What Are New York Values, According To Ted Cruz?

During the Thursday night GOP primetime debate, Republican candidate Ted Cruz was faced with a toughie: elaborating on a prior jibe against fellow presidential hopeful Donald Trump. Well, it actually wasn't just one jibe. Cruz has, on several occasions, referred to Trump's "New York values." So what are New York values, according to Ted Cruz? The GOP candidate managed to alienate an entire state (and really, all of America) by generalizing what kind of people post up in the Empire State.

Two days prior to the Fox Business Network debate, Cruz appeared on both the Howie Carr Show and Megyn Kelly's The Kelly File. During the former, Cruz responded to a question by Carr on Trump's playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." with a vague statement about Trump being the epitome of "New York values." Kelly later asked Cruz what he meant by the comment, but Cruz again kept it vague. The candidate merely said the rest of the country knows what those values are, and also knows they're different from the values of people in states like Iowa.

Debate moderator Maria Bartiromo brought the comments to the forefront during the primetime round Thursday, posing the same question Kelly did on Tuesday's show. At first, Cruz tried to stick to a non-answer, saying, "You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are."

Bartiromo shut Cruz down, though, by pointing out that she's a New Yorker herself and she certainly did not know what those "New York values" Cruz mentioned were. So Cruz went full steam ahead with a lengthy spiel on how, although there are some wonderful people who come out of the Empire State, everyone in New York can't help themselves but be extreme liberals:

But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media.

Cruz finished his fabulous explanation of the kinds of folks that come out of New York by finally sharing what he really wanted to say all along: "Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying."

Trump didn't take the statement too kindly. He first topped Cruz's attempt at a safety net by saying New Yorkers aren't just wonderful, but loving and great too.

Trump made sure to provide proof of just how fabulous New Yorkers are by describing their fight to move forward after the Sept. 11 attacks. And to put the matter to an end, Trump cleared up any confusion about whether or not New Yorkers would find Cruz's comment offensive, saying, "And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made."

Insulting indeed, Trump. If only the Donald wasn't known just as well for generalizing about large populations with a single attribute in common.