Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Sunday that he opposes requiring women to register for a potential military draft - a move that he said would be "nuts," unlike his GOP rivals Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, all of whom showed some level of support for the policy change during Saturday night's GOP debate.
"I have to admit, as I was sitting there listening to that conversation, my reaction was, 'Are you guys nuts?'" Cruz said Sunday at a New Hampshire town hall ahead of the early voting state's primary on Tuesday, Politico reported. "Listen, we have had enough with political correctness, especially in the military. Political correctness is dangerous. And the idea that we would draft our daughters to forcibly bring them into the military and put them in close combat, I think is wrong, it is immoral, and if I am president, we ain't doing it."
"I'm the father of two little girls. I love those girls with all of my heart. They are capable of doing anything their hearts' desire. But the idea that their government would forcibly put them in a foxhole with a 220-pound psychopath trying to kill them doesn't make any sense," Cruz said, according to the Huffington Post.
Cruz's strong rhetoric was a departure from the consensus built among the Republican party's mainstream candidates during Saturday night's GOP debate. Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie all indicated support for allowing women to register for the Selective Service, in the event of a military draft being reinstated, according to the Daily Caller.
"I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised," Rubio said. "I support that. Now that that is the case, I do believe Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in the case a draft is ever instituted."
"I do, I do," said Bush, affirming that he thought women should be allowed to register, before adding, "The draft's not going to be reinstated."
Republican New Jersey Gov. Christie chose to focus on the possible discrimination involved, instead of military readiness, saying, "There's no reason why one young woman should be discriminated against for registering for the Selective Service."
