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| − | '''Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz''' (born December 22, 1970, in [[Calgary]], Canada) is the junior [[United States Senator]] from [[Texas]], having won the [[U.S. Senate]] seat vacated by [[Kay Bailey Hutchison]] in 2012. A [[conservative]] [[Republican]], he is the former Solicitor General of Texas, the chief lawyer for the state before the [[U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref>Cruz has authored more than eighty U.S. Supreme Court briefs and personally argued forty oral arguments, including nine before the U.S. Supreme Court. He graduated ''[[magna cum laude]]'' from [[Harvard Law School]] and served as an editor of the ''[[Harvard Law Review]]''.</ref> | + | '''Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz''' (born December 22, 1970, in [[Calgary]], Canada) is the ugliest and smelliest organism on the planet. |
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| − | Cruz's wife Heidi has been an executive for [[Goldman Sachs]] and is currently on leave from that [[liberal]] investment bank. She plays a prominent role in his campaign and policy positions, and fundraising. Ted Cruz has sided with some [[feminist]] positions. Heidi has been a member of the globalist [[Council on Foreign Relations]] and was on the task force that recommended the [[leftist]] [[North American Union]].<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/canada/building-north-american-community/p8102 "Building a North American Community/More about this publication"] (May 2005). Council on Foreign Relations website/Canada.</ref> Reportedly neither Ted Cruz nor his wife donated anything to churches, including what they describe as their own church, from 2006 to 2010, the most recent time period Cruz has released.<ref>http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2016-01-30/now-deeply-christian-cruzs-religion-once-wasnt-so-obvious</ref>
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| − | Cruz is promoted heavily by [[neocons]] who like his interventionalist foreign policy, but some conservatives see more grandstanding than achievement on social issues. Cruz would not pledge to prohibit enforcement of the [[homosexual marriage]] decision in ''[[Obergefell]]'' and failed to ask Attorneys General to seek reconsideration of the 5-4 decision.
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| − | In prior elections, Cruz has been supported by the [[Tea Party movement]], [[Tea Party Express]], [[Club for Growth]], [[FreedomWorks]], Erick Erickson of [[RedState]], [[Mark Levin]], and former [[Alaska]] Governor [[Sarah Palin]], but also by pro-[[homosexual]] donors as discussed below.
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| − | In the Texas Senate primary elections of May 29, 2012, Cruz finished second to Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, but the nine-candidate Republican field forced a run-off. On July 31, Cruz defeated Dewhurst in a second round of voting. Cruz easily defeated [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] former State Representative Paul Sadler in the general election.
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| − | ==Early Life==
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| − | Cruz's father [[Rafael Bienvenido Cruz]] fought alongside [[Fidel Castro]] during the [[Cuban Revolution]] and was imprisoned three years later for his political activities. In 1957, he escaped to the [[United States]]. Today he is a pastor in [[Dallas]]<ref>{{cite web |author=Cruz, Ted|url=http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/frontpagemag-com/senator-ted-cruz-confronting-the-threat-of-radical-islam/ |title="Senator Ted Cruz: Confronting the threat of radical Islam" |work=FrontPage Magazine |date=May 20, 2013 }} See [[FrontPage Magazine]]</ref>. Cruz's mother is an American. After Cruz's birth in [[Alberta]], Canada, the family moved to Texas.
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| − | Cruz attended [[Princeton]] where he authored a senior thesis on the [[9th Amendment|9th]] and [[10th Amendment|10th]] Amendments to the [[United States Constitution]], titled "Clipping the Wings of Angels".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/480888-cruz-thesis Ted Cruz's 1992 Princeton Undergrad Thesis], "Clipping the Wings of Angels"</ref>
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| − | As a student at [[Harvard Law School]], Cruz was more of a [[libertarian]] than a social conservative.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/metro/what-was-ted-cruz-like-at_b_6941178.html "What was Ted Cruz like at Harvard?"] (May 30, 2015). Huffington Post website/''Metro New York'' blog. See [[Huffington Post]].</ref> He graduated ''magna cum laude'', with his ''Juris Doctor'' degree.
