In Iowa, Scott Walker Refuses to Condemn Trump: ‘He Can Speak for Himself’

While most GOP presidential candidates rush to take potshots at surprise frontrunner Donald Trump, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker appears to be handling the real-estate-mogul-turned-presidential-candidate with an abundance of caution. “Donald Trump can speak for himself,” 

Walker said in Iowa today when asked to explain Trump’s meteoric rise. “I’m going to answer questions about my positions, not Donald Trump’s or Jeb Bush’s or Marco Rubio’s or anyone else’s out there.”

Ted Cruz has been the only high-profile GOP presidential contender to openly embrace Trump’s controversial entry into the race so far. Other Republican candidates have come out swinging against the celebrity businessman’s firebrand rhetoric. Former Texas governor Rick Perry called it “a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense.” South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham said Trump was a “wrecking ball” for the Republican Party. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush said Trump’s controversial comments on immigration were “not accurate,” and Florida senator Marco Rubio called them “offensive” and “divisive.

” But even after Trump relegated Walker to second-place in a new national Fox News poll on Thursday, the Wisconsin governor still wouldn’t budge. When asked why he wouldn’t join other candidates in condemning Trump, Walker still wouldn’t comment. “You’re going to ask me again, I’ll give you the same answer 50 more times,” he said, when asked why he wouldn’t join other candidates in condemning Trump. “So if you want to waste your time on that question, go ahead.”

Via National Review

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[VIDEO] CRUZ: ‘THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION’

Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

argued “the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration” on Tuesday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.

Cruz said that sanctuary cities were a “persistent problem” where “you’ve got, often Democratic, mayors who are elected from the far left and who decline enforce the law. Now, it varies in terms of how brazen it is. It’s not always as brazen as San Francisco is, but it’s a problem when you have cities that are in the control of the Democrats and don’t want to follow the law.” And “they disagree with the law, and so they’re ignoring it.” Before touting legislation to cut off federal funding with sanctuary cities.

Cruz was then asked why the federal government has not passed legislation to force compliance with the law, he responded, “Well, it’s because the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration. … They don’t even call it illegal immigration. They’ve come up with this ‘undocumented’ term because they don’t acknowledge  — I’m reminded of a famous exchange where Sonny Bono, years ago — remember the former congressman? Was asked, ‘What’s your view on illegal immigration?’ He said [paraphrasing] ‘Well, It’s illegal, isn’t it?’ In 2013, the Obama administration released 36,000 criminals, people with criminal convictions who were illegal aliens. They released them publicly, 116 of them were murderers, they had homicide convictions. Over 15,000 of the criminal aliens the Obama administration released had convictions for drunk driving. These are Democrats that are endangering the security of this country by refusing to follow our laws, and it’s wrong.”

He also commented on the Iran deal, stating, “It is catastrophic. If it goes through, it will result in funding terrorism. It will endanger the lives of Americans. It will endanger Israel.” And vowed to “repudiate it on day one” if elected president.

Via: Breitbart

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CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS TARGET TRUMP, CRUZ WITH ‘DIVESTMENT’ BILL

The Associated Press

by ADELLE NAZARIAN10 Jul 2015

A group of California’s top Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill targeting 2016 presidential candidates Donald Trump and 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

 after Trump made controversial comments about illegal immigrants from Mexico, and Cruz defended him.

The resolution notes, in part:

Resolved, That the Senate condemns in the strongest terms possible the racist rhetoric against immigrant families made by Presidential candidate 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

; and be it further

Resolved, That the Senate condemns in the strongest terms possible the racist rhetoric against immigrant families made by Presidential candidate Donald Trump; and be it further

Resolved, That the Senate calls upon the State of California to divest from Donald Trump, The Trump Organization, and any affiliated entities; and be it further

Resolved, That the Senate calls upon private businesses and individuals throughout California to end all business ties with Donald Trump, The Trump Organization, and any affiliated entities; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

“The state of California will not stand for this type of racist rhetoric and racist behavior. Today we stand and call upon the state of California to dump Trump!” Sen. Isadore Hall III (D-Compton), who co-authored the resolution (SR 39), said outside of the Senate chambers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Via: Breitbart

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Donald Trump Raises Uncomfortable Truths

Donald Trump enjoyed a surge in the polls after his allegedly "racist" remarks about how all that diversity from South of the Border is not all it's cracked up to be.

