some 12 hours later
results will start trickling in. My guess is most voters by now have made up their mind as
to how they will cast their ballot. Campaing effectiveness will be interesting to see.

[justlittleoleme]

Yep, whole article was spewing liberal attacks on Republicans and Cruz, so I fished out what I could.

[Axeslinger]

your opinion has been duly noted noob...and appropriately filed.

[lormand]

You sound like a Trump Chump, America's first Orange Candidate for President.

• In 1999, Trump said he had joined the Reform Party because Republicans are “just too crazy” right.
• In 2000, he said: “I hate the concept of guns.”
• In 2004: “I identify more as a Democrat.”
• In 2007: Told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that Hillary Clinton was the most qualified to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
• In 2008: Said he was “impressed” with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and supported the idea of impeaching then President George W. Bush.
• “I’m going to take care of everybody,” Trump said in September 2015 on CBS’ 60 minutes. When asked how he would pay for it, he lresponded that “the government’s going to take care of it.”
• He thinks affirmative action is okay
• He would fund Planned Parenthood except for abortion. (This is current federal policy, though Trump doesn't seem to know it.)
• He supports a progressive income tax. He does not favor a flat tax.
• He doesn't want to cut Social Security or Medicare.
• He's in favor of a ban on assault weapons.
• He invited Bill and Hillary Clinton to his wedding.
• He doesn't "fully" believe in supply-side economics.
• He hates the Iran deal, but he wouldn't abrogate it after taking office.

  Abortion

  Then: On "Meet The Press" in 1999, Trump said he was "very pro-choice." "I hate the concept of abortion," he said. "I hate it. I hate everything it stands for. ... but I just believe in choice."

  Now: In an interview with Bloomberg Politics in January, Trump said, "I'm pro-life and I have been pro-life." He said he believed there should be exceptions in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother.

  Guns

  Then: In Trump's 200 book "The America We Deserve," he wrote that he "generally" opposed gun control but supported an assault weapons ban and a longer waiting period to purchase a firearm.

  Now: At the 2015 NRA-ILA Leadership Forum, Trump said if he became president, "the 2nd Amendment will be totally protected." He told the Web site Ammoland he does "not support expanding background checks" and said current background checks "don't work."

  Healthcare

  Then: In an interview with Larry King in 1999, Trump said he was "very liberal when it comes to health care" and that he believes in "universal healthcare." Now: During his announcement, he called Obamacare "a disaster called the big lie" and said the deductibles were so high they were "virtually useless."

  Hillary Clinton

  Then: Either Trump or his son donated to Clinton in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007, he invited her to his 2005 wedding in Florida, where she sat front row, and he's donated at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. He also said in an appearance on the Howard Stern show in the mid-2000s that she was a fantastic senator.

  Now: On NBC on Wednesday, he called Clinton "the worst secretary of state in the history of our nation" and said she would be "a terrible president."

  Party affiliation

  Then: Trump changed his party from Republican to Independent Party in 1999, and switched again to Democrat in 2001.

  Now: Has been a registered Republican since 2009.

  There are also some flips which haven't necessarily been from left to right.

  Jeb Bush

  Then: In Trump's 2000 book "The America We Deserve," he called Bush "a good man," "bright, tough and principled," and "exactly the kind of political leader this country needs now and will very much need in the future."

  Now: On Fox News's "On The Record" this week, he called Bush "pathetic" for his support of Common Core, said his immigration views were "baby stuff."

[moehoward]

"Cruz is the most honest politician I have ever seen. Love him."

[o2bfree]

Didn’t Cruz vote for the Corker Bill?

If so thats pretty damning evidence that Cruz is no better than the other members of the GOP Elite.

[Bidimus1]

I watched most of it.

Carson is to slow in delivery and really at this point is going though the motions I think.

Rubio is good and able to make a point as well as having some nice humor to him his statement about sports and being corner back was well said.

Cruz being the most aggressively questioned by the moderator was forceful and quite fluid.

I will say this for the format it seemed to be quite fair to all 3.

I would rate it Cruz Rubio Carson with an acknowledged bias that I like Cruz. The separation between Cruz and Rubio was far less than to Carson

[dynoman]

Are you kidding?? Come on. It’s dirty status quo politics. Is that what you expected “the only principled candidate” in the race to be doing?? I sure didn’t. I bought Ted’s book “A Time For Truth”. What a farce and liar he’s turned out to be.

I couldn’t believe Ted forgot Trump was the only one to mention the names of two conservative judges he’d consider appointing at the beginning of the debate. Instead the “brilliant debater” with “a photographic recall of the spoken word” LIED and said “Trump will appoint liberal judges.”

Wow. What a stupid tactical mistake. It shows canned sound bites overruled smart tactical maneuvering - Ted didn’t recognize the battle field changed with Trump’s mentioning the two conservative judges he’d appoint. He ran with the canned soundbite anyway. Very bad mistake, very bad tactical judgment. That was stunning. Ted’s just another status quo puppet politician. I’ll too vote for him as the nominee but it will be a default “cream of the crap vote for me”.

Here’s seven lies and misrepresentations in under three minutes.

Lie 1 - Pro-abortion and supporting partial birth abortion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=197

Lie 2 - Trump is calling for the same socialized medicine as Sanders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=216

Lie 3 - pushed partial birth abortion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=239

Lie 4 - Even as a candidate Donald says we need to have full on socialized medicine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=298

Lie 5 - at the debates he said we ought to have socialized medicine like Canada and Scotland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=302

Lie 6 - If you as a republican don’t support socalized medicine you are heartless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=312

Lie 7 - If you want to see Bernie sanders style of socialized medicine Trump is your guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RHgqFQ85uZs#t=335

[KansasGirl]

From your article:

>>The key differences are actually stylistic, and go to the question of how the Republican party can win.<<

That’s BS. The key difference is that one of them kept his promises to those who sent him to the Senate (Cruz)’ and the other (Rubio) stabbed those people in the back as fast as he could when he chose to attempt forcing a Rubio/Schumer/Obama amnesty bill down Americans throats by lying about what was in it, and he may have succeeded if Cruz, Sessions, and Mike Lee hadn’t pulled the veil off his lies!

[Axeslinger]

agree completely, top to bottom with your comment....except I actually saw it all.