Ted Cruz Debates A Member of Code Pink Over Iran Nuke Deal

Why ignore the protestors when you can debate them?

Posted by Jay Caruso Friday, July 24, 2015 at 01:00pm 21 Comments

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Code Pink is a radical left wing organization, known for interrupting speeches, addresses and crashing gatherings by being loud, waving around signs and sometimes dressing up as female body parts.

This week, Ted Cruz was speaking at a Stop Iran rally in Washington DC. After being introduced, the Senator was almost immediately interrupted by Code Pink protesters.

Rather than having them removed from the area, Senator Cruz actually invited the Code Pink spokesperson over and engaged in a back and forth debate with here. The video is below and goes for about 24 minutes.

Both sides were at times getting rowdy but Senator Cruz made sure the spokesperson had her chance to speak as well as another member of Code Pink that came over as well.

It’s pretty fascinating to watch because no matter what you think of Code Pink, here was a United States Senator, being approachable and willing to discuss this issue out in the open with an American citizen, exercising her right to free speech and free assembly.

That was a classic example of what makes this country so great.

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21 Comments

2016 Republican Primary, Code Pink, Ted Cruz

Tags:

2016 Republican Primary, Code Pink, Ted Cruz

Comments

Dr P | July 24, 2015 at 1:08 pm

I feel sorry for anybody who tries to debate with Cruz. Yet the real key is that he was calm and took them on in the first place.

That is a quick way to make your points, IF YOU CAN. Cruz can and does. That message should be magnified and repeated.

Ragspierre | July 24, 2015 at 1:19 pm

“Why ignore the protesters when you can CRUSH them?”

Benjamin must feel like a late-term tissue donor.

Not A Member of Any Organized Political in reply to Ragspierre. | July 24, 2015 at 2:19 pm

EVIL is always begging for a crushing – so to speak…..

Henry Hawkins | July 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

Debating Code Pink morons and winning is no achievement (nothing against Cruz, but 90% of LI commenters could beat Pinkos in debate).

Today’s Cruz story is his calling Mitch McDonnell a liar from the Senate floor on the Export/Import Bank bill. That’s the debate pairing I’d love to see.

clintack in reply to Henry Hawkins. | July 24, 2015 at 3:43 pm

“Debating Code Pink morons and winning is no achievement”

And yet most of our candidates couldn’t do this.

It’s harder than you think.

You have to keep your cool while morons are yelling at you. You have to have all the facts at your fingertips — on the issues they choose to raise.

From the flip side — how many other candidates do you think we have who can do this? Walker and Cruz both can. I think Jindal can. Maybe Fiorina. In his own way, Trump.

As someone pointed out the other day — this is the best way to deal with a Hillary who won’t answer questions. Make Code Pink and other leftie wackos the face of the left, by talking to them.

moonstone716 | July 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

Transcript, please. If I wanted to spend my time watching videos, I could find more than enough of them. This video will take 24 minutes to watch and a transcript would take 3 minutes to read.

CloseTheFed in reply to moonstone716. | July 24, 2015 at 5:08 pm

As I understand it, we have volunteer reporters here. How long would it take to listen, type and correct a transcript?

You’re welcome to volunteer… 🙂

moonstone716 in reply to CloseTheFed. | July 24, 2015 at 7:22 pm

Or, instead of reinventing the wheel, I could just link to one, as Sammy Finkelstein did.

Barry in reply to moonstone716. | July 24, 2015 at 9:43 pm

Where was the link, Russia?

faboutlaws | July 24, 2015 at 2:07 pm

Code Pinko. Mostly loud lesbian leftist lower lips lickers.

gulfbreeze | July 24, 2015 at 2:10 pm

Sounds great moonstone716, that’s a great idea, and thanks for volunteering your time to provide a transcript for the community’s benefit. It’s that kind of generous spirit that makes the LI community so great! I’m anxious to see your transcript posted soon.

Oh, I just read your post again, and you actually want someone else to volunteer their precious time so you won’t be inconvenienced. Hmmm, that’s a whole different thing. My mistake.

Ok, here’s my transcript to help anyone else:

Cruz: Iran deal bad.
Code Pink: Iran deal good.
Cruz: You’re wrong, and here’s all the reasons why, in explicit detail, blahblahblah.
Code Pink: Hem, haw..we got nuthin.
Cruz: High fives all around!

moonstone716 in reply to gulfbreeze. | July 24, 2015 at 7:20 pm

My apologies, O Hateful One, for not remembering I was at LI where you tell me they have a limited staff.

As Sammy demonstrated, I could and should just concentrate on other sites such as the Free Beacon where I will find more of what I prefer.

