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– She's an old political hack and they are young, rising stars. How could one of the GOP's dynamic Latino duo defeat Hillary Clinton? I'm PJTV's Scott Ott with Bill Whittle and Stephen Green and episode two of our three part series, Analyzing Your 2016 Presidential Contender Match-ups. In episode one, we looked at the political outsiders: Trump, Carson, and Fiorina. And in our final Member's Only stanza, we'll consider the moderate managers, Christie and Bush. We're neglecting Santorum, Kasich, Huckaby, Pataki, and Paul for what might be an obvious reason, you know, time constraints. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have their differences on immigration, foreign policy, and tax policy, but they share youth, ancestral heritage, a sharp intellect, and powerful communication and debating skills. Now some have suggested pairing them on the ticket could be the 2016 Republican Dream Team, a stark contrast with Blanche, the tired old nag, and whatever lackey she picks for VP. If Cruz or Rubio gets the nomination, the advantage is youthful vitality versus geriatric failed policies. The disadvantage, lack of experience fighting the Clinton machine and the perception among soft Democrats and Independents that they might be Tea Party wackos. Now Bill Whittle, how would your strategy differ for a Cruz or Rubio candidacy and how do you sell America on giving another rookie Senator a chance? – Well as a Tea Party wacko, myself, I'm here to tell you, I've seen both the guys in action, I know Ted Cruz a lot better than Rubio. I've seen Marco Rubio once in person in a real small room. They both have a lot of charisma and I'll deal with them both for a second, I'll try to get to them separately. You can sum up the Democratic strategy for destroying Republicans, especially Republican presidential candidates, very simple. They must be portrayed as, at least one, better if two, but certainly all three is the trifecta, right, of these three things, they've got to be evil, they've got to be old, and they've got to be stupid. Those are the three things that you have to do to Republican candidates. You've got to criticize them for being old, evil, or stupid. So McCain was old and probably a little evil, maybe stupid. Bush, of course, wasn't old, but he was stupid and evil. Sarah Palin is double stupid, probably evil. Romney, who was neither old or stupid, had to be made into being evil even though he was the nicest guy in the world. Newt Gingrich is not stupid, but he's old and evil, and you get the general idea. Now the problem with both Cruz and Rubio is neither of them are old, neither of them are stupid, and so they're gonna have to be made into being evil. But the problem with that is they're actually both really nice guys. Ted Cruz, especially in person, is one of the warmest people I've ever met. Years ago I thought Ted Cruz's problem was that he's gonna be perceived as too friendly for the job, but Ted on camera doesn't come off as well as Ted does in person and I think that's something that we're gonna see change. Rubio has a tremendous charisma.

He's struck me sometimes as being a little bit, I don't want to say lightweight exactly, but maybe just a little unseasoned. But let me just say this about both of these guys together, okay? They are the smartest guys in the room. Scalia, who's got an IQ of 300, said that Ted Cruz is the smartest law clerk we have ever had at the Supreme Court in the history of the Supreme Court. Marco Rubio, before he became a Senator, when he was a junior, some sort of a junior government kind of an intern or something, I forget the number, but came up, at the state of Florida, came up with like 37 different advisory suggestions to improve both the budgeting and the streamlining and the efficiency of the state and he submitted it as this junior intern and they adopted all 37 of them. I mean, the guys are both really smart. Now, obviously, what Hillary Clinton's gonna be doing is she's gonna run on, we need another historic presidency, we need to make it a woman for the White House. You get one of these guys or both of these guys, you can go to the Hispanic market, you can say the same thing. And I think Hillary Clinton is a terrifically weak candidate and one of the reasons I think Hillary Clinton is such a weak candidate is because just like Barack Obama I don't think Hillary Clinton is very smart. I know she thinks she's smart, but she's not very smart. If either one of these guys decide to debate her personally and attack her personally where it comes down, now it's not a question of just repeating your talking points, now it's you have to think on your feet kind of thing, I think both these guys would clean up. And as a dream team I think they'd be great. I'd certainly put Cruz at the top of that ticket.

