The unnerving lookalike of the new TX Senator to Joe McCarthy, is taking an even creepier turn for what he’s been doing.
It turns out Cruz was even more like McCarthy than previously thought. He believes that “Marxists who believed in the Communists overthrowing the United States government” have infiltrated the Harvard Law School faculty, outgunning the embattled campus conservatives.
Cruz’s Communist comments came in a speech to the Koch-supported group Americans for Prosperity unearthed by The New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer. Mayer attended the speech, and wrote down the text of Cruz’ McCarthyite allegations, which also linked President Obama to the so-called revolutionary Marxists at Harvard:
Are we in some torn space fabric time loopety loop, and all this shit has happened many times before? Has the wingnut captains of industry started making clones of previous right wing demagogues, or, Oh Noes! building Cyborgs. If so, Ronnie Raygun could arrive via UPS any day now.
@General Stuck: I wonder if little mccarthy has had the opportunity to meet Sen. Warren yet.
My dog did not appreciate the ad since dogs were not featured.
8.
Baud
Whoa, can you guys slow down? I can’t keep up with all these posts. #kidding
9.
1bb3
That were sweet. And Sarah M. can’t complain, ‘cos she’s Canadian. Ha!
@General Stuck:As long as they are cloning losers, meh. Now if they get around to Ike, we could be in trouble.
Sorry Boys, the Abe Lincoln Clone is ours and we’ve made a few adjustments and alterations…
10.
Hill Dweller
@General Stuck: But Dana Milbank, on one of his numerous forgetful cable appearances, told me Cruz wasn’t a wingnut.
Did you notice how many of the beltway hacks were dutifully promoting Cruz right after he was elected? It would’ve taken five minutes of research to know he was bat shit crazy, but they just mindlessly followed orders. Now the Village looks dumber than usual.
I can’t believe they’re still even talking about communists. What’s next? Some guy in a tri-cornered hat on horseback yelling “The British are coming.”
Why did they leave out the guy who created Mad Men, the guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the guy who created Lemony Snicket, and the guys who created Beasts of the Southern Wild?
The first time I heard Cruz speak was at the Cpac conference a while back, and I didn’t know anything about him, but noted he had the gift of bullshit for a wingnut audience. Though he has turned out to be batshit crazy, like you say. That kind of direct accusatory red baiting ain’t what it was in tail gunner Joe’s day. Even Demented had enough sense to pull up short of that.
@Baud: Yeah, even the Evil Red Chinese are out-capitalisming (?) the capitalists.
All this scare talk about COMMIES! must be really amusing to the millenials.
19.
NCSteve
Yeah, yeah, whatever. Where the hell are our pictures (and video) of and reports on Zsa Zsa’s interactions with Tunch and teh goggies? Huh?
20.
Higgs Boson's Mate
I doubt that Cruz is crazy. I don’t doubt that he’s fairly stupid. He’s just smart enough to spout wingnut cliches in the interest of keeping a cushy job for which he is otherwise unqualified.
21.
Poopyman
@General Stuck: I’ve long thought that we’re just one really charismatic wingnut away from having a real problem in this country. Looks like Cruz isn’t quite there, but it’s kind of like keeping on the lookout for the next strain of avian flu.
@efgoldman: Love the ambiguousness of the phrase “mounting a (possibly animatronic) dinosaur.”
(And I see that FYWP keeps forgetting my name and email again.)
That’s some alumni inside info! Please feel free to decline, but is WesU where you teach?
23.
Violet
This Australian ad is one of my favorites. I think something like it might be effective for gun control. Like, men who think owning arsenals full of assault weapons somehow proves their manhood are only proving they’re lacking.
I doubt that Cruz is crazy. I don’t doubt that he’s fairly stupid. He’s just smart enough to spout wingnut cliches in the interest of keeping a cushy job for which he is otherwise unqualified.
Cruz is Senator in one-party Texas. He’s going nowhere unless there’s a dead girl/live boy scenario. And even then, it’ll have to be a pretty dramatic version of it.
Maybe the Texas Democratic party will get their act together enough to take advantage of the demographic changes that should make them more viable. I’m not holding my breath. There’s a long way to go and until then, Texas will elect Republicans in state-wide offices.
Oh, and the grandson of the guy who directed Slap Shot also matriculated there, but did not graduate, I believe.
27.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, you so need to watch Slap Shot! If you don’t believe me, trust its star:
Newman also stated publicly that the most fun he ever had making a movie was on Slap Shot, as he had played the sport while young and was fascinated by the real players around him. He also said that playing Reggie Dunlop was one of his favorite roles.
