Ted Cruz: The One that Called out the Moderators

10/28 GOP Presidential Debate

When many hear the name Ted Cruz, they think of the over-polished Cuban senator from Florida… that is until they come to the rude awakening they confused him with the more attractive Marco Rubio. In reality, Ted Cruz is the far-right Texas senator that looks like Count Dracula from Sesame Street, the one having a hard time gaining media and voter attention. Cruz’s status is not improving: during the debate he failed to impress the audience with his status as a policy hawk, instead standing out for necessarily calling out the moderators’ unfairly loaded questions.  Cruz managed to come out of the debate as a winner, despite his lack of electable substance.

The CNBC questions were heavily loaded, moderators asked such questions as, to quote Cruz, “‘Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?'” “‘Ben Carson, can you do math?'” “‘John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?'” “‘Marco Rubio, why don’t you resign?'” “‘Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?'” Ted Cruz’s highlight of the debate was his outright criticism of the moderators for instigating a “cage match” between the candidates, earning Cruz thunderous applause from the audience. “Let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media. This is not a cage match . . . The questions shouldn’t be getting people to tear into each other,” declared Cruz. The premise of this argument was that “We need to talk about the substantive issues the people care about.” Ironically, while politically it was a good move as many American people dislike the media’s coverage of this campaign, Cruz didn’t give a straight answer to the actual question, which asked Cruz’s opinion of raising the debt ceiling.  Although it was important to address the media’s shortcomings, Senator Cruz could have provided more answers the American people want and need rather than picking up political points.

Although the policies Cruz actually elaborated on were often displayed clearly and logically, they were also often misinformed.  Cruz laid out his flat tax plan, claiming that a family of four will pay nothing on the first thirty-six thousand dollars and that there will be no death tax.  Later, Cruz claimed that there are more women in poverty since Obama has taken office, and although this is true, he failed to consider that when President Obama assumed the presidency, Obama had a task of digging the United States out of an economic hole that rivaled the Great Depression.  To top it off, Cruz did not explain how he would help these women, which prompts me to ask the question: “Senator Cruz, what can you actually do to combat the problem?”

Although the typical liberal may be bewildered to find anyone that agrees with Ted Cruz’s conservative policies, I assure you, supporters are out there. Recently I visited my grandparents in boiled-peanuts, finger-lickin’ Georgia and they adamantly supported Ted Cruz.  When I proceeded to ask them about their stance on welfare they believed that we should get rid of it.  When I asked about abortion they said they would tell my sister and mother to never get one.  I came to the conclusion that Cruz supporters may be pro-life for the unborn, but they are not pro-life for the living, the minorities, and the mothers in distress. All in all, Cruz’s most memorable moment was a cat call of the moderators, ironically opposing the substantive policy discussion Cruz called for.