-
Fightin’ Flake
August 28, 2012 | 6 comments
With the Tea Partiers
Texas in Turmoil
Ted Cruz may be the Tea Party choice, but can he overcome David Dewhurst’s connections?
(Page 2 of 2)
“We were only pointing out the fact that Ted Cruz serves on the board of a group that supports amnesty,” campaign spokesman Matt Hirsch told TAS.
He also defended the lieutenant governor’s record and cited Dewhurst’s role in defunding Planned Parenthood and balancing the budget without raising taxes.
“David Dewhurst will never compromise his conservative principles, and he never has,” Hirsch said. “That’s a strong proven conservative record, which Ted Cruz doesn’t have.”
Meanwhile, the Cruz campaign has focused on Dewhurst’s “tax-and-spend record.” For instance, Texas has no state income tax, but in 2005 Dewhurst pushed for a “wage tax” that the Wall Street Journal called “a fancy disguise for a personal income tax.”
Cruz told TAS that “my opponent has spent fifteen years in elected office, cutting deals, repeatedly compromising with Democrats to increase spending and taxes.”
Throughout the campaign, Cruz has taken that message to the Tea Party. As it is, Texas Tea Partiers were alienated by Dewhurst’s role in killing a bill last year that would have restricted TSA agents from conducting airport pat-downs. The lieutenant governor supposedly backed down when the federal government threatened to shut down Texas airports.
“You cannot find a Tea Party leader in the state of Texas that’s supporting David Dewhurst,” Cruz said. “That’s like a fish on a bicycle — it’s something that doesn’t exist.”
In the end, it is those Tea Partiers who may have the power to put Cruz into office.
“Republicans deserved to lose in 2008. We didn’t stand for anything; we had lost our principles,” Cruz said. The Tea Party movement, he asserted, is “the best thing to happen to the party since the Reagan revolution in 1980.”
But is the movement actually sustainable or would it, like so many grassroots movements before it, merely sting and die?
Cruz clearly disagreed with the latter, playfully quoting Mark Twain: “Rumors of our death are much exaggerated.”
About the Author
Vivien Chang is an editorial intern at The American Spectator. She is currently a rising senior at the University of British Columbia. Email her at changv@spectator.org or follow her on Twitter @vivienlchang.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (13) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Vivien Chang
More Articles From With the Tea Partiers
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/06/27/texas-in-turmoil-ted-cruz-on-o
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Of Wizards and Weapons
- The Great Train Robbery
- The Vast and the Tiny
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Aristocat| 6.27.12 @ 7:41AM
Ted Crus is the Tea Party choice and will make a great Senator...Dewhurst is a wealthy establishment type trying to buy the election...
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 9:29AM
I think I recall these kinds of stories, about Dick Lugar, and His Connections.
And Hillary, back in 2007, an Her Connections.
And we all know how those turned out.
"We surround them."
And, it's high time "Them" were REMINDED of that fact.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 7:55AM
Both fine men. Would that every State had such fine candidates.
I'm gonna' vote for Cruz. Even if he doesn't win, his showing will remind Dewhurst every day in office that he better watch after Texans.
Bob Grant| 6.27.12 @ 8:49AM
My thoughts as well.
We might not have term limits in this country but the next best thing is to put up strong challengers in the primary and support them. From now on this will be my strategy for electing presidents, congressmen/women, governors, or local dog catchers.
The lasting effect of the 2009 town hall showdowns was exposing our "leaders" as mediocre operators who don't read bills, don't keep their promises, and who work the system for their own personal benefit.
In other words, THEY ARE ALL EXPENDABLE!
Dewhurst might win but will be on a short 6 year leash.
Al Adab| 6.27.12 @ 12:13PM
I was hoping you both would weigh in here. While it is not my State so I cannot vote in this one, I concur with Ken and would make the same comment about the national ticket. We Conservatives (like Texans) will need to be ever watchful and hold a president Romney accountable every day. Remember Harriet Myers? ...and Romney is to the left of Bush43.
Stkman| 6.27.12 @ 2:45PM
Sorry to dis-agree with you Bob. Once elcted we all know how hard it can be to get an incumbent out of office. Dewhurst needs to go home and Cruz needs to be elected and sent to Washington. We must stop the RHINO's at all cost. They are to elitism as Obama is to socialism. America is heading towards a serfdom system. The rich and powerful feel they can have us subsidize every business move and protect them from themselves when they make bad decisions or even when they embezzle from their own companies. It's time to put a stop to it and elect someone who doesn't represent the "establishment". No more Bush's or their kind, no more Clintons, no more Kennedy's. They are all self serving and serve only their powerful friends.
Vote for Cruz!
Bob Grant| 6.27.12 @ 4:16PM
I'm not sure if we disagree. I agreed with Ken when he stated he preferred Cruz over Dewhurst but would support Dewhurst in the general.
Now, you WILL do the same? Won't you?
I'm not sure what the point would be to sit out an election and risk the chance of unnecessarily handing over a seat to a democrat.
Gary B| 6.28.12 @ 5:50AM
I'm doing the same thing, Ken, and feel the same about the situation.
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 8:10AM
While both men seem like good conservatives, I am routing for Cruz since he is the TEA Party favorite. But the issue is not whether the establishment beats the grassroots, or vice-versa. The point is that conservatives are holding the party accountable and driving it to conservative policies and platform.
In New Jersey, Governor Christie is about to be presented a Foreclosure Bill that will set up a $1 billion dollar bond sale to create our own version of Freddie Mac. It will buy foreclosed homes across the state that will bailout banks while at the same time destroying home values and creating "affordable housing." But "affordable housing" is what caused the Sub-prime crash in 2008, and the properties will be rented to ex-convicts, sex offenders, drug addicts and mentally ill.
He is also pushing an Executive Order to establish Agenda21 in New Jersey as a "Development and Redevelopment Plan."
The TEA Party groups across the state are fighting back. We hope to save New Jersey from total socialism, and we will not relent until we save the nation.
Maxwell| 6.27.12 @ 10:26AM
Von Mises Jr, you forgot to mention the latest Transportation Trust Fund Bill that takes money from Peter to pay Paul and the bonding of new debt. As it now stands Jersey is 47th in GDP and has the 5th highest unemployment. Yup, Chris Christie is doing a really bang up job! I STILL wish Lonegan got elected. Much more conservative than Christie ever will be.
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 11:01AM
Steve put out an email today announcing a conference call to discuss the ObaMaoCare decision tomorrow night. I am sure you can find it on the AFP website.
RJ| 6.27.12 @ 12:01PM
I met Ted Cruz at a candidate conference last month and am very impressed by him. He clerked for Michael Luttig and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, in addition to winning cases before the US Supreme Court as Solicitor General of Texas. He would make a great US Senator and I look forward to him serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Casey Abell| 6.27.12 @ 2:46PM
Cruz more or less flopped in the first debate, which Dewhurst managed to keep a dull non-event. Basically, Dewhurst wants nothing much to happen in the runoff election, and so far he's getting his wish.
Cruz has to cut through somehow to overcome Dewhurst's lead. After all, Dewhurst just has to pick up most of Leppert's voters from the first round to win comfortably, and those folks seem more inclined toward Dewhurst already.
After the debate non-event, Cruz tried a weird charge that Perry was only supporting Dewhurst to get him out of the state. Perry laughed that one off. We'll see if Cruz can get any more traction as the campaign continues.