DES MOINES – As GOP presidential hopefuls jostled for the conservative vote in Iowa Saturday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stood out with a warning: “Talk is cheap.”
The Republican phenom — who has alienated some GOP colleagues in DC — riled up the state’s social conservatives by calling on America to “repeal every♚ word of ObamaCare” and “abolish the IRS.”
“In a Republican primary ⛎every candidate is going to come in front of you and say I’m the most conservative guy that ever lived,” Cruz said to a crowd at the Iowa Freedom Summit.
“You know what, talk is cℱhe⛎ap,” he said, adding, “Look every candidate in the eye and say ‘Don’t talk, show me.’”
Cruz was one of two dozen GOP speakers and White House contenders flockin▨g to the heartland summit, where they t🌠ook potshots at Democrats — and each other.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — fresh off his re-election — wooed the crowd by firing off a litany of lines that brough♔t activists to their feet during the event hosted by Iowa Rep. Steve King.
“We need a president who doesn’t sit in Washington, DC, when world leaders are standing together against terrorism in Paris,” Walker said, blasting 🦋President Obama for failing to march after the terror attacks there.
Walker claimed he has received death threats over ꩲhis union-busting policies and said it “reminded me to focus on why I ran for governor in the first place.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie worked to sway Iowans skeptical of whether he fits the bill for a presidentiaꦉl front-runner in the conservative state. It was his 11t𒊎h visit to Iowa in five years.
“If I was too blunt, too direct, too loud and too New Jersey for Iowa, then why do you༺ people keep inviting me back?”
Christie promis💜ed voters, “you’ll alwa🐻ys know who I am,” and spoke about his anti-abortion views.
“The rich are doing fine,” he said, adding the party shouldn’t ca💧ter to the wealthy at the expense of middle-income workers.
, a 2008 vice presidential nominee, delivered a meandering speech that covered a controversy invo🍬lving her son stepping on the family dog and Islamic 📖terrorists.
She also condemned , who will likely be a Democratic contender. “Hey Iowa, can anyone stop Hillary?” Palin said. “Let’s borrow a phrase, ꦐ‘Yes we can.’ It starts here and it starts now.”
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santo🐽rum, who narrowly won Iowa caucuses in 2012, received tepid applause.
Santorum called on Iowans to make their own choi♏ce and not select someone “who Washington and New York thiꦜnk would have the best chance.”
He said the GOP needs “to be on the side of the Amer𒁃ican worker” and end corporate welfare if it’s going to cut social progra﷽ms.
Dr. Benjamin Carson, little-known but a darling among conservatives, called for slaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚshing the federal payroll throug😼h attrition.
The retired neurosurgeon also pitched a Canadian-style guest-worker program that would require il🏅legal immigrants to leave to reapply to work ꦛhere.
“Why would I be in favor of people obliterating people’s lives?” Carson asked, to c𝓰heers.
Donald Trump laced into most of the GOP field. In remarks to reporters, Trump skewered 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who was not scheduled to appear. “You don’t want ﷽to give a choker a second chance,” he said.