Ted Cruz is officially in.

Elias Graves · Mar 23, 2015

raburrell said:
I'd like the hospitalization records for this one please. Or something resembling a cite.

Well, the birthers are already at it as are the "He's an idiot crowd" as well as the "He's a racist" gang.

The first one is utterly laughable.
The second has been contradicted.
The third is simply preposterous and without foundation of any kind.

I'm not sure yet what I think of him but the immediate dogpile by the media smacks of mindless reactionism with no basis in fact.

CassandraW · Mar 23, 2015

I'm an independent. But to me it's a shrug, because I don't think he stands a prayer of winning. Even if he gets the Republican nomination, I don't see him winning over the middle.

Elias Graves · Mar 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
I'm an independent. But to me it's a shrug, because I don't think he stands a prayer of winning. Even if he gets the Republican nomination, I don't see him winning over the middle.

That seems to be his strategy. Go far enough to the right that ALL the conservatives side with him enthusiastically and win through turnout.
It's a gamble but any strategy to win the White House is a roll of the dice.

raburrell · Mar 23, 2015

Elias Graves said:
Well, the birthers are already at it as are the "He's an idiot crowd" as well as the "He's a racist" gang.

The first one is utterly laughable.
The second has been contradicted.
The third is simply preposterous and without foundation of any kind.

I'm not sure yet what I think of him but the immediate dogpile by the media smacks of mindless reactionism with no basis in fact.

Not sure where any of that equates to a broad Democratic seizure (especially based on whether or not he chooses to recite a particular speech from memory.

Also, I'm not Senator Cruz, but I'm nearly convinced he'd consider the idea someone doesn't have an opinion of him yet to be a personal failure

CassandraW · Mar 23, 2015

True. But some are bigger rolls of the dice than others.

The guy is a real turnoff to a lot of moderates and independents, and not just Democrats.

I agree with Dershowitz that the guy is bright, for the record. But I'll never vote for him.

Williebee · Mar 23, 2015

rugcat said:
Ted Cruz knows he has no chance to become president. What he does have is the chance for increased publicity, and enough support from the conservative base to increase his influence in the Senate considerably.

He wants to be in a position where it's clear that if you want legislation passed, or a pet project to go through, you'd damn sure better consult with Ted Cruz and have him on your side – or perhaps, support some of the things he wants done.

It's no different than it's ever been, except that Ted Cruz is farther to the right then most and is a personally unpleasant and objectionable individual.

You left out the money. There's money to be made running for office.

nighttimer · Mar 23, 2015

Elias Graves said:
Well, the birthers are already at it as are the "He's an idiot crowd" as well as the "He's a racist" gang.

The first one is utterly laughable.
The second has been contradicted.
The third is simply preposterous and without foundation of any kind.

What's preposterous is saying there's nothing to the Ted Cruz is a racist charge without any foundation he isn't a racist.

Senator Ted Cruz spoke at an event for the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, and amidst what was a strong foreign policy speech, Cruz got a little personal and talked about the late Republican Senator Jesse Helms, the first politician Cruz ever gave money to. Cruz touted all the “crazy things” Helms said, not as a negative, but as a positive, declaring that the Senate could use “a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”

Cruz recalled how he sent ten dollars to Helms when he was a kid, joking that he “may have been Jesse Helms’ single largest donor as a percentage of annual income.” He said he did it because of how much people were attacking Helms, and brought up an anecdote about how the famous actor John Wayne donated to Helms’ campaign, and Helms called him back to thank him.
“Apparently Wayne said, ‘Oh yeah, you’re that guy saying all those crazy things. We need 100 more like you.’ The willingness to say all those crazy things is a rare, rare characteristic, and you know what? It’s every bit as true now as it was then. We need a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”

Because when you say crazy things like that, you might be a racist.

Elias Graves said:
I'm not sure yet what I think of him but the immediate dogpile by the media smacks of mindless reactionism with no basis in fact.

Right. Unless you count everything Cruz has said and done since he slithered into the U.S. Senate. Then it's an inconvenient truth instead of "mindless reactionism."

P.S. There's no such word as "reactionism." Then again, there's no such thing as President Ted Cruz either.

Elias Graves said:
That seems to be his strategy. Go far enough to the right that ALL the conservatives side with him enthusiastically and win through turnout.

ALL the conservatives will never side with ANY Republican candidate. Not even and especially not St. Ronald the Reagan who would be denounced by cretins like Cruz as a squishy RINO due to his willingness to work with Democrats.

A polarizing prima donna like Cruz whose only ideology is "If Obama's for it, I'm against it" lacks a coherent strategy to bring together all the multiple factions of the GOP together. There are other more electable and less egotistical alternatives to Cruz, the Miley Cyrus of politics.

Elias Graves said:
It's a gamble but any strategy to win the White House is a roll of the dice.

Running to the far Right of American political thought is not a strategy. It's red meat to the fringes and is not a path to 270 electoral votes and without a winning strategy Cruz is simply another vanity candidate running for the ego stroke and the cheap publicity.

