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CRUZ or LOSE!Posted on 4/9/2015, 6:51:53 PM by thetallguy24
Below are a few video clips as well as the transcript from Ted Cruz’s latest interview with CNBC’s John Harwood. After having watched and read all of it, I must say that Cruz did an excellent job refuting the liberal nonsense and making his case for what he believes. He even weighed in on Social Security and did a masterful job with it.
Watch and read (transcripts DO NOT correspond to the videos so you should watch and read everything):
Harwood: First of all, what happened to you in your childhood that you do not like guacamole avocado?
Cruz: My Dad grew up with an avocado tree in his backyard. My entire family, my wife and daughters, they love avocado. I may well be allergic. It makes me physically sick.
Harwood: You made a comment about how used to like rock music, and then your tastes changed after 9/11. What music did you like?
Cruz: I grew up listening to classic rock—the Kinks, Genesis, The Who, Pink Floyd. Saw Pink Floyd in concert in Houston—I think it would’ve been 1988 in the Astrodome—which was an amazing concert. For everyone trying to read broad political commentary in there, there isn’t any. It’s just simply I had the reaction (after 9/11) that I said, “I like how country’s responding.” And so I shifted over and started listening to country.
Harwood: The first president of your adulthood was a Texan, George H. W. Bush. What is your evaluation of his presidency now?
Cruz: I think he did an effective job when it came to managing the demise of the Soviet Union. He was the right person at the right time. Domestically, I disagree with what he did. When you tell the American people, “Read my lips. No new taxes,” that should mean no new taxes. That was a mistake. And it’s a mistake that cost him the election.
Harwood: You worked for his son. Was he right to expand Medicare to cover prescription drugs?
Cruz: That was a policy fight I was not engaged in at the time. I’ll tell you what wasn’t right. When George W. Bush entered office, the national debt was $5 trillion. When he left, it was $10 trillion. I think the administration spent too much money. Now, I also think you’ve got to give George W. Bush some real credit—he showed remarkable courage in the beginning of the second term taking on Social Security reform and personal accounts. It was the right thing to do. Sadly, congressional Republicans ran to the hills and abandoned him.
Harwood: A third Texas president, L.B.J., created Medicare in the mid-’60s. Your hero Ronald Reagan campaigned vigorously against that, saying it would lead to socialized medicine, would end liberty in the United States. Who was right: L.B.J. or Reagan?
Cruz: It’s not worth tilting at windmills. I don’t know. I wasn’t alive then. What I do know is that today, we have got to preserve and reform Medicare. There is a broad, universal consensus that Medicare is a fundamental bulwark of our society. Look, it’s one thing to have asked 50 years ago should we have created it. It’s another thing when you have a generation of seniors who paid into it 30, 40, 50 years who have been made promises. We need to honor those promises.
Harwood: You announced your campaign at Liberty University. You’re appealing to Libertarians. The Libertarian Party platform in 2012 calls for Social Security to be phased out. Are they wrong as a matter of philosophy?
Cruz: Oh, I understand why they call for that. But I don’t agree with them. What I would like to see is several things. Number one, for those on Social Security or near retirement, no changes whatsoever. Honor the commitments. But for younger people, people in my generation, we should gradually increase the retirement age. Secondly we need to change the rate of growth of Social Security benefits so they match inflation rather than exceed inflation. Those two reforms on their own take Social Security from bankruptcy into solvency. But the third piece, and it’s what Bush fought for, is personal accounts. I think it is transformative to allow younger workers to put a portion of their taxes into a personal account that they own, that they control, and that they can pass onto their heirs.
Harwood: I read an anecdote that said you asked a friend at Harvard Law School her IQ, and then when she didn’t know her IQ, asked her SAT score. What was that about?
Cruz: That was a silly story that appeared in a magazine. I have no recollection of ever having had any such conversation. So, I can’t respond.
Harwood: And the idea that you wouldn’t study with anybody who didn’t go to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton?
Cruz: Now that’s just a complete lie. It’s actually the same magazine, which was one of the more noxious hatchet jobs. The facts are, my study group consisted of three people: My college roommate, who did go to Princeton with me, and one other fellow named Jeff who went to Northwestern. So not only is that claim a lie, but we actually didn’t have anyone in the study group who did go to Harvard or Yale. It’s a purely made-up lie. But it gets repeated on the internet all the time because it’s the sort of thing that even if it’s not true, people want it to be true.
Harwood: When I asked a couple of other campaigns, “What would you ask him if you were me?” they said, “Ask him to name his biggest accomplishment.” And the reason they said that was, “He doesn’t have any.” What is your yardstick for when you’re succeeding, as opposed to tilting at windmills, getting publicity, all that?
Cruz: What I have endeavored to do in my time in the Senate is to stand up and lead on the great issues of the day. People say, “Well, gosh, you haven’t succeeded in repealing Obamacare.” That is true. We haven’t succeeded yet. But any student of military history knows that great wars are typically not won in a single skirmish. Although we did not defeat Obamacare and take it down in October of 2013, I believe that fight set the predicate. I think we built the foundation for repealing Obamacare.
Harwood: You’ve said a few things that don’t necessarily comport with the facts, like, “125,000 I.R.S. agents, send ‘em to the border.” They’ve only got 25,000 agents or something like. You’ve talked about the job-killing nature of Obamacare. We’re adding jobs at a very healthy clip right now. Why shouldn’t somebody listen to you and say, “The guy’ll just say anything – doesn’t have to be true”?
Cruz: There is a game that is played by left-wing editorial writers. It’s this new species of yellow journalism called politi-fact. Colloquially I was referring to all the employees as agents.