Barry in reply to moonstone716. | July 24, 2015 at 9:44 pm

“I could and should just concentrate on other sites such as the Free Beacon where I will find more of what I prefer.”

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Phillep Harding in reply to moonstone716. | July 26, 2015 at 2:50 pm

Most of the readers here are involved with the law in some way, and they have been forced to prefer whatever is closest to original sources.

(I am not involved with law or it’s enforcement, I just enjoy reading well thought out arguments.)

Sammy Finkelman | July 24, 2015 at 2:58 pm

Well, here’s part of it:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/07/24/civility_cruz_debates_code_pink

CRUZ: We can have a discussion, if we actually have a discussion without being shouted at. If this deal goes through, three things will happen. Number one, over a hundred billion dollars will flow to Iran, that they will use to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and radical Islamic terrorists. Those billions of dollars will be used to fund jihadists that will murder Americans, that will murder Israelis, that will murder Europeans. Does that make any sense?

BENJAMIN: No, it doesn’t make any sense because the only way that we’re going to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon — if indeed they’re trying to get one — is to have this deal. That’s not just what President Obama and John Kerry are saying. That’s what British are saying, the French are saying, the Chinese are saying, the Russians are saying, the Australians are saying, New Zealand is saying, Jordan is saying. What makes you think as Ted Cruz you know better than all these countries together? You don’t.

CRUZ: Thank you, ma’am. And I respect your right to speak. You did not respond to the irrefutable point that this deal will send over a hundred billion dollars to Iran and those billions of dollars will be used to murder Americans by jihadis. The folks in Code Pink like to hold up signs saying “Peace with Iran.” Do you know who doesn’t reciprocate those views? Iran. In the midst of this negotiation, the Ayatollah Khamenei led thousands of Iranians in chanting “Death to America!” While they burned American flags and Israeli flags, Iran has stated its objective to murder as many Americans as possible. They are not seeking peace.

At this point, I am
not sure if anything is omitted.

CRUZ: Sir, I recognize that you find the truth very offensive, but under the First Amendment, the date means you have to listen to things you disagree with, and I have listened to what you have said. I would ask you to show the same courtesy, particularly since you have come to our event and crashed it. We have shown you respect and civility

Sammy Finkelman | July 24, 2015 at 3:04 pm

This has some more:

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/cruz-shuts-down-codepink-outside-white-house/

However, as Cruz approached the podium, a delegation of CODEPINK activists who had crashed the event attempted to shut him down by screaming over a loud speaker.

The rally, which was organized by the Concerned Women for America (CWA), also was scheduled to include Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), as well as former Reagan administration official Gary Bauer.

“We want a peace president. We want a peace candidate. We want diplomacy not war,” yelled one of the CODEPINK protestors as Cruz attempted to address the crowd.

Other CODEPINK activists tussled with members of the CWA delegation and others who had shown up to express their opposition to the nuke deal. At multiple points, shouting matches broke out between the sides, with some thrusting painted signs into one another’s faces and yelling about various issues.

“It is very interesting to see those who profess to believe in free speech are the ones afraid of speech,” Cruz shouted back, addressing the CODEPINK protestors head on.

One CODEPINK member responded to Cruz by saying that he does not like “war mongers” and asking Cruz, “Why are you so aggressively violent?”

Cruz then invited the interrupter to debate him face-to-face in front of the crowd without the aid of a bullhorn and several other allies.

“Sir, come forward. Sir you want to yell and scream? Come forward,” Cruz insisted.

Instead, CODEPINK leader and prominent anti-Israel advocate Medea Benjamin stepped up to debate Cruz.

Addressing Benjamin, Cruz explained how the Iranian nuclear deal would empower Tehran without putting proper limits on its nuclear program and military activities.

“We can have a discussion if we actually have a discussion without being shut down,” Cruz said. “If this deal goes through three things will happen. First, over a hundred billion dollars will flow to Iran that they will use to fund Hezbollah, the Houthis [in Yemen], and radical Islamic terrorists. “

“Those billions of dollars will be used to fund jihadis that will murder Americans, that will murder Israelis, that will murder Europeans. Does that make any sense?” Cruz asked.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense,” Benjamin responded, insisting that only the nuclear agreement reached between world powers will stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

“What you have been pushing for is going to lead us to war,” she said. “Diplomacy, just like we saw the flag up in the Cuban embassy, that’s diplomacy at work.”

As Cruz attempted to rebut Benjamin’s points, she tried to interrupt and shout over him.

“Ma’am I did not interrupt you, so I would ask you to show me the same courtesy,” Cruz said, eliciting an apology from Benjamin.

“You did not respond to the irrefutable point that this deal with send over $100 billions dollars to Iran and those billions of dollars will be used to murder Americans by jihadists,” Cruz explained.