I for one look forward to his appearance at the Republican debates where the other candidates will agree on exactly two things: they all believe Obama has been a disaster for eight years and Cruz would be a disaster, period.

vsrenard · Mar 23, 2015

This is not the guy to worry about, for those who are not Republicans, independents, conservatives, liberals, or progressives. Did I leave any (sane) members out? Sound and fury, and all that. I wish he was the presumptive nominee. It'd be so easy to tear that clown down.

CassandraW · Mar 23, 2015

rugcat said:
Ted Cruz knows he has no chance to become president. What he does have is the chance for increased publicity, and enough support from the conservative base to increase his influence in the Senate considerably.

He wants to be in a position where it's clear that if you want legislation passed, or a pet project to go through, you'd damn sure better consult with Ted Cruz and have him on your side – or perhaps, support some of the things he wants done.

It's no different than it's ever been, except that Ted Cruz is farther to the right then most and is a personally unpleasant and objectionable individual.

Williebee said:
You left out the money. There's money to be made running for office.

yep, and yep.

Sam Argent · Mar 23, 2015

Elias Graves said:
Well, the birthers are already at it as are the "He's an idiot crowd" as well as the "He's a racist" gang.

The first one is utterly laughable.
The second has been contradicted.
The third is simply preposterous and without foundation of any kind.

I'm not sure yet what I think of him but the immediate dogpile by the media smacks of mindless reactionism with no basis in fact.

Naw, I'm absolutely fine calling Ted Cruz a racist sexist asshat who shouldn't be within a hundred feet of the oval office, but hey, I guess it's not a big deal supporting people who say gems like this about those annoying civil rights marches:

"The negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights." - The ding dong the bigot's dead, Jesse Helms

But oh no, it's just those dems getting their underwear all twisted up over a congressman saying he wishes there were a hundred segregation supporting politicians in power.

Google is not hard to use before going around calling everything reactionary. Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.

ShaunHorton · Mar 23, 2015

Ted Cruz may be an intelligent human being, but that doesn't mean he also isn't a complete idiot and tool.

If he actually is as smart as some people say, he's likely just running for the money and the exposure. However, the ego and hubris he's displayed previously says to me he likely believes he really has a chance of winning. If you want to go even further, you could suggest he believe's his father and church's rhetoric that he is one of the annointed seven kings of scripture.

Reservoir Angel · Mar 23, 2015

Well at least this means that 2016 is bound to be entertaining in some way. There's no way this guy's entire campaign isn't an endless parade of screw-ups and embarrassment.

It'll be interesting to see how he fares now the general public might actually pay attention to the crap that he says since he doesn't have the cover of "just that one Senator from Texas" any more since he's made himself a big national player for at least 2 years to come.

robjvargas · Mar 23, 2015

Sam Argent said:
Naw, I'm absolutely fine calling Ted Cruz a racist sexist asshat who shouldn't be within a hundred feet of the oval office, but hey, I guess it's not a big deal supporting people who say gems like this about those annoying civil rights marches:

"The negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights." - The ding dong the bigot's dead, Jesse Helms

So he's a racist, sexist asshat...

Because of something Jesse Helms said?

I ain't voting for the guy, but... huh?

rugcat · Mar 23, 2015

robjvargas said:
So he's a racist, sexist asshat...

Because of something Jesse Helms said?

I ain't voting for the guy, but... huh?

I think the point is that Ted Cruz said he wished there were 100 Jesse Helms in the Senate. When you give fawning speeches of praise honoring a racist bigot, it certainly raises questions about your own beliefs.

clintl · Mar 23, 2015

Reservoir Angel said:
Well at least this means that 2016 is bound to be entertaining in some way. There's no way this guy's entire campaign isn't an endless parade of screw-ups and embarrassment.

It'll be interesting to see how he fares now the general public might actually pay attention to the crap that he says since he doesn't have the cover of "just that one Senator from Texas" any more since he's made himself a big national player for at least 2 years to come.

It would be nice if he screwed up to such an extent that Texas voters were inclined to end his Senate career in 2018.

I don't think he has a chance in hell of winning over enough independents to win a general election, barring an unsurvivable scandal by the Democratic nominee.

The Republican nomination? Who the hell knows? Rick Santorum got taken seriously for a little while, so it's not completely out of the question that Cruz does, too. I think one of the nutty candidates will emerge to give Bush a serious threat.

Reservoir Angel · Mar 23, 2015

clintl said:
It would be nice if he screwed up to such an extent that Texas voters were inclined to end his Senate career in 2018.

I don't think he has a chance in hell of winning over enough independents to win a general election, barring an unsurvivable scandal by the Democratic nominee.

The Republican nomination? Who the hell knows? Rick Santorum got taken seriously for a little while, so it's not completely out of the question that Cruz does, too. I think one of the nutty candidates will emerge to give Bush a serious threat.

I think Cruz will serve the same purpose Ben Carson does; to increase the drama before the obvious and boring candidate is settled on. Like Mitt Romney in 2012, Jeb Bush is going to be largely unremarkable the entire way but his entire gimmick is to be to stand looking relatively normal on a stage month after month as the more bizarre our outlandish candidates like Cruz, and Carson, and Rand Paul when he inevitably announces his candidacy all blaze up to the front-runner spot for a brief while before setting themselves on fire through sheer blistering incompetence.