– Well, Stephen Green, Republicans don't like treating minorities differently, but would a Cruz or Rubio nomination offer an irresistible opportunity to court Latino voters? And how would you wage the battle against Clinton with one or both of these rising stars? – Well, it may be irresistible and that would be an unfortunate thing. Conservatives and Libertarians don't play well into identity politics because we don't believe in that and the inauthenticity comes through every time and then the Democrats beat you over the head with it and we lose every time. It doesn't work, don't play that. Let the names, let the last names speak for themselves, that's all you need to do. As to the candidates themselves, look, if Rubio is at the top of the ticket, I don't know that I can vote Republican and let me tell you why. I mentioned in the first episode, I've had something of a political metamorphosis in the last couple of weeks, Rubio is the wrong guy now on immigration. But in 1856 to 1860, the Whig Party destroyed itself over the issue of slavery. It was out of sync with the rest of the nation, or at least with the northern half of the nation, and with its own base that was increasingly abolitionist. Right now, my own personal immigration policy is probably closer to Rubio's than to Donald Trump's, however, I'm on the wrong side of history on that issue right now and there comes a time where you have to put your personal policy issues aside for a greater good. And I think that if Rubio is the nominee, he will become the President and he will destroy the GOP over immigration. It will go the way of the Whigs because the base and the mood of the country is not in sync with Marco Rubio and that's an awful thing to have to say, especially because I'm so pro-immigration, but that's the fact of it, that's what worries me. I would not seeing him at all on the bottom of the ticket and that brings Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz, as Bill says, is maybe the smartest guy ever to run for President since Calvin Coolidge, but he has done some flip flops, he seems willing to say anything to anybody to win support to throw out that red meat, and it makes him come across as an opportunist and he's got to find a way, I think it's gonna come down, I think, the way it looks right now between Trump and Cruz, and he's got to find a way to win the Trump voters without alienating the middle of the country or the GOP base. I think he can do it but I worry about his mean, I worry about the thing where he comes across as an opportunist… – Go ahead, Bill– – [Stephen] I'd love to see him at the top of the ticket, policy-wise he's my guy. – He's my guy too. I was just gonna say, if I had to bet, Scotty, if I had to bet, I'd say Steve just said Trump and Cruz, if it comes down to Trump and Cruz, if I had to bet right now in December, I'd say that's gonna be the ticket, Trump and Cruz.

– Well, the best indicator I've seen of that lately, has been at the last Republican presidential debate when it was obvious that Ted Cruz had reduced the amount of petroleum products in his hair. Somebody is getting to him about presentation. You can clearly see that. (laughing) Well, listen, you can't really lump Cruz and Rubio together when it comes to strategy of how to run a race. Despite their similarities, their distinctions call for different approaches. A Cruz candidacy calls for firing up the base, what the consultants call GOTV, Get Out the Vote. Cruz understands this already and has exceeded everyone of his fellow Republicans in organization, parsing the voter database, and staying on message. With Cruz at the top of the ticket there is no chance of losing the election because Constitutional Conservatives stayed home, as they said about the Romney race. He'll move to the center a bit for the general election, but mostly in his approach, not his principles or his positions. He'll tie Hillary to Obama and eviscerate both, but he'll need to avoid looking mean or sexist as he hog ties grandma. Now, Marco Rubio has a vision (laughing) that grabs the hearts of Americans across a wider political spectrum than Cruz can. He'll rouse some discouraged and apathetic Republicans and pull Independents and soft Democrats who don't know or care what he stands for but who like the way he looks and the way he makes them feel. His biggest struggle will be turning out Republicans, as Steve indicated, for whom immigration policy is the deal breaker. He'll soar above Hillary like an eagle over a weasel, but he'll have to be careful not to get down in the mud with that wily varmint where she holds homefield advantage. Rubio's conservative coattails stretch longer than most and he'll be a welcome addition to congressional candidate fundraisers, especially in politically divided districts. For Cruz to marshal his down ballot co-partisans into a winning coalition, he'll have to back off his attacks on what he calls, "The Washington Cartel," and mend some fences with incumbent Republican legislators with whom he has a carefully cultivated reputation as a pariah, but team work, as my brothers have suggested, may be the best option. With, in my opinion, Rubio at the top of the ticket, and Cruz wielding the sword, Hillary Clinton would soon have lots of time to spend with those grandbabies. For Bill Whittle, Stephen Green, and the entire Trifecta crew at PJTV.com, I'm Scott Ott. – They can visit her. (intense music)