Senador Marco Rubio: “No veo nada que vaya a cambiar la situación política dentro de Cuba.”

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Hunting Season Opens on Ted Cruz - Humberto Fontova

townhall

Humberto Fontova

As if Ted Cruz didn’t already have enough against him media-wise (i.e. he’s a principled, brilliant and credentialed conservative both fiscally-- and even more odiously--socially)–on top of these offenses, he’s also half Cuban.

Forget the liberal love chants to “ethnic diversity.” The Cuban ethnic brand has long flapped like a matador’s cape in front of the Democrat-Media complex. Granted, some of those insufferable Cubans love to flap it.

Ted Cruz-Derangement-Syndrome went viral in the media this week. From Chris Matthews to David Muir and from Joe Scarborough to David Brooks-- they were all over Cruz like a cheap suit. The New Yorker’s John Cassidy called Cruz “uppity”—then weaseled out because the term has “disturbing historical connotations.”

A berserk Donny Deutsch over at MSNBC denounced Cruz as not only “unelectable,” but “scary, I think he’s dangerous, I think he’s slimy and I think he brings no fresh ideas.”

It’s an old story, actually. A few years ago during an interview with Joy Behar, MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch sneered at Cuban-American Marco Rubio as that “coconut down in Florida.”

In settings like MSNBC (but usually backstage) the term coconut (brown on the outside white on the inside) is generally used to castigate “Hispanics” who ignore marching orders barked by Democratic/Media drill sergeants–same as “Oreo” for similarly uppity blacks.

Never mind that the Cuban-American Marco Rubio (like Ted Cruz) is probably more purely Caucasian than Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Oral Roberts, Johnny Depp among many other southerners who boast Choctaw/Cherokee heritage. Never mind this because the issue here is the liberal media’s hypocrisy—not their stupidity.

Here’s Norman Birnbaum, a current columnist for The Nation, The Daily Beast among other liberal publications, going off on Cuban Americans a few years ago: “Despite the truly repellent Miami Cubans of the older generation and their gallant allies, the Israel lobby, Castro hangs on.”

Birnbaum is also a Georgetown Professor Emeritus and former advisor to three Democratic Presidential candidates. Now imagine a Republican political adviser and—say--Hillsdale college professor/author spouting, on the record on for public consumption, any of the following phrases: "those truly repellent New York Jews" or "those truly repellent Ferguson Negroes" or "those truly repellent Los Angeles Mexicans," or “those truly repellent Detroit Arabs.”

Would he even bother seeking future media employment?

Years ago Joe Sobran –as usual—nailed it by writing that “refugees from communism embarrass liberals.” Bulls-eye!

These refugees are living, breathing, walking, talking refutations of the horrors of extra-strength leftism. This makes leftists of all stripes very uncomfortable. These living, breathing testimonials against their product must be silenced, booted home (Elian Gonzalez) scorned (MSNBC) or-- at the very least—ignored (try finding my books mentioned by the non-Fox Media.)

Whoops! Excuse me, I exaggerate. In fact, these books have been mentioned --shamelessly plugged in fact, but in places such as Warsaw by the Polska Times ( a division of the London Times,) Madrid by former Spanish First Lady Ana Botella, in Sao Paolo by Brazil’s hugely popular Veja. Nothing by the Beltway biggies in my home country however.

Deep down liberals feel that Cuban-Americans had it coming. Only a tiny and filthy-rich clique of mobsters, pimps, crooks, robber barons, slave-drivers, plantation-owners, and sweat-shop owners–all direct descendants of the Spanish conquistadores—prospered in pre-Castro Cuba. They prospered by slave driving, sweatshopping and pimping the island’s indigenous people. Thus goes thefable.

Consequently, people like Ted Cruz’ and Humberto Fontova’s fathers “had it ‘comin—and revenge is sweet!”

Watch: Ted Cruz Announces 2016 Presidential Bid

Is Ted Cruz Allowed To Run Since He Was Born In Canada?: It's All Politics

NPR/ Domenico Montanaro

Rafael & Ted Cruz/ thelapine.ca

There will be a question from some about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president.

That's because even though Cruz grew up in Texas, he was born in Canada. (He renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013.)

