Posted on 01/16/2016 9:18:45 AM PST by Isara
FORT MILL, S.C. — Ted Cruz, long reluctant to directly criticize Donald Trump, threw caution to the wind Saturday as he ripped his Republican presidential opponent as a fake conservative.
"Donald’s record does not match what he says as a candidate," told reporters before a national security forum here at a church, delivering an assessment of the onetime ally in the race that would have been unthinkable as recently as last week. "I recognize what Donald says on the campaign trail today is fairly conservative, but voters are discerning."
Cruz went on to respond to a serious of critical tweets earlier Saturday morning from Trump by questioning his judgment and temperament to be president. The senator suggested Trump's tweets were caused by a new poll that show him beating the survey-obsessed billionaire in a head-to-head match-up.
"That has got to drive him nuts, and I imagine it sent him out of bed this morning tweeting and tweeting and tweeting," Cruz said. "I think in terms of a commander in chief, we ought to have someone who isn’t springing out of bed to tweet in a frantic response to the latest polls."
"I think the American people is looking for a commander in chief who is stable and steady and a calm hand to keep this country safe," Cruz added.
Cruz also wondered aloud why Trump had reacted angrily to comments Cruz made a day earlier blasting the policies of New York Democrats. The two candidates have been tangled over Cruz's use of the phrase "New York values."
“It does raise the question of, 'OK, if you are offended at my pointing out how much the failed policies of Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio have hurt New Yorkers, then which of those policies do you agree with?" Cruz said. "Given the fact that for much of his life, Donald was financially supporting those politicians, writing checks to Hillary Clinton, writing checks to Andrew Cuomo, it’s a fair inference that he supports their policies."
Cruz added he was especially surprised that Trump would object to the idea of "New York values" because "he's the one who laid out this analysis" in a 1999 TV interview. In the interview with Tim Russert, Trump repeatedly attributed his liberal stands on some issues to the fact he is from the solidly Democratic Empire State.
Cruz continued to sketch a number of other contrasts with Trump, bringing up gun and property rights when pressed to detail policy differences with the billionaire. Asked to say where he differs with Trump on national security, Cruz flatly replied, "To be honest, I don't know what Trump's position is."
Cruz's remarks to reporters in Fort Mill represented the sharpest escalation yet in his rhetoric against Trump after months of refusing to attack the billionaire. Asked why he was now raising the Tim Russert interview, for example, Cruz suggested it all began with Trump's questioning of his eligibility to be president due to his Canadian birth.
“Well, it came up initially in response to Donald playing 'Born in the USA' in his rallies," Cruz said. "I made a quip that perhaps he ought to play 'New York, New York,' and Donald got very upset with that."
Cruz and Trump were set to cross paths later Saturday in Myrtle Beach, where they are both set to speak in the afternoon at a tea party convention.
“his birtherism attacks are going to ultimately make him look foolish as lawsuits are filed and dismissed.”
#1 He’s not filing the lawsuits.
#2 Cruz will need a SCOTUS decision to stop that as the Democrats will make sure they dont use this issue unless he is the nominee or VP candidate.
#3 Trump has carved out a political base that is unmalleable, that’s why his numbers only go up. Cruz’s base is made up mainly of people that had abandoned other candidates whom they supported far tighter than Cruz, and have little firm attachment to him.
The moment he looks to be headed down, they will bail.
“I am glad that Cruz is firing criticism at Trump.”
Yeh he better do something to take the spotlight off the two loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank he a former solicitor general of TX “forgot” to disclose as part of the campaign rules.
Between that and pizzing off NY state Teddy has stumbled badly. :-)
Cruz could have put this positively, as a set of promises rather than as a sarcastic dig.
Ouch? This guy (Cruz) is a veritable master of irony. Ya all are.
Thankfully, it’s ticking me off less & amusing me more.
Go take another hit on the pipe. Better yet, got work for Hillary instead of Trump.
