Potential 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz is taking issue with recent comments Rand Paul, another potential presidential hopeful, made about social issues. Paul recently suggested that Republicans should “agree to disagree” about social issues, including abortion.
As LifeNews reported, Paul said in an interview that Republicans should agree to disagree on social issues. If he wants to not lose trust with pro-life voters, Paul will need to clarify his comments quickly and assure them that he is not waffling on pro-life issues.
“I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues,” Paul told vocativ.com. “The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.”
“I have sort of a Jeffersonian belief in unity, peace and commerce with all. That means we don’t devour our own. We try to find an area where we can stand for principle. But it also includes people you don’t agree with on every issue,” he added.
Paul was asked, “There was a consensus among young people at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference that the GOP needs to get out of social issues. Do you agree?”
“I think it’s partly that,” he responded.
But Ted Cruz doesn’t agree, as CNN reports:
The first-term Republican senator from Texas, who was in Iowa Tuesday, was asked by the Des Moines Register about Paul’s recent comments that Republicans should “agree to disagree” about social issues.
Cruz seemed to disagree, saying, “I think that we should continue to defend our shared values.”
“There are some who say the Republican party should no longer stand for life. I don’t agree with that,” he also said.
“I’ll let him characterize his views,” Cruz said. “What I can tell you is my views are that we should continue to defend life and that we should continue to defend traditional marriage.”
On eight votes cast in the Senate during his tenure, Paul has a 100% pro-life voting record, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Cruz also has a 100% pro-life voting record, casting three pro-life votes out of three votes on pro-life issues during his time in the Senate.
The comments hearken back to the “truce” on social issues former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels proposed in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election that wound up took much of the sails out of his potential presidential bid and drew signficant criticism from pro-life advocates.
