Posted on 01/18/2016 8:25:37 AM PST by Red Steel
[Full title] Chris Wallace Relentlessly Grills Ted Cruz on Flipped Crop Insurance Vote: 'Senator, Isn't That Exactly the Kind of Game That the Washington Cartel Plays?'
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz was grilled Sunday morning by Fox News host Chris Wallace over his flipped vote on crop insurance.
"One final question, and as I say we're just running out of time, you condemn the Washington cartel, which you call the lobbyists and career politicians who rig the game. I want to ask you about one of your recent acts as a senator," Wallace said before playing video of Cruz switching his vote in a matter of minutes.
"Senator, isn't that exactly the kind of game that the Washington cartel plays?" Wallace asked.
Cruz said that he thought he was voting on another issue because the Senate had "flipped the order of votes."
"I went up initially voting one way, believing we were voting on cloture on the issue, on the Export/Import Bank, and when I voted that way, [Sen.] Pat Roberts made a comment about crop insurance, and I was puzzled, because what I had believed I was voting on concerns the Import/Export Bank, not crop insurance. And I went back to the team and said what went wrong? And the team apologized and said they switched the vote," Cruz said.
Wallace challenged the Texas senator's claim, noting Roberts' version of events seemed to be in dispute of it. According to Roberts, he spoke to Cruz on the floor and advised him that his vote against the $3 billion dollar program would hurt him with Iowa voters who have a powerful agricultural lobby.
"Pat Roberts chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says that’s not the way it happened," Wallace said, "he came up and tried to get you to change your vote, and explains and specifically said this will hurt you in Iowa. That's what he says."
Cruz brushed off the claim and recited again his version of events.
"Pat said it was about crop insurance and I was completely puzzled, because my staff briefing had said the order of votes - and you often have a bunch of votes in the Senate and they change the votes sometimes. And so, my staff had gotten it wrong, they briefed me on the wrong report," Cruz said.
Wallace continued to press him.
"You're saying you didn't change your mind?" he asked.
"I didn't change my mind," Cruz replied. "And we said that immediately. This is one of the sort of political games people play, where we said immediately, 'Look, it was a mistake on our part, we misunderstood the order of the votes.'"
The line of questioning from Wallace came after 2016 rival Marco Rubio brought the issue up during the last GOP debate. As the two candidates faced off, Rubio contended the vote was just one example that proved Cruz doesn’t have a record of “consistent conservative."
Trump handles the media better.
He blamed his staff. No way around it, I’m sorry.
Throwing his staff under the bus. That does not show good leadership.
He needs to fire that staff of his, it gets him in a lot of trouble
Cruz never does any wrong.
Cruz can’t be TrusTED. He is sneaky because he has an ambition overload. He hides what he does that does not fit his narrative.
When he gets caught. He looks guilty and starts the “dog ate my homework routine”.
It is starting to be kind of funny.
I wonder what Ted Cruz’s staff said about the Corker Bill.
From the article: Look, it was a mistake on our part, we misunderstood the order of the votes.
He is including himself in the blame.
Wallace's agenda was apparent in this lousy interview.
From the article: Look, it was a mistake on our part, we misunderstood the order of the votes.
He is including himself in the blame.
Wallace's agenda was apparent in this lousy interview.
Either Cruz or Roberts is a liar.There’s no getting around that.
he was asked a question. Maybe he is just telling the truth about what happened. No possibility?
I’m not saying it’s not true that his staff messed up. But a true leader accepts responsibility for his people and deals with them in private.
Yes, I’ve learned that.
I both sides as compatible.
Smartest lawyer harvard princeton debate chamption was tricked by who? Pat Roberts??
Trump does it without effort.
Until Trump we all thought it was the unfairness of the interviewer.
Now it's become evident that it's the interviewee who is clueless.
Yes and no. He never relents or shows weakness, which I like. What he says doesn’t always make sense, but he stays on the offense.
The one criticism of Cruz that has surprised me is that he hasn’t handled a series of attacks well at all. It started with the Rubio onslaught in December at the debate. While in the big picture he didn’t take on any damage (his #s moved up and Rubio moved down), he did not have a confident response to an expected accusation. Same in the past couple weeks, he’s so skilled with message, but some things seem to get in his head. Every candidate has pros and cons, and Cruz has a lot of pros and some cons, but when he’s hit on a weakness, he does not manage it well. Like I said, I think it’s the one instance where he gets in his own head. Cruz manages a lot of things with the media well, and breaks their premise in many cases, but this is not one of those.
Trump just ignores and moves on to something else in many cases. It’s a tactic that works well in politics as the majority of viewers never see him squirm or take a hit. The casual viewer doesn’t see any damage. Most voters are casual viewers.
That would be Democrap Establishment..
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