Republicans looking for fearless candidate like Ted Cruz

Byron York:

“I’m sick of Republicans letting Obama walk all over them,” says Denise Roberts, a Dublin, N.H., Republican who has come to a grand old home in the shadow of Mount Monadnock to get a first-hand look at Sen. Ted Cruz, perhaps the hottest might-be-candidate in the GOP 2016 presidential field.

Cruz, says Roberts, isn’t afraid to stand up to Obama, or anyone else. “I would vote for him for president from here until 2016,” she declares. “I agree with him, big time.”

Roberts isn’t alone among Republicans these days, certainly not in New Hampshire. “I’m so tired of the old school, like McCain and Graham, I’m tired of those guys,” says Jonathan Brooks, from Merrimack. “I’m excited about Cruz. I’m interested in his brand of politics.”

“Cruz isn’t going to do that back-and-forth, one minute he’s saying he’s a conservative and the next minute he’s selling us out completely,” adds Marilyn Huston, of Keene.

Cruz has ostensibly come to New Hampshire — his first-ever visit — to help the state Republican Party raise money. But he’s made two previous trips to Iowa this summer that left conservatives there buzzing about his presidential prospects. Now, he just happens to be appearing in the nation’s first-primary state. Some of his speech at the summer home of longtime New Hampshire party stalwarts Joseph and Augusta Petrone is focused on his crusade to defund Obamacare. But it’s also a campaign speech — not so much for himself specifically but for the new wave of Republican politicians of which he is a part.

“Something incredible is happening, I am convinced,” Cruz tells the crowd. “We are seeing a new paradigm in politics that is changing the rules. And that new paradigm is the rise of the grassroots.” Energized conservatives have empowered newly-arrived leaders like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and of course Cruz himself, to stand up against not only Barack Obama but against all those old, entrenched Republicans who aren’t up for the fight.

Cruz explains that grassroots power was behind his own improbable victory in the 2012 Texas Senate race. It was behind Rand Paul’s filibuster against Obama administration drone policies. It was behind the GOP’s successful effort to stop Obama’s post-Newtown gun control initiatives. And it has brought “hope and optimism” to discouraged Republicans.

Cruz’s discussion of guns in particular shows how he has tweaked his message from recent speeches in Iowa and his home state of Texas. Before coming to the fundraiser, he met with a group of local county officials, for a little New Hampshire Politics 101. A couple of hours later, when he spoke, the audience heard a little less God and a little more guns.

Cruz noted that hostess Augusta Petrone has a sign in her home that says, “Stop Crime — Shoot Back.” That, Cruz added, “is really how you make a Texan feel at home.” Cruz also took a shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has brought his gun control crusade to New Hampshire. “Any New York mayor…” — the crowd starts booing at the first mention of Bloomberg — “who thinks he can come up here and bully the senator from New Hampshire seems a little confused by the concept of 'Live Free or Die,'” says Cruz.
...

Cruz does seem genuinely unafraid. He’s certainly not afraid to alienate some of his fellow Republican lawmakers, or cause Democrats and some in the media to call him crazy. To many in the GOP base — the grassroots — he’s antagonizing all the right people.
...

The rise of the grass roots is not all that new for the GOP.  It was how Republicans defeated the Democrats in 2010.   But Cruz and his cohorts are helping to relight that fire.  They still have a way to go to defund Obamacare, but those who oppose them within the GOP have not come up with a clear alternative that looks effective.  Obamacare is still the most hated legislation in history.  A majority of voters want it repealed.  Doing things to thwart should be a popular movement.