A former state solicitor general and clerk to Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the 41-year-old Mr. Cruz... is a staunch defender of states' rights, or what he calls the "forgotten Ninth and 10th amendments." He was the lead lawyer representing Texas before the Supreme Court in Medellin v. Texas (2008), after the International Court of Justice had tried to override Texas's justice system, and in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) he wrote the amicus brief on behalf of 31 states challenging a gun-control law on Second Amendment grounds.Too smart? Not the right kind of Hispanic? We shall see. The primary is tomorrow. The "establishment" guy is David Dewhurst, the Lt. Gov. He calls Cruz "Washington lawyer Ted Cruz."
He favors school choice, personal accounts for Social Security and a "low uniform tax rate—either a flat tax or the FairTax," he says, and his goal in the Senate would be to "cut federal spending as much and as quickly as possible." He's contemptuous of congressional Republicans who suggest that some of the popular features of ObamaCare can be retained. "I will work to repeal every last word of the law," he insists.
Mr. Cruz's Hispanic surname also isn't a liability when many Republicans seem to be searching for the next Marco Rubio. Like the Florida Senator, Mr. Cruz is of Cuban descent and has a gift for communicating his conservative credentials to right-leaning audiences. (At the same time, some Texans grumble that the Princeton and Harvard Law grad has the Barack Obama disease of coming across as a slick know-it-all, "the smartest guy in the room.")
Sarah Palin, who seems to have the magic touch, has endorsed Cruz. I'm making a tag for Cruz (and not for Dewhurst), so that's something like making a prediction.
ADDED: You can listen to Cruz arguing for the independent power of the states in Medellin here. (His turn begins about halfway through.)
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Mr. Cruz's Hispanic surname also isn't a liability when many Republicans seem to be searching for the next Marco Rubio.
I wish they'd stop that race shit and just figure out the right policies. Now we're stuck with stupid Mia Love because the Utah Repubs want a black woman - since when are we playing the Democrat's game?
If they're not cultists, I don't care if all I see is a blanket of white guys, as long as they're guiding the ship of state successfully.
Sort it out, you dummies,...
OMG! Republican conservatives not caring about a persons race! Where's the MSMmeme? You can't have a story about racism without including a Justice for Trayvon reference!
As Dr. Peter Venkman said "Dogs and cats, living together!"
Haha me and Crack, meetin' in the middle...racism is the dumbest shit ever invented.
I voted for Cruz, but my money's on Dewhurst.
What is Palin's batting average wrt to calling races?
I don't think it's great.
Try better than 60%.
And Cruz seems to be doing quite well.
I had the good fortune to encounter Ted Cruz and work with him briefly before I retired. He is an excellent attorney and a real conservative. I have sent his campaign some money from here in California, and I will send him more if he gets into a run-off against the RINO Dewhurst, and then again for the senate election if he wins the Republican nomination.
Palin - US Senate 2012
Richard Mourdock, Indiana - won primary
Deb Fischer, Nebraska - won primary
Ted Cruz, Texas - primary upcoming
Orrin Hatch, Utah - primary upcoming
Try better than 60%.
So much better than a coin-flip!
The Lefties made a big deal out of her endorsements for Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell, but 2/3 of the candidates she endorsed won in '10.
An endorsement is what you make of it; if you like the person doing the endorsing, that may induce you to give the endorsee (?) a closer look.
As always, YMMV.
Where on earth does that "it's ok, Texans will vote for him, he's Cuban, not Mexican fer chrissakes" crap come from?
I would really like to know what people who assume that Texas is a big foaming pit of Anglo-Mexican discord base that on. Or bigotry of any stripe, for that matter. The mayor of San Antonio is Mexican-American. The mayor of Houston is an openly gay woman. My city is 60% Hispanic, most of the business class/cops/city council/teachers/doctors are Hispanic, and just about everyone speaks some Spanish unless they arrived from Ohio last week, and just about everyone has mixed blood.
