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Ted Cruz Won Troubling Debate
Rush Limbaugh ^ | 3/4/16

Posted on 03/04/2016 11:44:11 AM PST by justlittleoleme

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, I don't go into these debates with any expectations anymore. That's the key to being able to handle all of this. If you go into these debates expecting your candidate to be treated fairly, you're gonna be disappointed. Whoever your candidate is, if you go into these debates expecting fairness, however you define it, you're gonna be disappointed.

I just watch them. I watch them and soak it all up as a sponge. Literally I try to shelve every expectation I've got and every hope that I have, whatever they are, and whoever I happen to be pulling for, broom that, too, and just watch it, just take it in as it happened and judge it accordingly.

Here's my takeaway from last night. We'll of course fill in blanks and get into this in great detail, but I think Ted Cruz won that debate hands down. I don't think it's even close. I think Ted Cruz Ted Cruz was in a different league last night. Ted Cruz was in a different debate than what everybody else was doing, including Kasich. I think Ted Cruz was running rings around everybody in terms of awareness of the issues, knowledge of the issues, mastering whatever it was that was discussed.

Megyn Kelly tried a couple of times to insult him in questions and take him off balance and it didn't work either time. He did not respond to her in a negative way. He just took her question, answered it, and blew it out of the park. The one question where she said, "So, it looks like in this instance we just can't trust Ted." And his answer specified how her question was misleading and had incorrect data in it.

I think it was a polling question on a CNN poll, Trump and 49%, and Cruz pointed out in that poll that he's the only one beating Hillary in that poll. This is not to say that if you like Trump, if you like Rubio, if you like Kasich that I thought those guys didn't do well. I'm just telling you: As I watched this thing with no expectations and with no hopes and with no preconceived notions of what was gonna happen, I just thought last night...

Within the context of what happened last night, nothing compared to what's happened on previous occasions. No baseline from previous debates or appearances from which I'm making comparisons, just within the confines of that debate last night. When Ted Cruz got the question about Detroit -- Flint, Michigan -- he's the only guy that got the answer right. Now, the things other people said about it were true, but Ted Cruz is the only guy that got anywhere close to explaining what's wrong with Detroit. Liberalism! Left-wing policies!

For 50 years, everything that's going wrong wherever you go in the country, the people that have been running it are left-wing Democrat Party. Wherever they've been in charge unchecked, everything's a mess just like it is in Detroit. I think Cruz's skills as a debater were on full display last night for anybody to see, but there was a period of time early on in the debate where he was the new Ben Carson, meaning he didn't speak or wasn't heard from for easily a half hour.

His sections, his portions of the debate, nobody would call the most entertaining.

The most entertaining portions obviously were between Rubio and Trump. And Trump is entertaining and captivating and dominating ever he is participating, no matter what he says and no matter how he says it. But I really, for the first time, I actually... I don't know how else to explain this other than to say in terms of the old way that we used to consider qualifications for the presidency, the old way in which we used to analyze competence, Ted Cruz hit a grand-slam home run last night.

But that's not how we make judgments on these things today.

That's not a complaint. It's just an observation. I'm not whining. I do not whine. So that's my overview. Of course there are intricate elements and details of this thing last night to discuss. We'll do that while mixing your phone calls in with the program today. Plenty of audio sound bites to review from debate last night as well. One of the items of focus last night based on just my perusal of Drive-By Media coverage, is some people think that Trump flip-flopped in a major way on immigration on the H-1B visa questions and discussion.

There are other people who are expressing incredulity that Trump seemed to not know what "off the record" means, based on his answer about the New York Times. The off-the-record questions came up regarding Trump and his interview off the record with New York Times editorial board. And everybody's dying to know what he said, because he won't tell anybody what he said and he won't release the tapes. And they asked him -- the moderators and a number of people challenged him to release the tapes.

"Tell us what you said there, Mr. Trump," and Trump said, "I have too much respect for 'off the record.' I have too much respect. I wouldn't do it to the other guys. I would hope they wouldn't do it to me." And I admit I was scratching my head, because off the record is a protection for the journalists. The candidate in this case or the subject of a news story is totally in control of off the record. If Trump wants to release it, he can. If New York Times does, they are violating a profound journalistic principle.

