Cruz’s new book ignites spat with GOP strategist Karl Rove

Cruz also claims that in 2009, as he considered a run for Texas Attorney General, he secured an endorsement from former President George H.W. Bush – only to have Rove push Cruz to downplay the senior Bush’s support.

“He suggested that the elder Bush was too old to have good judgment anymore”, Cruz wrote. “It was hard to imagine that Bush 41 was unaware of the consternation that his endorsement would cause Rove”.

“I am accustomed to being criticized for others’ political benefit, but am disappointed in how Senator Cruz decided to raise the name of one of the finest presidents our country has ever known, President George H.W. Bush“.

At the time, Cruz reportedly wrote, Rove was raising money for the younger Bush’s presidential library.

The spat escalated late Sunday when Cruz released an email exchange with Rove from 2009 that supports parts of the Cruz version, though not the assertion that Rove yelled at him or questioned the elder Bush’s judgment.

“It’s disappointing; this is why people are so cynical about politics, because too many people are willing to lie”, Cruz said in a statement accompanying the emails.

Rove, in response to Cruz’s comments in their phone conversation about how his meeting with the former president of the United States was exactly what he told Cruz to do earlier, replied: “Yeah, well I didn’t think you were going to get support from 41”. Those emails appear to show Rove arguing that Bush library donors who supported state Rep. Dan Branch, who had signaled interest in challenging Cruz if Abbott decided not to run, might not be inclined to donate to the library if the president chose sides in the attorney general race.

“One piece of advice I offered was that he should stop describing himself as the ‘next Marco Rubio, ‘ since he did not have Senator Rubio’s outstanding legislative record of accomplishments as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives”, Rove wrote Sunday, praising a competing presidential contender. But Cruz said he called Bush’s office and asked that the would-be endorsement announcement be thrown “in the trash”.

My recollection… differs from his reported account.

Columba Bush asked people to contribute to her husband in the first 24 hours of his campaign because “everyone is watching to see how much support we have out the gate”.

I know that it doesn’t rise to the importance of what you have been doing these past eight years, but I do think there is a real need right now for new leadership in the Republican Party, and I am hopeful that this campaign can play at least some role in helping provide that leadership. “At Karl. And at me, for caving in”. He ended up hitting it off with the 41st president. The last thing I want to do is cause any trouble, so it’s probably wiser just to forego this press release. “Why the hell should the Republican nominee for attorney general in Texas depend not on their qualifications, but on who the donors are to the Bush presidential library?”