Ted Cruz calls on Oregon activists to 'stand down,' end confrontation 'peaceably'
BOONE, Ia. — Presidential candidate Ted Cruz said the anti-government activists who have taken over a federal building in rural Oregon should “stand down” during his first stop in a long campaign swing through the state on Monday.
“Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest against the government, but we don’t have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence on others,” Cruz said. “So it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.”
Armed militants, led by the son of prominent anti-government activist Cliven Bundy, took over the headquarters of the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., over the weekend to protest federal control of western lands. They’ve occupied the federally owned site and said they intend to turn it over local residents.
Cruz added, “There is no right to engage in violence against other Americans, and it is our hope and prayer that that situation resolves itself peaceably sooner rather than later.”
Oregon militia takeover: How did we get here?
His comments came in a short news conference with reporters outside a Christian bookstore here, his first of 28 campaign events in Iowa scheduled through Saturday. They were among the first responses to the Oregon situation from the large presidential field.
By calling on the armed activists to “stand down,” Cruz struck a much more moderate tone than he has previously with regard to the Bundy family and western activism against federal land policies.
In 2014, Cruz called for reducing federally owned lands, said the battle between ranchers and the government resulted from federal “authoritarianism” and suggested that a confrontation instigated that year by Cliven Bundy in Nevada was the “unfortunate and tragic culmination of the path that President Obama has set the federal government upon.”
In Boone and in subsequent west-central Iowa stops in Carroll and Guthrie Center, Cruz met crowds of well over 100 for standard-fare stump speeches. In Winterset, he shared the stage with the evangelist James Dobson, with whom he engaged in a stilted conversation covering his campaign talking points and the importance of evangelical voters’ participation in the caucuses.
At one point, Cruz warned that if Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is elected president she will appoint enough Supreme Court justices to shift the ideological balance of the court and reinterpret the Constitution.
“If Hillary Clinton is elected president,” Cruz said, “the Supreme Court will rule that no individual American has any individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever and the government can make it a felony to own a firearm and protect your family.”
In response, a man in the audience yelled, “Come and take it!” – a famed patriotic slogan dating the Revolutionary War era and well known in Texas from a flag flown during the Battle of Gonzalez in 1835.
“I think Iowa and Texas have some things in common!” Cruz quipped in response.
The discussion of guns came just hours after Obama issued new executive orders enhancing background check requirements, although Cruz did not mention them.
After hearing Cruz’s speech at a lunch-hour visit to a steakhouse and lounge in Carroll, retired secretary Jean Lees said she could see herself supporting Cruz, but was leaning toward the candidate she referred to simply as “The Donald” – that is, businessman Donald Trump.
“I think it’s time the Republican Party had a junkyard dog on the ballot,” Lees said. “We’re tired of being nice because the other side does not play nice in any way, shape or form.”
Lees said she had supported George W. Bush and Mitt Romney in previous caucuses but was fed up with what she called “career politicians.”
“They talk a good story and it always ends up being business as usual,” she said.
Cruz was accompanied at all the stops by U.S. Rep. Steve King, the arch conservative congressman who represents much of western Iowa and who has formally endorsed Cruz last month.
AT THE EVENT
SETTING: Cruz’s campaign stops were held at the King’s Christian Bookstore in Boone, Charlie’s Steakhouse at the Carrollton Inn in Carroll, the Prime Time diner in Guthrie Center and Winterset Stage, a small theater, in Winterset.
CROWD: About 100 packed the bookstore in Boone and perhaps 150 –including someone with a cowbell – filled in around a circular bar at the steakhouse in Carroll. In Guthrie Center, about 100 packed into a narrow dining room at the Prime Time, followed by about 125 in Winterset.
REACTION: Cruz won repeated cheers and applause – and not a few “amens!” at each stop for his well-honed campaign speech. Many attending the events said they’d already committed to supporting Cruz at the caucuses, and the campaign did a brisk business handing out yard signs and 4x8 highway signs.
WHAT’S NEXT: Cruz was scheduled to hold another diner stop on Monday – at 10:45 p.m. in Missouri Valley. He’ll be in the state through Saturday, and plans to hold 28 events in all. For details, go to DesMoinesRegister.com/candidatetracker.
