Posted on 02/04/2016 9:58:03 AM PST by SoConPubbie
Little Rock, Arkansas Donald Trump, in a tit-for-tat with his chief rival coming out of Iowa, accused Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of bearing direct responsibility for the Affordable Care Act.
"Ted Cruz gave us Obamacare," Trump said at a Wednesday rally in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The line of attack invoked the landmark health care law that is anathema to many conservatives. Cruz, for his part, has accused Trump of supporting Obamacare, too, accusing Trump as holding the same position on healthcare as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
Trump's rationale for his claim is a little roundabout. It's based on the fact that Cruz supported John Roberts' nomination to be chief justice of the Supreme Court, which in turn led to the law being upheld twice before the court.
"[Cruz] pushed him. He approved him," Trump said. "And Justice Roberts approved Obamacare twice when it should have been rejected. His vote got it over the top. Ted Cruz did that."
Trump arrived nearly two hours late to the rally due to mechanical issues with his plane that forced his team to land what is colloquially coined "Trump Force One" in Nashville, Tennessee. He took a different plane to the rally.
"There was a minor mechanical issue and Mr. Trump traveled the rest of the trip in a small charter aircraft," said Hope Hicks, Trump's spokesperson.
The late arrival didn't dampen Trump's energy as he launched more attacks at Cruz, calling him "dishonest" in reference to allegations from another candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Carson has accused Cruz's campaign of trying to poach his voters by sending an email to Iowa voters claiming Carson was leaving the race, based on a CNN report that Carson would be absent from the trail and returning home for awhile. Cruz has since said that his staff should have sent a follow-up note to correct the first email. Trump wasted no time in trying to capitalize.
"I said how can they do that?" Trump said. "And everybody said, 'How can they do that?' And then he doesn't get the votes, Ben, but Ted gets the votes."
Wednesday marked a change in demeanor for Trump since Tuesday - from humble to angry. Trump posted a series of angry tweets, calling for a re-do of the Iowa caucuses, just two days after delivering a gracious concession speech in which he congratulated Cruz.
"He should just give it up and move on to New Hampshire," said 26-year-old Scott Tierney, after rolling his eyes. Tierney, a software salesman, from Conway, Arkansas, said he will vote for either Trump, Cruz or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
Others disagreed.
"I don't think he's a sore loser," said 42-year-old Kris Clayborn, a Trump supporter from Harrison - nearly a three hour drive away. "I know there was a lot of Democrat problems as far as the caucus. To see it on the Republican side doesn't surprise me."
In Arkansas, Trump spoke in front of the an arena that was slightly more than half full, even as Trump claimed it was a record crowd of more than 12,000. Trump may also have committed a college football faux pas - complimenting the University of Alabama's football team - an SEC rival - of Arkansas. The crowd booed.
The crowd was rowdy. One man roamed the floor at the Barton Coliseum wearing a black t-shirt that said "Obama Is A Terrorist" on the back.
While Trump shook hands on the rope line, a topless man with "T R" painted on his chest continuously tried to get Trump's attention. Another man wore a Denver Broncos bathrobe to the rally, to commemorate the Super Bowl. His name was Harrell Boyles and he also wore a pink tie with pigs on it under the bathrobe with a badge pinned to it that said "OMG GOP! WTF?" To complete the outfit, he wore American flag shorts.
Trump heads back to New Hampshire Thursday for four public events -- his first day on the campaign trail with four stops.
Okay, let us go and dig up the old threads and see which FReepers thought John Roberts was a choice
2000?
He was in favor of universal healthcare the day before the Iowa primaries
“Cruz voted TWICE against funding Veterans healths issues. Ted Cruz voted against providing $27 million for the Veterans Health Administration.....
http://correctrecord.org/the-gop-on-veterans-issues/"
Here is a question for you AuntB...what else was attached to this Veterans funding bill that Ted Cruz may have not endorsed? It’s usually not that simple when you get to D.C. when nobody passes straight through bills. Everybody needs to attach a laundry list of other items so that all parties would be willing to vote. Was this a straight through bill for JUST funding Veterans or was there a lot of other crap that was attached. You see, this is why Washington is corrupt. They hope people like you blame people like Cruz for not supporting 1/16 of something that may be a positive for veterans, but the other 15/16 is pure crap!