If they release it -- which I think they've already done. I think the New York Times is even alluding to this, to BuzzFeed, and getting this whole thing going is a giant violation of journalistic ethics. But Trump himself is in total control. He's the one that would demand "off the record." The media doesn't offer it to you. And if they do, you've gotta be very suspicious about it. Very rarely will the media offer you "off the record." Now, maybe for an editorial board meeting, maybe it's standard operating procedure to be off the record and everybody knows it going in.

But normally whoever is the subject, whoever's the interviewee has to request "off the record," and then the media either agrees to do it or not, in which case the interviewee then decides how much he or she wants to say. And if the media will not go along with a request to go "off the record," you shut up, has been my experience. The only way you go forward's if they grant you your request to go "off the record." But it's not something that anybody but the interviewee is in control of. So it's not that the New York Times and Trump have to come to an agreement.

It's totally up to Trump. It's like grand jury testimony. Grand jury testimony is secret, private, "off the record," but if the subject wants to go out and talk about it, the subject can. But the prosecutors can't and the grand jurors can't, whoever else is in the room can't. But if you want to... If you're being asked to testify, if you're the witness, you can to go out and talk about what happened. You can. Very, very few do. Because when you get called before grand jury, it's generally pretty serious -- as is this.

You know, it's interesting that Hillary Clinton's...

This guy that set up her server has been granted immunity.

And when I first heard that, I said, "That's not gonna mean anything is going to happen. This guy has no knowledge of anything, other than how the thing was set up." But then I learned he's been granted immunity, which told me, "Well, that means there must have been a grand jury. And if there's a grand jury, that means somebody's presenting evidence of what Mrs. Clinton did, and this guy is being granted immunity as a means of facilitating the investigation into what Mrs. Clinton did or what Mrs. Clinton asked this guy to do."

So the existence of a grand jury in this case, that changes the focus of that particular story in a powerful way.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Snerdley, if you had to use just one word to describe the debate last night, could you come up with that? I know I'm putting you on the spot here. I'll give you mine. I'll give you my word. My word to describe the debate last night is "troubling," and I'm still troubled by it. I was troubled by that debate last night, and I still am. And I'm still trying to nail, drill down to exactly why. You know, there's a... Right now -- and it was last night, too. There's a -- I don't know what -- feeling of unease. I mean, I laughed at the parts that everybody laughed at, and I watched this, but something about it, I...

I don't know that it was just one thing about it, but I didn't... I didn't finish that debate relishing coming here to talk about it today.

END TRANSCRIPT


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; cruzwon; rush; rushsaidcruzwon; tedcruzwon; trump
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To: Durbin

Really. You want someone who does not agree with you to die? Really? Geeze.


101 posted on 03/04/2016 1:42:26 PM PST by RetiredArmy (Read 1 Corinthians 15: verses 1-4. This is the Gospel of Grace, the ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED!!)
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To: 1Old Pro

Old Pro, calling Cruz a liar shows your lack of sound judgment. Did HE rip off people at Cruz U, or donate to Lurch’s and Rotten’s Presidential campaigns? The only way that Trump supporters can remain Trump supporters at this point is by trashing (in their minds) Cruz, the one great Constitutionalist unfairly.


102 posted on 03/04/2016 1:46:40 PM PST by alstewartfan (CRUZ OR LOSE, AMERICA!)
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To: rovenstinez

He can win the debate all day long which I don’t agree but big deal. If Cruz can’t get the Evangelicals and conservatives to vote for him, how does he win? He is losing Mississippi very badly.....losing Louisiana very badly. Losing Michigan very badly.....losing Florida very badly.....losing Ohio very badly....losing Maine very badly......the ONLY minor possibility he has is Kansas and I think Trump just won that with him going there tomorrow to caucus.

So where does Cruz win????????


103 posted on 03/04/2016 1:47:22 PM PST by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: alstewartfan

No kidding. We have been waiting for many years for a quality conservative guy to step up to the plate. We get one and instead of supporting him they go for a Bubba that has been a New York Progressive Liberal Egomaniac. I have been on FR for almost every month they have been here. Whats the saying “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different?” This site has been taken over by zombies.


