An exchange between senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on immigration policy during the December 15 CNN Republican presidential candidates’ debate is drawing sustained attention from journalists and spin doctors alike.
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Cruz continued to heap praise on Rubio even when criticizing him.
But Rubio, while scripted, appears far more forthright. He said her policies as secretary of state under President Barack Obama “killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity”.
On Friday, Cruz tried once again to refocus the debate on the bigger picture: Rubio’s enthusiastic participation in crafting and passing the immigration bill, which he has since disavowed in favor of an incremental approach, versus Cruz’s consistent opposition to the same legislation.
In Iowa, meanwhile, Rubio accused Cruz of trying to duck the issue – pointing to his amendment that would have replaced citizenship with legal status for undocumented immigrants.
Ted Cruz: 35% chance of winning the nomination. “Perhaps even more disappointing is that Senator Rubio explicitly ran against amnesty to get elected in 2010. I oppose legalization; Marco Rubio supports legalization”, Cruz told the press.
“Let’s have a moment of simple clarity: I oppose amnesty, I oppose citizenship, I oppose legalization for illegal immigrants”.
“I’m just flabbergasted, really”, Sessions said during the rally. “He’s the one that supports a 500-percent increase in guest workers into the United States, and he’s the one that supported legalization and legalizing people that are in the country illegally”.
Regular readers may remember that I weighed in on Rubio and Cruz’s dispute in November.
Everything here hinges on what the meaning of amnesty is. That’s why right now, at least, there is no clear path to victory for Rubio.
On climate change, Cruz is a full-fledged denier. But variations on the word “war” were used 54 times. It couldn’t be more transparent if Cruz had been caught on tape acknowledging that it was part of his plan to defeat Trump – and, in fact, he was!
There are two issues with this stricter definition of amnesty. All he has to confess to is that he lied back then when he said it wasn’t a poison pill amendment.
Cruz has previously supported broadening legal immigration in some cases. “We beat it”, Cruz said. Cruz’s rightward shift on the issue has been more subtle. John McCain, R-Ariz., dismissed as a “wacko bird”.
During the Vegas debate, Trump told Bush: “I’m at 42, and you’re at 3 – so, so far, I’m doing better”. I gave myself therapy there.
Sen. Marco Rubio will never be able to convince Republican primary voters that he and Sen.
When Bill Clinton was president, we argued about the meaning of “is”.
The dispute Rubio and Cruz are having is an annoyingly complicated one, documented ably here by MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin.
Rubio has stoked the fight throughout, pointing to Cruz’s introduction of an amendment in 2013 that would have removed the path to citizenship from Rubio’s own Gang of Eight immigration bill, but left in place a path to legal status and work permits.
It’s a potentially costly concession, too.
The question now, as reporters and strategists pore over transcripts and interviews two and a half years old, is whether Cruz meant it at the time. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. Any Republican nominee can say, counterfactually, that Democrats were the real obstructionists. “And in introducing amendments, what I endeavored to do was improve that bill so that it actually fixes the problem”.
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But the general election will be different.