Democrats are sure to remind voters of Cruz's Canadian birth since some on the right have questioned where President Obama was born. The president is a native of Hawaii.

Sen. Ted Cruz says because his mother was born in the United States that makes him a "natural born citizen" and eligible to run for president.

The U.S. Constitution says presidential candidates have to be "natural-born citizens." But the Supreme Court has never weighed in with a definition, leaving it open to interpretation.

It's a question that has come up before. In 2008, senators passed a resolution, making it clear, for example, that John McCain was allowed to run given that he was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both senators then, voted for it.

Barry Goldwater, the 1964 GOP nominee, was born in Arizona when it was a territory – not a state. And some questioned George Romney's eligibility to run in 1968, because he was born in Mexico. Romney's parents were U.S. residents.

Cruz's parents worked in the oil industry in Calgary, Canada, when he was born. His mother was born in the United States. His father was born in Cuba, but later became a U.S. resident. Cruz argues that because his mother was born in Delaware, he is, in fact, a "natural-born citizen."

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen...shall be eligible to the Office of President."

U.S. Constitution

And most legal scholars agree. In fact, two of the best-known Supreme Court lawyers – who are not normally on the same side – make the case that Cruz – as well as McCain, George Romney and Goldwater – is eligible to run.

Neal Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, and Paul Clement, who was solicitor general under George W. Bush, wrote earlier this month in the Harvard Law Review that "there is no question" Cruz is eligible.

They cite that because Cruz's mother was a U.S. citizen and his father was a U.S. resident, "Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a 'natural born Citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution" and the "Naturalization Act of 1790."

They also point to British common law and enactments by the First Congress, both of which have been cited by the Supreme Court.

Both confirm that the original meaning of the phrase "natural born Citizen" includes persons born abroad who are citizens from birth based on the citizenship of a parent. As to the British practice, laws in force in the 1700s recognized that children born outside of the British Empire to subjects of the Crown were subjects themselves and explicitly used "natural born" to encompass such children. These statutes provided that children born abroad to subjects of the British Empire were "natural-born Subjects . . . to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes whatsoever."
The Framers, of course, would have been intimately familiar with these statutes and the way they used terms like "natural born," since the statutes were binding law in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. They were also well documented in Blackstone's Commentaries, a text widely circulated and read by the Framers and routinely invoked in interpreting the Constitution.
No doubt informed by this longstanding tradition, just three years after the drafting of the Constitution, the First Congress established that children born abroad to U.S. citizens were U.S. citizens at birth, and explicitly recognized that such children were "natural born Citizens." The Naturalization Act of 1790 provided that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States ... ."
The actions and understandings of the First Congress are particularly persuasive because so many of the Framers of the Constitution were also members of the First Congress. That is particularly true in this instance, as eight of the eleven members of the committee that proposed the natural born eligibility requirement to the Convention served in the First Congress and none objected to a definition of "natural born Citizen" that included persons born abroad to citizen parents.

Katyal and Clement conclude, "There are plenty of serious issues to debate in the upcoming presidential election cycle. The less time spent dealing with specious objections to candidate eligibility, the better. Fortunately, the Constitution is refreshingly clear on these eligibility issues."

Ted Cruz to Announce Presidential Bid on Monday

NBC News.com

hardnoxandfriends.com

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will announce his presidential bid on Monday during an address at Liberty University in Virginia, NBC News confirms.

Cruz, a conservative Republican famed for his staunch opposition to the president's signature health care law and his executive actions on immigration, will become the first GOP hopeful to formally announce a White House run.

A person with knowledge of the announcement tells NBC that the senator will announce the bid during a convocation ceremony at Liberty, a Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia.

A favorite of Tea Party activists, Cruz is known for his filibuster-like speech to protest the Affordable Care Act as a government shutdown loomed in 2013.

First elected to the Senate in 2012, Cruz previously served as the the solicitor general of Texas.

In a March NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll, 40 percent of GOP primary voters said they could see themselves supporting Cruz for president, while 38 percent said they could not see themselves backing him.

The news of Cruz's run was first reported by the Houston Chronicle late Saturday night.

Ted Cruz Walks Out During Raul Castro Speech at Mandela Funeral

breitbart

By Tony Lee 

On Tuesday, after President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reportedly walked out of Nelson Mandela's memorial service when Raul Castro was speaking. 