The brash real-estate tycoon and TV star has struck a nerve, saying things that America's political elites would never publicly admit, with two notable exceptions being Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Both said Trump had made some good points, even if they were expressed in less than diplomatic terms.

Trump's surge in the polls is being fueled by ordinary Americans. They are applauding or murmuring quiet approval because they probably live in areas that have gotten massive influxes of immigrants -- the majority from Mexico -- over the last decade or two. They know what the score is; that diversity has failed to provide the benefits that political elites said it would. They've seen public schools overwhelmed with non-English speakers, dumbed down, social problems increase, and crime go up -- and it all seems to have a Hispanic face as millions upon millions of immigrants have flooded over the border. Now at long last, they see Trump telling it like it is -- even if his remarks were undiplomatic and, well, not all that presidential.

Trump says many Mexican immigrants are losers -- part of Mexico's social problems that the country's elites are glad to “dump” on America. “When Mexico sends it's people, they are not sending its best,” Trump said. True or false?

Short answer: True.

Most Mexican immigrants, legal and illegal, are high school or grade-school dropouts, according to the data; and their offspring continue to be underachievers. On the later point, Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington revealed some disquieting statistics in his must-read book, "Who Are We: The Challenges to America’s National Identity."

Citing statistics from the 1990 census, Huntington noted that high percentages of Mexican-Americans, from one generation to the next, lack high school diplomas. The first generation without diplomas was 69.9%; the second generation, 51.5%; the third generation, 33.0%; and fourth generation, 41.9%.

That last figure, incidentally, isn't a typo. The fourth generation is less educated than the third. So much for assimilation. Those dropout rates are far higher than America's overall dropout rate: 23.5% for all Americans, except Mexican-Americans.

Via: American Thinker

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[VIDEO] ‘I SALUTE DONALD TRUMP!’ – TED CRUZ DEFENDS COMMENTS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Ted Cruz came out to defend the toupeed Trumpet on his comments about illegal immigration without approving of the rhetoric he used.

Watch below:

BOOM! Suck on THAT, mainstream media!!

An aggregation of polls this morning show that Trump has come out ahead of the presidential pack with a slight lead. Could we be seeing a Cruz/Trump ticket coalescing before our very eyes?!?!

The answer is no.

Via: The Right Scoop

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Ted Cruz Reminds Katie Couric that Hillary Created Anti-Obama Birther Movement

by JOHN NOLTE30 Jun 2015681

Faded, former-media darling Katie Couric hosted Republican Senator 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

 for a full-hour to discuss a wide range of issues Monday. The left-wing anchor, who is now perched at a place called Yahoo!, introduced Cruz as a historic candidate — potentially the first American president to be born in Canada. Later in the interview, she questioned Cruz on his citizenship.

The look on Couric’s smug face when he correctly reminded her that it was the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 that birthed the anti-Obama Birther movement, is priceless.

It all starts at right around the 25 minute mark.

—

CRUZ: “You know it’s interesting, the whole Birther thing was started by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008  against Barack Obama…”

Via: Breitbart

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[COMMENTARY] Ben Carson Gains As Non-establishment Candidate

Former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson continues to rise in the polls, despite having never held political office, and political commentator Byron York says that part of the reason is because he is a very appealing candidate. 

Carson is in fourth place in the Real Clear Politics average of polls with support from 9.4 percent of Republican voters, and that number has slowly risen since he first announced his candidacy in early May, when he was at 4.8 percent. 

Special: Can Ted Cruz Take On the GOP Establishment?

In addition, the former neurosurgeon won the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver over the weekend, the Washington Examiner reported. 

York, who writes for the Washington Examiner, gives five reasons why Carson is so popular among conservative audiences: First, "Carson is really appealing." 

He appears to stand apart from the categories that other candidates fit in, whether it's old vs. new, governor vs. senator, populist vs. establishment, and the like. 

Second, as a candidate who has never held office before, "he speaks to the throw-'em-out strain among conservatives." 

Carson told the conservative group in Denver that "the professional pundits say, 'You can't do it because you're not a politician.' I would say I can do it because I'm not a politician."

York says that this appeals to conservatives who are fed up with politicians, even Republican politicians. 

Third, there are a group of Republicans who like Carson's "it's-really-very-simple commonsense approach to complex issues." 

A fourth reason for his appeal is partly because he is the only black candidate running for the Republican nomination, and "he might appeal to that part of the Republican mind that has been scarred by years of accusations of racism." 

