Cruz: Reignite ‘the miracle of America’

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took a sunnier tone in Iowa on Saturday, teasing a potential campaign slogan as he called for “reigniting the miracle of America.”

{mosads}Cruz, weaving in biblical rhetoric to a crowd of right-wing activists at the Iowa Freedom Summit, called for the GOP to nominate a conservative crusader who’s walked the walk and not just talked the talk. 

“In a Republican primary every candidate’s going to come in front of you and say ‘I’m the most conservative guy who’s ever lived. Gosh darmit, hoo-diddly, I’m conservative. Well you know what, talk is cheap,” Cruz declared.

“The word tells us you shall know them by your fruit. And one of the most important roles that the men and women in this room, the men and women in Iowa play is to look each candidate in the eye and say ‘don’t talk, show me.’ If you say you support liberty show me where you stood up and fought for it.”

Cruz needs to dominate among the grassroots faithful if he hopes to have a shot at winning the Iowa caucuses, and the audience of core conservatives at Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) event gave him multiple standing ovations.

The senator ticked off attacks against abortion, Common Core education standards, Islamic extremism, the “Washington establishment.” He then turned introspective, reprising a tale of his father leaving when he was little before becoming a born again Christian and returning to him and his mother.

“Some people ask if faith is real,” he said. “I can tell you firsthand in my family and my life that if it were not for the redeeming love, if it were not for faith in Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without the love of my father.”

Speaking to reporters after his well-received speech, Cruz took repeated calls for voters to kick the tires on conservatives’ credentials.

“Talk’s cheap. Every candidate will describe how conservative they are. Far more relevant is to ask when have you stood up and fought, when have you bled, and what have you accomplished for conservative principles?” he said.