(But watch the film before you read the Wikipedia entry, because this is a movie where you don’t want spoilers!
28.
raven
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Recalibrate, not one bit stupid. Motherfucker knows exactly what he is doing.
29.
srv
Supporting hockey is like supporting the NFL with scab refs.
Coworker in MN has a son in the minors (1st year) and daughter on the HS team. Between them, they’ve had five surgeries that I know of so far. Son is already looking at a hip replacement.
Time for some sports to die if this is the best they can do.
30.
JPL
@efgoldman: From the same site is this article about Cruz..link
General Stuck, It appears that his defense is he said that three years ago and it is true.
Though he has turned out to be batshit crazy, like you say.
He’s not crazy. As a reader at TPM noted, the guy is aiming for TX state office. He’s now a high-profile candidate that is bringing up the issues that most Texans believe. He’s got 3 million marks and he’s playing them exactly right.
Mine (BostonU) was John Silber, possibly the worst human being to be a University president in the 20th century
You has gave Larry Summers a big sad. Sure, Silber was a miserable shitbird who made committed lifelong Democrats vote for Bill Wled, but did Snappin’ Jawn flush 80% of his college’s endowment fund down the crapper just because he was too smart to take advice from people who knew what they were doing?
Yeah, even though I’m not much of a hockey fan, SS is one of those movies I’ve always meant to watch but somehow never got around to. Based on your strong recommendation and some of the other comments (and, of course, Paul Newman) I think I’d better move it much higher on my “To Be Watched” list.
I seem to recall recently reading here your warm reminiscences of Mr. Silber and Massachusetts state politics.
As a BU alum, do you know whether his foul legacy is still part of its official culture (e.g., building name, professorship, prominent portraits) or has he been air-brushed from the photographs?
35.
raven
@efgoldman: I stand by my statement. It a strategy.
36.
Davis X. Machina
@efgoldman: Dartmouth wannabees. That’s a slow weekend in Hanover.
37.
Violet
@? Martin: Well, that’s going to be an interesting race. Perry looks like he’s going to run again, but he’s not that popular. A weakened Perry will make for an interesting Republican Governor’s primary. Will Cruz enter that race so soon after becoming Senator? Perry still has a lot of cronies and can make things difficult for a challenger.
Will a Democrat step up who can actually win? What about Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio? He says he’s not going to run, that he wants to finish his term. But maybe this is his chance. A charismatic, popular Latino mayor running for Governor of Texas. Could definitely bring in a lot of new voters.
38.
MattF
@? Martin: It’s probably true that Texans have had their fill of Rick ‘No, really, I’m not a moron’ Perry– and would probably prefer someone who has a non-negative IQ.
39.
? Martin
@Violet: Well, probably not next governor, but the race near when his senate gig is up.
I haven’t seen it in years, but I remember enjoying it. It’s kind of like Bull Durham — you don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy the characters and story.
I think Perry will be reelected if he can give three reasons why he should be.
43.
Violet
@MattF: Unless something amazing happens, the next Governor of Texas will be a Republican. The Republican primary for the Governor’s race is where the action will be. Greg Abbott, the current Attorney General, has apparently agreed not to run for Governor if Perry does. Would Cruz be willing to challenge Perry?
44.
The Lodger
For many in the USFL, help came too late
Hell, why didn’t they just come out and say, “Portland Wilter Hawks”?
I doubt that Cruz is crazy. I don’t doubt that he’s fairly stupid. He’s just smart enough to spout wingnut cliches in the interest of keeping a cushy job for which he is otherwise unqualified.
It’s the opposite. He’s smart but crazy. He’s creepy and makes everyone uncomfortable, and he believes wholeheartedly in weird shit. I don’t have a start-to-finish story to tell, but (sorry to keep repeating this) at Princeton he was the freshman roommate of a friend of mine from high school, who despised him immediately and still does, 25 years later. Princeton is full of arrogant dickheads, and EVEN THERE an arrogant dickhead like Cruz was out of his element and stood out as a singularly repellent creature.
47.
hitchhiker
Jane Mayer was on TRMS last night talking about Cruz. She said he’s got serious, serious game when it comes to working a crowd & that the crowd LOVED that speech to absolute pieces. He had them on their feet cheering, etc.
Face. Palm.
48.
The Lodger
For many in the USFL, help came too late
Hell, why didn’t they just come out and say, “Portland Winter Hawks”?
49.
FlipYrWhig
@Davis X. Machina: “And the granite of New Hampshire / In their muscles and their brains!” Class of 1992 here.
50.
Violet
@? Martin: Well, the next election for Governor is in 2014. If Perry wins that and stays the full four years, it would be 2018 before someone could run again. I guess Perry might run for President again. I don’t think he’ll be much better than last time, but who knows. Maybe he’ll have had good coaching.
