It isn’t that anything about the terrorist attack or the response to it contradicts the fact that New Yorkers in aggregate are ideologically left of middle America. But it does put those differences in perspective. Americans saw the humanity of Manhattan in a way no one alive at the time can forget. Iowa voters will be harder pressed to regard the typical New Yorker as someone with intolerably different values than their own when recalling those autumn days in front of the television set, mourning the victims, celebrating heroic firefighters, and rooting for resilient survivors. The context exposed Cruz’s implicit reliance on reflexive, inane prejudice. 
 
 “Trump bested Cruz, and in doing so he subtly made a point that conservatives need to remember—we can’t and shouldn’t write off any part of America,” the National Review’s David French wrote. “By hearkening back to New York’s heart after 9/11, for a moment Trump transcended politics. How easily we forget, but for weeks after the terror attacks, New York was America.” (Of course, Trump has meanwhile been writing off Muslim Americans, Black Lives Matter protestors, and many Hispanics.) 
 
 The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the “New York values” attack would’ve hurt Trump even if he hadn’t managed to invoke the shared experience of 9/11 so skillfully. Aren’t many qualities that Trump supporters like about the candidate very New York City? He’s big, loud, brash, unafraid to brag, and full of superlatives. He speaks his mind and has the high opinion of himself. He’s comfortable with being pushy and with open conflict. He values ruthlessness and winners. 
 
 Trump supporters like those qualities much, much more than they dislike departures from conservative ideology and social mores. The phenomenon closely resembles the way that many on the right adored Andrew Breitbart even though he was perfectly comfortable with gays, helped start the Huffington Post, lived in West Los Angeles, and “didn’t actually have strong philosophical/policy beliefs, at all.” 
 
 If the Tea Party gave rise to a more libertarian faction in the GOP––Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Justin Amash are examples––the ascendant faction on the right this cycle is not conservative or libertarian at its core. It is, rather, Breitbartian. Its adherents are more interested in a culture war than a political one. It is anti-leftist, anti-Islamist, anti-establishment, and anti-political-correctness. Do these adherents constitute a bigger or smaller faction than the evangelicals and social conservatives who, save for a stirring invocation of 9/11, would have gone to bed last night worried that Trump’s “New York values” are a problem? 
 
 The answer may determine who wins the GOP nomination. ||||| This is what Ted Cruz, who wasn’t just born out of town but out of the country, said about Donald Trump the other day: 
 
 “Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values.” And made it sound as if this was some variation of insulting Trump about his hair. 
 
 DE BLASIO: CRUZ OWES AN APOLOGY FOR 'NEW YORK VALUES' INSULT 
 
 Later Cruz kept digging, telling Megyn Kelly of “Fox News” that New York values weren’t Iowa values or New Hampshire values, as if he is suddenly as big an expert on values as he says he is on the Constitution. Finally on Thursday night he brought his cockeyed theories about the city to the Republican debate in South Carolina. 
 
 The next time Cruz shows up here and treats the city like an ATM machine, he should make a side trip to the Bronx and explain himself there on New York values. (MARK KAUZLARICH/REUTERS) 
 
 “Everybody understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal and pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage,” he said. “And focus on money and the media.” This was right before Trump turned and calmly took him apart again for insulting the city the way he has. 
 
 TRUMP DEFENDS 'NEW YORK VALUES' AS CRUZ USES TERM AS INSULT 
 
 Ted Cruz, who only comes here with his hand out, has decided that the most diverse city the world has ever known is filled with people who all think alike. He sounds in these moments like as slow a thinker as we have ever had run for President. 
 
 If you are dumb enough to think that New York values are some sort of handicap in this presidential season, then you are as dumb and tone deaf as Jesse Jackson was calling the city “Hymietown,” as dumb as Gerald Ford was when he gave this paper the most famous front page in its history, the day he effectively told New York to drop dead. 
 
 CUOMO CALLS CRUZ'S ATTACKS ON NEW YORK VALUES "OFFENSIVE" 
 
 The next time Cruz shows up here he should tear himself away from his friends at Goldman Sachs and make a side trip to the Bronx and explain himself there on New York values; or to the Lower East Side, or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or Jamaica, Queens, or 125th St. in Harlem. He should go talk to people in the Rockaways or Staten Island, the hardened survivors who bound together after Hurricane Sandy, about New York values. Or finally he should go all the way downtown, and back to September 2001. 
 