“I recognize that the folks in CODEPINK like to hold up signs saying, ‘Peace with Iran.’ You know who doesn’t reciprocate those views? Iran,” Cruz said, to cheers.

“In the midst of this negotiation, the Ayatollah Khamenei led thousands of Iranians in chanting death to America while they burned American flags and Israeli flag,” Cruz continued to more applause. “Iran has stated its objective to murder as many Americans as possible. They are not seeking peace with us.”

“This deal is a complete capitulation to radical Islamic theocratic zealots who want to murder millions of Americans,” Cruz added, again to rousing cheers from those in attendance.

Others, at one point, chanted, “We want Ted.”

CODEPINK’s Benjamin responded to Cruz, by accusing him and the anti-nuke deal activist of being “religious zealots” who want to see “a war in the Middle East.”

“It’s the radical religious zealots on both sides who don’t want the deal,” Benjamin said to boos.

One man could be heard shouting, “What planet is she from?”

Cruz went on to take Benjamin to task for insulting the crowd.

“I will say, is it true there are radical religious zealots elsewhere. Of course. The difference is nobody is proposing giving radical religious zealots nuclear weapons to use to annihilate people who have a different faith then they do,” Cruz responded.

This led another CODEPINK ally to scream and shout at Cruz.

“Sir, are you scared to have a conversation?” Cruz fired back at the protestor. “Are you scared of the truth?”

“Sir, I recognize you find the truth very offensive, but under the first amendment, debate means you have to listen to things you disagree with,” Cruz added over the man’s shouts. “And I have listen to what you have said. I would ask you to show the same courtesy, particularly since you have come to our event and crashed it.”

n.n | July 24, 2015 at 3:40 pm

Iran has not released political prisoners. It has not ceased financing terrorism abroad. It has not stopped its development of WMD. It has not rescinded its statements to seek the destruction of Israel. The Obama-Kerry deal sounds like another UN-Clinton “oil for food” financial appeasement scheme.

It’s an audacious irony that Code Pink is pro-choice.

Make life, not abortion! That is the point of peace, right?

Sammy Finkelman | July 24, 2015 at 3:52 pm

This rally in Washington, D.C. was outside of the White House and the main reason for it all was to call attentuin to the 4 American prisoners in Iran, for whose release Obama did not attempt to hold the agreement hostage.

Roll Call says Ted Cruz got one thing wrong here:

http://blogs.rollcall.com/white-house/ted-cruz-gets-one-wrong-iran-deal/?dcz=

But let’s have some dialogue,” Cruz told her. “So one of the things you said is, ‘if Iran is trying to get nuclear weapons.’ Well, the nice thing is I believe … truth matters. You know one entity, one person with whom there is no ambiguity in terms of whether Iran wants a nuclear weapon is the Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei. Is President [Hassan] Rouhani. Both of whom explicitly said they are developing nuclear weapons. There is no doubt about it.”

Benjamin retorted, “That is absolutely false,” prompting jeers from a crowd of Iran-deal opponents and a protest from Cruz that he not be interrupted.

(“Do you know Farsi?” one derisively shouted.)

But Benjamin appears to be right.

It’s one thing to say Iranian leaders are claiming not to be developing nuclear weapons and are lying, or will cheat. Many have made that argument. But it’s quite another to say they have declared they will when they haven’t — and that’s what Cruz did.

They claim to have a nuclear program, but claim they are not developing a weapon and that there is even a fatwa against it.

Khamanei himself made the claim about a fatwa the other day.

Now this is actually very dangerous. Because they could use it, covertly, mae acting through Hezbollah, for instance, and claim some plausible deniability.

n.n | July 24, 2015 at 6:06 pm

There is something else that both the Code Pink activist and Code Pink got wrong. The second Iraq war, to remove Hussein’s regime, was in response to the documented violations, including possession and development of WMD precursors and weapons, of the ceasefire agreement throughout Clinton’s administration. It also ended the perpetual state of agitation (e.g. no-fly zones) and corruption (e.g. oil for food) that prevented stabilization and normalization in Iraq. The worst outcome of the second Iraq war was a consequence of Obama’s political choice for premature withdrawal that undermined the military and civilian efforts to maintain a role as honest brokers between competing factions, as well as to secure the borders from alien infiltration.

n.n in reply to n.n. | July 24, 2015 at 6:07 pm

> both the Code Pink activist and Cruz got wrong

TheFineReport.com | July 25, 2015 at 1:05 am

The takeaway: Obama is a traitor.

Anyone not able to comprehend that is as dense as the woman from code pink.

Ted Cruz Debates A Member of Code Pink Over Iran Nuke Deal