51.
FlipYrWhig
@Violet: I still think Perry would have had a better chance at beating Obama than Romney did, and I was surprised when he threw in the towel on the primary race.
52.
Johnnybuck
@efgoldman: West Georgia ’88 we gave the world the ol’ Perfesser Newt Gingrich.
He’s smart but crazy. He’s creepy and makes everyone uncomfortable, and he believes wholeheartedly in weird shit.
Yes, exactly. He’s Michele Bachmann level creepy and true-believer-ish. I think his crazy may hold him back in the long run. That sort of zealotry usually only goes so far. Maybe he’ll be the scary exception.
55.
? Martin
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Okay, but big clue for everyone – Stephen Colbert isn’t actually a wingnut.
Cruz is playing to the base. With a growing latino community in Texas, Republicans are going to increasingly need Republican voter enthusiasm to carry them into office. Cruz is taking all of the conspiracy theories and hatred of everything Yankee and liberal and shit that plays so well in Texas and wrap it all up in a nice little package and deliver it full-force in DC. He’s going to be the truth-to-power guy, and he’s got the oratory skills to do it. I think he’s a very smart guy that has a formula for success.
He’s playing the same role as Colbert, but where Colbert has both feet over the satire line, Cruz has them just inside of it (for Texas). There’s no way this guy believes any of this shit. You watch, when it’s time for this guy to speak about sensible policy that would play well in Texas, he’s going to sound like the most reasonable guy in the room.
56.
FlipYrWhig
@efgoldman: Because he’s a creepy man who wants to change the world for the worse.
You watch, when it’s time for this guy to speak about sensible policy that would play well in Texas, he’s going to sound like the most reasonable guy in the room.
No chance. I don’t think he believes in sensible. I think he thinks he’s a soldier in a holy war with Satan and Communists.
58.
Violet
@efgoldman: I agree, Cruz is in a cushy job. However, the Governor’s job is equally as cushy and do-nothing and you get to make lots of money through favors to rich corporations.
@FlipYrWhig: Perry is terrible outside of his comfort zone. He doesn’t have to leave that comfort zone in Texas because a Republican will win. He would have won traditional red states–but Romney won those–and not a lot else due to having put his foot in his mouth far too often along the campaign trail. Perry is also the Governor from Texas, and we all remember how well that turned out last time. And he’s got the misfortune of looking more like George W. Bush than he used to. And sounds more like him. For those who didn’t know much about him it was a bit of a shock when he showed up on the primary debate stage looking and sounding like a slightly modified Shrub. I think that will count against him in ways that are hard to measure. People won’t admit that kind of thing and they may not even be aware of it themselves. But it’s there and it’s real.
I think he thinks he’s a soldier in a holy war with Satan and Communists.
Of course the word “communist” no longer has anythign to do with Marx or the proletariat or class struggle. Communism is now defined as “anybody without an “R” after his name.”
@MikeJ: I bet Cruz thinks of it (Communism) as godlessness, forcible equality, and redistribution. I think he’s seriously fucked in the head. And (here’s me going out on a limb) I think he’s going to run for president next time, and it’s going to be horrifying, and the veterans of that campaign are going to dominate Republican politics and strategy for decades afterwards. Like Goldwater ’64, only not at all libertarian.
@Baud:
#49
He wants it
He thinks he should have it.
His friend wants him to have it.
65.
raven
@FlipYrWhig: He’s a fucking Cubano, this shit is part of his dna.
66.
raven
@Johnnybuck: Think about the idiots that have come through Athens. Phil Graham, Paul Broun, Jack Kingston and my favorite Ralph Reed. My tenant is actually working on his doctorate on a Ralph Reed scholarship!
Well, okay then, if that is what he has his eye on . The governor ship of Texas. They can have him as pretty much a normal politician in those parts.
And like I said, he does have the gift of gab to woo a wingnut crowd. He can’t be president due to birthright, but he could also work himself into a national leader in the senate, for a party that wants to time trip back to the fifties. If that is his goal, then he is crazy, in the sense of how he his acting as a freshman senator. That old boys club eats its babies when they arrive and shake the comity applecart. Even many republicans.
I think he is just a true demagogue, in the elemental meaning of that term for politicians. He craves a dutiful following of like minded persons, but has a problem with boundaries and recognizing them. He could well become the presidente of Texas for life. Six half dozen or the other.
The thing is, he wasn’t that much into self-aggrandizement, as I recall. He was just a rat bastard.