Lastly, "Carson projects a serenity and faith" that is also attractive to some. 

Whatever the reason, York says that "Carson's rise and unorthodox campaign style ... has left some of his rivals baffled." 

Via: Newsmax

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If Each GOP Candidate Were a Conservative News Site, Which Would They Be?

If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be? I’d be a weeping willow because… sigh. More important question about personifying inanimate objects: If the 15 or so Republican presidential candidates were conservative news websites, which ones would they be?

Let’s attempt to answer that question because it’s Monday and we’re all in for a long 497 days until Election Day 2016.

Note: We’d make a companion piece for the Democrats and liberal news sites, but there are only four options. So here goes: Hillary Clinton is the Huffington Post; Bernie Sanders would be Democracy Now!; Martin O’Malley would be ThinkProgress; and Lincoln Chafee would be… oh man, is there even a site out there that would fit the profile?

And now the Republican field (yes, some haven’t announced yet)…

 

—

Donald Trump – Breitbart

Think of the most common words used to describe Donald Trump: “Blowhard,” “obnoxious,” “clownish,” “troll,” “windbag,” “xenophobic.” Sounds exactly like the preponderance of material coming out of Breitbart, right? (It also doesn’t hurt that Trump’s unofficial stenographer is the site’s most prized reporter.)

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Marco Rubio – IJReview

Did you know Senator Rubio is young(ish), likes hip hop, uses hashtags, and does clever non-old-person things? He’s one of the cool kids, you guys. #YOLO.

—

Ted Cruz – The Right Scoop

If you are a loyal reader of The Right Scoop, you’d come away thinking literally every word uttered by Sen. Ted Cruz is “FANTASTIC” (all-caps required). No, really… take a look. With that in mind, it seems like the most appropriate fit.

—

Lindsey Graham – Washington Free Beacon

Because Sen. Graham loves to troll; because he’s never met a war he didn’t like; and because hedespises Rand Paul. Oh, but he also knows it’s all about taking down Hillary Clinton in the end.

—

Mike Huckabee – NewsBusters

If there’s a gay person kissing on your television, a voluptuous woman singing about sex on your radio, or a Hollywood celebrity saying something about Republicans or Christianity, Mike Huckabee is there to sermonize against it.

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Scott Walker – NRO

Slightly wonkier than the rest, slightly more buttoned-up, classically conservative in the William F. Buckley tradition, and definitely opposed to unions.

—

Rick Santorum – TheBlaze

TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck once described former Sen. Rick Santorum as “the next George Washington,” and while it’s not a perfect fit, both the site and the candidate have an obvious appeal to “Real American” religious conservatives who homeschool their children and are terrified of the coming apocalypse.

—

Bobby Jindal – The Daily Signal

Because he got in the race way too late and no one really cares.

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Jeb Bush – The Weekly Standard

Because anything with the name “Bush” or “Cheney” would get the thumbs up from Bill Kristol & Co.

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George Pataki – Power Line

Think of it this way: Years ago, Power Line had its time in the conservative spotlight when it broke the scandal that ended Dan Rather‘s CBS News career. Now, though? No one cares.

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Ben Carson – WorldNetDaily

Because the theory that prison sex proves homosexuality is definitively and always a “choice” is something you’d expect to see next to an article questioning President Obama’s birth certificate or a column suggesting the Sandy Hook school massacre might’ve been staged.

—

Carly Fiorina – The Daily Caller

Because, yes, the Daily Caller is a staunchly conservative website that projects a tough-guy attitude, but occasionally it just wants to be a beautiful, strong woman.

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Chris Christie – Wall Street Journal

Well-moneyed, at one time considered the mainstream, and decidedly east coast when it comes to politics. Also because Jeb Bush was already taken.

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Rand Paul – The Federalist

Just like Sen. Paul, conservative website The Federalist has “a viewpoint that rejects the assumptions of the media establishment” and will sometimes surprise you by seeking to engage ideological opponents.

—

Rick Perry – RedState

The former Texas governor is as red state as they come. Sure, any of the southern state Republicans could embody the sensibilities of Erick Erickson‘s RedState blog, but the devoutly Christian Gov. Perry has had a long, close relationship with the site. This doesn’t hurt either.

Via: Mediaite

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[VIDEO] Ted Cruz Has An EPIC Message For ‘Rogue’ Supreme Court Justices

Texas Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz did not hold back in expressing what he thinks about the Supreme Court’s two most controversial decisions in recent memory.

