In comments that had him called a “despicable opportunist” by conservative Ann Coulter, Sen. Ted Cruz said Republican presidential rival Donald Trump bears some of the blame for the organized protests that disrupted a planned Trump rally Friday and led to the cancellation of the Chicago event.
” … in any campaign responsibility starts at the top,” said Cruz, after saying violence has no place in political contests. “Any candidate…is responsible for the culture of the campaign. And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse.”
“I think a campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment,” Cruz added. “When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face. The predicable consequence of that is that it escalates. And today is unlikely to be the last such instance. That is not how our politics should occur.”
Many of those who read Cruz’s comments on TheBlaze disagreed.
“Really Ted? Then why didn’t you say this when the rumors were flying that your campaign said Carson was dropping out of the race and to vote for Ted? Why didn’t you say this when the fraudulent mailer/report cards were mailed out in two separate states? Why didn’t you say this when the video that was edited incorrectly to make Rubio look like a heretic and instead you fired your campaign manager?” wrote Narroway. (Read more from “After Trump Cancels Chicago Rally, Ted Cruz Immediately Blames Chaos on SHOCKING Factor” HERE)
A television commercial for Ted Cruz featuring James Dobson says if ted Cruz becomes president, his wife will be the very first pro-life First Lady. Cruz is running against pro-life Senator Marco Rubio, whose wife is also pro-life.
“His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life first lady,” Dobson says in the TV ad, in which he also endorses Ted Cruz for president.
(Read more from “Cruz Ad Says Senator’s Wife Will Be the ‘Very First Pro-Life First Lady'” HERE)
00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2016-03-14 00:34:502016-04-11 10:51:36Cruz Ad Says Senator’s Wife Will Be the ‘Very First Pro-Life First Lady’
President Barack Obama poked fun at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s Canadian birth during a state dinner for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday evening . . .
“We see this in our current presidential campaign,” Obama said. “After all, where else could a boy born in Calgary grow up to run for president of the United States?”
Cruz’s Canadian birth has been a target of his GOP rival Donald Trump, who questioned Cruz’s eligibility to serve as president. (Read more from “Kenyan Obama Pokes Fun at Canadian Cruz” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-12 00:51:572016-04-11 10:51:37Watch: Kenyan Obama Pokes Fun at Canadian Cruz
By Fox News. Marco Rubio’s campaign accused Ted Cruz’s camp of “dirty tricks” Tuesday, after Cruz supporters in Hawaii blasted out an email suggesting the Florida senator was about to drop out of the race.
The email, sent by “Ted Cruz Hawaii,” cites a disputed CNN report claiming some Rubio advisers have told him to drop out of the 2016 race before Florida’s primary next week, fearing he could be humiliated by a defeat in his home state.
“Privately, the campaign is having a debate about whether he should remain in the mix — even for his home state of Florida’s primary,” the email said, going on to quote the report.
The email then quoted supposed Hawaii caucus-goers — who were not named — saying they don’t want to “waste” their votes on a “likely dropout.”
Rubio’s campaign already has adamantly denied the CNN report — and when it turned up in the Hawaii email, immediately blasted Cruz for “dirty tricks.” (Read more from “Is Ted Using ‘Dirty Tricks’ Again? Rubio Campaign Makes Huge Accusation Against Cruz” HERE)
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Rubio Aide Accuses Cruz Camp of ‘Disgusting Tactics’
By Donovan Slack. A senior aide to Marco Rubio is accusing Ted Cruz’s campaign of using “disgusting tactics” to trick voters into thinking that the Rubio campaign is flailing.
Rubio’s camp has emphatically denied a CNN report Monday that some of his advisers have discussed whether he should drop out before the all-important primary next Tuesday in his home state of Florida.
A spokeswoman for Cruz said Tuesday that the missive was not authorized by his campaign. (Read more from “Rubio Aide Accuses Cruz Camp of ‘Disgusting Tactics'” HERE)
Neil Bush, a brother of George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, was listed (along with his wife) as one of 13 new additions to Cruz’s national finance team. The campaign said the new additions are all former supporters of other candidates, including Bush, Rand Paul, Rick Perry and Marco Rubio.
This follows the release last week of a list of several other previous Jeb Bush backers now supporting Cruz, whose hardline conservative approach is generally at odds with the one Jeb Bush took.
