Tag Archives: Ted Cruz

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Ted Cruz shows how to answer questions on social issues from leftist reporter

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This is from Real Clear Politics.

Transcript:

SEN. TED CRUZ: Let me ask a question: Is there something about the left, and I am going to put the media in this category, that is obsessed with sex? Why is it the only question you want to ask concerns homosexuals? Okay, you can ask those questions over and over and over again. I recognize that you’re reading questions from MSNBC…

[…]You’re wincing. You don’t want to talk about foreign policy. I recognize you want to ask another question about gay rights. Well, you know. ISIS is executing homosexuals. You want to talk about gay rights? This week was a very bad week for gay rights because the expansion of ISIS, the expansion of radical, theocratic, Islamic zealots that crucify Christians, that behead children and that murder homosexuals. That ought to be concerning you far more than asking six questions all on the same topic.

REPORTER: Do you have a personal animosity against gay Americans?

CRUZ: Do you have a personal animosity against Christians sir? Your line of questioning is highly curious. You seem fixated on a particular subject. Look, I’m a Christian. Scripture commands us to love everybody and what I have been talking about, with respect to same-sex marriage, is the Constitution which is what we should all be focused on. The Constitution gives marriage to elected state legislators. It doesn’t give the power of marriage to a president, or to unelected judges to tear down the decisions enacted by democratically elected state legislatures.

His delivery is smooth, fluid, natural. He speaks like this because he has thought about it a lot, and he knows how to present his views to hostile audiences in the best possible light. His positions are not check boxes that he ticks in order to appeal to Christian voters. He actually believes the things we believe, and he will debate with those who disagree.

My concern with Cruz is that he hasn’t got the experience of building consensus to move legislation and enact policies, the way others like Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker have done.

Here’s Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, for example, backing up his words with actions.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

Excerpt:

Defying state legislators who rejected a measure that sought to protect “the right of conscience as it relates to marriage,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal acted on his own Tuesday.

“I’m going to do anything I can to protect religious liberty,” the Republican governor told The Daily Signal in a phone interview on Wednesday.

His executive order, issued after state legislators voted down the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act, prohibits “all departments, commissions, boards, agencies, and political subdivision of the state” from discriminating against people or businesses with deeply held religious beliefs about marriage.

“My executive order accomplishes the intent of the [Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act]. It prevents the state from discriminating against people or their business with deeply held religious beliefs,” Jindal said.

The measure builds on a Religious Freedom Restoration Act that was enacted during Jindal’s first term as governor. The state of Louisiana, under a Constitutional amendment, also defines marriage strictly as the union between a man and a woman.

[…]“Even if you don’t agree with me on the definition of marriage … you still should want those folks to have their rights—our rights to live the way we want,” he said.

Jindal, who is exploring a 2016 presidential bid, doesn’t shy away from his support for traditional marriage.

“I believe in the traditional definition of marriage,” he said. “Unlike President Obama and Hillary Clinton, my opinions are not evolving on this issue. But at the end of the day, this is even bigger than marriage.”

[…]“Don’t waste your breath trying to bully me in Louisiana,” he said. “It is absolutely constitutional to have religious liberty and economic freedoms.”

I have actually been saying “Don’t Waste Your Breath” to a lot of people lately, it’s become my motto whenever I am defiant.

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Why didn’t Scott Walker finish his fourth year of college at Marquette University?

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

The Weekly Standard explains the terrible scandal – he got a job offer in his fourth year of college, and he took it.

Excerpt:

As Scott Walker surges in the 2016 GOP primary polls, Democrats and the mainstream media have taken a newfound interest in the well-known fact that the Wisconsin governor never received a college degree.

[…]Walker’s story about his departure from college has always been straightforward: He attended Marquette University in Milwaukee from 1986 to 1990, but in the spring of his fourth year he left Marquette “in good standing” in order to take a full-time job at the American Red Cross. He intended to finish, but couldn’t find the time.

