Free Republic

The hard-line conservative arm of the Heritage Foundation has tough criticism for much of the 2016 field, but high praise for the Texas senator. Many of the lines in the scorecard appear destined for future attack ads.Jeb Bush, for instance, is accused of having "kowtowed to the state's environmental lobby" in Florida. Chris Christie "has shown favoritism toward well-connected real estate developers." Rand Paul's "views at times veer outside the conservative mainstream." And Donald Trump backs "massive tariffs that would damage the American economy."Cruz, by contrast, manages to emerge with barely a blemish, only softly worded critiques of his adopting...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas received positive marks in a report from the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action for America on Monday, receiving praise on items ranging from limited government to national security.In the group’s inaugural Presidential Platform Review, Mr. Cruz receives praise across the board in the areas of growth, opportunity, civil society, limited government, favoritism and national security.The influential group also wrote in the report that Mr. Cruz has been willing to pay a political price for taking on government favoritism, pointing to his opposition to the Export-Import bank in the recent fight over the bank.The group had...