Ted Cruz | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 16
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Ted Cruz Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 25, 2015 13 Comments
The senate passed the Trade Promotion Authority bill yesterday but it did so without Ted Cruz who supported an earlier version of the bill. Janet Hook of the Wall Street Journal:
Ted Cruz Flips on Trade Bill on Eve of Key Senate Vote Sen. Ted Cruz, a free-trade advocate who had supported legislation to expedite trade agreements, on Tuesday flipped his position and announced on the eve of a crucial Senate vote that he was prepared to vote against a new version of the bill, demanding that GOP leaders assure him that they had made no “secret deal” to keep the controversial Export-Import Bank alive. “As a general matter, I agree (as did Ronald Reagan) that free trade is good for America; when we open up foreign markets, it helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers,” Mr. Cruz said, announcing his switch in an op-ed for Breitbart News, a conservative website that has been a vigorous critic of the Trade Protection Authority (TPA) bill known as “fast track.” “But TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include.”
Cruz was a guest on Special Report with Bret Baier last night and although questions from the panel included a wide array of topics, Cruz's switch on TPA was the very first one.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 24, 2015 32 Comments
Ah yes, the media and gun control. Senator Cruz joined PBS host Tavis Smiley Tuesday. Smiley seized the opportunity to peg Sen. Cruz on gun control. "To me and to others who've seen this, it seemed in bad taste, but maybe that's my assessment," Smiley said. "We all know what happened in Charleston the other day, and you were on the campaign trail after this happened, here's what you said on the campaign trail." Smiley then showed Sen. Cruz a clip bearing a HuffPo watermark, dated June 19 when Cruz was addressing a crowd in Iowa. "We need a second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. You know the great thing about the state of Iowa, I'm pretty sure y'all define 'gun control' the same way we do in Texas -- hittin' what you aim at," Cruz explained as the audience chuckled. "Gun control is hitting what you aim at. Those comments were made after this tragedy the other day in South Carolina the other day, was that in bad taste?" Smiley asked.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 31, 2015 6 Comments
Professor Jacobson has written extensively about the BDS movement and the effort to boycott the boycotters. Senator Ted Cruz has a new idea. Take federal funds away from schools that boycott Israel. He made the remarks at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala. Among attendees was Sheldon Adelson, an influential donor to Republican politicians. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post writes:
Cruz: Universities that boycott Israel should lose federal funding NEW YORK -- Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that universities that boycott Israel should lose their federal funding. Cruz's remarks were aimed at the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is gaining traction on college campuses. It calls for U.S. companies and universities to divest from Israel. Cruz has spoken against BDS but sharpened his tone Thursday. The nation needs a president who will ensure that "if a university boycotts the nation of Israel then that university will forfeit federal taxpayer dollars," Cruz said at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala here, where he received the Defender of Israel Award. "BDS is premised on a lie and it is antisemitism plain and simple."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 17, 2015 11 Comments
I appeared on Saturday, May 16, 2015, on The Craig Silverman Show on 710 KNUS in Aurora, Colorado. The conversation covered my background, what it means to be a conservative on campus, the anti-Israel boycott movement, the Pope on a Palestinian "state," the Pew Poll on Christians, and the fate of Christians in the Middle East. On Ted Cruz at Harvard Law School:
"When you're going to be political at a place like Harvard Law School, you have to be better than everybody else if you're a conservative. You have to be smarter, you have to be more well-read, you have to be better-prepared, because it's you against a lot of people. And certainly he wouldn't have been the only conservative at Harvard Law School, but he would have been in a severe minority. And when you're in that situation, you have to be better. And that's what I see with a lot of politically active conservative students on campus... [Cruz] had to sharpen his skills because he's basically arguing with everybody or almost everybody. Whereas if you're in a liberal position at a school most people agree with you, you don't need to sharpen your skills and you don't get tested the way you do if you're a conservative."
On the anti-Israel boycott movement:
"We're dealing with people who really are just outright liars. And I say that all the time because that's what they are. And they just make stuff up, they twist facts, they ignore facts."
On Israeli-Palestinian negotiations:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2015 22 Comments
Yesterday, a video released by Digitas Daily featured a condensed version of Bloomberg host Mark Halperin conducting a super creepy interview with Sen. Ted Cruz. In a series of bizarre questions, Halperin grilled Sen. Cruz on his Cubaness. The interview was so bad, the left-wing group Think Progress condemned it as, "the most racist interview of a 2016 candidate." Think Progress came to the same conclusion as many on the right: Halperin seemed determined to get Cruz on the record about the minutia of his Hispanic heritage.
