Posted on 01/18/2016 2:33:22 PM PST by Isara
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted 2016 rival Donald Trump on Monday, questioning his ties to Democrats and previous support for liberal positions as the two battle for the top spot in Iowa.
"If he's giving checks to Democratic politicians and he supports their views... then it starts to suggest, 'gosh if he publicly supports their views if he finances their causes,'" Cruz told Boston radio station WRKO. "Then suddenly when he announces as a candidate for president, every single one of his views changes - listen if he has had a change of heart, I am thrilled."
Cruz, who is competing with Trump for the GOP nomination, added that if Republican voters want a nominee who will "cozy up to Chuck Schumer - by the way he's written checks to Chuck Schumer, I never have - then you ought to be backing him."
The Texas Republican's comments come after Trump told ABC's "This Week" that Cruz is a "nasty guy" and "nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him."
The two candidates have been locked in an escalating rhetorical battle this month after Cruz said that Trump represents "New York values."
Trump, in return, hit Cruz over previously undisclosed loans he accepted from Goldman Sachs and Citibank to help finance his Senate run. Cruz, on Monday, suggested that Trump's criticism was hypocritical, calling it "more than a little rich."
"You want to assess who stands with Wall Street? Then look at the actual records of the candidates," he added. "Donald Trump vocally and enthusiastically supported TARP, the bailout of the big banks. He vocally and enthusiastically supported Barack Obama's stimulus plan."
Trump suggested that the loans underscored that the senator is controlled by the banks.
While Cruz had long been reluctant to take on Trump directly, the two have stepped up their rhetorical barbs as they head toward the Feb. 1 Iowa caucus.
Trump has led the Republican field in recent Iowa polling, but Cruz claimed the top spot in a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll released last week.
Trump is planning to campaign in Iowa this week with stops scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
While Cruz on Monday urged primary voters to study candidates' records, he sidestepped directly calling Trump a "fraud" or a "hypocrite."
"Those are your words," he told radio host Jeff Kuhner, adding, that he doesn't plan to get into a "food fight or personal insults."
However, he noted that "Donald seems very rattled right now. ...He's been launching an awful lot of attacks in the last couple of days."
Bfl
Forced? How so? Were they also forced not to have insurance coverage?
Cruz stepped in it. He tried to out-Trump Trump and failed. Just admit it and move on. Point goes to Trump.
“So if all this is true, then why did Cruz pal up with Trump last summer, say nothing for months, and allow Trump to take a monster lead in the race?
So either Trump isn’t Satan, or Cruz has terrible judgement.”
This question can easily be turned the opposite way — why has Trump buddied up with Cruz for the past couple years and done nothing but praise Cruz until a just few weeks ago? Either Cruz is not a “nasty person” (like Trump now says), or Trump has horrible judgment.
Can’t give him the point. It had nothing to do with the context put out there. Zero. It was a odd direction to go to say the least.
Those were the only details she shared with me. Regardless, she obviously feels let down and is taking it out on Cruz. It likely comes down to while Cruz was right on principal (with the Repubs voting it down), he comes out wrong on perception. Whattya' gonna do?
I’ll take substance over style any day.
I suppose it’s fitting since his voters are wrestling fans.
Cruz has been running against Trump the whole time. The team idea only existed in the minds of some freepers. He simply focused on promoting conservative ideas while assuming Trump would collapse his own campaign. That didn’t happen so now Cruz has to take out Trump himself.
“This question can easily be turned the opposite way”
This is the third time I’ve asked for an answer to this, only to get a dodge.
What exactly is the problem with answering what I asked?
Being warm to Cruz as a person, and then not is FAR different than Cruz’s line that Trump is a fake...blah blah blah, when he was OK with being allies with him, and letting him run crazy over the other candidates, and becoming the prohibitive polling leader in the primaries.
Are you referring to the flip-floper Cruz?
What universe are you writing from? Trump has been dredging the very bottom of the barrel in his vicious attacks on Cruz over the weekend.
I’m referring to anyone who stands on principle rather than doing something to gain favor. It is not the job of the Federal government to reward bad choices.
That is AWESOME!
“Cruz has been running against Trump the whole time.”
Could have fooled everyone else.
Was he also running against:
Walker
Carson
Carly
Bush
Perry
Because last time anyone actually looked, it was Trump that took these people on and knocked them flat. It sure as hell wasn’t Cruz, whom sat off on the side and let Trump do the running.
Cruz wasn’t running against Trump, he was running in the wake Trump created from him doing the hard work.
“He simply focused on promoting conservative ideas “
That’s adorable. If it wasn’t for Trump clearing these others out, he would still be at 5%.
I'm not disagreeing with you on that. It would appear some Republicans affected by the storm aren't happy with what the party did to them. Then to have Cruz spew New York values probably didn't go over either.
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