Last summer, former President George W. Bush told supporters at a private fundraiser for his brother’s campaign that Cruz was the GOP contender who most got under his skin. “I just don’t like the guy,” George W. Bush said at a Denver fundraiser. (Read more from “Bush Family Member Endorses Cruz” HERE)
(Editor’s note: listen to the interview at the bottom of this article) Maine Gov. Paul LePage questioned the eligibility of Sen. Ted Cruz to be president, citing it as a key reason he decided to throw his support behind Donald Trump.
LePage told radio host Howie Carr that his two daughters were born in Canada, and they had to be naturalized as U.S. citizens even though he was born in America. . .
Cruz was also born in Canada, but he maintains that he fits the constitutional requirement that a president be a “natural born citizen” because his mother was born in America.
LePage said he didn’t think Cruz could be president because he believed his daughters were also ineligible.
“They can’t. I know they can’t. I’ve already looked into it,” he said.
(Here’s the interview with Governor Paul LePage:)
(Read more from “‘Most Conservative Governor in America’ Claims Cruz Is Ineligible, Not Natural Born” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-09 00:27:462016-04-11 10:51:48‘Most Conservative Governor in America’ Claims Cruz Is Ineligible, Not Natural Born [+video]
House Speaker Paul Ryan has had conversations with Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the speaker’s office said Monday.
“Speaker Ryan has now had phone calls with Donald Trump and Senator Cruz to explain House Republicans’ plan to present a bold conservative policy agenda this year,” press secretary AshLee Strong said in a statement provided to TheBlaze.
She added, “He will have similar calls with Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich soon.” (Read more from “Paul Ryan Speaks With Trump and Cruz — Here’s What the Speaker Discussed With Them” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-07 23:32:172016-04-11 10:51:49Paul Ryan Speaks With Trump and Cruz — Here’s What the Speaker Discussed With Them
A case challenging the eligibility of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to run for president will be heard in Broward County court at 11 a.m. Friday.
The crux of the case: the meaning of the phrase “natural born citizen” and how it applies to the two Republican senators. Rubio was born in Miami in 1971 to Cuban immigrants who became citizens a few years later. Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban-born father and American mother, who moved to Texas when Cruz was four.
“These two candidates are naturalized U.S. citizens, or at the very least, simply fail to comply with the common law Supreme Court established definition of natural born citizen,” wrote Michael Voeltz in his court complaint.
Voeltz, a Broward Republican and inventory manager at a car dealership who is representing himself, wants the candidates’ names withdrawn from the Florida March 15 primary ballot.
The U.S. Constitution states that a presidential candidate must be a “natural born citizen.” Voeltz argues that the definition of “natural born citizens” refers to those born in the U.S. whose parents are U.S. citizens. (Read more from “Are Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz Natural Born Citizens? Judge to Hear Case” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-07 23:30:342016-04-11 10:51:49Are Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz Natural Born Citizens? Judge to Hear Case
For most non-political junkies last night was just another quiet Saturday night. However, in the world of politics, which will determine the trajectory of our country for the next four years, last night might have been the turning point. If Cruz winds up upsetting Trumpmania in this election, last tonight’s largely overlooked contests will have been the Battle of Midway of this nomination war.
Last night’s results consummate the narrative we’ve been observing since Super Tuesday: Cruz is surging and can defeat Donald Trump for the nomination, but if Marco Rubio and John Kasich do not exit the race, Trump will win.
Cruz won big in Kansas and Maine. Cruz won twice as many votes in Kansas as Trump and more than the entire GOP field combined in 2012. And he closed a massive pre-election deficit in Louisiana and Kentucky to come in just a few points behind Trump and nearly tie him for delegates. Overall, Cruz will net more delegates over Trump from last night. My best estimate (subject to change) is Cruz 71, Trump 60, Rubio 14, Kasich 10. Cruz has now garnered roughly 300 delegates, about 80 less than Trump.
Here are the 8 key outcomes:
Cruz is surging: Cruz has demonstrated that he can beat Trump even with a crowded field. His over-performance in every state by as much as 20 point as compared to pre-election polling shows that his Super Tuesday victories and superb debate performance have won over both Rubio and Trump supporters.