Rumor has it that Trump has hired Bruce Springsteen to record a new theme song for the Ted Cruz campaign called “Born Near the USA”.
When asked for comment, Cruz said “If Donald Trump and Bruce Springsteen want to act like a bunch of hosers, that’s not my problem, eh.”
Cruz let Trump bait him into getting negative.
That was a mistake.
I would have suggested Cruz come out with a statement that he loves New York enough that he wants to see a brighter future for it, with more classical freedoms and a turnaround from the dangerous situation it has been getting into.
You can either pan someone who is down in a hole, or else you can reach out a hand to pull that someone back up. The political, wheeler dealer way is to pan the someone. The actual Christian way is to reach out the hand.
You’re so right. If Cruz said it with sincerity instead of smarmy sarcasm he would have won a lot of people over.
We’ve had a divider in the White House for 8 years and we need a uniter, and Cruz had a BIG opening there to be that guy.
Their has not been a new Iowa poll done since the debate. Lets see what the Iowa polls look like at the end of next week. I think you will see Trumps numbers crumble now that he has pointed himself as the defender of New York social liberalism.
Trumps past is no secret.
However Cruz(R-Goldman Sachs) is a new development.
Brand new news.
No wonder Cruz wanted to hide his relationship with one of the most
hated Wall Street companies in the country.
Cruz may be the most conservative in the race.
He is also beginning to look like just another sleezy politician.
people change i was a hardliner liberal atheist once and i am now a Lutheran christian, Trump WAS a liberal not anymore.
Yes i am ashamed of that, in 2008(and years before that) i was a open borders ultra liberal who hated Christianity,supported gun control ,but events in my life changed me for the better in late 2008 early 2009 .
One shameful story was that when a coworker of mine who was a christian told me he was and went into tirade on him about how god was a myth for weak pathetic humans.
I tried to convert people to atheism even and i even had success with that, i truly hope god can forgive me for that.
People who knew me from that time have been shocked for my conversion, now i dont go to church because the churches where i live are ultra liberal who preach homosexual marriage is great and i am not bringing my family to such heretical churches.
So my church is my house where i and my family pray on sundays and read the bible
late 2009 i had become a Lutheran christian. Long story short what started to question my atheism was when i was looking a cigarette i was smoking(yes i have my vices) and i thought how can this cigarette exist? Because the fundamentals of science is based on that materials cannot come from nothing and yet here it was among the world and everything else.
Just the fact that world exist is a paradox to science so there has to be a divine creator.
So if something like me who hated christians,hated guns and supported open borders can change like me im willing to give trump that chance.
That won't work...Trump never claimed to be conservative...We all know that...
Trump is an independent running in the Republican Party...He doesn't like either Party any more than we do...
Cruz is trying to bring conservative politics back to the Republican Party...
Trump is trying to save the country...
Trump takes down everyone who gets in his way...Cruz must have a lot of self confidence...
Trump absolutely destroyed Cruz today. Carpet bombed him on his NY comments. Starts at 8:00
http://rsbn.tv/watch-live-donald-trump-speaks-in-portsmouth-nh/
Ted should go to donaldjtrump.com. it’s all laid out there.
Cruz is toast. There is a critical mass of informed and determined opposition on the issue of qualification. That's not a policy question, that cuts to the bedrock. it also risks reputation, because some people will conclude that he knew or should have know his qualifications were dicey, and he was not forthcoming - on a bedrock issue. That is no "clerical error in the filing" stuff.
Well it isn’t until he gets what will come from the hose.
He could say something like that is sad.
Then we haven't lost anything by voting for him...
Lol, you’re already reduced to personnel insults since your boy Ted is on such shaky ground, pretending to be some sort of outsider candidate.
He’s just one more tool of the GOPe and his big donors.
Stop making sense please. People are trying to argue here. ;-)
Yes Ted has problems for sure. If you or I forgot to file our campaign loans properly it might be because we are dummies but for the form Solicitor General of TX to “forget” is a litte unbelievable.
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