People who never took logic. People who never participated in a real debate, or watched one. People who never watched Bill Buckley destroy someone on Firing Line.
I know someone who holds real debates in NYC and Cruz wouldn’t last a minute before hearing he’s done (unless he reverted to his college-years training because he wasn’t on TV).
I took logic in college, was on the debate team in high school and college, also watched Bill Buckley on Firing Line and from the time of the first debate, knew that I could have outdebated him, when he was in college and I was in high school! He stinks at it!
He’s definitely a polished speaker-probably a result of his extensive forensics/debate training-although there is a lot of treacle. The problem I have with Cruz’s style is that it’s designed to win debates-very tactical in nature-not necessarily persuade a skeptical audience.