Rubio/Kasich playing spoiler: It’s self-evident that had Kasich or Rubio been out of the race, Cruz would have easily won Kentucky. Trump has siphoned off much of Cruz’s conservative base in rural counties and Cruz needs the full support of urban and suburban Republicans to overcome Trump. As long as a more moderate candidate is in the race, many of these voters will not go with Cruz. But once they are left with a choice between the two, they would have to get behind Cruz. This was borne out in Lexington and Louisville where Rubio siphoned off enough votes in third place to prevent Cruz from winning enough votes needed to counteract Trump’s advantage in rural, eastern Kentucky. In northern Kentucky, which would have otherwise been a stronghold for Cruz, Kasich played spoiler. Due to the Cincinnati media market, the favorite son of Ohio was able to cut into Cruz’s margins. Rubio/Kasich also prevented Cruz from reaching the 50% threshold in Maine to win all the delegates, costing him roughly 11 delegates and giving Trump 9 more.
Rubio is out of luck: Rubio failed to win 20% in a single state last night. He won just 16.7% in Kansas despite winning the endorsements of all the major Republican officials in the state. Yet, he still siphoned off some delegates from Cruz. Even if Rubio pulls off a miracle and narrowly wins his home state, he has nowhere to grow and is, mathematically speaking, hopelessly behind in the delegate hunt. Narrowly winning your home state means you will likely loose almost everywhere else. There is no rationale for his candidacy.
Kasich is the new Rubio: Across the map, Kasich is beginning to supplant Rubio as the candidate of choice for more moderate Republican voters. Also, he is likely to win his home state while Rubio will probably lose his home state of Florida. Kasich is also polling well in Michigan. But even if Kasich wins Michigan, he won’t net many delegates out of this crowded field in a purely proportional allocation. He won’t have enough delegates to mount a serious challenge and cannot appeal to conservative voters. By staying in the race for the long run, he could prevent Cruz from winning in important neighboring states like Pennsylvania and Indiana on the back end of the primary calendar. He is playing the role of spoiler.
Closed caucuses/Primaries matter: All four contests last night were closed to non-Republican members. It is quite evident that Donald Trump does much better with cross-over voters but as the primaries continue, most of the remaining contests are closed. This should help Cruz going forward.
Early voting is a killer: Donald Trump has been garnering all the media attention and has led the entire race. Thus, most of the early voting benefits him. He crushed Cruz 2-1 in early voting in Louisiana but Cruz won election day voting. This is yet another demonstration of why early voting is fundamentally unfair. In this case, many voters cast ballots before the Cruz surge and debate performance. It also shows that headed forward, Cruz is in good shape to continue winning states that are commencing voting after the debate. It will be interesting to see if Cruz could win election day voting in the neighboring state, Mississippi, on Tuesday, where there is no early voting. There is no early voting in the other three contests that day either: Hawaii, Idaho, and Michigan.
RNC Rule 40: In order for a candidate to be placed into nomination at the GOP convention, a candidate must win the majority of delegates in at least eight states. After last night’s majority wins in Kansas and Maine, Cruz now has three states under his belt. Trump already won four states with a majority of the delegates prior to last night’s contests.
Cruz can beat Trump: The biggest takeaway from Saturday is that were the other candidates to drop out, Cruz can easily win in most of the remaining states. Sure, Kasich can win his home state of Ohio, but he can never catch Donald Trump in the delegate count. Were he to drop out, Cruz would have an excellent shot at winning those winner-take-all delegates in Ohio. This week we will find out if those declaring #TrumpNever are good to their word or if they really hate Cruz just as much as Trump.
(For more from the author of “8 Key Observations From Cruz’s Super Saturday Win” please click HERE)
After what can only be described as a very successful Super Tuesday evening for presidential candidate Donald Trump, he took to the stage at his Mara-a-Lago resort to give a victory speech that was not only celebratory, but also conciliatory towards his GOP rivals.
In particular, Trump reached out to Texas Senator Ted Cruz and congratulated him for his hard work in Texas. “I do congratulate Ted Cruz, because I know how hard Ted worked in Texas,” he said.
And while Trump has identified himself as a “unifier” in the past, tonight it was a central theme to his message. “I am a unifer,” he said. “I would love to see the Republican Party and everybody get together and unify.”
It seems likely that as Trump gets closer to being the Republican nominee, he will need to mend old wounds and unify the party behind him in the difficult fight against Hillary Clinton.
Trump expressed optimism that going forward, a Trump candidacy will not only win the Hispanic and African American vote, but also take votes away from the Democratic Party. “I think we’re going to be more inclusive… more unified, and I think we’re going to be a much bigger party,” said Trump. (Read more from “Watch: Trump Just Gave Unifying Speech Following Major Wins – Starts It off Saying THIS to Cruz” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-02 00:51:392016-04-11 10:52:03Watch: Trump Just Gave Unifying Speech Following Major Wins – Starts It off Saying THIS to Cruz
