Ted Cruz is rising in the polls, and seems to have a good shot of winning the Iowa caucuses. His success comes despite taking an unusual position on one of the most crucial questions in politics.
Ted Cruz is the rare politician who's not sure you'd want to get a beer with him https://t.co/faTLpnwUxx pic.twitter.com/VU1J3Hjy61
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) December 9, 2015
"If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy," Cruz said during the Republican debate on October 28. "But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home."
The following is an unedited transcript of an actual conversation between Ted Cruz and an American voter over an ice cold brewdog.
TED CRUZ: Hey, there. I'm Ted Cruz. Nice to meet you.
AMERICAN VOTER: Nice to meet you.
CRUZ: Now, as you may have heard me say, perhaps I'm not the candidate most people would like to grab a beer with, but I promise to get you home safe. Ha. Ha.
VOTER: No, that's okay. I walked—
CRUZ: You know, I don't drink a lot of beer these days, but I am nevertheless a tremendous fan of the Sam Adams brewing company. It started as a small business, and has achieved a level of success that is only possible in America. It represents the promise of the American Dream, and the American exceptionalism that has made this nation a shining city on a hill for millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, that dream, that promise, is slipping away. Many Americans today live in fear that the American Dream is unattainable. Millions of young Americans, like yourself, are worried about what the future will hold.
When I think about reigniting the promise of America, I am reminded of Sam Adams and his fellow patriots who, centuries ago, in those uncertain days of the republic, did not know what their futures would hold. They had just finished signing their names to a piece of paper that, though they did not know it at the time, would become one of the most influential documents in world history, the Declaration of Independence. These men risked life and fortune to stand together in the face of a tyrant king and say as one: "We demand our liberty."
When I travel across this great country, I hear the voices of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to say: "We demand our liberty." When we rise up and stand for liberty, my friend, the power of the American people knows no bounds. It's the government that should fear that power, and not the other way around.
VOTER: Okay, can I—
CRUZ: But here's the important point. Let me finish this one point. When establishment politicians and members of the Washington cartel of special interests and lobbyists get together and conspire to grow government through crony capitalism, individual liberty, our most precious possession, swaddled in the softness of freedom's cloth, suffers under the weight of this collaboration. When Obamacare was rammed down the throats of the American people, your liberty was sacrificed on the altar of big government. When establishment Republicans refused to stand and fight to repeal Obamacare, your liberty took a back seat to the protection of the status quo in Washington, a status quo that turns its back on those who would rise and stand on principle, just as a 38-year-old lawyer name Patrick Henry stood as said: "Give me liberty or give me death."
Ladies and gentleman, I would pose to you that what the status quo in Washington represents is a fundamentally un-American betrayal of the commitment that the Founding Fathers like Sam Adams made almost 240 years ago—their dream, secured with the priceless currency of blood and souls, of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. With your help, we can ensure that this dream shall not, and will not, perish from the earth. Thank you very much, and God bless America.
Okay. You sure you don't need a ride?