 New York City became the capital of heroes on Sept. 11, 2001. (Shawn Baldwin/AP) 
 
 Here is what New York values are: New York values are a young guy, a paralegal, literally giving somebody he doesn’t know the shirt off his back on a subway because winter has finally come to the city and brought freezing temperatures with it. New York values are the New York taxi driver who traveled three boroughs across four days to find the guy who had left $1,400 in his cab, so he could return the money to him. You know what that really was? It was the real life of a city that Ted Cruz knows nothing about. He is simply another tourist here, one constantly on the make. 
 
 HATERS IN CHIEF:l FIND YOUR CANDIDATE BY WHAT THEY HATE 
 
 The best of this city is the best of this country, and always has been. When it was hit in a way that no American city had ever been hit, it came together and rose up together in a moment as thrilling as any America had ever seen. 
 
 "Well, look, he may shift in his new rallies to play 'New York, New York' because Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values,’” Ted Cruz said of the bombastic billionaire GOP front-runner, who was born in Queens. (CHRIS KEANE/REUTERS) 
 
 This wasn’t the civil rights movement, it was a different kind of movement, to lower Manhattan. That was where the city was stronger and better than it ever had been on Sept. 12, when in the words of the great Pete Hamill, the city first got to one knee, and then began to get up. We will never know how it would have gone in another American city. We just know how it went here. 
 
 New York values? New York values are the ironworkers who carried their tools in backpacks and gym bags and, by God, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge on the night of Sept. 11, 2001, or all the way downtown from all the way uptown. 
 
 HARRY SIEGEL: HE-MAN, REV. BACON AND NYC'S SILLY SEASON 
 
 One of them I know simply said to a cop who didn’t want to let him get close to where the towers had been. And the guy said, “They need me. I cut steel.” 
 
 Cruz didn't make things better for himself at the debate. Somehow he sounded even dumber about New York City as he talked about abortion and gay marriage and the rest of it, even as he applauded after Trump spoke to the greatness of the city. Cruz means what he says about New York values, clearly believes they are in opposition to the values on which he has based his campaign, whatever those actually are. 
 
 Earlier on Thursday Rep. Pete King came right at Cruz like some guy he’d grown up with in Sunnyside, Queens, who needed a good slap. 
 
 “Memo to Ted Cruz,” King said in a statement on Thursday. “New York values are the heroes of 9/11; the cops who fight terror; and the people you ask for campaign donations. Go back under a rock.” 
 
 Cruz is a lightweight. He always has been, however well he is doing in caucuses in the heartland. He may do well there. He is just out of his class here. It is the other party that has a donkey as its mascot. But Cruz is the one who’s a career jackass. 
 
 City to him: Get lost. ||||| North Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) Donald Trump and Ted Cruz clashed Thursday in their sharpest -- and most personal -- encounters of the campaign season. 
 
 "I guess the bromance is over," Trump told CNN's Dana Bash after the debate. 
 
 The 2.5-hour event sponsored by Fox Business Network was filled with testy exchanges between the seven candidates on stage. Cruz and Trump are battling for first place in Iowa with less than three weeks until the state's caucuses, though the businessman has a commanding lead nationally. And with pressure mounting for someone to emerge as an establishment alternative to Trump and Cruz, sparks flew between Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. 
 
 The much-anticipated Trump vs. Cruz showdown took a few minutes to materialize — but when it did, it packed a punch. 
 
 Cruz forcefully responded to Trump's accusations that he isn't eligible to be president because he was born in Canada -- a controversy that Trump has only recently embraced. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Fox Business GOP debate in 90 seconds Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Fox Business GOP debate in 90 seconds 01:30 
 
 "Back in September, my friend Donald said he had his lawyers look at this in every which way," Cruz said. "There was nothing to this birther issue." 
 
 He added: "Since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have." 
 
 While there has been plenty of animosity between Trump and most of his rivals, the billionaire businessman and Cruz have been on largely friendly territory for much of the campaign season. That's changed, however, as the polls in Iowa tighten ahead of the February 1 caucuses. Trump, hoping to eat into the senator's support in Iowa, has repeatedly questioned whether Cruz, whose mother was a U.S. citizen, is a natural born citizen. 
 