A Cruz spokesperson told Newsmax that Cruz believes "Castro has wrongly imprisoned and tortured countless innocents" and that Castro "learns from Mandela."

"Just as Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, Castro should finally release his political prisoners; he should hold free elections, and once and for all set the Cuban people free," the spokesperson said. 

Cruz's father, Rafael, is from Cuba, and he came to the United States before Raul's brother--Fidel Castro--came to power in 1959.

Sean Penn: Commit Ted Cruz, Tea Party Pols by Executive Order

Breitbart

www.hoycinema.com

By Christian Toto 

Sean Penn cares, deeply, for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his fellow Tea Party members. It's why the Oscar winner wants Cruz and co. committed to a mental asylum.

Penn shared his views on the Tea Party during Monday's edition of the low-rated Piers Morgan Live on CNN. 

I think they have -- there's a mental health problem in Congress,” Penn said. “This would be solved by committing them by executive order, I think. Because these are our American brothers and sisters, we shouldn't be criticizing them, attacking them … this is a cry for help.
“You literally commit what, people like Ted Cruz?” asked Morgan.
“He is my American brother,” the actor said. “I think we should take care of him, he is in trouble.”

Morgan did not challenge Penn's assertion or ask any follow-up questions as even a third-rate journalist might. Instead, Morgan chuckled like a school girl sitting atop a whoopee cushion.

 

Cruz: McCain Sabotaged Republicans

Breitbart-TV

Police Investigating Graphic, Violent Threats Made Against Ted Cruz: ‘Go the F*** Back to Canada, Else You and [Your] Family Will Pay’

TheBlaze.com

Jason Howerton

It seems that the rhetoric against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has gone from hateful to downright graphic and violent. The Capitol Police are investigating online threats made by an individual against the Texas senator, a Cruz spokesperson said Friday.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The threatening posts were made on Twitter by someone who identifies himself as Troy Gilmore Jr. and uses the Twitter handle @ArmyVet54. He has also listed Cruz’s home address in Houston several times and argued he needs to be “taught a street wise lesson.”

“Take down Ted Cruz, at his home,” the person tweeted, listing Cruz’s home address in Houston.

“Lets Find Ted Cruz, Texas address and show up his House, drag him out and B***h slap his A** in front of the country,” another tweet reads.

“Ted Cruz, we want you a** go the f*** back in Canada, else you and ur family will pay. U got a f***ing big mouth,” the same person wrote.

In yet another threatening post, the user advocates hanging Cruz by his “small balls if he tries another ‘ShutdownTactic.’”

“We’re aware of it and have alerted the proper authorities. I can’t comment further on security matters,” Cruz spokesman Sean Rushton told The Hill.

Capitol Police spokesman Shennell Antrobus told the Hill the department is “looking into that matter” and that they take all threats against members of Congress seriously.

Ted Cruz's Father Rafael Cruz Compares President Obama to Fidel Castro

Latina

AP Photo

Ted Cruz with father Rafael and daughter Caroline during victory speech in 2012

Sen. Ted Cruz's father Rafael Cruz took the stage at a Freedom Works Free the People event this summer and gave a speech in which he compared President Obama to Fidel Castro numerous times.

"It is such an honor to be here with so many patriots," said elder Cruz. He then went on to share with the crowd that he "grew up in Cuba under a strong, military, oppressive dictatorship" and that as a teenager had become involved in a revolution.

"I remember during that time, a young, charismatic leader rose up, talking about hope and change," he said. "His name was Fidel Castro."

Rafael went on to recall how he became disillusioned by seeing what Castro had later done to Cuba even after promising "hope and change," and then later goes on to say that seeing what is happening in the United States under Obama also causes disillusion.

"I think the most ominous words I’ve ever heard was in the last two state of the union addresses, when our president said: 'If Congress does not act, I will act unilaterally,'" he said.

More  >>>

Ted Cruz: America Only Has A Couple Years To Turn Around

breitbart

Senate advances ObamaCare, budget bill after marathon Cruz speech

Fox News

The Senate voted Wednesday to advance a controversial bill that would both avert a government shutdown while defunding ObamaCare, after Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a marathon 21-hour speech in a bid to rally public opposition to the health care law. 