Cruz told radio talk show host Sean Hannity: “Today is some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.

“I couldn’t say it more eloquently,” Hannity responded.

“Yesterday and today were both naked and shameless judicial activism,” Cruz went on. “Neither decision — the decision yesterday rewriting Obamacare for the second time. Six justices joined the Obama administration. You now have President Obama, Kathleen Sebelius and six justices responsible for forcing this failed disaster of a law on millions of Americans, and simply rewriting the law in a way that is fundamentally contrary to their judicial oaths.”

“And then today, this radical decision purporting to strike down the marriage laws of every state. It has no connection to the United States Constitution. They are simply making it up,” Cruz said. “It is lawless, and in doing so, they have undermined the fundamentally legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court.”

Via: Western Journalism

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[BREAKING] Obama's trade agenda moves past key Senate hurdle

Washington (CNN)The President's trade agenda scored a major victory Tuesday when the Senate voted to advance a bill to allow "fast-track" approval of large international trade bills.

The outcome of this key procedural vote had been in doubt as a group of 14 pro-trade Democrats weighed whether to continue their support of the bill out of concern that a related workers' assistance package might not pass both chambers.

But after repeated assurances by GOP congressional leaders that workers' assistance measure will be adopted, 13 out of 14 backed the bill.

The vote was 60 to 37, passing by the slimmest margin needed to pass.

A final Senate vote on fast-track could come as soon as later Tuesday, and it will then head to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

This time around, one fewer Republican voted as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who penned op-ed in opposition to the legislation that published Tuesday morning.

"... TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include," Cruz wrote on Breitbart.

Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who was absent during the first version of the bill, voted in favor making up for the loss.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton a 'no' on fast-track for now

The 14 pro-trade Democrats who supported the first version of the fast-track bill, known as Trade Promotion Authority, when it was packaged with a bill that provides retraining and other assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of large international trade agreements. That bill is called Trade Adjustment Authority.

Passage of the fast-track authority and the workers' assistance bill allows the President to complete a giant Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which would tie the economies of the U.S., Canada and Mexico with several Asian and Pacific nations. Such a deal would also give the U.S. increased influence in the region -- a top priority for the White House.

All the way up until the final vote, it was uncertain whether those Democrats would support the fast-track bill separately from the workers' assistance piece -- as the new legislative strategy calls for -- out of fear stand-alone workers' assistance measure won't get through the GOP-controlled Congress on its own. Trade Adjustment Authority is generally supported by Democrats -- and unions -- and opposed by Republicans. But in a recent legislative tactical move, House Democrats skeptical of fast-track authority recently blocked the trade adjustment portion in hopes of scuttling the fast-track bill.

McConnell went to great lengths Monday to assure reluctant Democrats both bills would get to the President's desk.

Via: CNN

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EXCLUSIVE — TED CRUZ: OBAMATRADE ENMESHED IN CORRUPT, BACKROOM DEALINGS

Breitbart Texas Photo/Bob Price

by SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX)23 Jun 20152346

The American people do not trust President Obama.  And they do not trust Republican leadership in Congress.  And the reason is simple: for far too long, politicians in Washington have not told the truth.

Both President Obama and Republican leadership are pressing trade promotion authority, also known as TPA, or “fast-track.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) both oppose it.

As a general matter, I agree (as did Ronald Reagan) that free trade is good for America; when we open up foreign markets, it helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers.

But TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include.

Since the Senate first voted on TPA, there have been two material changes.

First, WikiLeaks subsequently revealed new troubling information regarding the Trade in Services Agreement, or TiSA, one of the trade deals being negotiated by Obama.

Despite the administration’s public assurances that it was not negotiating on immigration, several chapters of the TiSA draft posted online explicitly contained potential changes in federal immigration law. TPA would cover TiSA, and therefore these changes would presumably be subject to fast-track.

When TPA last came up for a vote, both Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and I introduced amendments that would have barred fast-track treatment for any trade agreement that attempted to impact immigration law. Two other Republican senators objected, and we were both denied votes on our amendments. Instead, the House inserted substantially weaker language in related legislation.

Via: Breitbart

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PATHETIC: AP JUXTAPOSES GUN TO TED CRUZ’S FOREHEAD IN PHOTO

This Associated Press photo of Ted Cruz says all you need to know about mainstream media objectivity:

Now, compare to this other AP photo:

Via: The Right Scoop

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