When will people understand that there are truly some places that just.don't.care. about identity politics nonsense. One of the things I love about Texas is that it's maintained a more-or-less multicultural, harmonious society for hundreds of years. In Texas we care about what you do, not what color your skin is or where your grandparents were born (except what generation Texan you are, that is).
It pisses me off when ignorant non-Texans slander us otherwise.
Beldar turned me on to Ted Cruz. I think he's more of a fashion statement that Mr. Dewhurst though a good ol boy that got the law passed that Mexicans bought here as children can have in state tuition, first rejoinder their parents have paid the same state taxes as anybody else, and avoided a police bureaucratic state can't be all bad. It is a little predictable that we have a Senator, like Dewhurst, that is an expert at representing oil and gas interests. Besides, maybe like Rick, Mr Dewhurst is retiring but planning to move to Washington rather than California.
Erika says:I would really like to know what people who assume that Texas is a big foaming pit of Anglo-Mexican discord base that on. Or bigotry of any stripe, for that matter.
I'd agree that the stereotype of Texas as a particularly bigoted place is a false one. However, like any other state, it also depends on where you are in the state and what elements of society you're dealing with. With regard to GOP primary voters, however, being Latino seemed to be a drawback for Xavier Rodriguez and Victor Carrillo. But maybe that won't hurt Ted Cruz. Time will tell.
The mayor of San Antonio is Mexican-American. The mayor of Houston is an openly gay woman.
Very true. And both of them are Democrats from cosmopolitan urban centers that went for Obama in 2008, which isn't an accident. Thank heaven for the Democratic Party of Bexar County and Harris County (and for that matter, The Democratic Party in Travis County, Dallas County and the Rio Grande Valley). The Texas Democratic Party, not so much.
As far as Cruz coming off like the smartest guy in the room, that isn't a unique observation. But to be fair to him, if he's in a roomful of Tea Partiers in some more rustic parts of Texas, he probably is the smartest guy in the room.
Somefeller, fair enough. Thanks for a cooler take. I saw red!
I voted for Cruz last week. Romney too.
My pleasure, Erika. God bless Texas.
These days we have no choice but to pander to racial politics.
As far as Cruz coming off like the smartest guy in the room, that isn't a unique observation. But to be fair to him, if he's in a roomful of Tea Partiers in some more rustic parts of Texas, he probably is the smartest guy in the room.
5/28/12 11:01 AM
If he were to be a guest at an Obama cabinet meeting he would be without any doubt be the smartest guy in the room.
Since it appears to be that Romney is going to win, the more small government conservative the senate becomes the better to curb any RINOish tendencies Mittens may have.
My wife and I happily for for Ted Cruz last week. Dewhurst is nothing but a rewarmed casserole.....
To: a shrink who . . . .
Some corrections or details:
I worked with Ted Cruz from California, while he was in Texas.
I was born in Texas, Ft. Crockett in Galveston, and lived there a few times, stationed once at Ft. Hood.
I live here in California only because my kids and grandkids do. Otherwise we would flee this zany place and move back to Texas.
I first learned about Cruz from a George Will article titled, "In Ted Cruz, a Candidate As Good As It Gets" that was published about a year ago.
Since then I've heard Cruz interviewed a couple of times. Once at CPAC and I think some blogger had a link to an interview he did with Mark Levin.
I'm not a Texan and those are the only two interviews I've heard him give, so take it for what it's worth, but he did not come off as a guy who thinks he's, "the smartest guy in the room". He did strike me as a guy deeply committed to Madisonian -- the president not the city -- principles of limited federal government and states rights.
What is Palin's batting average wrt to calling races?
I don't think it's great.
OMG, that's the wrong question. She's not Jimmy the Greek. She's not predicting. She's influencing the outcomes. She is pushing tea party candidates forward, out of nowhere. She's upsetting the applecart. She's done it again and again and again.
The Washington Post has a frickin' Palin Endorsement Tracker. Are you kidding me?
