Posted on Wednesday, November 06, 2013 - 03:13 pm:

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Look to Cruz, Not to Christie
By George Neumayr on 11.6.13

...The breathless burbling about how Chris Christie’s victory “shows the path forward for the GOP” conveniently ignores his inability to turn New Jersey red for anyone but himself. Before election day, the New Jersey media didn’t see any reason for the Dems to worry about a Christie victory, as they enjoy a 48-32 majority in the Assembly and a 24-16 lead in the state Senate. While these numbers may change, early reports indicate most incumbents will be reelected. The New Jersey media reported that most polls indicate support for Christie won’t help any down-ballot Republicans. In 2009, Christie’s coat-tail effect was negligible too, resulting in only one new Assembly seat for the Republicans.

Like Schwarzenegger, Christie is a useful idiot for the Democrats—a needy, politically correct, ruling-class Republican who is trending liberal on everything from “climate change” to gay marriage to size-of-government issues. Christie loves the liberal limelight—a trait that will only intensify over time. The Democrats know a Trojan Horse when they see one.

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Posted on Wednesday, November 06, 2013 - 05:09 pm:

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“I think we ought to be relentlessly, tirelessly, exclusively, focused on growth because every other priority we have depends on growth. If you want to turn around unemployment, you need growth. If you want to turn around the deficit and the debt, you’ve got to have growth. If you want to save Social Security and Medicare going forward, you’ve got to have growth. If you want to maintain the strongest military in the world to protect our national security, you’ve got to have growth.”

“How did Reagan win the Cold War? He won the Cold War, number one by standing up to the Soviet Union, but number two by unleashing economic growth that bankrupted the Soviet Union when they tried to keep up with us. When our economy is moving, no one can keep up with us. So I’m going to submit to you: Our first priority should be growth.”

“We did [a roundtable] in Kerrville about two months ago, a little town in central Texas with about 20 small business owners…One after another, each of the business owners went around and said that, ‘the single biggest obstacle that my business is facing is Obamacare.’ One after another! The fellow in whose restaurant we were meeting, he said, ‘Listen, I’ve got a great opportunity to expand this business, double the size of the business, and hire new people. We’ve got between 30 and 40 employees. If we expand we break the threshold of 50 employees, we’re subject to Obamacare. And that will drive us out of business. So you know what, we’re not expending. We are not hiring.’” Four or five of the business owners going around the table said the same thing. They were between 30 and 40 employees, and they decided not to expand, not to hire new people. Think of all the millions of small businesses across the country that are making that same decision right now. Two-thirds of all new jobs in our economy come from small business, and they’re making that decision all of the country: to stay at 30 and 40 employees and not cross the 50 employee threshold.

“There is a reason that President Obama and Harry Reid both say Obamacare is designed inevitably to lead to single-payer socialized government health care. Because when it collapses, it’s designed to destroy the private insurance market at the same time. And once that happens, you can’t unscramble those eggs.”

“There’s a lot of talk in Washington that Republicans need a ‘rebranding.’ Listen, we’re not selling soap. We don’t need a rebranding, we need to focus our energies on those who are struggling and the policies that make it possible to achieve the American dream.”

“Right now reminds me very, very much of the late 1970s when we had terrible economic conditions, out-of-control taxes, and spending—no economic growth, a feckless foreign policy. And what it took to turn this country around was the Reagan revolution that a lot of the men and women of this room bear the scars from fighting—a grassroots revolution across this country of the American people standing up and saying, ‘There is another way.’ We can get back to our free market principles, our constitutional principles, that are the foundation of this nation. That’s what we need to do. That’s what Bob Bartley argued so passionately for on the pages of the Journal. That’s what Bob Tyrrell has fought for so many years. And that’s why every one of us is here today: because we believe in freedom, we believe in the power of free markets. And we understand that freedom works: It’s the greatest engine of prosperity and opportunity the world has ever seen.”

- Ted Cruz, 10/23/2013 [excerpted from video below]

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