http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/13/ted-cruz-praises-paul-jabs-mccain-in-speech-about-principle/
Ted Cruz praises Paul, responds to McCain in speech about ‘principle’
(David J. Phillip/AP)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) encouraged conservatives to never abandon their principles and “win the argument” in a Wednesday night speech that lauded Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s recent filibuster and jabbed at Arizona Sen. John McCain’s labeling of the Texas senator as a “wacko bird.”
“I think 2014 has the potential to be a very, very good year at the ballot box,” Cruz said in a keynote speech at Coalitions For America’s Weyrich Awards Dinner, the conservative group’s annual event named for founder Paul Weyrich. “But let me tell you right now, the number one way we can screw it up is if Republicans fail to stand on principle.”
The freshman senator, who was elected with strong tea party support, quickly took aim at McCain, who recently called him, Paul and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) “wacko birds” in an interview. Without mentioning McCain by name, Cruz told the crowd he was happy to be among friends, or “as some might say, fellow wacko birds.” He continued: “If standing for the Constitution, standing for liberty, standing for conservative values makes one a wacko bird … then I am pleased that birds of a feather flock together.”
Cruz held up Paul’s recent marathon filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan’sconfirmation as an example of a principled stand. “What happened during those nearly 13 hours was incredible,” said Cruz, who went on to detail the support Paul received as the hours went on.
The Texas senator referenced his effort to defund President Obama’s health-care reform law, which fell short in the Senate on Wednesday, as another example of sticking to principle.
Opting, in trademark style, to move about the stage away from the podium throughout his speech, Cruz flashed his sense of humor with a joke about the deep federal spending cuts that recently kicked in.
“In honor of the sequester, each of your meals has been reduced by 2.4 percent,” he said.
Cruz has moved quickly to establish himself as one of the Senate’s most conservative members, even as he has maintained ties to the establishment wing of the party through his role as vice chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm.
Wednesday’s speech was at times confrontational toward moderate Republicans. Being a conservative and a Republican are “often not the same thing,” he said at one point.
Cruz used the second half of his speech to encourage pro-growth policies and urged Republicans to make forceful arguments for their positions.
“In 2012 we didn’t win the argument,” Cruz argued. “Heck, at times it seems we didn’t even make the argument.”
Cruz will deliver another major speech on Saturday when he addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual conservative confab held in the Washington area.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/13/Cruz-tells-Republicans-stand-on-principle
CRUZ TO REPUBLICANS: 'STAND ON PRINCIPLE'
On Wednesday night, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) electrified the crowd at the Coalitions for America’s Weyrich Awards Dinner, named after founder Paul Weyrich. He led off his speech with a dismissive reference to Senator John McCain’s characterization of him as a “wacko bird.” Looking at the crowd, Cruz said, “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Cruz led off with a full-on critique of the President’s public relations blitz over sequestration. “2.4 percent cuts were made from your meals,” he joked. He referenced the “emaciated face” of conservative megadonor Foster Friess. Thanks to the dinner sequester, said Cruz, Friess looked like “Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables.”
Walking back and forth across the stage in his patented style, Cruz delivered body blows to both establishment Republicans and to the Obama administration. Urging conservatives to “stand for principle,” he said, “I think 2014 has the potential to be a very, very good year, but the number one way we can screw it up is if we fail to stand on principle.”
As an example of standing on principle, he mentioned Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) filibustering over President Obama’s drone policy. “We have an administration that seems to recognize no limits on its power,” said Cruz. Paul pointed that out with his filibuster – and more than that, Cruz pointed out, he made the constitution the issue. Holder, Cruz continued, seemed confused by all the talk about constitutionalism versus what was “appropriate” when it came to drone use, as though he expected Americans to simply trust the administration without reference to the appropriate scope of presidential power. But, said Cruz, “the entire premise of the US constitution is that we don’t trust you.”
It wasn’t just the Obama administration that opposed the filibuster, Cruz continued. “There were more than a few Republicans who didn’t show up, who held their manhoods accursed and cheapened,” Cruz said, paraphrasing Henry V.
Cruz saved heavy criticism for the media as well. Laughing at MSNBC’s attempt to offer advice to Republicans, Cruz said, “MSNBC on how to save the Republican Party is like Typhoid Mary giving the keys to good health.”
Most of Cruz’s speech was directed at the Obama administration’s regulatory and fiscal policy. Regulators and administrators, he said, were multiplying and occupying America like locusts. After seeing a picture of locusts descending on Egypt on the Drudge Report, he said, “I thought we’d sent the EPA.”
The biggest surprise about the US Senate, Cruz explained, was the “widespread sense of defeatism … It’s maddening.” But he said that he and his Tea Party colleagues “ain’t gonna stop … A lot of good things happen when you stand for principle.”
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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