Bush blasts Cruz over immigration, Syria

Sessions has previously defended Cruz against Rubio on Gang of Eight in media appearances, but his remarks Saturday afternoon were made before a raucous audience of 1,300 who seemed most animated by the issue of illegal immigration. “It’s not an attack”.

“That is utter nonsense”, Cruz said of Rubio’s charge while talking to reporters in Las Vegas. He declined to say what he would do with the estimated 11 million illegal aliens but accused Rubio of joining with Democrats to support “amnesty”.

Van Susteren presented a letter that Cruz co-authored with other senators that apparently stated that Cruz, at least in 2014, was introducing an amendment to create legal status for illegals but that would not lead to a path to citizenship. And on Friday, his campaign received a fresh surrogate in Ken Cuccinelli, the head of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a Washington pressure group despised by Senate leadership for looking to replace Republican incumbents.

More than 800 people, packing into Hanover’s Life Church, but Cruz’s appearance wasn’t without controversy, concerning his stance on illegal immigration. However, when the Gang-of-Eight bill rolled around, the Republicans involved were Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio AND John McCain. They think Cruz rocks the boat, picks too many fights, is more show horse than workhorse, and is not likable.

Cruz is trying to furnish his reputation as both a pristine conservative and a guy who doesn’t play slippery Washington games simultaneously, when it’s clear he played a slippery Washington game in service of killing amnesty.

“Rubio would be strong if not for his support of amnesty and open borders”, said U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who has endorsed Cruz. “He’s the one that, for example, supports doubling the number of green cards”. One of those would have supported legalization, but banned a pathway to citizenship. Their last pre-debate poll showed Trump at 27%, Rubio at 17% and Carson and Cruz both at 16%.

The former Florida governor pounced on new questions about whether Cruz flip-flopped from supporting a path of legalization to now opposing it.

A spokesman for Rubio’s presidential campaign responded: “Votes like Friday’s are why Marco is running for president”. “It stretches credulity”, Paul said about Cruz’s argument, “and I think it also makes you wonder about exactly whether or not we can take him at face value on what he presents”.

Next, is it really true that Cruz doesn’t “intend to support legalization” for the undocumented?

That year, Cruz proposed several amendments to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, a comprehensive immigration reform bill co-authored by Rubio. Otherwise it’s nuts to alienate Cruz by backing up Rubio on his attack on Cruz’s 2013 legalization amendment.

As an aide familiar with the 2013 negotiations put it, the idea of a senator offering an amendment that he himself opposes is “absolutely nuts”.

“By calling their bluff, we defeated amnesty”.

The survey found that 4 in 10 conservative Republicans and 3 in 10 tea party Republicans favor a path to citizenship. Around 54 percent of unauthorized Latino immigrants in 2013 said they identified with or leaned toward the Democratic party, compared to 19 percent who said the same of the Republican Party.

Immigration isn’t the only issue on which Bush hit Cruz by name.

“But, at the same time, we need to remember that many of those coming here are coming to feed their families, to have a chance at a better life”, he added.