Yeah, his campaign was pretty much based on “I wasn’t allowed to do what I wanted with my life, so I’m determined to do everything in my power to make sure the rest of you bastids can’t, either.”
He kept talking — despite his advisors’ best efforts — about how his second-grade teacher laughed at the idea that a ‘cripple’ (Silber was born with a shortened arm) could ever become a veterinarian, ergo poor people/women/LGBTs/people of color/everyone not John Silber should just shut up & accept that we just didn’t deserve and were never gonna get the same rights as rich, healthy, well-born white men.
If he’d been the least bit ‘ideological’ about his misanthropy, he could’ve run successfully as a Republican. But even the hapless Masshole GOP could see that “I didn’t get mine, so fvk you” wasn’t a real attractive campaign slogan.
70.
trollhattan
Speaking of damaged-goods politicians, if Appalachian Trail Sanford and Colbert’s sister face each other for congress, there isn’t enough popcorn in the solar system to go around.
Please, make it so.
Also, too, Cruz and Alan West–separated at birth(erizm)?
71.
ricky
I look forward to Perry crushing a Cruz insurgency by charging him with having been educated by Harvard communists.
I think he might be able to because of one parent’s citizenship status–which was much-discussed as something that should have mooted the whole “birther” phenomenon. See this piece, from the Austin newspaper.
73.
Violet
@MikeJ: Or someone with an R after their name that the person talking deems Not A Real Conservative.
74.
Johnnybuck
@raven: Yeah, what a motley lot. I guess even lying, thieving, weasels can get a scholarship named after them.
75.
ricky
@efgoldman: Perhaps.
Perry can throw red meat about Harvard commies ’cause he made a “D” in Meat at Harvard-on-the-Brazos. That’s passing, you know. The D grade, I mean. A&M is not passing.
It’s perpetual among its alumni.
It’s true that the legal meaning of Natural Born Citizen is not settled law with regards to eligibility for potus or vpotus, but whoever challenged it, would certainly have an uphill climb over current perceptions. Especially, king of the tea tards.
77.
Violet
@efgoldman: No, it won’t work. He’s held statewide office in Texas and grew up in Houston. He’s got a Texas pedigree. The Harvard thing can be explained as spending small amount of time “showing those soshulists in Harvard how the world really works” or some crap like that. It will be all he needs.
78.
Suffern ACE
@Hill Dweller: he went to Harvard and was a master debater. Therefore he has a pedigree to uphold. Plus the kochs are rich and they like him. They couldn’t also be loopy.
Cruz never held statewide office before his election to the Senate. And Pedigree is what fancy folks feed their house
critters.
Rick is 100% real Texan. Heck, his ancestors on both sides were Democrats. He was even born one.
81.
MattR
@General Stuck: Personally, I think Cruz is eligible because he was an American citizen as soon as he was born. I know there is a case to be made that he is naturalized, not natural born, because it required a legislative act to make him a citizen, but I don’t find it persuasive. And I think he will have the presumption of eligibility on his side. While it would be nice to get a complete, formal definition of natural born on the books, the current SCOTUS is not the one I want making that decision.
I was recently reading that Clarence Thomas voted to uphold a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors because he does not believe that minors have First Ammendment rights. (The law was overturned 7-2, but I found Breyer’s dissent based on the fact that we allow laws that restrict the content available to minors based on sex and nudity to make a lot of sense)
82.
Schlemizel
A) Its Fargo dude – the only thing worse would be if it were Grand Forks!
2) The Minnesota Womens team finished the regular season 32-0, the first time a womens team has ever gone undefeated. They are on a 42 game winning streak going back more than a year. they are 66-5-2 in the last two seasons including winning the national championship last year.
83.
Violet
@ricky: Perry was the Solicitor General of Texas. It’s a statewide position, although not an elected office.
Perry was not Solicitor General. He was Head Yell Leader at Texas A&M, a position which has exactly the same statutory basis as Solicitor General of Texas, none. Zero.
Zip. Nada.
The position Cruz held is an appointed division chief within the Office of Attorney General which was given a fancy title by an internal decision of the then Attorney Generla in 1999.
General Stuck
Not funny here
The unnerving lookalike of the new TX Senator to Joe McCarthy, is taking an even creepier turn for what he’s been doing.
Are we in some torn space fabric time loopety loop, and all this shit has happened many times before? Has the wingnut captains of industry started making clones of previous right wing demagogues, or, Oh Noes! building Cyborgs. If so, Ronnie Raygun could arrive via UPS any day now.
At the sign post up ahead.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman:
Slapshot is one of the most under appreciated sports films of all time.
The damn thing is so brilliant. Hansen brothers FTW!
Diana
clever.