Despite Cruz's efforts, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is expected to swiftly strike the ObamaCare language, leaving only a stopgap spending bill that would keep the government open until mid-November. This will tee up yet another stand-off with Republicans. Without an agreement, the government will partially shut down on Oct. 1, but some Republicans continue to demand that the health law be defunded in exchange for a budget bill. 

"ObamaCare isn't working," Cruz said Wednesday, as he departed the Senate floor after speaking in opposition to the law from Tuesday afternoon straight through until noon on Wednesday. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid countered that his floor speech was a "big waste of time" and only brought the government closer to a shutdown. 

"With all due respect, I'm not sure we learned anything new," Reid said. 

Cruz's speech was a symbolic stand, as he was not actually able to stall the bill at this point. In the end, he and every other senator voted to advance the bill and proceed to debate. The vote was 100-0. But Cruz, anticipating that Reid will re-fund ObamaCare, is trying to rally Republicans and moderate Democrats to join in blocking the bill before it comes to a final vote. Another test vote, which will require 60 senators to proceed, is expected in the coming days. 

What comes next is a complicated set of procedural maneuvers, with no clear outcome. 

Reid hopes to put up a clean bill that simply keeps the government open past Sept. 30, and send it the House by the end of the weekend. If Reid can muster the votes, majority Republicans in the House will then have to decide whether to stand by their demand that the health law be defunded and risk a government shutdown, or pass the Senate bill -- in turn keeping the government open, but allowing key parts of the controversial health law to launch in early October.

Speaking in support of the health law, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed his party is in a better position going into the final stretch before the end-of-the-month deadline. 

"Senator Cruz has actually advanced our cause. He has alienated some of his colleagues. He has united Democrats. And he has shown the American people he is willing to hold them and their wellbeing hostage unless he gets his way," he said. 

From Tuesday afternoon until noon on Wednesday, Cruz -- with occasional remarks by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and other GOP conservatives -- controlled the Senate floor and railed against ObamaCare. At 10:41 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Cruz and his allies reached the 20-hour mark, the fourth-longest Senate speech since precise record-keeping began in 1900. 

That exceeded March's 12-hour, 52-minute speech by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., like Cruz a tea party lawmaker and potential 2016 presidential contender, and filibusters by such Senate icons as Huey Long of Louisiana and Robert Byrd of West Virginia. 

Cruz said he has learned that defying party leaders is "survivable," adding, "Ultimately, it is liberating" and that his long evening involved "sometimes some pain, sometimes fatigue." 

But he added, "You know what? There's far more pain in rolling over. ... Far more pain in not standing up for principle."

After 21 hours, Cruz ends Senate floor marathon

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By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

After more than 21 hours and no bathroom break, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ended his talk-a-thon against Obamacare at high noon on Wednesday.

The conservative firebrand's marathon speech against health care reform ended as the Senate calendar moved to a new day's business for procedural purposes. Though he had the option to speak until 1 p.m. ET, Cruz ended his speech after hours on his feet, clocking in at 21 hours, 18 minutes and 59 seconds. Cruz's speech is now the fourth longest in the history of the body. The record for longest speech on the Senate floor is still held by Sen Strom Thurmond (D-SC) in 1957, when he spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz reads two bedtime stories to his daughters at home and likens Obamacare to "Green Eggs and Ham"

Cruz finished – in black sneakers bought specially for the occasion – after taking no bathroom breaks and eating no food beyond a few nibbles throughout the night. He occasionally paced the floor to stretch his legs after yielding to some helpful Republican colleagues for a question. Those pauses allowed him to take a break from speaking, if not standing.

But Cruz's speech, as long as it was, did not have the effect of stalling a planned vote to formally take up legislation passed last week by the House that would fund the government past Sept. 30, but also strip funding for the Affordable Care Act. That vote was still set to move forward on Wednesday afternoon.

But Cruz nonetheless spoke thousands of words – including a rendition of Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" Cruz read as a bedtime story over television to his children – before finally resting. He professed his love for White Castle burgers, talked about Star Wars, and even commended actor Ashton Kutcher for a recent award show speech. Between the padding, the freshman senator dipped into long monologues about his fierce opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care law.

