Ted Cruz Shuts Down Code Pink: “It Is Very Interesting To See Those Who Profess To Believe In Free Speech Are The Ones Afraid Of Speech”
[guest post by Dana]
Never one to avoid a confrontation and always one to embrace an opportunity to engage and enlighten, Ted Cruz has once again demonstrated his skill at deftly handling protesters and getting his conservative message out to voters.
While Cruz was speaking at a protest rally against the Iran nuclear deal, he was confronted by Medea Benjamin and members of Code Pink, who were there in support of the deal. Instead of ignoring protesters, or trying to shut them up, Cruz invited them to have a discussion:
Transcript here.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:36 amTed has the patience of a much older married man, and the energy to argue back of a very young one.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:43 amAgreed, nk. It’s a necessary combination for one seeking the presidency. I see Walker in the same way. I also see a similar quality in that neither Cruz nor Walker get their feathers too ruffled by those who disagree with them, or those who are literally in their faces. It’s a necessary discipline, and one that other candidates clearly haven’t mastered… clenching one’s teeth and grimacing through confrontation is a dead giveaway…
Dana (86e864) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:47 amJust finished reading Cruz’s book. Well worth reading. I wouldn’t want to debate this guy and I can’t wait for the Republican debates. And I feel confident that Cruz will be the candidate against the Democrats. And then his debate skills will really shine.
bald01 (f38852) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:16 amNotice the manner with which the MSM is doing everything it can to suppress Cruz. It ignores him as much as possible, preferring instead to focus on the likes of Trump. Sure, Trump is tapping into the anger most Americans have over the leftists and the RINOs flooding our nation with illegal immigrants, but on virtually every other topic Trump leans left. He supports the slaughter of the unborn. He supports homogamy. He has made statements supporting the insanity of socialist heathcare. Keeping people focused on Trump, while avoiding coverage of Cruz, makes it easier for the leftists to continue their ridiculous propaganda that conservatives are greedy racists who think women should be kept barefoot and pregnant at home.
The more I see of Cruz and Fiorina, the more impressed I am with both of them, and their ability to turn back the leftist “gotcha” ambush questions and the bogus rally invasions. Still impressed with Walker and Jindal as well. Still wanting to see more of Dr. Carson, who seems truly conservative except for some of the 2nd Amendment comments I have seen. Less impressed by Perry and Rubio, and totally, absolutely, will-stay-home-and-never-vote-for, disgustingly opposed to the RINOs Jeb Bush and Christie. Don’t yet have enough of an opinion on Kasich, but working on learning more. The GOP establishment continues pushing Bush, Christie and Rubio, just like they pushed all the other “moderate” losers on us. The dems are running 3 extreme left buffoons in Hillary, Sanders and O’Malley. It is high time conservatives unite behind a ticket composed of individuals who can smack the media back, rather than “stay above the fray” like Romney did last time around. After all, that worked so well against Obama at a time of high unemployment and a horrible economy, didn’t it?
Pete (ceb4bf) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:16 amIf you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to do a web search using the words Rick Perry, Karim Aga Khan, Grover Norquist, Samah Alrayyes, Muslim Histories and Cultures Program, and Ismail Jamatkhana Center.
If voters are not very careful in their vetting of candidates, the U.S. may end up with a Barack Hussein Obama-Lite in the Oval Office.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:51 amThis is why Ted Cruz drives the Left crazy, and will continue to do so. This is why I’m happy to have him in the U.S. Senate from Texas — not just for the vote he’ll cast, but for the clarity and effectiveness of his interactions with the public and the media.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/24/2015 @ 9:17 amSometimes, I think clowns like Code Pink say stupid, illogical, fact-free stuff because
Richard Aubrey (f6d8de) — 7/24/2015 @ 9:47 amthey’re hoping someplace out there is somebody stupid enough to believe them. Then I
start thinking they actually believe that stuff themselves. Now, Benjamin lies like a rug
and knows it. Some of her cohorts seem to actually believe the stuff they spout. And
the reason for shouting down a speaker is to precent a reasonable response, which they
know they can’t manage.
The contrast between Cruz and recent Republican candidates for President couldn’t be more clear. I can’t imagine any circumstance where Romney could have pulled this off, nor would he have wanted to. It was refreshing to see a politician engaged in dialogue with ordinary people, even if those people were of a different persuasion. It is clear that Cruz’s background as a first rate debater serves him well.
It was fascinating to listen to the bull-horn wielding man discount history. One must wonder how he makes any sense of what goes on around him. Random, unpredictable acts of violence must confront him everywhere he looks. It is no wonder these fools resort to “religious zealotry” as the motivation for those who disagree with them politically in this country. But to name the zealots or the religion would confound their rejection of history, since these are the sort of straw men that exist only to comfort them in their self imposed ignorance.
