Ted Cruz Struggles To Defend ‘New York Values’ Slam Before Real New Yorkers

New York is showing little love to GOP candidate Ted Cruz ahead of the Republican primary, and the lack of enthusiasm for the Tea Party candidate may have a lot to do with the “New York values” slam he made in an earlier debate.

At the debate held in South Carolina back in January, Cruz made a pointed jab at Donald Trump, who is both Queens-born and Manhattan-based. Cruz attempted to smear Trump for his “New York values.”

“Everyone understands that the values of New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay marriage,” Cruz said.

Trump quickly turned it on Cruz, speaking passionately about what he saw as “New York values.”

“The people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death… And it was with us for months, the smell, the air.

“And we rebuilt Downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”

Months later, Ted Cruz is almost certainly still regretting the flippant “New York values” statement he made in January as he heads into New York and is faced with the nearly impossible task of defending his remarks to actual New Yorkers.

Cruz has made the case that he believes some New Yorkers do share his ultra-conservative positions and have actually agreed with him on his “New York values” crack.

“The people of New York know exactly what those values are,” Cruz said Wednesday afternoon at Sabrosura 2, a Chinese-Dominican restaurant.

According to the Huffington Post, the number of journalists at that campaign stop greatly outnumbered the amount of actual Ted Cruz supporters.

“They’re the values of liberal Democratic politicians,” he remarked.

In a Republican campaign, being called “liberal” is obviously meant as an insult. And although slamming New York as a den of liberal iniquity may have helped Cruz in deep red states, it simply hasn’t played well at all in New York, a state which Cruz trails behind even Kasich.

However, full of optimism from his big win in Wisconsin, Cruz is still hoping to garner enough support to at least diminish Donald Trump’s ability to secure the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination ahead of the Republican National Convention.

On Wednesday, Cruz tried even harder to qualify his statement about “New York values” by distinguishing between New Yorkers and New York’s Democratic politicians. He named Governor Andre Cuomo, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, Representative Charlie Rangel, and former politicians Representative Anthony Weiner and Governor Eliot Spitzer.

Cruz used those politicians in particular because Donald Trump had made financial contributions to their campaigns.

“If you want to know what liberal democratic values are, follow Donald Trump’s checkbook,” Cruz said.

A Ted Cruz event, however, was disrupted by a couple of protesters. They made it clear that they do not believe that Ted Cruz’s values are aligned with the values of the community he was visiting.

“Ted Cruz has no business being in the Bronx,” said a protester. “To receive this right-wing bigot is an insult to the whole community.”

But another man at the event, Donald Sadler, told the Huffington Post that he is a Cruz supporter and that he was glad to see Cruz in his borough. Sadler said that “that Republicans need to come and mesh with the communities of New York.” He also said that he understood what Cruz meant by “New York values” and that he agrees with the Texas senator.

“I understand clearly,” he said. “I’m pro-life. I’m pro-Second Amendment. I’m born and raised in New York City. I’m pro-family, traditional family, traditional marriage. These are our values. This is my value. This is not the general value of how voters in New York vote, and that’s what he said.”

Donald Trump holds a commanding lead in New York, with over 50 percent support in the latest polls. Kasich trails at 25 percent, and Cruz is limping behind in third with just 17 percent.

[Photo by Bloomberg/Contributor/Getty Images]