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| − | Cruz is a [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]], married with two children.
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| − | ==Texas Solicitor General==
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| − | Cruz served as Solicitor General for the state of [[Texas]]. While Solicitor General, Cruz was involved with court cases such as ''[[Medellin v. Texas]]'', ''[[Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow]]'', ''[[League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry]]'', ''[[Van Orden v. Perry]]'', and ''[[D.C. v. Heller]]''.
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| − | ==Senate career==
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| − | Cruz was elected as a member of the Senate in 2012. Beginning on September 24, 2013, Cruz gave a 21-hour speech on the senate floor against [[Obamacare]]. The speech greatly boosted his national profile and led to denunciations from the [[liberal media]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/opinion/the-embarrassment-of-senator-ted-cruz.html |title="The embarrassment of Senator Ted Cruz"|publisher=''New York Times'' website|date=September 24th, 2013}} See [[New York Times]]</ref>
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| − | ==Campaigns financed by substantial pro-[[homosexual]] donations==
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| − | The ''Texas Tribune'' determined in 2012 that Ted Cruz's:<ref>Root, Jay (July 3, 2012). [https://www.texastribune.org/2012/07/03/ted-cruzs-gay-billionaire-donor-draws-criticism/ "Cruz mega-donor is gay, pro-pot billionaire"]. The Texas Tribune website.</ref>
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| − | {{cquote|largest longtime contributor is a gay billionaire who supports same-sex marriage and [[marijuana]] legalization, campaign finance filings show. Peter Thiel, a [[Germany|German]]-born hedge fund manager and founder of the online payment system [[PayPal]], gave Cruz $251,000 in 2009 for his aborted run for attorney general. The money represented 19 percent of the total raised for that campaign, which Cruz ended after Attorney General [[Greg Abbott]] decided to run for re-election.}}
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| − | The ''Texas Monthly'' ran a similar exposé entitled, "Ted Cruz's Gay Marriage Money." This article described how one of Cruz's donors has been:<ref>Ratcliffe, R. G. (March 22, 2015). [http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/ted-cruzs-gay-marriage-money "Ted Cruz's gay marriage money"]. ''TexasMonthly'' website.</ref>
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| − | {{cquote|Paul Elliott Singer of the hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation. Singer, whose son married his partner, donated $425,000 and raised another $500,000 to push for legalization of same-sex marriage in [[New York]]. In 2012, Singer donated $1 million to the American Unity PAC, with the purpose of supporting candidates who back gay marriage. Singer gave Cruz $25,000 in 2009.}}
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| − | In April, the ''[[New York Times]]'' ran an article about the special fundraising meeting that Cruz had in [[Manhattan]] with homosexual potential donors: "At New York Reception, Ted Cruz Said to Strike Different Tone Toward Gays."
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| − | == Judicial nominees ==
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| − | Ted Cruz recommended Judge Gregg Costa for nomination and confirmation to the [[Fifth Circuit|U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]].<ref> [http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=news&id=1288 "''Dallas Morning News'': Senate confirms Cornyn and Cruz pick for appeals court"] (May 20, 2014). Ted Cruz U.S. Senate webpage/Press office/News.</ref> As a Senator from Texas, Cruz could have blocked the nomination. Instead, Cruz's support made it happen.