I hope Cruz has some means of defending himself. The Code Pink types appear to be marginally functional, and they may abandon their pacifism if they forget to take their medicine.
bobathome (f50725) — 7/24/2015 @ 9:54 amVery impressive of Cruz. Not just patience, but he prepared by memorizing the folks names, and was able to present skillfully without a teleprompter. Not many have that skill, and it demonstrates Cruz’s great intelligence. My only pause on Cruz is his initial vote for TPP. That said, he is in my top tier of choices.
Notice at the end Code Pink Medea Benjamin said that Cruz is a “demagogue”. No, I think that Medea was doing a little bit of projecting, and that is what those scum do. I wonder who pays for Code Pink?
Scoob (1b6e0d) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:01 amhis is why I’m happy to have him in the U.S. Senate from Texas — not just for the vote he’ll cast, but for the clarity and effectiveness of his interactions with the public and the media.
Beldar (and others),
If you’ve opined on this before, I can’t remember, but, do you believe Cruz should remain in the Senate given his effectiveness there or do you think the country would be better served with him in the WH?
Dana (86e864) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:18 amsenate. He needs to stay there shake up some more stuff in the senate and gain some more power in the senate before he can reasonably win national primaries and ultimately the presidency.
for example:
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/249076-cruz-accuses-mcconnell-of-lying-to-him-on-ex-im-bank
elissa (0a5321) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:30 amper my Ohio informant, who believes in the Tea Party principles enough to actively canvass at elections for suitable candidates, Kasich is similar to Christie. In fact, last election he refused to vote for Kasich as governor; he undervoted since the Democratic candidate had no chance of winning.
kishnevi (870883) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:33 amWhite House. We desperately need someone who can project confidence, intelligence, clarity, leadership, and a strong belief in American ideals.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:42 amMy view is that we need him in the WH. Then, after serving two terms and after his former Vice President Carly Fiorina wins the presidency, she can appoint him to the Supreme Court.
Senator Steve “Bluto Blutarsky” 57 can take over in the Senate.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/24/2015 @ 10:55 amRight now, the senate. The president is mostly an administrator. I’d rather see Senator Cruz keeping the senate honest.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 7/24/2015 @ 11:25 amDana (#11): I’ve written in comments before here, some time ago, that I think it’s unlikely that Cruz will become the 2016 GOP presidential nominee. He’s a vastly more accomplished private- and public-sector lawyer and public servant than Obama ever was, but he’s nevertheless just a first-term senator, he doesn’t yet have much record of legislative accomplishment there, and indeed, his impact on the Senate so far has been more as a bomb-thrower than a legislative craftsman or a broker of grand compromises. He’s nothing much like LBJ at the peak of his career in the Senate, for example. He was a terrific and successful solicitor general on Texas’ behalf, but that’s not an elected position either. And although his defeat of the heavily favored, terminally dull, and entirely conventional David Dewhurst in the 2012 Texas GOP primary runoff election was spectacular, Cruz’s general election campaign that fall was a landslide that really didn’t test him.
But that’s all fine with me. Texas’ senior senator, John Cornyn is a workhorse who’s liked and respected on both sides of the aisle, and there are plenty of competent legislators from other states, and right now the Senate frankly needs some bombs going off — even though my own target selection from time to time might be different from Sen. Cruz’s so far.
I think he’d be a very good POTUS, potentially a genuinely transformative one (a la Reagan), and I think he’ll likely be the GOP nominee someday. I’ll still be surprised, though, if it’s this particular election cycle — if he catches the lightning in a bottle this time. Nevertheless, his fundraising continues to be impressive, he’s getting lots of media play (mostly from MSM that are trying to use him to energize/panic the Left’s base), and he has no equal and few close peers as a public speaker and, in particular, a disciplined debater among the current very broad GOP field. So he might indeed surprise me, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if that were to happen.
However serious a run he ends up making for this cycle’s nomination, he’s very deliberately using both his U.S. Senate seat and his presidential candidacy as bully pulpits to influence the national debate and educate the electorate. That may indirectly set up a future campaign — he’s still a very young man, with a long future ahead of him in politics. (I can actually completely imagine him serving two terms as POTUS, then accepting a life appointment to the SCOTUS. That’s certainly not in the cards for Rick Perry or Scott Walker or anyone else in the GOP field, is it?)
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/24/2015 @ 1:40 pmI believe he needs to be in the White House by the next election. I doubt we have much more time to turn things around and get them right. Beyond 2016–too late
bald01 (f38852) — 7/24/2015 @ 4:03 pmThat’s certainly not in the cards for Rick Perry or Scott Walker or anyone else in the GOP field, is it?
kishnevi (91d5c6) — 7/24/2015 @ 4:13 pmI can imagine it of Walker, unless there is an actual rule mandating a legal degree for any potential Justice.
The Supreme Court has changed too much since William Howard Taft. It has become a lawmaker, not a law interpreter. For that reason, I cannot see a President (maybe not even a Senator) being confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice in this century. There would not even be that thin veneer of judicial impartiality and disinterest that we have now.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 4:53 pmThat’s what would be so great about putting Cruz on the court, nk, given a sufficient majority in the Senate.