He even sought to speak a bit more, apologizing to nonpartisan Senate staff for having to endure his “Bataan Death March” of a speech. He first took control of the floor at 2:41 p.m. on Tuesday.

"There is still, at least, strength in my legs to stand a little longer," he said late Wednesday morning. After engaging in a procedural back-and-forth with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Cruz eventually said he would wrap up his effort at noon.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks about difficult situations that Americans have faced during his Tuesday speech on the Senate floor against the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats were largely dismissive of Cruz's effort, noting that it was not a formal filibuster since it had no effect of delaying or preventing a vote on the House-passed legislation. And Reid even noted that he and Cruz had previously agreed to set aside time for the Texas senator's lengthy screed.

"This is an agreement that he and I made that he could talk," Reid said.

But for all the posturing, his effort amounts to little more than a very, very long speech. But Cruz gained in some regards by endearing himself to conservatives who regard Obamacare as anathema. That enthusiasm could prove useful come 2016, should Cruz decide to wage a bid for the Republican presidential nomination – an action for which Cruz has already begun preparing.

Cruz did succeed in rallying some Republicans to his cause throughout the evening, though. Republican Sens. Mike Lee, David Vitter, Pat Roberts, Jeff Sessions, Marco Rubio, Jim Inhofe, and Mike Enzi had visited the Senate floor to ask their colleague a question, a tactic that allowed Cruz a temporary break from speaking. Though he didn’t appear on the floor during Cruz’s speech, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hailed the Texas senator’s antics after they had concluded.

Those other Republicans’ words of praise underscore the political value of the lengthy speech for Cruz. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – who appeared on the floor to assist Cruz – waged his own, formal filibuster against President Barack Obama’s national security practices and use of drone strikes in March. That filibuster made Paul, another freshman Republican with designs on the presidency, a hero to many grassroots conservatives.

"We saw something incredible happen at that time...and it transformed the debate," Cruz said Tuesday, commending Paul's effort.

Still, the Senate was set to move forward with its business as planned once Cruz had concluded.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks on the Senate floor Tuesday, vowing to deliver a long speech against the Affordable Care Act.

Ironically, after exhausting virtually all the time allowed for senators to debate the legislation on funding the government and gutting Obamacare, Cruz called for limiting the amount of time for debate before a final vote. Cruz argued it would be better for a vote to be held on Friday so that the public would more likely tune in; on Saturday, the Texas senator reasoned, many Americans might be distracted by college football games.

The shorter time-frame for the next vote, though, also serves a shared purpose for lawmakers in the House. They need the Senate to return the legislation to them -- which will have the provision to defund Obamacare stripped from it -- as soon as possible. That would give the House GOP more leeway to craft a counter-offer to send back to the Senate before the deadline at the end of Monday night, at which point the government would cease all but its most essential operations.

Because of the peculiarities of Senate procedure, Cruz was actually preventing the chamber from taking up the very legislation to fund the government that he and other conservatives favor. He was arguing against efforts to take up that bill because Democrats have the necessary votes to strip the measure to defund Obamacare from the underlying legislation.

Carrie Dann, Andrew Rafferty, Frank Thorp and Kelly O'Donnell contributed to this story.

Rubio Joins Cruz on Senate Floor To Discuss ObamaCare

SenatorMarcoRubio

18 hours and counting: Cruz crusade against Obamacare continues on Senate floor

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Cruz renounces any claim to Canadian citizenship

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Drew Angerer / Getty Images, file

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks about immigration near Capitol Hill on July 15.

By Michael O'Brien, NBC News

Texas Senator Ted Cruz renounced any claim to Canadian citizenship late Monday amid questions about his birthplace and whether he is constitutionally eligible to be president of the United States.
Cruz, who was born in Canada, said in a statement that he is a United States citizen by birth because his mother was a U.S. citizen.
His Canadian birth certificate, however, has raised questions about whether he has dual citizenship in both countries.
His decision to renounce Canadian citizenship could be a precursor toward laying the foundation against any legal challenge to a presidential campaign.
His statement read:
"Given the raft of stories today about my birth certificate, it must be a slow news day. The facts of my birth are straightforward: I was born in 1970 in Calgary, Canada. Because my mother was a U.S. citizen, born in Delaware, I was a U.S. citizen by birth. When I was a kid, my Mom told me that I could choose to claim Canadian citizenship if I wanted. I got my U.S. passport in high school.
"Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken  affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter.
"Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship. Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American."