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| − | Within five months of his confirmation in May 2014, Judge Costa then voted in favor of rehearing [[Planned Parenthood]]'s case in their attempt to reverse a Fifth Circuit's ruling that had upheld the pro-women, pro-life Texas House Bill 2, a good law that resulted in the closure of roughly half the abortion clinics in Texas. Judge Edith Jones and the majority of the Fifth Circuit outvoted Costa on the petition for rehearing ''en banc'' in ''Planned Parenthood of Greater Tex. Surgical Health Servs. v. Abbott''.<ref>{{Cite court|litigants=Planned Parenthood of Greater Tex. Surgical Health Servs. v. Abbott|url=http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/13/13-51008-CV2.pdf|vol=Vol. 769|reporter=''Federal Reporter'', 3rd series|opinion=Opinion 330|pinpoint=p. 2|date=October 9, 2014|court=United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit}} Retrieved from United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit website on February 6, 2016.</ref>
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| − | It was obvious prior to Ted Cruz's recommendation that Judge Costa was not [[pro-life]]. In one of his decisions as a [[United States District Courts|United States district court]] judge in 2012, Judge Costa uncritically cited ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' for a procedural point. Judge Costa had also been a Democrat volunteer in college in the 1990s.
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| − | Cruz believes that President Obama should not nominate a successor to Supreme Court Justice [[Antonin Scalia]] and that the Senate should not confirm any nominee he selects.
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| − | ==2016 presidential race==
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| − | On March 23, 2015, Cruz became the first person to announce his candidacy for the [[Republican]] nomination for president in [[2016 presidential election|2016]] in a speech before an audience at [[Liberty University]].<ref>[http://www.c-span.org/video/?324979-1/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-announcement "Ted Cruz presidential campaign announcement"] (March 23, 2015). C-SPAN video, 38:18. See [[C-SPAN]]</ref> The predictable liberal media immediately went on the offense claiming he has no chance but was in awe of his speech without [[teleprompter]]s.{{fact}} His wife would take a leave of absence from her job at Goldman Sachs to join her husband on the campaign trail. This decision left his family without health insurance. Cruz, by law, has to be insured and took Obamacare coverage. This drove the media batty at the irony of railing against Obamacare but using it.{{fact}} Simply put, this does not mean he endorses Obamacare; rather, it shows his commitment to follow the rule of law.
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| − | Cruz would raise $4 million in donations after the first week of his announcement. Liberal media jaws hit the floor when it was learned he raised $31 million in one week from [[PAC]]s<ref>{{cite web |last=Boyle |first=Matthew |url=http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/04/08/mark-halperin-unprecedented-31-million-super-pac-effort-backing-ted-cruz-for-president/ |title="Mark Halperin: Unprecedented $31 million super PAC effort backing Ted Cruz for president"|publisher=Breitbart News Network/Big government|date=April 8, 2015 }} See [[Breitbart News Network]]</ref>.
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| − | ====Eligibility====
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| − | The same liberals who mocked opponents of Obama for claiming he was not born in [[Hawaii]] have decided to make the same case against Cruz for being born in Canada. Cruz's mother being an American citizen (even though she voted in Canadian elections), just like Obama's mother, insures that he is American no matter what country he was born in. There are several differences in Obama/Cruz birth certificate controversies. Cruz released his immediately after it was requested. Obama held onto his for years, spending nearly $4 million in legal fees.{{fact}} Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship on May 14, 2014.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/19/cruz-will-renounce-canadian-citizenship/?wprss=rss_homepage|title=Cruz Will Renounce Canadian Citizenship|last=Blake|first=Aaron|date=August 19, 2013|work=[[The Washington Post]]|accessdate=February 6, 2016}}</ref>
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| − | ==Political positions==
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| − | Cruz opposes [[illegal immigration]]<ref>[http://www.ontheissues.org/international/Ted_Cruz_Immigration.htm "Ted Cruz on immigration"] (January 20, 2015). On the Issues website.</ref>, [[gun control]] and [[homosexuality]]. He is [[pro-life]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Bair |first=Andrew |url=http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/05/pro-life-senator-ted-cruz-to-address-national-right-to-life-convention/ |title="Pro-life Senator Ted Cruz to address National Right to Life Convention" |publisher=LifeNews.com|date= June 5, 2013 }} See [[LifeNews.com]]</ref>, supports the [[death penalty]]<ref>[http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Ted_Cruz.htm#Crime "Ted Cruz on the issues/Ted Cruz on crime"] (February 2015). On the Issues website.</ref> and believes that the [[USA]] should not get involved in the [[Syrian Civil War]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomasky |first=Michael |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/09/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-and-their-craven-and-brazen-hypocrisy-on-syria.html |title="Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and their craven and brazen hypocrisy on Syria"|work=The Daily Beast |date=September 9, 2013 }} See [[The Daily Beast]]</ref>.