So, um, where’s Zsa Zsa? Has she met the Tunchinator yet?
Lee Rudolph
Can’t possibly be as underappreciated as Men With Brooms.
Redshift
Love it!
SiubhanDuinne
@Lee Rudolph:
I’ve never seen Slapshot but I love MWB.
JPL
@General Stuck: I wonder if little mccarthy has had the opportunity to meet Sen. Warren yet.
My dog did not appreciate the ad since dogs were not featured.
Baud
Whoa, can you guys slow down? I can’t keep up with all these posts. #kidding
1bb3
That were sweet. And Sarah M. can’t complain, ‘cos she’s Canadian. Ha!
@General Stuck:As long as they are cloning losers, meh. Now if they get around to Ike, we could be in trouble.
Sorry Boys, the Abe Lincoln Clone is ours and we’ve made a few adjustments and alterations…
Hill Dweller
@General Stuck: But Dana Milbank, on one of his numerous forgetful cable appearances, told me Cruz wasn’t a wingnut.
Did you notice how many of the beltway hacks were dutifully promoting Cruz right after he was elected? It would’ve taken five minutes of research to know he was bat shit crazy, but they just mindlessly followed orders. Now the Village looks dumber than usual.
Baud
@General Stuck:
I can’t believe they’re still even talking about communists. What’s next? Some guy in a tri-cornered hat on horseback yelling “The British are coming.”
trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
Hell yes, maybe the only sports movie worth watching, or at least worth rewatching whenever it’s on (sadly, not often).
“What are you doing to the bus?”
“Making it look MEAN, coach!”
gogol's wife
@efgoldman:
Why did they leave out the guy who created Mad Men, the guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the guy who created Lemony Snicket, and the guys who created Beasts of the Southern Wild?
General Stuck
@Hill Dweller:
The first time I heard Cruz speak was at the Cpac conference a while back, and I didn’t know anything about him, but noted he had the gift of bullshit for a wingnut audience. Though he has turned out to be batshit crazy, like you say. That kind of direct accusatory red baiting ain’t what it was in tail gunner Joe’s day. Even Demented had enough sense to pull up short of that.
Anoniminous
@Hill Dweller:
When discussing The Villages’ dumbousity we need to break out infinitesimals:
Peak Wingnut is another area of analysis where infinitesimals are useful.
MattF
@Hill Dweller: Well, I knew that Cruz is a crazy wingnut. How did that happen? What’s my source of supa-sekret information?
J.D. Rhoades
@Villago Delenda Est:
Hansen brothers FTW!
I’M TRYIN’ TO LISTEN TO THE FUCKIN’ SONG!
S. cerevisiae
@Baud: Yeah, even the Evil Red Chinese are out-capitalisming (?) the capitalists.
All this scare talk about COMMIES! must be really amusing to the millenials.
NCSteve
Yeah, yeah, whatever. Where the hell are our pictures (and video) of and reports on Zsa Zsa’s interactions with Tunch and teh goggies? Huh?
Higgs Boson's Mate
I doubt that Cruz is crazy. I don’t doubt that he’s fairly stupid. He’s just smart enough to spout wingnut cliches in the interest of keeping a cushy job for which he is otherwise unqualified.
Poopyman
@General Stuck: I’ve long thought that we’re just one really charismatic wingnut away from having a real problem in this country. Looks like Cruz isn’t quite there, but it’s kind of like keeping on the lookout for the next strain of avian flu.
@efgoldman: Love the ambiguousness of the phrase “mounting a (possibly animatronic) dinosaur.”
(And I see that FYWP keeps forgetting my name and email again.)
handsmile
@efgoldman:
My alma mater, Class of ’80. I am overcome with pride. Thank you.
@gogol’s wife:
That’s some alumni inside info! Please feel free to decline, but is WesU where you teach?
Violet
This Australian ad is one of my favorites. I think something like it might be effective for gun control. Like, men who think owning arsenals full of assault weapons somehow proves their manhood are only proving they’re lacking.
gogol's wife
@handsmile:
Could be.
It is very upsetting that this is the only thing that makes the news.
Violet
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Cruz is Senator in one-party Texas. He’s going nowhere unless there’s a dead girl/live boy scenario. And even then, it’ll have to be a pretty dramatic version of it.
Maybe the Texas Democratic party will get their act together enough to take advantage of the demographic changes that should make them more viable. I’m not holding my breath. There’s a long way to go and until then, Texas will elect Republicans in state-wide offices.
gogol's wife
@handsmile:
Oh, and the grandson of the guy who directed Slap Shot also matriculated there, but did not graduate, I believe.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, you so need to watch Slap Shot! If you don’t believe me, trust its star:
(But watch the film before you read the Wikipedia entry, because this is a movie where you don’t want spoilers!
raven
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Recalibrate, not one bit stupid. Motherfucker knows exactly what he is doing.
srv
Supporting hockey is like supporting the NFL with scab refs.