Ted Cruz Releases Birth Certificate — and Is Apparently a Canadian Citizen (But…)

TheBlaze.com
Madeleine Morgenstern

Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), speaks during the family leadership summit in Ames, Iowa Saturday Aug. 10, 2013. (AP)

In an apparent effort to quash the nascent speculation about his eligibility for president one day, Sen. Ted Cruz has released his birth certificate showing definitively that his mother was, and therefore he was born, an American citizen — but also apparently exposes his Canadian citizenship as well.

Cruz (R-Texas) shared his birth certificate with the Dallas Morning News, showing that he was born in Calgary, Alberta to an American citizen mother, which gave him American citizenship. But legal experts told the newspaper that Cruz also became a Canadian citizen as soon as he was born, by virtue of Canada’s automatic citizenship laws.

“He’s a Canadian,” attorney Stephen Green, the former head of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, told the Dallas Morning News.

Cruz’s office denied knowing he had dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship.

“Senator Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth, and he never had to go through a naturalization process after birth to become a U.S. citizen,” spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told the Dallas Morning News. “To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce.”

Sen. Ted Cruz released his birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News. (Image source: Dallas Morning News)

Frazier said Cruz’s mother registered his birth with the U.S. consulate and that he received a U.S. passport when he was in high school.

That doesn’t change the fact that being born in Alberta made him a Canadian citizen, experts said.

“If a child was born in the territory, he is Canadian, period,” University of Montreal law professor France Houle told the newspaper. “He can ask for a passport. He can vote.”

President Barack Obama has long faced skepticism about his birth in Hawaii and whether he is eligible to be president, including after the White House released his birth certificate in 2011.

Cruz, a Tea Party favorite, has dismissed questions about his citizenship, including telling ABC News in July he was “not going to engage in a legal debate.”

Sen. Ted Cruz: Obama administration reminds me of Castro's Cuba

Charlie Spiering

Cuban-Canadian-American Ted Cruz ’16? Texas senator’s path might not be so easy

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es.wikipedia.org

By Michael O’Brien , Political Reporter, NBC News

Conservative firebrand Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whose service in office is just four months long, is considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, according to a report on Wednesday by National Review.

The Texas Republican has quickly won the fervent support of grassroots conservatives since his election last November by breaking with Senate convention to aggressively challenge Democrats – and some Republicans, too. Citing anonymous sources, the National Review article suggested Cruz might look to quickly capitalize on his newfound fame, and rally conservatives behind his candidacy.

But there are significant barriers to Cruz winning the GOP nod in 2016, let alone winning the White House. Here are a few of them:

Cruz would face tough conservative competitionWhile Cruz has charmed figures ranging from conservative bloggers to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he could encounter a Republican primary field that would hardly cede the most conservative bloc within the GOP to Cruz. 

It’s easy to conceive of a series of Republican presidential hopefuls – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (and possibly more) – vying for the same segment of the Republican primary vote as Cruz. Any one of those candidates will almost encounter difficulty in harnessing the political power of the Tea Party, a movement that has never been particularly well-known for acting in concert.

Fantasy vs. realityIf Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s bid for the Republican nomination in 2012 taught political observers anything, it’s that being a potential candidate is always easier to execute than being an actual candidate.

Conservatives, searching for an alternative to the establishment-backed favorite, Mitt Romney, practically begged Perry to make a late entry into the primary. They extolled his conservatism and the positive jobs situation in Texas, arguing that his record, combined with a top-notch team of consultants, would make Perry the new favorite for the GOP nomination.

Of course, things didn’t turn out that way. Perry withered under the national spotlight and the scrutiny of rival Republican candidates. Recent history is littered with examples of similar primary candidates, like Democratic hopeful Wesley Clark in 2004, and former Sen. Fred Thompson’s foray into the GOP primary of 2008. Their candidacies fizzled after having won broad acclaim at their outset.

