REPORT: Ted Cruz Allies Urge Him to Slam Trump, Not Rubio

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Michelle Fields

Allies of Republican presidential candidate Sen Ted. Cruz (R-TX) are urging him to attack frontrunner Donald Trump, instead of his close rival, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

From Politico:

‘I think he should forget about Rubio completely and focus on Trump,’ said Bob Vander Plaats, one of Cruz’s national co-chairs. ‘Rubio is just taking from Cruz. And so the more you give attention to Rubio, the more it dilutes your message. I would give a clear, consistent, conservative message that draws the distinction between the judgment and temperament of Donald Trump versus the judgment and temperament of Ted Cruz.’

Added Steve Deace, another influential Iowa-based backer of Cruz, ‘Last week, Trump debated the Pope and Islam, and we debated Rubio on videos, narratives and Photoshop. Nobody cares about that stuff.’

Cruz has spent weeks trying to prevent Marco Rubio from overtaking him in the polls, tearing into him over everything from immigration reform to running robocalls, as he has also tussled with Trump. But those efforts turned messy last week, as Rubio — along with Trump and Ben Carson — repeatedly described Cruz as a “liar,” a message reinforced with a slew of negative advertising that accused Cruz of engaging in “dirty tricks.”

Steve Deace also wrote an opinion piece in Conservative Review questioning Cruz’s strategy.

Stop telling us how much you like Trump personally. Stop saying things like ‘everyone on this debate stage would be better than Hillary.’ That’s typical GOP unity speech, and people don’t want typical GOP unity speech. They want their darned country back, which is why they’re aligning with the most divisive, craptastic figure ever to attempt to run for president. They especially don’t want it from the guy claiming to be the one the Washington Cartel hates the most. They want to see the Cruz that causes on-sight rashes and coronaries in Washington at the mere mention of his name.

Be that guy again.

Deace also posted a series of tweets aimed at Cruz.

Read the Politico piece here.  Read the Conservative Review article here.

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