Coworker in MN has a son in the minors (1st year) and daughter on the HS team. Between them, they’ve had five surgeries that I know of so far. Son is already looking at a hip replacement.
Time for some sports to die if this is the best they can do.
JPL
@efgoldman: From the same site is this article about Cruz..link
General Stuck, It appears that his defense is he said that three years ago and it is true.
? Martin
@General Stuck:
He’s not crazy. As a reader at TPM noted, the guy is aiming for TX state office. He’s now a high-profile candidate that is bringing up the issues that most Texans believe. He’s got 3 million marks and he’s playing them exactly right.
This is your next governor of Texas.
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
You has gave Larry Summers a big sad. Sure, Silber was a miserable shitbird who made committed lifelong Democrats vote for Bill Wled, but did Snappin’ Jawn flush 80% of his college’s endowment fund down the crapper just because he was too smart to take advice from people who knew what they were doing?
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
Yeah, even though I’m not much of a hockey fan, SS is one of those movies I’ve always meant to watch but somehow never got around to. Based on your strong recommendation and some of the other comments (and, of course, Paul Newman) I think I’d better move it much higher on my “To Be Watched” list.
handsmile
@gogol’s wife:
I must say you’re being very subtle with the clues. I’m well and truly stumped now. :)
@efgoldman:
I seem to recall recently reading here your warm reminiscences of Mr. Silber and Massachusetts state politics.
As a BU alum, do you know whether his foul legacy is still part of its official culture (e.g., building name, professorship, prominent portraits) or has he been air-brushed from the photographs?
raven
@efgoldman: I stand by my statement. It a strategy.
Davis X. Machina
@efgoldman: Dartmouth wannabees. That’s a slow weekend in Hanover.
Violet
@? Martin: Well, that’s going to be an interesting race. Perry looks like he’s going to run again, but he’s not that popular. A weakened Perry will make for an interesting Republican Governor’s primary. Will Cruz enter that race so soon after becoming Senator? Perry still has a lot of cronies and can make things difficult for a challenger.
Will a Democrat step up who can actually win? What about Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio? He says he’s not going to run, that he wants to finish his term. But maybe this is his chance. A charismatic, popular Latino mayor running for Governor of Texas. Could definitely bring in a lot of new voters.
MattF
@? Martin: It’s probably true that Texans have had their fill of Rick ‘No, really, I’m not a moron’ Perry– and would probably prefer someone who has a non-negative IQ.
? Martin
@Violet: Well, probably not next governor, but the race near when his senate gig is up.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I haven’t seen it in years, but I remember enjoying it. It’s kind of like Bull Durham — you don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy the characters and story.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@? Martin:
Your gift wrapped copy of the internets is in the mail. We all know exactly how smart you don’t have to be to be elected governor of Texas.
Baud
@MattF:
I think Perry will be reelected if he can give three reasons why he should be.
Violet
@MattF: Unless something amazing happens, the next Governor of Texas will be a Republican. The Republican primary for the Governor’s race is where the action will be. Greg Abbott, the current Attorney General, has apparently agreed not to run for Governor if Perry does. Would Cruz be willing to challenge Perry?
The Lodger
For many in the USFL, help came too late
Hell, why didn’t they just come out and say, “Portland Wilter Hawks”?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Houston, we have a problem.
FlipYrWhig
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
It’s the opposite. He’s smart but crazy. He’s creepy and makes everyone uncomfortable, and he believes wholeheartedly in weird shit. I don’t have a start-to-finish story to tell, but (sorry to keep repeating this) at Princeton he was the freshman roommate of a friend of mine from high school, who despised him immediately and still does, 25 years later. Princeton is full of arrogant dickheads, and EVEN THERE an arrogant dickhead like Cruz was out of his element and stood out as a singularly repellent creature.
hitchhiker
Jane Mayer was on TRMS last night talking about Cruz. She said he’s got serious, serious game when it comes to working a crowd & that the crowd LOVED that speech to absolute pieces. He had them on their feet cheering, etc.
Face. Palm.
The Lodger
For many in the USFL, help came too late
Hell, why didn’t they just come out and say, “Portland Winter Hawks”?
FlipYrWhig
@Davis X. Machina: “And the granite of New Hampshire / In their muscles and their brains!” Class of 1992 here.
