Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday at the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that the way you know which Republican candidate to support for president in 2016 is to look for the candidate who fights for conservative principles.
"How do we differentiate" between the crowded field of candidates? Cruz asked the audience.
"We all know that in a campaign, every candidate comes up and says they're the most conservative," the Republican said.
"We have a way to tell the difference," Cruz said, then cited a verse from the Bible, which says, "You shall know them by their fruits."
"Demand action, not talk," he said. "If a candidate tells you they oppose Obamacare, 'Fantastic, when have you fought against it?' "
The Republican presidential hopeful then cited a litany of issues including the nation's debt, amnesty, First Amendment rights, religious liberty, the Second Amendment, traditional marriage, Common Core, support for Israel, as well as a nuclear Iran.
With each issue, ask the candidates "'when have you stood up and fought against it?'" Cruz said.
"Talk is cheap," he told the CPAC audience. "Actions speak far, far louder than words.
"We need to look to the people that walk the walk and talk the talk."
In addition, Cruz said that "America is in jeopardy and we are met today on a great battlefield."
And it's going to be up to conservatives to "turn the country around" and reignite "the miracle of America."
To do this Cruz said that Republicans must "reassemble the Reagan coalition" of fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, national security conservatives and Reagan Democrats.
He said that Republicans must "stand with the people, not with Washington" on every issue from Obamacare to amnesty to "power over the Internet."
Cruz didn't speak from behind the podium, but on a lower stage where he could walk around as he spoke.
He opened with a joke, saying that "there's not a single Democrat here. It's almost like CPAC invited [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu to speak.
"We could have had Hillary here, but we couldn't find a foreign nation to foot the bill," he added.
Cruz also took questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity, who asked what a Cruz presidency would look like.
"No. 1, repeal every blasted word of Obamacare," the Texas Republican said.
"No 2, abolish the IRS" and "take all 125,000 IRS agents and put them on our southern border."
He said he will also "stop out of control regulations at the EPA" and other federal bureaucracies, "defend constitutional rights," and "restore America's leadership in the world as a 'Shining City on a Hill.'"
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