Ted Cruz knocks ‘campaign conservatives’ in New Hampshire

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas touted himself Monday as the only candidate on the GOP presidential debate stage earlier this month who has always opposed “amnesty” for illegal immigrants and as someone who has consistently led on more than just one or two of the major issues facing the country today.

“I think all of us are frustrated. We’re frustrated with Washington and we’re fed up with politicians who say one thing and do another,” Mr. Cruz said at a Concerned Veterans for America town hall in New Hampshire. “We’ve seen that over and over and over again — we always see, every cycle, what I call campaign conservatives — people who on the campaign suddenly become … the most conservative person you’ve ever seen.

“You notice on that debate stage in Cleveland not a single person stood up there and said, ’I’m an establishment moderate squish. I stand for nothing,’” he said. “They don’t say that. Every person there claims to be a conservative.

“I think as voters and citizens, the test we should apply — Scripture tells us you shall know them by their fruits,” he said. “We need to ask not what are you saying on the campaign trail but have you walked the walk? Have you been a consistent conservative, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow?”

He suggested picking the 10 or 12 biggest issues, challenges, or fights facing the country and asking every candidate on the stage how they have meaningfully led on the issue.

“So if you say you oppose Obamacare, great — when have you stood up and led the fight to stop it?” said Mr. Cruz, who held the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in the fall of 2013 in protest of the law.

He suggested asking people who oppose the debt and the debt ceiling when they have taken on the “Washington cartel” and fought to do something about it.

He said everyone on the debate stage claims today that they oppose amnesty.

“And yet a majority of the candidates on that stage previously, publicly embraced amnesty,” he said. “I am the only candidate on that stage who has always opposed amnesty and, in fact, who led the fight against Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer and the establishment Republicans when they had a massive amnesty plan and we defeated it in the U.S. [Congress].”

He also posed similar questions on the issues of religious liberty, the Second Amendment, the right to privacy, the 10th Amendment and Common Core education standards, support for Israel, radical Islamic terrorism and the Iranian nuclear deal.

“Now that’s my list of the 10 or 12 biggest issues,” he said. “[If] you look at those issues and you look at the other candidates, most of the other candidates, you can probably find one issue. Occasionally two that they have led on. But there’s no other candidate in the field who on every one of those issues has stood up and led and has fought for conservative principles as a consistent conservative.”

He also said every candidate is going to promise to take care of veterans, but the difference is that he’s going to honor that promise.

“And you know that because I’ve honored the promises I’ve made in public life year after year after year,” he said.

He said it’s worth noting foreign policy is something that can change “almost immediately with a new president,” pointing to the 1981 release of hostages by Iran the day President Reagan was sworn in.

“That’s the difference a commander in chief with credibility can have,” he said. “And I will point out — if you look at elections where national security and foreign policy is front and center, that has historically tended to benefit senators over governors because most governors do not have significant experience or involvement in these issues and in the Senate, you’re dealing with [them] every day.

“And I will say this, come January 20, 2017 — I think of all of the candidates on that stage, the Ayatollah Khamenei, when I stand up and tell the Ayatollah you will either shut down your nuclear program or we will shut it down for you, I think I’m the one commander in chief who the Ayatollah will believe, because I’ll carry through and do exactly what I said I would do,” he said.