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| − | Cruz has effectively criticized [[RINO]]s, calling them "squishes."<ref>{{cite web |last=Weiner |first=Rachel |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/04/29/ted-cruz-mocks-squishes-in-republican-party/ |title="Ted Cruz mocks Senate Republican ‘squishes’"|work=Washington Post|date=April 29, 2013 }} See [[Washington Post]]</ref>
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| − | ==Best selling author==
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| − | [[The New York Times|The ''New York Times'']] has engaged in a scheme to keep Cruz's book off of its bestseller list.<ref>{{cite web |last=Howerton |first=Jason |url=http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/09/despite-stellar-sales-new-york-times-keeps-ted-cruzs-new-book-off-bestseller-list-heres-the-excuse-given/ |title="Despite stellar sales, ''New York Times'' keeps Ted Cruz’s new book off bestseller list—here’s the excuse given"|publisher=The Blaze website|date=July 9, 2015 }} See [[The Blaze]].</ref> At issue was the practice of some politicians to pre-purchase a large quantity of books for use by their campaigns with the hope that those purchases would place the books on the bestseller list for one week. The ''New York Times'' tries to exclude those bulk campaign purchases from the totals used to determine which books have the top sales. The question is whether the bestseller list shows what books the public buys rather than which books the politicians give away.
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| − | ==Quote==
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| − | "Tonight's speech was less a State of the Union and more a state of denial." (January 12, 2016)
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| − | ==Books==
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| − | ''A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America'' (2015)<br>
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| − | ''Ted Cruz: For God and Country'' (2015)
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| − | ==See also==
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| − | * [[Senate Elections 2012]]
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| − | * [[Senate Conservatives Fund]]
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| − | * [[Donna Campbell]]
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| − | * [[Salazar v. Buono]]
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| − | ==External Links==
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| − | * [http://www.tedcruz.org/ Official Senate campaign website]
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| − | * [http://www.facebook.com/tedcruzpage facebook page]
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| − | * [https://twitter.com/#!/tedcruz Twitter page]
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| − | * [http://www.tedcruz.org/media/videos/ Ted Cruz Videos]
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| − | * [https://www.tedcruz.org Ted Cruz 2016 campaign website]
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| − | Various articles:
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| − | * [http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/06/ted-cruzs-father-delivers-epic-speech-touting-patriotism-and-lambasting-obamas-socialist-inclinations/ Ted Cruz’s father delivers epic speech touting patriotism and lambasting Obama’s ‘socialist’ inclinations]
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| − | *[http://lessgovisthebestgov.com/blog/ted-cruz-decides-to-run-for-president-two-constitutional-wrongs-dont-make-the-texas-senators-presidential-aspirations-right.html Ted Cruz: Eligible to be president?]
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| − | ==References==
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| − | {{reflist|2}}
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| − | [[Category:Republicans]]
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| − | [[Category:United States Senators]]
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| − | [[Category:Texas]]
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| − | [[Category:Conservatives]]
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| − | [[Category:Baptists]]
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| − | [[Category:113th United States Congress]]
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| − | [[Category:114th United States Congress]]
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| − | [[Category:Tea Party Movement]]
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| − | [[Category: 2016 Presidential Candidates]]
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| − | {{Conservatism}}
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| − | {{DEFAULTSORT: Cruz, Ted}}
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| − | [[Category:Pro Second Amendment]]
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| − | [[Category:Best Selling Authors]]
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