 But in his attack against Trump on Thursday, Cruz noted that some of the more extreme theories on the topic would conclude that someone can only become president if both parents were born in the United States. Under that standard, Cruz noted, Trump himself would be ineligible for the presidency because his mother was born in Scotland. 
 
 "On the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you," Cruz said. 
 
 Trump shot back: "Because it wouldn't work." 
 
 It wasn't just Trump who put Cruz on the defensive. In the final moments of the debate, Rubio slammed his fellow senator for hiding behind the pretense of conservative values. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Rubio to Cruz: We all saw you flip your vote Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rubio to Cruz: We all saw you flip your vote 02:00 
 
 In one of his strongest moments of the evening, Rubio listed a string of issues on which he said Cruz had flip-flopped, including immigration and ethanol subsidies. 
 
 "That is not consistent conservatism," he says. "That is political calculation." 
 
 When Cruz shot back, "I appreciate you dumping your oppo research file on the debate stage," Rubio was ready with a sharp retort: "It's your record." 
 
 'New York values' 
 
 Trump was more dominant Thursday than in previous debates. In one of the most memorable exchanges of the night, Trump responded to Cruz' recent accusation that the businessman "embodies New York values." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Cruz, Trump debate 'New York values' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Cruz, Trump debate 'New York values' 01:37 
 
 Asked to explain what that meant, Cruz said New Yorkers tend to hold "socially liberal" views, and its residents tend to revolve around "money and media." 
 
 "Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan," he said. 
 
 Trump was ready with an emotional response. He recalled seeing the World Trade Center towers collapse on September 11, 2001. The resilience of New Yorkers in the aftermath, Trump said, revealed the true spirit of New York. 
 
 "I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York," Trump said. "The people in New York fought and fought and fought. We saw more death and even the smell of death and it was with us for months." 
 
 Having clearly won the moment, Trump added: "We rebuilt downtown Manhattan and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made." 
 
 Cruz also had sharp words for The New York Times for publishing a story this week that said Cruz failed to properly disclose large loans he received during his Senate campaign. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Ted Cruz deflects NYT 'hit piece' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ted Cruz deflects NYT 'hit piece' 01:20 
 
 Asked about the controversy, Cruz quickly retorted: "Thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of The New York Times." 
 
 "The entire New York Times attack is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate ... but it was not in the second filing with the FEC," Cruz said. "Yes, I made paperwork errors ... but if that's the best hit the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well." 
 
 Alternatives to Trump and Cruz 
 
 Christie and Rubio also tussled on stage, as the two men touted their conservative bona fides. Rubio accused Christie of being on the same page as President Barack Obama on issues such as gun control, Common Core and support for Planned Parenthood. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Sen. Rubio and Gov. Christie's heated exchange Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sen. Rubio and Gov. Christie's heated exchange 01:17 
 
 "Unfortunately, Gov. Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports," the Florida senator said. 
 
 Christie deftly responded, pointing to an infamous moment in a past debate when Rubio accused Bush of attacking him only because someone had instructed the former Florida governor to do so. 
 
 It appears that "same someone has been whispering in old Marco's ear, too," Christie said. 
 
 He pushed back on Rubio's accusations as he touted his executive experience in the New Jersey governor's mansion. 
 
 "This is the difference between being a governor and being a senator ... when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk," Christie said. "Two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me." 
 
 Muslim ban, gun control 
 
 The candidates also sparred over Trump's controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. The idea triggered waves of criticism but many of Trump's supporters say it holds merit in light of the growing threat of ISIS. 
 
 "We have to stop with political correctness," Trump said, insisting he would not change his mind on the issue. 
 
 Bush repeatedly called on Trump to "reconsider," warning that the idea makes it "impossible" to build a coalition with other Arab countries necessary to defeat ISIS. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Bush: Trump's ban makes it impossible to take out ISIS Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Bush: Trump's ban makes it impossible to take out ISIS 01:23 
 
 "All Muslims? Seriously? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world?" Bush said. 
 
 Others, including Kasich and Christie, said they were on board with at least temporarily not allowing Syrian refugees into the country. 
 
 "I've said from the beginning, we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind," Christie said. 
 
 And coming on the heels of Obama's new executive actions on gun control, several candidates offered impassioned defenses of Second Amendment rights. 
 
 "I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would," Rubio said. 
 