104 posted on 03/04/2016 1:47:49 PM PST by carjic (Media and GOPe are making the only people I trust not electable)
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To: jmaroneps37

Trump got hammered. Cruz was Perry Mason bludgeoning a helpless defendant last night.


105 posted on 03/04/2016 1:48:39 PM PST by alstewartfan (CRUZ OR LOSE, AMERICA!)
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To: RetiredArmy

“Really. You want someone who does not agree with you to die? Really?”

It’s called satire. But I can understand how you would take it seriously.


106 posted on 03/04/2016 1:51:29 PM PST by Durbin
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To: jimbo123
STOP IT.........just how low can you and others get. No candidate running for President needs to have this shown.

As a Cruz supporter, I tell you this. I WOULD NOT WANT THIS DONE TO TRUMP, RUBIO, KASICH OR now gone Jeb.......STOP IT

107 posted on 03/04/2016 1:53:56 PM PST by annieokie
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To: Ozymandias Ghost

Never said they were anti Trump, I said they didn’t vote for Trump or least that’s what I meant, please read the post I responded to, it was his math that I was questioning. You read to much into that statement


108 posted on 03/04/2016 2:00:09 PM PST by Dstorm ( Cruz 2016)
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To: TexasCajun

RE: Beck is just an insane lunatic imbecile!

Beck is a psychopath. Always has been.


109 posted on 03/04/2016 2:03:52 PM PST by big'ol_freeper (Trump: "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things")
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To: carjic

Zombies infect the entire country now, not just this website. No one answers my direct question about why they think Trump cares about SCOTUS when he supported Carter, Kerry and Rotten Clinton for President. Obviously, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” substitutes for reason for some here.


110 posted on 03/04/2016 2:07:27 PM PST by alstewartfan (CRUZ OR LOSE, AMERICA!)
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To: justlittleoleme
Yes he did. I watched the debate, plus I recorded it on my DVR and watched it this morning. By the many amounts of applause he got from the audience he got it was clear that he was the winner. Both Kasich and Rubio got a fair amount of applause.

While Trump did get some applause, he got more boos for the way he acted, and no one should be surprised

111 posted on 03/04/2016 2:48:10 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: alstewartfan

Trump clearly lost the debate and Cruz clearly won it hands down and that is factual. Besides Drudge’s online poll means diddly squat.


112 posted on 03/04/2016 2:51:36 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Iowa David

only an idiot would fall for Trump. An informed voter however would never.


113 posted on 03/04/2016 2:53:50 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Carry me back
Trump won it and has all the momentum. Some dont want to see it.

No that is hilarious, but you have the right to believe that if that makes you happy.

114 posted on 03/04/2016 2:56:35 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: TXnMA

Lol, Rush said Rubio is a full throated consevative in the mold of Regan”

Rubio is running an ad using the Rush quote.


115 posted on 03/04/2016 3:10:28 PM PST by stockpirate (GOPe wants to defeat it's own voters....UNLEASH THE TRUMPIAN!!!)
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To: TXnMA

Meanwhile you believe everything the other two are yapping.

Rubio was interuppting constantly using the liberal tactic.


116 posted on 03/04/2016 3:11:52 PM PST by stockpirate (GOPe wants to defeat it's own voters....UNLEASH THE TRUMPIAN!!!)
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To: GilGil

Ted Cruz is not the only one that voted for TPP/TPA. As a matter of fact most the Republicans voted for it.


117 posted on 03/04/2016 3:19:33 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: patq

You really shoe your ignorance. I would be embarrassed if I were you.


118 posted on 03/04/2016 3:22:41 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Johnny B.

Didn’t Trump claim CNN had him winning against Hillary Rodham Clinton? I noticed it was just the opposite. Who does he think can fool? The Trumpees that’s who and they are falling for it


119 posted on 03/04/2016 3:33:21 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: jimbo123
This doesn't look like a booger to me

Some idiot thinks this is a booger and you fell hands down for it.

Notice the difference of the color (the booger on on the baby and the bread or cake crumb on Ted Cruz's lip. Besides as if you never had a bread or cake crumb stuck on your lip

120 posted on 03/04/2016 3:59:58 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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