[…]When he arrived at college, Walker threw himself into student government and campus politics, but was uninterested in class. The Post reports:

Even in politics class, Walker could appear disengaged.

“He seemed utterly bored,” said Michael Fleet, who taught him in a class on the politics of the Third World. Fleet said he’d hoped to get Walker into debates with the liberals in the room. But it didn’t work. Walker would only give occasional short speeches that made conservative arguments.

So Walker abandoned the pursuit of a political science degree not only to take a full-time job at the American Red Cross but also to launch his political career. In the fall of 1990, Walker ran his first campaign for the Wisconsin legislature. He knocked on 13,000 doors only to lose badly, but his longshot campaign set him up for a winning campaign in another legislative district in 1993. In 2002, he was elected (and re-elected twice) as county executive in overwhelmingly Democratic Milwaukee county and went on to win three gubernatorial elections between 2010 and 2014.

Look, I studied computer science, and I thought that was interesting, but if I were studying political science, I would quit it too – if someone offered me a job. Non-STEM programs are a waste of time and money, compared to a real job. The job experience is worth more. And if he left to work, then he could start running for office as soon as he stopped studying full-time. I think people on the left forget how much college costs compared to a job. If you are paying $15K a year for college, then making $45K instead is quite a swing in a positive direction.

I think people in the media are starting to go after Scott Walker, now, so everything gets put under a microscope.

The Weekly Standard also wrote about a New York Times hit piece on Walker that actually lied about his record.

Take a look:

New York Times columnist Gail Collins writes about Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s recent speech in Iowa:

Mainly, though, The Speech was about waging war on public employee unions, particularly the ones for teachers. “In 2010, there was a young woman named Megan Sampson who was honored as the outstanding teacher of the year in my state. And not long after she got that distinction, she was laid off by her school district,” said Walker, lacing into teacher contracts that require layoffs be done by seniority.

All of that came as a distinct surprise to Claudia Felske, a member of the faculty at East Troy High School who actually was named a Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in 2010. In a phone interview, Felske said she still remembers when she got the news at a “surprise pep assembly at my school.” As well as the fact that those layoffs happened because Walker cut state aid to education [emphasis added].

Only one problem with that:

[T]he big error in Collins’s piece is her claim that “those layoffs happened because Walker cut state aid to education.” As you can see in the excerpt above, Collins is talking about teacher layoffs that occurred in 2010. Walker did not become governor until 2011. 

The truth is that Walker’s reforms actually saved teachers’ jobs. Right before the 2012 Wisconsin recall election, Walker’s Democratic opponent Tom Barrett couldn’t name a single school that had been hurt by Walker’s policies. When Walker’s 2014 Democratic opponent Mary Burke was asked to name any schools hurt by Walker’s collective bargaining reform, she relayed an anecdote she’d heard secondhand about one school. Burke’s story didn’t check out, and the superintendent of that school wrote a letter telling Burke she didn’t know what she was talking about.

The New York Times updated their article after two days, with a correction that didn’t go far enough, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, the knock on Walker is that he is not able to raise as much money as the RINO candidates.

The Wall Street Journal says boo to that:

Several GOP fundraisers from the financial-services industry and other Manhattan business sectors are hosting donor events for Mr. Walker, a likely presidential candidate, when he visits New York next week. The events show that while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have strong support in New York money circles, neither has a lock on the city’s big-dollar donors.” The report continues, “Several fundraisers who backed GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 are now helping Mr. Walker, who is best known for challenging Wisconsin public-sector unions and winning three statewide elections in a presidential swing state.”

How is Walker doing in the polls? The International Business Times reports on a new Fox News poll:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is at the head of the class among possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates, according to a new Fox News poll. In a survey that asked respondents to assign letter grades to 10 Republicans who may mount a campaign, Walker received an average grade of “B.” Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., both received “B-” averages.