 Christie, meanwhile, blasted the actions as inconsistent with democracy. 
 
 "That's not a democracy, that's a dictatorship," he said. 
 
 Undercard debate 
 
 Earlier Thursday, Carly Fiorina dominated a smaller, less-glamorous debate stage when she joined two other low-polling candidates to discuss everything from national security to technology and Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Fiorina's candidacy has largely been defined by memorable debate performances. And even though she was dropped from the prime-time stage at the debate, she still delivered. Right out of the gate, she dealt a sharp personal attack on Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. 
 
 "I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office," the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said. "And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband." 
 
 Minutes later, Fiorina turned to Trump. 
 
 "Despite Donald Trump's bromance with Vladimir Putin ... Russia is our adversary," she said. ||||| Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in Concord, N.H. (Cheryl Senter/Associated Press) 
 
 Trying to sashay up to the religious right in Iowa, where he is losing altitude, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has taken to accusing Donald Trump of “embodying New York values.” What the heck does that mean? Cruz insists that voters know exactly what he means, but as a purveyor of nonsensical phrases (“Washington cartel“), he should explain what he means. 
 
 Does he mean educated at elite schools? Cruz himself has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. 
 
 Does he mean New Yorkers embrace diversity and tolerance, making their city the quintessential home of immigrants? Trump used to rave about legal immigration. Now he says he is against it, even when it comes to people with special skills and talents our economy dearly needs. 
 
 Does he mean crass, materialistic, etc.? He might. And yet Cruz butters up New York donors in private, sounding different in tone on abortion than he does in Iowa. Maybe he shouldn’t take donations from such people. 
 
 Does he mean Trump has had multiple marriages? It is interesting this card hasn’t been played much in places such as Iowa, but if Cruz is going to go down that road — I don’t think it’s out-of-bounds necessarily, although it didn’t carry much weight with New Gingrich’s opponents — he should say so. In the 21st century (the 20th as well) divorce has lost its stigma, but Cruz should spell it out if he is accusing Trump of something worse regarding his relations with women. Cruz is trying to have it both ways as he throws darts at Trump but avoids specificity and direct confrontation (kind of like ringing the doorbell and running). Many voters won’t consider that a demonstration of strength should Cruz choose to go that route. 
 
 There is something else at play here other than Cruz’s sneaky insinuations. It has become standard operation practice among right-wing Republicans to declare that big cities and even entire states are not “real America.” Cruz says New York values aren’t Iowa values. Or something. 
 
 This is hogwash and is indicative of these pols’ inability to reach outside their deep-red comfort zone. Cruz presumably is going to campaign for votes in some big cities (Cleveland, Philadelphia, etc.). It’s not wise to write off these voters either in the primary or general election. (Is there such a thing as St. Louis values?) Dismissing their cities as foreign, lacking values and an anathema to “real” America will not sit well with many of these voters. 
 
 This kind of attitude conveys to voters outside the right-wing base every GOP stereotype — provincial, bigoted, exclusionary. And in Cruz’s case it is simply a lazy argument from someone who awkwardly tries to connect with regular people. (Possibly only Hillary Clinton has had a tougher time mastering social interaction.) 
 
 Cruz isn’t very good at making friends in the political context (ask any senator), in part because he promotes himself by running down others, by inferring he’s ideologically pristine and impugning others’ motives. We have a president who is condescending and divisive. We don’t need another. ||||| New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) went on a media tour Friday morning to attack Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for knocking his state the day before. 
 
 Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, suggested during a debate that voters should think about the "values" of Republican front-runner Donald Trump's hometown. 
 
 The Texas senator praised the "many wonderful" people of New York state, but he added that "everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay marriage, focused around money and the media." 
 
 In at least four separate Friday-morning interviews, Cuomo went on the attack. 
 
 "Not only is what he said anti-New York. It's anti-American," Cuomo said on CNN's "New Day." 
 
 Cuomo continued: "I think it's sad. I think it's disturbing for all Americans, not just for New York. He is practicing the politics of division. He's trying to divide people. He's trying to divide this country. It doesn't work, and it's antithetical to who we are." 
 
 Cruz raised the specter of Trump's "New York values" after the real-estate mogul brought up Cruz's birth in Canada almost daily for two weeks. Trump has suggested Cruz might not be eligible to become president, even though Cruz's mother was an American when he was born. Trump campaign rallies have even reportedly starting playing "Born in the U.S.A." 
 