Facing the wrath of the Internet, Mark Halperin released an apology today:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 10, 2015 29 Comments
Thanks to Mark Halperin, we can all rest easy knowing that Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, is in fact, authentically Cuban. In a bizarre interrogation line of questioning on Bloomberg's 'With All Due Respect', host Mark Halperin grilled Sen. Cruz on his Cubaness. Questions began with, "when you filled out your application to Princeton, to Harvard Law school, did you list yourself as an Hispanic?" Then moved to cuisine, "do you have a favorite Cuban food, Cuban dish?" Cruz tried to answer but was interrupted by Halperin demanding to know his favorite Cuban dish. And it didn't stop there. Halperin continued his interrogation until making a final demand -- that Sen. Cruz welcome Sen. Sanders to the presidential race, with the requirement that he do so, "on Espanol," whatever that means.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 25, 2015 7 Comments
While I'm not a fan of Grover Norquist, I do appreciate his Americans for Tax Reform's work each election cycle to get candidates on the record regarding tax increases.  It's not the be-all-and-end-all, but it does indicate to voters where candidates stand in terms of big government and taxation.  The Hill reports:
The Taxpayer Protection Pledge is maintained by Grover Norquist’s group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), and has been signed by the majority of Republicans in Congress. The group says it has shared the pledge with all candidates running for federal office since 1986. In separate statements, Norquist said their signatures show Paul and Cruz continue “to protect American taxpayers against higher taxes.” Signing the pledge could help the senators draw a contrast with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is expected to also launch a presidential bid and is considered a leading candidate for the GOP nomination.
Ted Cruz tweeted a photo of himself signing it to underscore his seriousness:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 16, 2015 7 Comments
Thus far, the GOP presidential field officially includes three of the Senate's best. We're still waiting on the Governors to join the party. It's still early, but how are the current candidates fairing on the fundraising front? Ted Cruz The first to hop in the race, Cruz raised $ 4.3 million in his first 9 days of campaigning. A respectable start. If Governor Perry jumps in the race as anticipated, Cruz might lose some of his early fundraising steam. Governor Perry has a well established donor base in the Lone Star State that could suck funds away from Cruz. According to the Dallas Morning News, although Cruz has the early lead, he's in for stiff competition as the field continues to expand. By all accounts Governor Bush will be the moneyed man to beat.
Still, Cruz is expected to trail other major candidates in the fund-raising battle. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reportedly had a $100 million fund-raising goal for the quarter that ended March 31, while Cruz would be happy to get $50 million for the entire campaign.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 12, 2015 8 Comments
So far, two first-term GOP senators have declared their presidential candidacy (Cruz and Paul), with Rubio set to do so Monday. On both sides of the aisle, there are a lot of questions and concern as people wonder what these first-termers have accomplished.  This is, of course, a fair question to ask, but to be equally fair, we should take note of Harry Reid's lockdown of the Senate for the past six years. Not only were Republican senators unable to accomplish much in Reid's Senate, but neither were Democrat senators (some of whom lost their seats as a result, at least in part).  The National Review reported in January of last year:
The New York Times reported last week on Reid’s “brutish style” and “uncompromising control” over the amendments process in the Senate. Why are more people finally catching on to Reid’s flagrant disregard for Senate customs? In part because conservatives aren’t the only ones complaining. Democrats such as Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — who wants to repeal Obamacare’s medical-device tax — and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — who has waged a highly publicized campaign to reform the way the military handles sexual-assault cases — have been denied votes on their proposed amendments to various bills. Gillibrand had hoped to attach her sexual-assault amendment to the defense-appropriations bill that passed in December, but no amendments were allowed. Klobuchar has called for “a more open amendment process” because she’d like a vote on repealing the medical-device tax.
We all watched as frustrated politicians on both sides of the aisle complained that there were more than 300 bills "sitting on Harry Reid's desk," so it seems less than reasonable to focus on legislative accomplishments by first-term GOP senators who were apparently very busily working on legislation that then ended up mired down by Reid.  Even House Dems were urging Reid to pass their bills in the Senate.  To no avail.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 09, 2015 22 Comments
It's been less than three weeks since Senator Cruz announced his presidential candidacy. First, Ted Cruz supposedly scared a child in New Hampshire, only he didn't. Then, Cruz was a hypocrite for exploring health insurance options on the exchange... just like the rest of Congress. And now? ONE TIME TED CRUZ HAD A JOB. Mother Jones' David Corn has blown the lid plumb off Cruz's latest scandal.
In his bio on his presidential campaign website, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) boasts of what he did as Texas solicitor general to defend the Second Amendment, the Pledge of Allegiance, and US sovereignty—all conservative causes. But Cruz does not detail another important chapter in his legal career: his work as a well-paid private attorney who helped corporations found guilty of wrongdoing.
We will pause here to momentarily savor Corn subtly arguing the guilty ought not be privy to a defense. Corn prattles on, feebly attempting to depict Sen. Cruz as a heartless, corporation-shilling, money-grubbing fraud. Though some would argue these are the virtues of a good attorney.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 04, 2015 16 Comments
Matt Berman at The National Journal asked, "Will Ted Cruz Be Able to Convince Anyone to Take His Campaign Seriously?", and the answer, apparently, is a resounding "yes."  According to Public Policy Polling (PPP),
Ted Cruz has the big momentum following the official announcement of his candidacy last week. His support has increased from 5% to 16% in just over a month, enough to make him one of three candidates in the top tier of GOP contenders, along with Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.