[…]Besides leading the Republican field in average grade, Walker also received the highest share of “A” grades among Republican voters at 18 percent. He was followed by Carson at 15 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 12 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich got the lowest percentage of “A” grades among the 10 possible GOP candidates at 5 percent, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got the highest percentage of “F” grades at 13 percent.

[…]The Fox News poll of 1,044 registered voters was conducted between Feb. 8 and Feb. 10. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

If you want to hear a great introductory podcast on Scott Walker, I recommend listening to this 10-minute podcast on Scott Walker from the Weekly Standard. Get to know your Republican candidates now, don’t wait for the mainstream media to pick another Romney for you.

If you want to learn more about Scott Walker, I recommend Walker’s new book. I actually got the audio version, and it’s read by Governor Walker himself.

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Not just #1 in Iowa: Scott Walker leads in latest New Hampshire GOP primary poll

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

Here’s the story from the Washington Times.

They write:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads a host of potential 2016 GOPpresidential contenders in a new poll in the early presidential state of New Hampshire out Wednesday.

Mr. Walker leads the NH1 automated poll, conducted Feb. 2-3, with 21.2 percent of the vote, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 14.4 percent, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 8.3 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 8.2 percent.

Mr. Walker managed to ride a well-received performance at last month’s “Iowa Freedom Summit” into a place atop a recent Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll in the Hawkeye State among like caucus-goers there. He is scheduled to attend a GOP event in New Hampshire next month.

A NH1 “pulse poll” taken two weeks ago, prior to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s announcement that he would not run for president in 2016, had Mr. Romney well ahead at 29 percent, with Mr. Bush at 11 percent and Mr. Walker at 8 percent.

In the poll out Wednesday, which was conducted by REACH Communications, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was next at 7 percent, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6.8 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 5.4 percent.

Next was Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 3.3 percent, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 2.7 percent, former New York Gov. George Pataki at 2.2 percent, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina at 1.7 percent.

Among the names left out of the survey were former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who are also weighing presidential bids.

About 19 percent of the 1,012 voters were undecided or wanted someone else.

The poll included registered Republicans and undeclared voters that lean Republican and are likely to vote in the 2016 GOP primary, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.08 points.

Just a quick flashback to the Iowa poll I blogged about before:

Presidential stage newcomer Scott Walker, the conservative reform pit bull who inspired death threats from the left, has become the one to watch in the race for the Republican nomination a year out from the Iowa caucuses.

At 15 percentage points, he leads a big, tightly packed field of potential contenders in a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucusgoers. The caucuses are scheduled for Feb. 1, 2016.

The Wisconsin governor is also the No. 2 most popular choice for likely caucusgoers who want an establishment candidate, and he’s the No. 2 for those who want an anti-establishment candidate, the poll shows.

[…]The day after polling wrapped up, Romney announced he’s out of the competition. When the numbers in this poll are shuffled — by giving Romney’s votes to the contenders his supporters named as their second-choice pick — the five others in the top tier gain support.

[…]Walker’s support has jumped 11 points since the last Iowa Poll. In October, only 4 percent of likely caucusgoers named Walker as their first choice for president.

[…]At the same time, the favorability rating for Walker has climbed 11 percentage points; Carson, 9; Huckabee, 7; Cruz, 6; Santorum, 5; and Paul, 5, the new poll shows.

And this is also interesting – the Drudge Report also started a GOP primary poll. With 450,000 votes counted, Walker leads with 44%, and Cruz is second with 13%.

I like winning. I don’t see how you can take a regular Joe like Scott Walker and lose to a rich, entitled Democrat elite like Hillary. Trust me on this, we need to nominate a regular person who has a record of smashing deficits without raising taxes. That’s the winning message. People will vote for the economy and jobs first. And they will also happen to get a President who passed socially conservative laws as governor of Wisconsin. We run on real fiscal achievements, and we get the social conservatism for free.

If you want to learn more about Scott Walker, I recommend Walker’s new book. I actually got the audio version, and it’s read by Governor Walker himself.

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