Cruz would almost certainly face stiff opposition in a Republican primary that could expose any of his flaws as a politician. Wednesday’s National Review article cited Cruz’s experience as an award-winning debater, but his performances in those contests have never been filtered through the prism of rival campaigns or the national media.

The establishment would strike backCruz’s path to the GOP nomination would almost certainly rely on an outside strategy in which he courts conservative activists and rails against the party establishment in Washington. But would the D.C. establishment necessarily take that kind of criticism while sitting down?

In 2012, the GOP establishment quickly rallied around Romney, if only after it became apparent that there would be no other serious contenders for the presidency available. And when it seemed as though the more conservative Rick Santorum might emerge to dethrone Romney during the primaries, there were serious rumblings that GOP money men might scramble to find an alternative candidate who they regarded as more formidable versus President Barack Obama in the general election.

Given Cruz’s conservatism, it isn’t tough to imagine the GOP establishment rallying around a candidate perceived as more electable to if a Cruz candidacy  came too close to victory.

It doesn’t help Cruz that he’s forged few alliances during his short time in the nation’s capital. He most recently derided many of his congressional colleagues as “squishes,” and spoke publicly about internal Republican debates that were supposed to remain confidential. Cruz has worked with a few fellow conservatives, but two of them – Paul and Rubio – could end up being rival candidates for the GOP nomination in 2016.

Oh, Canada!The National Review article acknowledges that Cruz advisers are prepared for a legal challenge to his eligibility to serve as president, reminiscent of the “birther” attacks conservatives had leveled against Obama for much of his first term. 

At issue is Cruz’s birthplace. He was born in Calgary, Canada, the son of a Cuban refugee father and a U.S. citizen mother. Having been born outside the continental U.S., he would have to address questions about whether he is a “natural born” U.S. citizen, which the Constitution requires of a prospective president.

But even if Cruz is able to offer up all the evidence in the world of his eligibility, it’s not tough to imagine Democratic candidates and super PACs relishing in the chance to give a Republican his comeuppance, and turn the “birther” phenomenon back against a GOP hopeful. 

He’s barely a blip in the polls right nowCruz could certainly raise his national profile in the next few years, but the Texas senator hasn’t yet registered as a contender for the GOP nomination in any credible poll testing the 2016 field.

A Quinnipiac University poll at the beginning of last month found that Rubio was the slight, early favorite among Republican primary voters; 19 percent of them said they would favor the Florida senator as their nominee in 2016. And while other contenders like Paul, Walker, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell all registered some level of support, Cruz did not.

Cruz still faces the challenge of building his reputation outside of conservative, Washington-focused circles. But he still has plenty of upside, too; having been a figure on the national stage for such a short period of time, Cruz’s name ID among primary voters has virtually nowhere to go but up.

On the Record: Senator Hagel on Cuba Policy

capitolhillcubans

Who Is Chuck Hagel?

In the Congressional Record from former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) confirmation hearing for U.S. Secretary of Defense:

Question from U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.):

Senator Hagel, in 2002 you referred to Fidel Castro as a “toothless old dinosaur” and praised former President Jimmy Carter’s recommended policy of relaxed sanctions and diplomatic engagement as “exactly right.”  In 2008, you were a signatory to a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the U.S. relax sanctions and engage Cuba due to Castro’s “imminent departure.”  As of February 1, 2013, the Castros have not departed Cuba or shown any indication that additional concessions from the United States would modify their repressive regime.  An American contractor, Alan Gross, languishes in a Cuban prison.  Do you still believe Mr. Carter’s recommended policy towards Cuba is “exactly right?”  Would relaxing sanctions and engaging with the Castros be the hallmarks of your policy towards Cuba should you be confirmed?

Answer from U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.):

I support President Obama's Cuba policy which is focused on supporting the Cuban people’s desire to freely determine their future, reducing their dependence on the Cuban state, and pursuing the widely shared goal of a Cuba that respects the universal human rights of all its citizens.  The President’s actions to facilitate family travel, people to people travel, the flow of remittances into private hands, and information to, from, and within Cuba have contributed to this objective.  I share the President’s view that the Cuban government must change its outdated political model to reflect the commitments undertaken by other governments in the Hemisphere to promote and defend representative democracy.  Policy matters and other diplomatic issues involving Cuba are led by the State Department.