That particular stat is in a joke I used. So, they’re literally fact-checking a joke. I say that explicitly tongue in cheek.
The second point is more significant. You talked about the job creation that has occurred. The simple reality is millions of Americans are hurting right now under the Obama economy. Yes, some jobs are being created, but not nearly as many have been destroyed. The rich, the top 1% today earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928.
Big business does great with big government. It gets in bed with big government. Median wages have stagnated. So, if you’re a single mom waiting tables, if you’re a teenage immigrant washing dishes like my dad was when he came from Cuba to America, your life under the Obama economy has gotten harder and harder and harder.
Ted Cruz did a good job but that’s his talent. Debating and articulating. I believe its going to stand him in good stead heading toward the primaries.
Smartst guy in Washington, D.C. Second smartest isn’t even close.
Cruz didn’t turn whiny and defensive like Rand?
“It’s awesome that Cruz isn’t letting the MSM set the narrative.”
___________________
Great insight. You should include those words in every post. Maybe other candidates will pick up on it.
I personally thought Rand made a complete A$$ of himself in those interviews. He doesn’t seem to have the temperment for a President, nor the people skills. Haven’t we had enough tantrums to last for awhile?
Or collapse like a soaking wet sheet of toilet paper, as did Indiana Gov. Mike "Nancy boy" Pence and Arkansas Gov. Asa "Spread my cheeks" Hutchinson?
I'm glad they're asking the Senator these questions. I well remember them asking the same type of questions of candidate Obama.
CRUZ or LOSE!Gotta love that guy.
"journalists are idiots"
lol
Interesting body language in those clips. Harwood often has his arms crossed and is leaning back in his chair. He wants so badly to “get” Cruz as they all do. Cruz, by contrast, leans forward towards his interviewer, and is very approachable. Not to mention eloquent and relatable.
As a kid I loved avocado sandwiches. Slap some mayo on bread, add some fresh slices of avocado, and add salt. Unfortunately I was given two or three avocados per week, and after about four weeks, I developed an inflammation of my throat when I would eat avocado. I had to stop eating it.
Did Medicare lead to socialized medicine? Yes. It did. What people don’t realize is that the hospital infrastructure has suffered due to Medicare. The government trying to cut prices placed capitation on hospitals. If you wanted to participate in the Medicare program, and not many hospitals can opt out considering the percentage of their patients that are on Medicare, you had to agree to provide services at rock bottom prices. This impacted everyone, not just Medicare patients. This was an offshoot of socialized medicine.
Insurance companies seeing what the federal government did, opted to force the same payment structure on hospitals. Hospital profit margins are very thin. Some barely break even. Some have closed their doors. Emergency services have been cut back, in no small measure to the additional impact of illegal immigrantion. Once again, the government stepping in to demand services be provided, but not there to make sure the hospitals were reimbursed. That’s socialized medicine.
It’s like you going in to get transmission work and telling the shop you’ll only pay $50.00 for the major overhaul of your transmission. Can that guy turn a profit? Can he stay in business?
Hospitals have cut to the bone. They are dirtier, the equipment they use is cheaper, the infrastructure is more decayed...
All the while the government demands more paperwork, more monitoring, and compliance with more and more regulations.
The Joint Commission will come in every three years and demand hospitals conform to procedures as they demand to receive accreditation. Hospitals will strive to conform and comply. In three years that same Joint Commission will come in and site individual hospitals for 100% compliance with the demands made the last time.
So yes, Medicare did lead to socialized medicine.
During the work-up to Obamacare, the Medicare model was used over and over again as an enticement.
We’re well on our way to full blow single payer government health care.
Socialized Medicine 100%...
As far as accomplishments go, can this reporter give us one example of an accomplishment Obama achieved prior to be elected president of the United States? You see, Obama was never asked gotcha questions like this. If he had been, he would never have become president.
I’m not sure if this is the whole interview or not, but it appears she sand-bagged that number of IRS agents question until the end to make Cruz look bad. I’m sure some folks will jump up and down with glee to hear or read her question and statement.
Personally, I’m less impressed by gotcha interviewers than I am concerned about our nation being occupied by foreign nationals.
As for jobs, the quick answer is that we have tens of millions of people not working today, because our economy is dead in the water. The unemployment figures are a cruel insensitive joke (sham) to those who would like to have employment, but can’t find it.
Many others are working jobs making less than 50% of what they were under Bush.
The United States is in full decline, we’ve just made an agreement that will give Iran nuclear weapons, and those topics are probably more important than your gotcha question Mr. Harwood.
Yes, but I was listening to Rush today and you hear Rush defending Rand Paul against the media drinking the Neonuts ( Ron Rand Paul supporters ) Koolaid that Rand Paul ( the fake conservative wanna be ) was just sticking it to the harsh media against the liberal media.
Even Rush was drinking the Koolaid from the Neonuts.
Cruz and Rand have their own styles.
Personally I thought it was rich when Rand Paul told that libtard hit artist to go ask Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz if she thinks its OK to kill a 7 lb baby in the womb. This is the kind of stuff Republicans should have been doing a long time ago.
We are in a culture war and its time for the GOP to remember the first rule of a gunfight. Bring a gun.
Only proves Cruz is the smartest man in the room. I once thought he neded to be seasoned more—add to his resume. I am re-thinking that idea. He’s smart enough to take on the challenge now. I support Ted Cruz and in time many more will—in the GOP and even the Democrat Parties.
I thought that Rand Paul did very well handling the fraud “journalist”, err... apparatchik for the state. I don’t support him for various other reasons, but give credit where it is due. Bob
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