I don't know what this will mean in the future, but the crazies didn't lose everything on Tuesday night.* Ted Cruz is now the junior Senator from Texas:
Cruz is a conspiracy theory character. He is convinced billionaire George Soros is funding a secret agenda to shutdown golf courses because they harm the environment and is conspiring with the United Nations to eliminate national sovereignty and private property. Cruz is convinced sharia law is an enormous problem in the U.S. and that extending unemployment benefits creates more unemployment and that churches ought to be able to keep their tax exemptions even as they endorse candidates from the pulpit.
Cruz came out of nowhere as a first-time candidate with little money and no name identification with voters. Texas establishment Republicans acquired him as their political problem as a consequence of their own behavior. They gerrymandered legislative districts so profoundly during redistricting that a court case challenging the new lines dragged out the primary election day from early March to late May, which gave Cruz time to polish his ranting points and fire up the Tea Party. If the election had been held as scheduled, Dewhurst, a former CIA agent, would have handily won. But he simply isn't conservative enough or sufficiently crazy for the radicals taking control of the Texas GOP.
Partly this is a cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for (redistricting) and learning that you gotta dance with the ones what brung you (the Tea Party). Moore goes on to the note the Texas GOP is foursquare against critical thinking, which is no exaggeration.
Ted Cruz is Allen West, except in the Senate. Which means he's there for six years, and probably for as much longer as he likes.
He's also the guy Richard Viguerie thinks can be the new Hispanic face of the GOP.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
*Actually, this is probably a good thing. Keeping a few crazies in the public eye will make it easier to remember we don't want to return to that again. When the Dems swept the Congress along with Obama in 2008, it only took two years to forget how bad the GOP could be; and we're still stuck with them. Having a few crazies around might make us appreciate the regulars a bit more.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
ReplyDeleteI'm no psychologist but I'm going to advise: cry. The laughter is likely to turn crazed and maniacal and never stop.
My laughter is meaner than that. If Cruz is the "Hispanic face" of the GOP, as a yellow dog Democrat, I can only approve.
ReplyDeleteIf I cry, it's only because there's a fair portion of the country governed by/in thrall to, these imbeciles, and so they are taken seriously (Viguerie is one step above Ralph Reed, and in a civilized world wouldn't be allowed to associate with decent people.)
I hear Cruz's name bandied about quite a bit as the very person to draw Hispanics to the Republican Party.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but I had a good laugh at Viguerie statement at NPR:
And, you know, he has a hard time talking to people at, kind of, the grassroots level. You remember, as I certainly do, when he spoke to conservatives earlier this year at the CPAC Conference. He talked about being a severe conservative. He just is not able to engage most people in conversation in a way that really resonates and connects with them.
I thought of "Only connect" in A Room With a View, and Romney just couldn't do it.