Monkey · Mar 23, 2015

No seizures here, nor on the part of anyone I know. As with most posters on this thread, those I know in real life tend to see Cruz as laughable at best and deplorable at worst.

Elias Graves,

Three things you said in rapid succession seem to be in opposition to one another. When you said

He must be doing something right. The dems are having seizures over his teleprompter-free announcement speech.

and were asked for a cite, you provided this instead:

Well, the birthers are already at it [...]

You do realize that the birthers are primarily far right wing to the point of being on the fringes of the Republican party, right? Also, the reason I mentioned birtherism in my OP was because I periodically peruse Tea Party Nation, and I have noticed for some time that, at least over there, there are a lot of people who are birthers and claim vehemently that Obama is not a "natural born citizen," but who are perfectly willing to turn around and support Ted Cruz. He is, after all, known as "a Tea Party favorite."

So... no, I don't see how birthers going after Cruz are a sign of "dem seizures," nor do I really see a lot of birthers going after Cruz. A few, surely, but judging by the sites I go to, a good number of birthers have no qualms supporting him.

But beyond that, you've listed "birthers" - who are primarily right wing - as having "seizures" over Cruz running, and then say his strategy seems to be to (quote) [g]o far enough to the right that ALL the conservatives side with him enthusiastically and win through turnout. (/quote)

If the birthers are against him, as you say, how's he uniting ALL the conservatives, as you say?

I dunno. It doesn't make sense.

In my opinion, Cruz is running far to the right not because he thinks he can win a general that way, but because he feels he can earn conservative cred and increase the power he has in his current occupation: that of a congress-critter. I hope that his antics amuse me along the way, and that he makes a big enough ass of himself to ultimately shoot himself in the foot. It'd be funny AND be one less extremist in office.

Reservoir Angel · Mar 23, 2015

The very argument that Ted Cruz is going to win sheerly through turnout is kind of odd as well considering that all available statistics for elections in America seem to show that a higher turnout typically favours Democratic candidates, while Republicans benefit from as low a turnout as possible.

Even then, there's no way someone like Ted Cruz will unite all Republicans. Running as far to the right as possible will attract the Tea Party types, sure, but it will massively turn off the more moderate and level-headed Republicans that actually make up the bulk of the party. The Tea Party and far-right crowd isn't as all-powerful as popular consciousness seems to think it is, they're just loud and obnoxious enough to make it seem that way.

If Ted Cruz runs by only appealing to those guys by going as far into crazytown as he can, he's not even winning the primary let alone the entire election.

Though I do admit I kind of want to see him win the primary. If only because then the campaign proper will at least be entertaining. I'm sorry but Jeb Bush vs Hillary Clinton isn't exactly massively inspiring as political confrontations go, and no amount of idiots who can't let past grudges go shouting "Lewinski!" from the sidelines is going to make it any better for anyone involved.

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 23, 2015

Elias Graves said:
Well, the birthers are already at it ...

Really? I haven't heard a word about that.

For that matter, I thought that the "birthers" were generally right-wing people furious that a Democrat got elected President, who have been making increasingly ridiculous arguments to "prove" that he is illegitimate.

I had not been aware that any on the Left had taken up the cause of smearing an opponent because of birthplace. If they have, shame on them.

clintl · Mar 23, 2015

This is pretty funny. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) called Ted Cruz a carnival barker. Maybe we should just sit back and let Cruz's fellow Republicans insult him.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/politics/peter-king-ted-cruz-carnival/index.html

CassandraW · Mar 23, 2015

For one brief shining moment in 2008, some left-wingers retorted to the Obama birther silliness by arguing that because John McCain had been born in the Panama Canal zone, he therefore was ineligible for the presidency.

Granted, it didn't last as long as the Obama birther silliness. But for a while...it was paradise.

ShaunHorton · Mar 23, 2015

I think it'll be interesting, and telling, to see how many people actually raise arms about Cruz's birthplace, and the fact that his father was an illegal immigrant.

It's almost a pity Cruz himself is so far down the right path of insanity. His father an immigrant, he himself working up through school and now running for president, he could almost stand as a current example of the american dream.

Cyia · Mar 23, 2015

You realize this means that Cruz and Perry will likely split the vote, as they're both from Texas.

CassandraW · Mar 23, 2015

ShaunHorton said:
I think it'll be interesting, and telling, to see how many people actually raise arms about Cruz's birthplace, and the fact that his father was an illegal immigrant.

It's almost a pity Cruz himself is so far down the right path of insanity. His father an immigrant, he himself working up through school and now running for president, he could almost stand as a current example of the american dream.

I'd say he does in fact stand as a current example of the American dream.

But I would still never vote for him.

BenPanced · Mar 23, 2015

Williebee said:
You left out the money. There's money to be made running for office.

True dat. Let's ask Sarah Palin!

*crickets*

Ted Cruz is officially in.

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