 The Queens-born Trump countered at the debate by saying "New York values" could be seen in how his city responded to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Cuomo backed Trump on that claim during another interview, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." 
 
 "It's a very good point," Cuomo told host Joe Scarborough. "And I think Trump raising it was politically expedient possibly, but also resonated with people. As Cruz is saying anti-New York [things] and trying to bring up a negative stereotype that is offensive ... And by the way, Joe, 9/11 is the symbol of this country's better angels." 
 
 Cuomo also pointed out that Cruz raised campaign funds in Manhattan. 
 
 "So it's very disturbing on many levels and hypocritical," he said on MSNBC. "Criticizing New York money — I'm sure now he won't take a donation from anyone in New York obviously. " 
 
 In a third interview, on NY1, Cuomo further said that Cruz "offended gays." 
 
 "He was offensive to women," Cuomo continued. "He offended 18 million New Yorkers. He offended one of the largest congressional delegations, by the way, in the country, and you can't govern that way. (Cuomo attacked Cruz during a radio interview as well.) 
 
 Other New York entities also went after Cruz for the attack line. Rep. Pete King (R-New York), a frequent Cruz critic, told the senator to "go back under a rock." Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a Democrat, bashed Cruz on Twitter. And the front cover of Friday's New York Daily News depicted the Statue of Liberty giving the middle finger to Cruz. ||||| 
 
 The Empire State Building in the skyline midtown Manhattan, September 19, 2015. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) 
 
 I am a New Yorker in both of the senses of the descriptor. I was born in Rochester, on Lake Ontario in Western New York -- a Snow Belt city second only to Buffalo. (When I lived in California, I used to actually miss the stuff.) I now live in New York City as I have for nearly a decade -- the New York of New York, the town so nice they named it twice, all that. I've seen more minor league baseball games in cities like Utica, Auburn, and Watertown than I have Mets or Yankees games, but now I take the subway to Citi Field. I've lived or worked in Chinatown, Little Italy, the Garment District, the Upper East Side, Midtown, and the Upper West Side. 
 
 Ted Cruz is not a New Yorker. He was born in Canada, as we have been reminded regularly for the past week or so. He lived there while a young child, moving to Texas before attending college at Princeton and Harvard. Then, he worked in Washington for a few years before moving back to Texas and beginning his political career. The closest Cruz got to living in New York was probably when he was attending Princeton, which is in New Jersey. Maybe he traveled to New York on occasion from Cambridge when he was at Harvard, but he never lived here. 
 
 The difference between living in New York state or New York City and simply visiting the city is vast -- a chasm. Unless you are entertaining guests or running a particularly painful errand, no one that lives here spends much time in those places that are the only ones most tourists see. It's like that classic Onion headline: "Woman Who 'Loves Brazil' Has Only Seen Four Square Miles Of It." People who have detailed thoughts about life in New York have not seen New York. It's like writing a movie review off the trailer. 
 
 Then Michael Bloomberg made everything worse. The former mayor, who's tied with Donald Trump for the number of political parties in which he's found a home over the years, pushed for a series of policies that tightly linked "New York City" with liberal nanny-statism. When I was in New Hampshire last weekend, I told someone I lived in Manhattan, and he made a joke about getting a big soda. People. That law didn't even pass. But now New York has joined Berkeley in the public imagination, despite being about as much like Berkeley as Houston is like Calgary. 
 
 So Cruz, questioned by a radio host on Tuesday, dismissed Trump's recent affection for playing "Born in the USA" at his rallies -- a dig at Cruz -- by disparaging Trump's roots. 
 
 "I think he may shift in his new rallies to play ‘New York, New York,’" Cruz said, "because Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values." 
 
 Later that evening, Fox News followed up. 
 
 What does this mean? This is from Cruz's interview with Fox tonight. What values are different? pic.twitter.com/qZLsdoB0Dt — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 13, 2016 
 
 "They're not Iowa values," says Cruz, "and they're not New Hampshire values." 
 
 First of all, there's an awful lot of New York state that is nearly identical to New Hampshire in topography, culture and values. If I drop you outside of Glens Falls or I drop you outside of Concord, about the only differentiator you'd see is Yankee hats versus Red Sox ones. Head north of New York City, and you'll find a lot of conservative Republicans mad at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) restrictions on gun ownership, heading to church regularly, and apathetic about gay marriage. 
 
