Bret Baier interviewed Ted Cruz tonight on Special Report and spent a few minutes grilling him on his so-called 2013 ‘position’ on the legalization of illegals during the Gang of 8 bill process.
Here’s the full interview and the grilling comes early:
Sometimes when you wage ‘war’ you have to do things that aren’t always going to make you look as nice and pristine as most people want to see you, especially when you are running for president. As we explained before, Cruz was not going to reveal his poison pill strategy while trying to defeat the bill.
Cruz told Bret Baier that he wanted his amendment to pass. Of course he did, but he knew they wouldn’t pass it for obvious reasons. It wasn’t what they really wanted. He proposed a path to legalization precisely so those who wanted a path to citizenship would reject it, exposing their true intentions.
But in order to implement the strategy, he had to be consistent when he spoke about it. Baier was pushing him to basically admit that in order for him to be consistent, he had to convince people he was for the bill to pass with his amendment. It was a strategy that doesn’t lend itself well to a political campaign when others will willingly misconstrue your record. But it did work and the Gang of 8 was exposed; Cruz won.
In a normal interview without a presidential election hanging over his head, maybe Cruz would admit to such a thing. But for him to do so now, well it would be seized upon by his enemies who are already trying to deceive people about his Senate record. Why should he give them ammo? It’s just not smart.
Instead Cruz goes back to the purpose of the amendment, which was to expose the hypocrisy of his Senate counterparts who were saying the bill was about one thing when it was really about something else.
Look, Cruz is a fighter. If this doesn’t demonstrate that, I don’t know what does. Even if some use it to try and smear him, he still fought to defeat a bill that was about amnesty and I’m sure he doesn’t regret it, especially considering he was successful.
And I’m glad he did.