Cruz Hits Back at Romney: If He Thinks the GOP Nominee ‘Should Be a Moderate…’

Yesterday Mitt Romney pointedly left our Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) on his list of “terrific” Republican presidential candidate options for 2016 during a discussion with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. Today, on that same program, Cruz fired back at Romney with his own polite dig, saying, “If he thinks that the presidential nominee should be a moderate, he’s entitled to that opinion.”

Romney had mentioned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, along with his 2012 running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker. When Cavuto asked him why he omitted Cruz and Paul, Romney said, “They represent different parts of the party,” adding, “we’re going to be best if we can unify behind a leader of the party who represents as broad a portion of the party as possible.”

Cavuto played the clip for Cruz Wednesday, asking if he was “offended” by Romney’s remarks. “Oh, look, Mitt Romney is entitled to support whomever he likes, to advocate for whomever he likes,” he said. “If he thinks that the presidential nominee could be a moderate, he’s entitled to that opinion. I think republicans believe we should nominate a strong conservative.”

When Cavuto pushed Cruz to say whether he was essentially calling Christie a “moderate,” he said he would leave that determination up to the voters.

Watch video below, via Fox News:

[photo via screengrab]

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