Violet
@? Martin: Well, the next election for Governor is in 2014. If Perry wins that and stays the full four years, it would be 2018 before someone could run again. I guess Perry might run for President again. I don’t think he’ll be much better than last time, but who knows. Maybe he’ll have had good coaching.
FlipYrWhig
@Violet: I still think Perry would have had a better chance at beating Obama than Romney did, and I was surprised when he threw in the towel on the primary race.
Johnnybuck
@efgoldman: West Georgia ’88 we gave the world the ol’ Perfesser Newt Gingrich.
Cross to bear indeed!
Baud
@FlipYrWhig:
Interestingly, that is the banner that Princeton currently has at the top of it’s website.
Violet
@FlipYrWhig:
Yes, exactly. He’s Michele Bachmann level creepy and true-believer-ish. I think his crazy may hold him back in the long run. That sort of zealotry usually only goes so far. Maybe he’ll be the scary exception.
? Martin
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Okay, but big clue for everyone – Stephen Colbert isn’t actually a wingnut.
Cruz is playing to the base. With a growing latino community in Texas, Republicans are going to increasingly need Republican voter enthusiasm to carry them into office. Cruz is taking all of the conspiracy theories and hatred of everything Yankee and liberal and shit that plays so well in Texas and wrap it all up in a nice little package and deliver it full-force in DC. He’s going to be the truth-to-power guy, and he’s got the oratory skills to do it. I think he’s a very smart guy that has a formula for success.
He’s playing the same role as Colbert, but where Colbert has both feet over the satire line, Cruz has them just inside of it (for Texas). There’s no way this guy believes any of this shit. You watch, when it’s time for this guy to speak about sensible policy that would play well in Texas, he’s going to sound like the most reasonable guy in the room.
FlipYrWhig
@efgoldman: Because he’s a creepy man who wants to change the world for the worse.
FlipYrWhig
@? Martin:
No chance. I don’t think he believes in sensible. I think he thinks he’s a soldier in a holy war with Satan and Communists.
Violet
@efgoldman: I agree, Cruz is in a cushy job. However, the Governor’s job is equally as cushy and do-nothing and you get to make lots of money through favors to rich corporations.
@FlipYrWhig: Perry is terrible outside of his comfort zone. He doesn’t have to leave that comfort zone in Texas because a Republican will win. He would have won traditional red states–but Romney won those–and not a lot else due to having put his foot in his mouth far too often along the campaign trail. Perry is also the Governor from Texas, and we all remember how well that turned out last time. And he’s got the misfortune of looking more like George W. Bush than he used to. And sounds more like him. For those who didn’t know much about him it was a bit of a shock when he showed up on the primary debate stage looking and sounding like a slightly modified Shrub. I think that will count against him in ways that are hard to measure. People won’t admit that kind of thing and they may not even be aware of it themselves. But it’s there and it’s real.
gogol's wife
@handsmile:
Don’t be stumped, you were right the first time.
MikeJ
@FlipYrWhig:
Of course the word “communist” no longer has anythign to do with Marx or the proletariat or class struggle. Communism is now defined as “anybody without an “R” after his name.”
Davis X. Machina
@FlipYrWhig: In his defense, it is his world…
FlipYrWhig
@MikeJ: I bet Cruz thinks of it (Communism) as godlessness, forcible equality, and redistribution. I think he’s seriously fucked in the head. And (here’s me going out on a limb) I think he’s going to run for president next time, and it’s going to be horrifying, and the veterans of that campaign are going to dominate Republican politics and strategy for decades afterwards. Like Goldwater ’64, only not at all libertarian.
raven
@Johnnybuck: The scourge of Carrollton!
Maude
@Baud:
#49
He wants it
He thinks he should have it.
His friend wants him to have it.
raven
@FlipYrWhig: He’s a fucking Cubano, this shit is part of his dna.
raven
@Johnnybuck: Think about the idiots that have come through Athens. Phil Graham, Paul Broun, Jack Kingston and my favorite Ralph Reed. My tenant is actually working on his doctorate on a Ralph Reed scholarship!
piratedan
http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/2/22/4019648/d-backs-state-farm-spot-spoof
another spoof ad, but well done imho
General Stuck
@? Martin:
Well, okay then, if that is what he has his eye on . The governor ship of Texas. They can have him as pretty much a normal politician in those parts.
And like I said, he does have the gift of gab to woo a wingnut crowd. He can’t be president due to birthright, but he could also work himself into a national leader in the senate, for a party that wants to time trip back to the fifties. If that is his goal, then he is crazy, in the sense of how he his acting as a freshman senator. That old boys club eats its babies when they arrive and shake the comity applecart. Even many republicans.