No, I am not a liar, and if your reading comprehension was better you would have seen that I didn't SAY he was picking his sister - I said he thought his sister would be a good Supreme Court justice.
"Donald Trump told Mark Halperin yesterday that his sister, a federal judge, would be a "phenomenal" Supreme Court justice. He also said that "we will have to rule that out now, at least.""
Well, after all he does say he has to speak outrageous things for the media's attention....he doesn't want to "pay for media"....
Yes, because Cruz is such a likeable and influential guy that he was singlehandedly able to...
Wait, I thought no one liked him.
Well so did Fr push for Roberts.
So what. He probably loves his sister and giving he a positive word. Good God. She is considerable older then he is and may not be around long so maybe a nice worthless praise was a nice thing. I see nothing in this at all. Sometimes politics are ridiculous.
Historically, Republican Presidents have batted no better than 50/50 picking conservative Supreme Court nominees.
Reagan gave us Antonin Scalia (a conservative), Sandra Day O’Connor (a moderate) and Anthony Kennedy (a moderate on most issues but a far left-wing liberal in any case involving homosexuals).
Bush Sr. gave us David Souter (a liberal) and Clarence Thomas (a conservative).
Bush Jr. gave us Samuel Alito (a conservative) and John Roberts (sometimes conservative, sometimes moderate, sometimes liberal, pretty much depending on which way the wind is blowing).
Democrat Presidents on the other hand always pick reliably far left-wing Justices.
IMHO, the problem has been that ever since Bork, Republican Presidents have tried to pick “stealth” candidates with no conservative record that Democrats can attack. To hell with that. The next President needs to pick reliably conservative candidates with long paper trails of consistently conservative rulings and then fight like hell to get them confirmed. If the Democrats and RINOs join together to block confirmation of a nominee, then the next nominee should be even more conservative.
Trump 2000: "I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on health. It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare. Our objective [should be] to make reforms for the moment and, longer term, to find an equivalent of the single-payer plan that is affordable, well-administered, and provides freedom of choice. Possible? The good news is, yes. There is already a system in place-the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program-that can act as a guide for all healthcare reform. It operates through a centralized agency that offers considerable range of choice. While this is a government program, it is also very much market-based. It allows 620 private insurance companies to compete for this market. Once a year participants can choose from plans which vary in benefits and costs."
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.206-208 & 218 Jul 2, 2000
[Oh sure, The Donald...govt programs are ones to be emulated & forced & foisted upon every single American!]
Before sounding opposed to such healthcare 11-15 yrs later on....at least the ObamaCare version of it:
* Kill ObamaCare before it becomes a trillion-dollar weight (Dec 2011)
* ObamaCare is a catastrophe that must be repealed & replaced (June 2015)
LOL! Hilarious imagery. What about this: a Trump Sharknado? :)
Peace,
SR
All points well made, and I totally agree. Go for the jugular or go home.
Peace,
SR
Not only was Cruz not even yet a senator, it was Donald Trump funding the Democratic Party in 2008 which gave Harry Reid a filibuster-proof senate, and thus the enactment of Obamacare in 2009-10.
trump is a ridiculous liar and charlatan.
That’s what I’m saying. It was a rhetorical question.
I did!
Trump done gone crazy!
We wouldn’t give a damn about Trump’s comment about his sister being a good nominee for the Supreme Court except for the fact that she is a hardened, pro-abortion leftist.
Learn the facts. And Trump’s own comments regarding abortion are mixed, at best. He most certainly cannot be trusted w judicial appointments.
I don’t care about that either. So what? It is his sister. Do you agree with everything your sister believes completely? Lord, it was an off the cuff comment. I swear you cruzers are the ones having a nervous breakdown......Trump has nothing on that.
When asked about what kind of Supreme Court justice he would appoint, one of the people he mentions would be “phenomenal” is his pro-abort sister. And according to you, we should ignore that in trying to discern what type of person he would appoint to the court. I guess in your mind, we should just have faith he will “do the right thing”.
His sister is a Judge in New Jersey and has opined from the bench regularly re pro abortion views.
My sister is not a judge. If she were and held those views, I would not recommend her for the Supreme Court. I am not the person running for president, Mr Trump is, and his comment demonstrates his lack of any conservative conviction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.