 But Cruz isn't referring to New York state. He's referring to the New York City he saw on "Law and Order" or witnessed from the window of the cab he took down 42nd Street because the train was too complicated to figure out. He's referring to Democratic politics and political correctness and limits on sodas and Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and all the things that the New York Post gets mad about all the time. He's referring to the cultural values that are mostly only dominant in the wealthier parts of Manhattan -- the parts where he goes to fundraise. 
 
 That's not really Donald Trump's New York, either. Yeah, the guy used to be a Democrat and, yeah, the guy is rich and lives in a skyscraper (that happens to have his name on it), but Trump is a product of the outer boroughs made good. Trump grew up in Queens, for God's sake -- a wealthy part of Queens, but still. Queens. Trump was handed a business and a big bank account by his father, but the attitude that defines Trump is of the less-wealthy outsider forcing his way into the game. It's the guy who wanted to play across the East River against his father's wishes. The glitz and glam with which he surrounds himself is the sort of thing that old money Upper East Siders find gauche, which is part of the reason he loves it. 
 
 Let's sweep all of that to the side, though. Let's talk about New Yorkers. 
 
 Like most Iowans and most New Hampshirites, I assume, most New Yorkers -- as in people from the city -- don't care all that much about politics. Heck, they probably care less than people from Iowa or New Hampshire at this point. The basic mode of operation in the city is to mind your own business unless everyone is having fun talking about something crazy, in which case you join right in. A lot of people thought Bloomberg's sugary beverage limit was stupid, too -- and Bloomberg, who is very much a New Yorker, didn't care. Bloomberg didn't care about term limits. Did. Not. Care. In a way that was partly about being super-rich and partly -- maybe more -- about being a New Yorker. New Yorkers can't be the tough, gruff people that are rude to tourists and bad drivers and namby-pamby bleeding hearts who want to impose their values on the rest of the country. You can't have it both ways. 
 
 I extend a sincere offer. Mr. Cruz, I invite you to come to New York and live in a small apartment in an unfancy neighborhood for a month. I invite you to come and figure out your favorite bodega and which train car to get in to optimize how quickly you can get back out of the station and to wait in line for a doctor at one of the city's many weird health-care facilities. I invite you to experience New York City and learn about New Yorkers beyond the people who pay $2,700 to shake your hand or who offer you water in green rooms. 
 
 If, after that, you think that our values are abnormally leftie compared to those of Iowa City (which backed President Obama by 35 points in 2012), we'll accept your critique demurely. 
 
 Ha ha, no. We won't care. 
 
 Update: 
 
 Pro-Cruz SuperPAC @KeepPromise1 says NY values = emphasis on $ over morality, self-aggrandizement over humility. pic.twitter.com/cNUJIoUjWM — Dan Gallo (@dangallo) January 13, 2016 
 
 Back when Abercrombie actually had big lines, the people waiting to get in were what we New Yorkers like to call "tourists." This "dis" is a bit like going to Times Square on New Year's Eve and saying, "And yet no one is volunteering at a homeless shelter!" ||||| New York City is taking no guff from Sen. Ted Cruz. 
 
 At least that is the case for the New York Daily News, which used the front page of its Friday issue to slam the conservative Texas senator, who in turn blasted wealthy businessman and Republican front-runner Donald Trump over his so-called New York values. 
 
 The paper’s cover delivers a graphic of the Statue of Liberty making an obscene gesture with one finger and this headline: “Drop Dead Ted.” 
 
 The cover, a riff on the paper’s famous “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline from 1975, came after Republican contenders locked horns in a debate in South Carolina Thursday night—likely the last debate before the Iowa caucuses kick off the nominating process on Feb. 1. 
 
 Epic @NYDailyNews cover "drop dead Ted. go back to Canada" after Cruz questions "NYC values" pic.twitter.com/JRY2Ojksor — Sara Eisen (@SaraEisen) January 15, 2016 
 
 During one heated clash, Cruz tried to raise doubts about Trump’s legitimacy as a Republican candidate. “I think most people know exactly what New York values are,” Cruz said. “Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal.” 
 
 In response, Daily News columnist Mike Lupica pointed to a man who gave the shirt off his back to another man in need on a Manhattan subway. 
 