On May 23, 2010, Palin identified 20 Democrats to kick out of office. 18 of them retired, quit, or were fired. That's a 90% success rate.
Do you know who Romney endorsed? Or Obama? Do you care? The fight over the power of Palin's endorsements is just like every other fight over Palin. She has genuine power. People who are hostile to her deny she has this power. But the denial, the debate, the fight, is itself proof that her opinion matters and moves people.
It's entirely possible that Palin-hostility outvotes Palin-love in any given district. But for some anonymous candidate trying to make a difference, a Palin endorsement is solid gold.
Will be voting for Cruz manana!
He will force a run-off with Dewhurst, but I don't think he can win!
Hispanic Repubs are growing in strength and numbers in the Southwest! Martinez in AZ and Sandoval in Az!
Martinez is obviously Governor of New Mexico!
Do you have a tag for "generic whitebread business-as-usual Republican"? Because that would work for Dewhurst.
I'm confident, however, that you'll have occasion to use your Cruz tag in the future regardless of the results of this year's elections, Professor Althouse.
Dewhurst is a pragmatist. He's not averse to crony capitalism. He's reflexively pro-business, but his perception of what's good for business may not always track with free-market capitalism. He's not a movement conservative, and he's about as deep as a west Texas drainage ditch. He is utterly conventional, and although his votes in the U.S. Senate would probably mostly be the same as Kay Bailey Hutchison's have been or Ted Cruz' would be, David Dewhurst has absolutely no chance of ever breaking out of the pack to gain natural stature.
Cruz is probably ten times as smart as Dewhurst. That's often a dangerous thing -- cf. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama -- but Cruz has the movement conservative's profound and steadfast conviction that NO ONE is smart enough to run a command economy or a nanny-state dictatorship. That's why he attracted Sarah Palin's endorsement: She recognizes in him the humble heart of a genuine public servant, something vital that she shares with Cruz even though she doesn't have a fraction of his education and polish.
Dewhurst has shown himself to be sadly conventional in his extremely negative primary campaign. He's just another politician.
stupid Mia Love
I haven't been keeping up... what's Mia Love done to get called 'stupid'?
Saint Croix, my observation (casual) is that Palin does not back someone at the very very beginning of a race. Maybe that's because she can't know the person's viewpoints so early one, which is valid. Rather, after someone picks up some steam, she backs them.
Rather like waiting 'til 2:30 PM to predict the daily high.
I would also add that the love of Sarah Palin is very much like the love of any other politician.
I haven't been keeping up... what's Mia Love done to get called 'stupid' [by Crack]?
She's Mormon.
I'll vote in the primary tomorrow.
Yes for Cruz (I'm not diabolical enough to vote in the Dem primary for 'nobody' instead of Obama, tempting though it is.)
Saint Croix, my observation (casual) is that Palin does not back someone at the very very beginning of a race.
You're wrong. Palin is notable for picking people in primaries. This is risky behavior because it pisses off many Republicans. She does it anyway.
She often picks underdogs, and they shoot to the front of the pack. See Nikki Haley, see Kelly Ayotte.
She's endorsed Cruz for the Republican nomination. Cruz is down in the polls! Most Republicans are favoring the other guy. Yet Palin's picked Cruz, potentially getting a whole bunch of Republicans mad at her.
Contrast Romney, who has made no endorsement in the Texas race. He doesn't know who the nominee is going to be. Doesn't want to risk anything by backing the wrong guy.
Sarah Palin (and Jim DeMint) has changed this dynamic. She is pushing Tea Party candidates forward. She is upsetting the Republican establishment.
Do you listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity? They rarely make endorsements in the Republican primaries. Why not? You lose listeners when you do that. You piss off lots of Republicans in your audience.
after someone picks up some steam, she backs them.
She hasn't endorsed Romney for the Republican nomination. If you want to back a winner for the Republican nomination--if you want a "win"--I kinda think Romney is a win at this point in time. She hasn't bothered.