PPP goes on to observe that "Cruz has really caught fire with voters identifying themselves as 'very conservative' since his announcement. After polling at only 11% with them a month ago, he now leads the GOP field with 33% to 25% for Walker and 12% for Carson with no one else in double digits." It seems that despite early predictions, Ted Cruz as presidential candidate is, as Jazz Shaw at Hot Air notes, "stubbornly refus[ing] to implode":
Even after he won his seat, the media was keeping up the drumbeat, frequently abetted by senior members of his own party. (Wacko Birds, anyone?) But long before it was certain that Cruz might run for the White House, he began defying the narrative media formula. Those of us who didn’t know him were expecting the avalanche of stories which would erode his status as a serious politician. The problem is, they didn’t happen. Where were the “gaffes” we were all promised? He was supposed to come out and immediately begin screaming about the President being from Kenya, saying that women should enjoy being raped and calling for the South to secede again. Unfortunately for the cable news talking heads, it never happened. Cruz staked out a number of domestic and foreign policy issues and began beating the drum with his own proposals for how to meet those challenges. The media seemed to shoot themselves in the foot by tripping over each other to give the Senator air time, waiting for the expected crazy to emerge. There were times when his tactics were fairly brought under scrutiny, such as his approach to the budget battles / government shutdown situation, but that was a difference in opinion on legislative strategy, not the hoped for wild man moments. In the end, all they came up with was a recitation of a Dr. Seuss book during a filibuster, but anyone who looked briefly beyond the dishonestly edited clips on TV saw that it was actually a short message to beloved children. Not exactly the stuff of which career crashes are made.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 01, 2015 13 Comments
Senator Ted Cruz's campaign headquarters opened last night. Nestled in the bustling Upper Kirby neighborhood, the campaign HQ is situated in the heart of Houston. Handing out small American flags and Ted Cruz labelled bottles of water, volunteers sauntered through the crowd with iPad minis, ensuring faithful supporters were registered for campaign updates. With more attendees than anticipated, the lines to view the office space were quite lengthy. To keep people entertained, Rafael Cruz was there to shake hands: Ted cruz campaign hq open house houston rafael cruz president 2016

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 29, 2015 17 Comments
Ted Cruz launched his presidential campaign on Monday with a fantastic speech at Liberty University, and his campaign raised $1 million in just over 24 hours. Within three days of his official announcement, Cruz's campaign had raised $2 million.  The Washington Post reports:
Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign had a goal after it officially launched Monday: raise $1 million in a week. Turns out it only took a few hours. The Texas Republican's campaign says it met its fundraising goal at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday -- just a little more than 24 hours after he announced via Twitter that he would be running for president. Cruz made a formal announcement Monday morning at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. As of Thursday night the campaign has raised $2 million, about $500,000 of which came from large-money bundlers. The rest came from online donations.
This is quite remarkable given that the donations are pouring in from average Americans who respond to Cruz's message of adherence to the Constitution, a limited federal government, a strong economy, substantial tax and other needed reforms, and a coherent foreign policy that foregrounds America's interests.   He touches on each of these points in his first full-length campaign ad:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 27, 2015 13 Comments
Earlier today, MSNBC published a story suggesting Senator Cruz supports legalization of undocumented individuals currently in the United States. Derived from the fact that Senator Cruz hasn't specifically stated he does not support legalization of undocumented individuals, the inference is that Cruz must therefore support legalization of undocumented individuals. It's a nice little semantic game, really. MSNBC referenced a Texas Tribune article from 2013 which they claim indicates, "that he [Cruz] supported giving some undocumented immigrants permission to stay in the country with more limited legal status." This summation is not accurate. The Texas Tribune article, written around the time of the Gang of Eight immigration fight, makes the same incorrect assumption as MSNBC. The first statement is correct while the latter is only partially so:
When it comes to immigration reform, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has made it abundantly clear what he opposes: giving citizenship to people who broke the law to come here. What has not been as evident is what he supports: legal status for millions of people here already, while making it easier for immigrants to come here through the front door.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 26, 2015 47 Comments
Though he's yet to officially toss his hat in the ring, Governor Perry is quietly building out the framework for his 2016 run. Iowa is RickPAC's latest release. Governor Perry's message is markedly different from Senator Cruz's for reasons other than his west Texas drawl -- inclusion and experience. Senator Cruz formally launched his presidential bid in a fiery speech at Liberty University Monday. Though he's an undeniably passionate conservative, Cruz's message might not be the fit for everyone, though it's a lovely dream to have. More problematic is that this Conservatopia effectively marginalizes everyone who doesn't seize the vision. It's not an attractive ideal, rather a disappointingly exclusionary one. Cruz is pitching himself as a true conservative. Of his principles and dedication to the banner of conservatism, there's absolutely no question. Ted Cruz is a true believer in the purest sense. But trying to win the White House with only a faction of the conservative base and little to show in terms of tangible leadership results (other than the ability to rouse portions of the grassroots) are two obstacles Cruz will have to navigate around. Not to say either is unsurmountable, but they are unavoidable.