I can already hear the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.
Do you imagine for even a nanosecond that the left would do the same with Obama if they could?
In all honesty I’d expect that Cruz, if he were appointed and confirmed, would be nothing more than a partisan of the Constitution, not the GOP. I don’t think he’d be content to go down in history as a lock-step party hack like Kagan, Ginsberg, Breyer, and Sotomayor.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/24/2015 @ 5:23 pmditto, Steve, he was a clerk for Rehnquist, yet he has the manner of Scalia, or Thomas, who don’t follow any banner but their own,
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/24/2015 @ 5:26 pmWell, ok, then. 😉
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 5:54 pmThere would not even be that thin veneer of judicial impartiality and disinterest that we have now.
We have four that in full lock-step. Mighty thin, I’d say.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:08 pmThe president is mostly an administrator.
Meh. I’d say he’s mostly a preening A-hole.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:10 pmAgain, notice Cruz is co-opting Trump on the issues, and he is unlike anyone else still on good terms with Trump. This ideally is how it will play out, with Trump getting behind Cruz. Not sure that was any kind of plan, but it’s working out. Cruz as with today’s outburst vs. Idiot McConnell is not beholden to the moron GOP leadership. And they need to go as much as Obama.
Bugg (5f4a83) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:10 pmThere is never any doubt about how those four have voted. They prejudge cases, and brag about it (cough, cough, Ginsberg, cough, gay marriage, cough, cough).
If a veneer is so microscopically thin we do not have instruments to measure it, can it be said to exist at all?
I say not.
Steve57 (0412d7) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:27 pmnotice Cruz is co-opting Trump on the issues. and he is unlike anyone else still on good terms with Trump. This ideally is how it will play out, with Trump getting behind Cruz.
Yes. I think it’s part of the plan. Cruz is no fool and knows what he is doing. It’s an interesting strategy, but would rely on Trump bowing out, yes?
Dana (86e864) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:42 pmBeldar,
So, you essentially believe it’s a lack of experience in an elected position problem (for lack of a better term)?
Dana (86e864) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:46 pmAnthony Kennedy is really the only one who is not his President’s avatar, and even there what withe Reagan being show people ….
You’ll notice I did not mention the money. I am presuming that Mrs. Cruz will be content to live on a Justice’s salary, with all her husband’s investments in blind trust, and not on the tens of millions an ex-President makes just from speaking engagements and corporate board directorships.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 6:51 pmTo be fair to Cruz, he was rock solid on immigration long before Trump began running his mouth about it.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140909-sen.-ted-cruz-blasts-obama-over-amnesty.ece
…
Cruz argued the Jose Medellin case before the Supreme Court after Mexico interfered with Texas’ attempt to carry out his death sentence and President Bush directed state courts to review the cases of Mexican nationals on death row in accordance with an International Criminal Court of Justice ruling. By a 6-4 margin Cruz won a Supreme Court decision that the Texas had the right to ignore the international court and President Bush.
Greasing the skids to execute Jose Medellin, Mexican citizen, rapist, and murderer, in 2008.
So I don’t think he’s coopting the issue. It’s always been one of his issues. He’s just making sure no one gets to the right of him on anything.
Steve57 (0412d7) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:07 pm6-3.
I’m just fat fingering everything like crazy today.
Steve57 (0412d7) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:09 pmby contrast unfocused bluster doesn’t appeal to me:
http://therightscoop.com/donald-trump-just-blamed-2008-financial-crisis-on-republicans-said-democrats-wouldnt-have-done-that/
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:20 pmA U.S. Navy destroyer stops four Mexicans rowing towards Texas.
The Captain gets on the megaphone and shouts, “Ahoy, small craft. Where are you headed?”
One of the Mexicans puts down his oar, stands up, and shouts, “Gringo, we are invading the United States of America to reclaim the territory taken by the USA during the 1800’s.”
The entire crew on the destroyer doubles over in laughter. The Captain finally catches his breath, gets back on the megaphone and asks, ” Just the four of you?”
The same Mexican stands up again and shouts, “No senor, we are the last four. The other 21 million are already there.”
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:31 pmwhat is striking is how there can’t be reciprocal treatment ike Mexico with it’s Southern neighbors,
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:37 pmThat’s a is very good one, nk. Poignantly funny. I laughed and then I cried.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2015 @ 7:41 pmon a lighter note,
http://hoh.rollcall.com/ted-cruz-tmz-white-house-pork/
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:01 pmI dunno about that, narciso. Mrs. Cruz is a vegetarian. 😉
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:22 pmmaybe she won’t be doing the cooking
some fans of the code pink gals, get a little roudy,
http://twitchy.com/2015/07/24/shocked-face-2-ex-detainees-incl-author-of-innocent-at-guantanamo-arrested-in-belgium-on-terror-charges/
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/24/2015 @ 8:44 pma reminder:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/07/code-pink-ties-to-obama-iran-not-reported-in-ted-cruz-debate-coverage/
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/25/2015 @ 7:51 am