I think he is just a true demagogue, in the elemental meaning of that term for politicians. He craves a dutiful following of like minded persons, but has a problem with boundaries and recognizing them. He could well become the presidente of Texas for life. Six half dozen or the other.
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
Yeah, his campaign was pretty much based on “I wasn’t allowed to do what I wanted with my life, so I’m determined to do everything in my power to make sure the rest of you bastids can’t, either.”
He kept talking — despite his advisors’ best efforts — about how his second-grade teacher laughed at the idea that a ‘cripple’ (Silber was born with a shortened arm) could ever become a veterinarian, ergo poor people/women/LGBTs/people of color/everyone not John Silber should just shut up & accept that we just didn’t deserve and were never gonna get the same rights as rich, healthy, well-born white men.
If he’d been the least bit ‘ideological’ about his misanthropy, he could’ve run successfully as a Republican. But even the hapless Masshole GOP could see that “I didn’t get mine, so fvk you” wasn’t a real attractive campaign slogan.
trollhattan
Speaking of damaged-goods politicians, if Appalachian Trail Sanford and Colbert’s sister face each other for congress, there isn’t enough popcorn in the solar system to go around.
Please, make it so.
Also, too, Cruz and Alan West–separated at birth(erizm)?
ricky
I look forward to Perry crushing a Cruz insurgency by charging him with having been educated by Harvard communists.
FlipYrWhig
@General Stuck:
I think he might be able to because of one parent’s citizenship status–which was much-discussed as something that should have mooted the whole “birther” phenomenon. See this piece, from the Austin newspaper.
Violet
@MikeJ: Or someone with an R after their name that the person talking deems Not A Real Conservative.
Johnnybuck
@raven: Yeah, what a motley lot. I guess even lying, thieving, weasels can get a scholarship named after them.
ricky
@efgoldman: Perhaps.
Perry can throw red meat about Harvard commies ’cause he made a “D” in Meat at Harvard-on-the-Brazos. That’s passing, you know. The D grade, I mean. A&M is not passing.
It’s perpetual among its alumni.
General Stuck
@FlipYrWhig:
It’s true that the legal meaning of Natural Born Citizen is not settled law with regards to eligibility for potus or vpotus, but whoever challenged it, would certainly have an uphill climb over current perceptions. Especially, king of the tea tards.
Violet
@efgoldman: No, it won’t work. He’s held statewide office in Texas and grew up in Houston. He’s got a Texas pedigree. The Harvard thing can be explained as spending small amount of time “showing those soshulists in Harvard how the world really works” or some crap like that. It will be all he needs.
Suffern ACE
@Hill Dweller: he went to Harvard and was a master debater. Therefore he has a pedigree to uphold. Plus the kochs are rich and they like him. They couldn’t also be loopy.
Jay C
@Anne Laurie:
What you said. My wife went to BU in that era: to her, “Silber” is still a notably vile curse-word….
ricky
@Violet:
Cruz never held statewide office before his election to the Senate. And Pedigree is what fancy folks feed their house
critters.
Rick is 100% real Texan. Heck, his ancestors on both sides were Democrats. He was even born one.
MattR
@General Stuck: Personally, I think Cruz is eligible because he was an American citizen as soon as he was born. I know there is a case to be made that he is naturalized, not natural born, because it required a legislative act to make him a citizen, but I don’t find it persuasive. And I think he will have the presumption of eligibility on his side. While it would be nice to get a complete, formal definition of natural born on the books, the current SCOTUS is not the one I want making that decision.
I was recently reading that Clarence Thomas voted to uphold a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors because he does not believe that minors have First Ammendment rights. (The law was overturned 7-2, but I found Breyer’s dissent based on the fact that we allow laws that restrict the content available to minors based on sex and nudity to make a lot of sense)
Schlemizel
A) Its Fargo dude – the only thing worse would be if it were Grand Forks!
2) The Minnesota Womens team finished the regular season 32-0, the first time a womens team has ever gone undefeated. They are on a 42 game winning streak going back more than a year. they are 66-5-2 in the last two seasons including winning the national championship last year.
Violet
@ricky: Perry was the Solicitor General of Texas. It’s a statewide position, although not an elected office.
ricky
@Violet:
Perry was not Solicitor General. He was Head Yell Leader at Texas A&M, a position which has exactly the same statutory basis as Solicitor General of Texas, none. Zero.
Zip. Nada.
The position Cruz held is an appointed division chief within the Office of Attorney General which was given a fancy title by an internal decision of the then Attorney Generla in 1999.
Search for yourself. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Search.aspx
S. cerevisiae
@Schlemizel: I tip my hat to the Gopher women, that is a hellava team.