 Here’s Lupica’s summation of his views: 
 
 The best of this city is the best of this country, and always has been. When it was hit in a way that no American city had ever been hit, it came together and rose up together in a moment as thrilling as any America had ever seen. 
 
 Trump offered his own sharp rebuttal during the debate: “We rebuilt downtown Manhattan and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.” 
 
 To be sure, the Daily News is no Trump booster. In a recent cover, the paper took Trump to task for suggesting a ban of all Muslims attempting to enter the U.S. 
 
 According to the results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Trump continues to lead among Republican candidates with the real-estate mogul appearing as the first choice for 33% of would-be Republican primary voters compared with 20% for Cruz. ||||| Ted Cruz said on Tuesday that Donald Trump “embodies New York values,” and that Trump’s constant attacks on him are a sign that the businessman is worried about his front-runner status in the race. 
 
 Cruz made the comment on the Howie Carr Show, after the host asked him about Trump playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, a reference to the allegation, recently trumpeted by Trump, that Cruz may be ineligible to serve as president because he was born in Canada. 
 
 “Well, look, I think he may shift in his new rallies to play ‘New York, New York’ because Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values,” Cruz said, referring to the famous Frank Sinatra song. 
 
 The Texas senator went on to say that Trump seemed “rattled” by his rising stature in the race. He added that Trump had been “unloading at every stop with direct attacks.” Cruz said he did not “intend to respond or reciprocate.” 
 
 On Tuesday, however, Cruz twice appeared to take jabs at Trump, telling reporters earlier in the day that supporters of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton were “eager to support Donald Trump and the attacks that are being tossed my direction.” 
 
 In the radio interview, Cruz reiterated this argument. In response to a clip of Clinton saying Trump was “a Democrat before he was a Republican,” Cruz said, “Well, I would say, Hillary would know well how to identify Democrats. She has been a partisan Democrat herself obviously and, uh, she and Donald know each other well and I do think it’s interesting that Hillary Clinton’s key supporters are doing everything they can to echo Donald’s attacks on me.” 
 
 Democratic attacks on him, he added, “may be driven by the fact that the polling right now shows Donald loses to Hillary and loses by a pretty big margin but I beat Hillary and I think that’s got the Hillary folks a little bit concerned and so they’re doing everything they can to amplify Donald’s attacks.” 
 
 Cruz also addressed Trump’s comment that “not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba” by inviting the reality TV star to go to church with him. 
 
 “Any time someone is attacking your faith that starts to suggest they’re getting really nervous about what’s happening in the race,” Cruz said. “I would be happy to invite Donald to come with me to church any time he would like. He would certainly be welcome there. And, uh, you know, at the end of the day, my focus is not to engage in the mudslinging.”
– Ted Cruz is eliciting particularly strong reaction this week—especially from people in the Empire State. In a Tuesday radio interview, Cruz railed against Donald Trump, saying the businessman "embodies New York values," BuzzFeed reports. Cruz followed up on Fox News, telling Megyn Kelly, per the Washington Post: "The rest of the country knows exactly what New York values are. … They're not Iowa values and they're not New Hampshire values." And in Thursday night's GOP debate, he doubled down and effectively scuttled his "bromance" with Donald Trump, as CNN frames it, saying New Yorkers tend to be "socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media." Them's fightin' words: The New York Daily News sums up its response by way of a prominent appendage. MarketWatch posts a graphic of the paper's Friday cover, showing the Statue of Liberty flipping the bird next to the headline "Drop Dead, Ted." Daily News columnist Mike Lupica also unloads on Cruz, saying on his next visit here, the senator "should tear himself away from his friends at Goldman Sachs and make a side trip to the Bronx." Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ticked, calling Cruz "hypocritical" and "anti-American," per Business Insider. From a voice on the right: In the Washington Post, conservative journalist Jennifer Rubin writes that Cruz runs the risk of sounding as "condescending and divisive" as Obama. The Atlantic, which says Cruz's GOP stunt "backfired spectacularly," wonders about a bigger question: How is this going to affect the GOP nomination? Ted Cruz "accidentally [proved] Donald Trump is human" during the debates, per the Daily Beast. Check out what Trump said that floored his rival and everyone within earshot. Reaction from the rest of the world at #NewYorkValues.