Ted Cruz appeared on MSNBC yesterday, where Joe Scarborough interviewed him about a host of issues. One of them: the Wall Street Journal‘s attacks on the senator and his policy proposals. While introducing the subject, Scarborough called the WSJ “the voice of conservatism for a lot of people,” after which he quoted from a recent article in the newspaper:
Mr. Cruz is Syrian NSA gambit seem intended to signal to Rand Paul and Donald Trump supporters that he should be their number two choice. Perhaps it’ll work as primary politics. But the positions and the opportunism don’t speak well of his judgment as a potential commander in chief.
Cruz’s response was both 100% correct and brilliant. First he dealt with the statement that the WSJ is considered to be “the voice of conservatism”:
Listen, Joe, there is no one no conservatives in America who think “The Wall Street Journal” is the voice of conservatism. As I talked about in my book, as you know, I wrote a book this summer called “A Time for Truth.” The opening chapter talks about how the Washington cartel, the career politicians in both parties, who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, how they work, and the way Republican leadership punishes anyone who stands up to the cartel is they engage in public flagellation — as I describe in that opening chapter, “Mendacity,” the most potent tool they have is “The Wall Street Journal” editorial board. And anytime Republican leadership is mad at you — with me, that’s quite often — you can set a stop watch and within 72 hours, “The Journal” hits you and they usually hit you twice. And “The Journal” — listen, “The Journal’s” hobbyhorse is they love amnesty. They are focused obsessively on amnesty.
As Cruz rightfully pointed out, there are a couple of websites and newspapers that are used by the establishment to criticize any real conservative member of Congress who’s trying to get something done. Politico is one of them, as is the Wall Street Journal, which isn’t “conservative,” but crony capitalist.
Being crony capitalist, the WSJ is also passionately pro-amnesty, which takes me to the second part of Cruz’s blistering response:
For the next three months, “The Journal” should change their header to the Marco Rubio for President Newspaper, because their attacks — and it’s going to keep coming because Marco fights for the principles they care about.
When asked whether that includes amnesty, Cruz answered:
Yes. Look, let’s rewind. When Marco ran for Senate in Florida, he told the men and women of Florida, just like I told the men and women of Texas, if you elect me, I’ll lead the fight against amnesty.
Now listen, some of your viewers may not agree with that. But both of us told the voters, that’s what we would do. When we got to Washington, we made different choices. He made the choice to stand with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama, not only not lead the fight against amnesty but offer a massive amnesty bill that, among other things — you want to talk about national security, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have dramatically expanded President Obama’s authority to admit Syrian refugees with no background checks whatsoever. Now that is a serious threat to our national security.
It does, but Marco Rubio and the Wall Street Journal couldn’t care less. What they care about is bringing in cheap labor for their business friends. The rule of law be damned — show us the money!
Here’s the video of Cruz’s epic takedown of the WSJ and Rubio. Enjoy.
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