When Ted Cruz sneered at what he called Donald Trump’s “New York values,” some New Yorkers took it very personally. And in some cases, they responded about the way you’d expect New Yorkers to react.
The ever-combative Daily News hit the streets with a big front-page illustration of the Statue of Liberty giving Cruz the finger. The headline: “DROP DEAD, TED.” And in a reference to the Texas senator’s birthplace, the tabloid added: “You don’t like N.Y. values? Go back to Canada!”
On the morning after Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took to the airwaves to denounce the candidate and demand an apology for comments he called “obnoxious on every level.”
The use of “New York values” as a term of abuse rankled plenty of city residents.
“Like that’s a bad thing?” said Willie Perry, a real estate salesman and registered Republican, as he headed to work in New York City. “Actually it’s a good thing. I think that’s ludicrous. What did he mean by that?”
John Markowski, a minister who was dropping his son off at a public school, said: “It’s insulting for anyone to make a derogatory comment about New York values. I think we pride ourselves on being a place of diversity and equality.”
During the debate, moderator Maria Bartiromo asked Cruz to explain past comments he had made about Trump embodying “New York values.”
“You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are,” Cruz said.
“I am from New York. I don’t,” Bartiromo said.
So the GOP conservative explained: “Listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.”
Trump responded by defending his home city as being filled with “loving people, wonderful people.” And he cited the city’s response to the 9/11 attacks.
“When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York,” he said. “We rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”
One in 38 Americans lives in New York City, but the state’s record of going for the Democrat in the winner-take-all electoral college system means that Republicans rarely have to worry about insulting the populace. Bashing the big city has long been a winning strategy in more conservative parts of the country, namely the Midwest and the South.
Not a lot of New Yorkers have given money to Cruz’s bid for the White House. His campaign took in only about $487,000 from New York contributors through Sept. 30, according to the most recent filings. But one New Yorker, Wall Street hedge fund mogul Robert Mercer, contributed $11 million last April to a super PAC that supports Cruz.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Plenty of creepy politicians in New York. Plenty in Texas, California, Arkansas etc. Cruz is wrong to single out the Empire State. Can we blame the south for Billy Clinton? Should we label Texas because of the legacy of LBJ’s Great Society that has caused multi generational welfare folks? New York is a large state with many electorial votes. Cruz should know better.
Yeah, it was a real “look down your nose” moment by Ted–and even people in the Midwest and South will not like the way it came out. If he had said something like “…the liberal elites of New York City do not reflect real American values..” and then compared Trump to them, he might have been on much safer ground. People say that Trump puts his foot in his mouth but that remark by Cruz takes the cake for bone-headedness. And it will likely boost Trump’s popularity even more. The rank and file of the GOP don’t like conservative elitists any more than they like liberal elitists. Combined with Cruz’ cozy (and hypocritical) relationship with the “too-big-to-fail” banks and his uncertain eligibility status, don’t understand why anyone wants to see him win the nomination. I find him a bit smarmy.
Cruz is right!
By the way, anyone who thinks that Ted Cruz would end abortion on demand, gay marriage or Obamacare is dreaming. The moneyed elites (that he depends on to get elected) LIKE abortion and gay marriage–part of the depopulation agenda. Who do you think were the original backers of radical feminism with its demand for “choice”. Who funded the original groups who demanded “gay rights”? The Rockefeller Foundation has given money to various “liberal” (read immoral) causes for many years. But it is a worldwide social engineering that is occurring through the funds of many of the great fortunes. They like national health care because it is another way of controlling life and death.
Ever wonder why the Democrats are the “party of death”? Has a lot to do with the very wealthy widow of Averill Harriman, Pamela Harriman. Bill Clinton had a very long association with Pamela Harriman from his days as the Governor of Arkansas. Both Averill and Pamela Harriman were passionate believers in eugenics and Pamela demanded that the Democratic Party platform include “a woman’s right to choose” as a firm plank.
The Republicans aren’t apt to be much better. Ted Cruz knows that he hasn’t a snowball’s chance of affecting “New York values”. Donald Trump is much more honest and he is more of a realist. The very top of the moneyed elite food chain have trillions at their disposal and Trump understands that he is a poor man (only 8 billion) compared to the kind of deep, deep pockets that finance the groups who obediently protest every time there is even the slightest hint that “abortion on demand” would be abridged. He won’t go there because he knows it would be flailing at windmills while the nation becomes more and more impoverished (by the way, impoverishment of the middle class is also an agenda of some in the huge-money crowd–poor people aren’t very effective at fighting the Matrix). But not everyone among the elite, elites is on board with weakening the nation.
Each side has a slightly different agenda. A few million here, a few million there–that’s how they make sure that their political wishes are followed. The Bushes rose to political prominence because of their firm belief in “population control” despite the younger Bush’s protestation that, as a Christian, he opposed abortion and would seek to end it, when he was President. Did he ever make a serious attempt to do so?
National healthcare is a little more roundabout, but it too is part of the depopulation agenda–there will be “death panels” to get rid of cancer patients and old people before they can cost too much money (the average cancer patient blows through $180,000 in treatment funds). Warehousing old people in nursing homes is also very expensive. The “conversation” on “quality of life” vs. “quantitiy of life” has already started and euthanasia will definitely be part of that “conversation.” How long will it be before granny, who doesn’t wish to die, will be persuaded that it is her duty to die?
This is the real world that all politicians today live in. Some are just more honest than others and do what they can. Donald Trump is no idealogue–he is a very practical man. He pretends to be an egotist to the point of megalomania, but those who know him best say that he is actually a decent, caring and shrewd man. He knows that Washington has always been rotten (he grew up in NYC and knows the score) but he deeply cares for America and its people. I’m convinced of this.
I think the Cruz comment was a strategy to gain more media attention and increase name exposure. It was ill-advised strategy long term, but perhaps short term it could help in Iowa. Lets face it, Cruz wants the New York vote, but needs Iowa more right now.
That strategy MIGHT help Cruz a little in Iowa, and I can understand why Cruz wanted to use it because of Cruz’ planned rebuttal–complete with a much earlier Trump video clip–(after Trump predictably countered with an emotional defense of New Yorkers). It would be the kind of strategy that a chess player would use. But over all, it was a really dumb strategy and one that Cruz will likely come to regret. Since 82% of American voters now live in cities, and “New York values” are really urban values, it will be seen overall as being insulting and condescending. And Americans don’t like that. Here is an article from the National Review that explains why: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429894/ted-cruz-new-york-values-republicans-cities
The straw poll in NY cruz won/
Nah–Cruz is VERY disliked in NYC. Link?