This idea that Palin is picking easy winners, like she's betting the horses or some damn thing. Isn't it obvious she's trying to put as many Tea Party people in power as she possibly can?
I wish she'd back Cruz earlier. (I've been a fan for a while, Jay Nordlinger has been beating that drum for a year). But betting on an underdog is hardly a sure thing.
She may be timing her picks for maximum impact. She will (obviously) endorse Romney over Obama. She might even campaign for him. But her primary goal is to help as many Tea Party people get into office as possible.
I would also add that the love of Sarah Palin is very much like the love of any other politician.
I sometimes wonder if she's bewitched us with her sex magic. Of course, she hasn't tested our love yet. If she gets drunk, kills somebody, and stays out of jail, then I'll be impressed.
Is she a Kennedy? Can she sway us to abandon all our principles? You know, the Bill "I'm a feminist, here's my cock" Clinton school of blind love and absolute obediance?
I swear, some of these politicians have some sort of weird pheromones power over the opposite sex. I read that John Edwards had five of his jurors dressing in red simultaneously.
We got so hot and bothered by Palin in 2008 that we decided to go with Mittens the Sexless Robot this time around. We'll see if that works.
yashu,
I haven't been keeping up... what's Mia Love done to get called 'stupid' [by Crack]?
She's Mormon.
The simplicity of the "thinking" here, sometimes, is astounding. I don't like NewAge so it has to be because of my wife, not because NewAge is a noxious umbrella for cultish thinking.
I don't like Mia Love - or Mormonism - so, of course, I don't like Mia Love simply because she's a Mormon. That's how it works, right, yashu?
Gee, thanks for putting your stupid words and ideas in my mouth.
No, while being a Mormon is most definitely not a mark in her favor when it comes to assessing her intelligence (how can it be in anyone's?) the fact is - are you ready, yashu? - I MET HER. I MET HER CHILD. I TALKED WITH HER HUSBAND ABOUT THEIR VIEWS, EXTENSIVELY, OVER THE COURSE OF AN EVENING. AND I HEARD HER SPEAK.
Mormonism never came up. As a matter of fact, I had no idea she was a Mormon, and I still wasn't impressed. What I saw was a suburban-scrubbed, sorta-pretty black woman without much to say, and even when she spoke, not saying very much. I guess, in the world of politics, that's enough to get you labeled "a rising star."
I consider the knowledge her husband will get his own fucking planet when he dies, which she will rule under him for all eternity, to be just icing on the cake,....
Paul,
I'm not diabolical enough to vote in the Dem primary for 'nobody' instead of Obama, tempting though it is.
Ahh, if only everyone was ballsy enough to vote for "nobody" instead of both of these presidential clowns, we'd be home free,...
Yeah Crack, I figured you would consider me "stupid."
I've always been friendly toward you, and argued cordially with you here, but because I disagreed with you-- about e.g. your contention that Romney intends to impose Mormon theocracy on America-- you called me "evil," a "liar" and "monster."
Fine. Others here enjoy getting into flame wars, I do not. So I'll try harder to avoid even indirect dialogue with you in the future.
but because I disagreed with you-- about e.g. your contention that Romney intends to impose Mormon theocracy on America-- you called me "evil," a "liar" and "monster."
Crack's becoming what he hates.
In 6 months, he'll be demanding we call him Father and kneel before his anti-cult cult.
So I'll try harder to avoid even indirect dialogue with you in the future.
I've long since adopted the habit of scrolling past Crack's Mormon ravings. Can anyone who's kept up with them tell me if he's ever actually spelled out how Romney's going to impose a Mormon theocracy on us, or is it all presumptions and assumations and The Illuminati control the country! bleating?
>>> There are a whole lot of people who are insufficiently smart, competent, and emotionally stable to make a decision involving a complex set of factors, so we need to dominate their minds with a starker structure of "right" and "wrong," even where those of us who are really smart and able to process complex factors know it's not really a matter of right and wrong.
I agree with this word for word, but somehow think I wasn't supposed to...
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