Don’t you just love watching when voters won’t let presidential candidates get away with their usual runaround answers to serious questions? Well, we know Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rafael Ted Cruz hates it – all because 63-year-old Mike Valde dared ask Sen. Cruz about Obamacare, and he wanted a real answer.
Valde wouldn’t let Sen. Cruz off the hook, while the senator’s response was priceless – and the confrontation stunned an entire room into silence.
Not Politics As Usual For This Voter
Sen. Cruz is used to giving stock answers to supporters who agree that Obamacare should be repealed. He’s rarely questioned any further and it’s not difficult to figure out why…
Mike Valde, the brother-in-law of a late barber named Mark, asked Sen. Cruz what he’d replace Obamacare with during the Repeal Obamacare Town Hall in Hubbard, Iowa, on Saturday, January 30, right after he explained Mark’s situation.
Mark was a small business owner who paid his bills and couldn’t afford healthcare until Obamacare kicked in. When it did, Mark finally went to the doctor only to find out that,
“He had never been to a doctor for years … [He had] Multiple tumors behind his heart, his liver, his pancreas. And they said, ‘We’re sorry, sir, there’s nothing we can do for you.‘”
Valde finished his story with the dreaded question Sen. Cruz hardly ever hears,
“What are you going to replace it [Obamacare] with?”
Sen. Cruz started giving his usual Obamacare-bashing answer, according to the New York Times, saying that,
“‘Millions of Americans’ had lost their jobs and their doctors as a result of the law, and that many had ‘seen their premiums skyrocket.”
Sen. Cruz continued his tirade against and even joked that he would get the voters who haven’t had their premiums drop by $2,500, which is equal to the supposed premium price cut people would see under the ACA. He said those who have seen premiums drop should vote for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
When Sen. Cruz finished his answer-turned-speech, Valde was unsatisfied, and he asked again,
“My question is, what are you going to replace it with?”
Boy Sen. Cruz didn’t like Valde pressuring him, and he quickly cut him off, saying, “I’m getting to that sir.”
Is There An Obamacare Replacement?
Apparently, Sen. Cruz hadn’t finished assaulting the ACA and outlining it’s bad parts. Finally addressing Valde directly, according to the New York Times, the rest of the conversation between Valde and the senator went like this,
“‘Your father-in-law, he couldn’t afford it,’ said Sen. Cruz.”
“‘Brother-in-law,’ Mr. Valde said.”
“‘Your brother-in-law couldn’t afford it,’ Mr. Cruz said.”
“‘Right,’ Mr. Valde said. ‘But he could afford it — he finally got it under Obama.'”
“‘He would have gotten it earlier, if he could have afforded it earlier,’ Mr. Cruz said. ‘But because of government regulations he couldn’t.'”
As dizzying as their conversation was, Sen. Cruz likely never intended to answer Valde’s question, and his non-answer should be thorough evidence that there is no CruzCare replacement for Obamacare.
From what he did say, for those who find circular logic difficult to follow, Sen. Cruz says he has to repeal Obamacare because the rules that existed before Obamacare made the healthcare that existed before Obamacare too expensive. See? It’s all Obamacare’s fault.
It’s sad, really. All Senator Cruz had to do was answer the question. Instead, he lost a huge chance to sway Democrats like Valde, who said he’s voting for Sec. Clinton.
Doesn’t Sen. Cruz understand that answering that question might have resulted in a bunch of changed minds? Sorry, you lost your chance there, Teddy boy.
H/T: Washington Post Video: Voter Challenges Sen. Cruz On Obamacare
Featured Image: by Mario Piperni via Flickr/CC by ND-2.0 and Screengrab via Washington Post
