May 2, 2016

Ted Cruz responds to a boy who yells "You suck!" at him.



"Apparently there’s a young man who's having some problems. Thank you, son. You know, I appreciate you sharing your views. You know, one of the things that hopefully someone has told you is that children should actually speak with respect. Imagine what a different world it would be if someone had told Donald Trump that years ago. You know, in my household, when a child behaved that way, they’d get a spanking."

Via The Daily Caller, which has numerous errors in the transcription, which I've corrected here. You know, in my household, when a child transcribed that way, they'd get a disquisition on the importance of accurate transcription.

By the way, maybe I'm a bad person — though not Lucifer — but this made me laugh a lot:

66 comments:

rhhardin said...

The emperor's new toga.

Phil 314 said...

Ted does score low in the likability factor.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Phil 3:14 said...
Ted does score low in the likability factor.


It's the uncanny valley effect.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Did you coreect the transcript here?

Known Unknown said...

That second video is unwatchable dreck. Ten minutes of that? That made you laugh?

Jesus.

Saint Croix said...

Both Donnie and Teddy are very, very adept at dividing the Republican party. They excel at it!

What neither of them has proven is that they can unite the Republican party.

Ted Cruz doesn't care, of course, if people dislike him.

Donald Trump recoils at the idea of losing 49 states. And it's apparent (at least to me) that large numbers of Republicans will never vote for Donnie. That means he is going to have to get non-voters and low-information voters and Bernie voters to make up for all those lost Republicans.

Announcing that the Republican party is "united" is not, of course, the same thing as a united party. The media will seek to tie Republicans to Donnie and Donnie to Republicans. But millions and millions of Republicans will not put his signs in their yards, and will not put his bumper stickers on their cars, and will not vote for him.

You've angered and attacked both the Rubio/Bush faction and the Cruz faction, which makes up two-thirds of your base. After shitting on two-thirds of the GOP, do you really think you can force us to vote for you?

Saint Croix said...

Same statement applies to Teddy.

This is the USA. Using force and gestapo tactics (and deceit) to seize power tends to backfire.

Saint Croix said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Imagine what a different world it would be if someone had told Donald Trump that years ago.

That bit might have worked had he said that Donald Trump expresses the same primitive sentiment but he uses a great many more words in doing it.

Ann Althouse said...

Talking about how Trump is doomed to lose is doing the same thing that was being done last year.

An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice

Phil 314 said...

Professor,
What is it about Ted Cruz that bothers you so much? Where's the lawyer to lawyer love?

madAsHell said...

Ya know.....I'm fairly skeptical that shouting "You suck" isn't a planned event by the Cruz campaign. Especially, when it is greeted with a canned response.

Anonymous said...

The entire video is cringeworthy. Yuck.

Anonymous said...

That oldest daughter of his seems to dislike him intensely. Almost as if she was repulsed by him. There is something very odd about the family dynamics there.

Fernandinande said...

You know, in my household, when a child behaved that way, they’d get a spanking.

"The more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to experience increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties, according to a new meta-analysis of 50 years of research on spanking."

They don't show cause and effect because they ignore genetics, but Cruz's statement would indicate that he tends to anti-social behavior, aggression, and has mental health problems and cognitive difficulties; his father is pretty nutty.

David Begley said...

Kid was probably a Trump plant. This needs investigation.

Ann Althouse said...

"Professor, What is it about Ted Cruz that bothers you so much? Where's the lawyer to lawyer love?"

He's good at appellate advocacy, but he got out of that lane.

I don't think he has the kind of mind that belongs in the presidency. He's too sanctimonious and ideological... and just plain weird. If you like him because you like the place where he happens to be ideologically, it may not be so apparent to you. Imagine him with completely different ideological positions, but with that kind of sanctimony and attachment to his positions with ideological certitude and you might have a sense of how he makes me feel.

MAJMike said...


"I don't think he has the kind of mind that belongs in the presidency. He's too sanctimonious and ideological... and just plain weird. If you like him because you like the place where he happens to be ideologically, it may not be so apparent to you. Imagine him with completely different ideological positions, but with that kind of sanctimony and attachment to his positions with ideological certitude and you might have a sense of how he makes me feel."

5/2/16, 11:31 AM

Rather like Barrack Obama? For whom our Dear Professor voted twice.

Ann Althouse said...

"Rather like Barrack Obama? For whom our Dear Professor voted twice."

Could you be more wrong?

1. Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '

2. I didn't vote for Obama in 2012.

robother said...

What the? No videos showing on this whole website. (Makes Ann look like the ultimate hypocrite for her wide open spaces policy on posting.)

narciso said...

shirley, professor, obama is the emotionally vacant, unempathetic candidate since michael dukakis, then we come to his noxious politics,

John Henry said...

My granddaughter is 12, in 6th grade. Her favorite cousin, same age, moved to Florida a few years back but they see each other in summers when she visits the grandparents.

Both were born in PR and are US citizens.

One of the boys in her school told her that if Trump was elected all Puerto Ricans would have to move to Mexico. She believed it and was very upset that she might never see Lara again if Trump wins.

I explained how things work to her and she went back and straightened out the boy. He sounds like he will grow up a progressive Democrat. Dimwitted and/or evil.

John Henry

robother said...

Must be a Safari issue. Pull up Althouse in Chrome and all videos showing. What the hell has happened with Safari the last 6 months. Has Apple turned into just another Conquest bureaucracy?

Anonymous said...

The Obama's daughters seem to genuinely love their parents. No odd vibes or hesitancy with hand holding or hugs.

Sebastian said...

"1. Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '" You mean, the guy who fabricated his own autobiography? The guy who has no actual friends? The guy so balanced he couldn't even related "normally" to his own allies?

If narcissism is the new normal, then yes. Perhaps it is.

MathMom said...

"Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency."

I disagree. Obama is the biggest prick on the national stage I've ever seen. Are you not aware of the many sly middle fingers he has given to his opponents, on camera? Do you think it's normal for a person to sound like a honky when talking to whites, and sound like a black Pentecostal preacher when speaking to blacks? Do you think it's normal to claim that your parents got together because of an event that was several years in the future? Have you seen how he bristles when the occasional pushback happens, like when Ben Carson spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast (and was immediately audited)?

What is "emotionally normal" in Wisconsin?

Anonymous said...

Obama was sneaky with his middle finger, not like Bush who gave the finger openly. That's not normal!

Kate said...

Someone years ago should've coached Cruz to take a breath and lighten up. His tendency is to choose a severe or bossy response (see the "Communist Manifesto" inscription he penned), when a humorous touch would be the more deft and likable answer.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Is that first part of the video, where the Cruz family is eating and they are interrogating/grilling the kids real? It it?

How uncomfortable. How creepy. The little girl obviously couldn't wait to pry her hand away from Cruz and you could see she wanted to be anyplace else but sitting there being given the third degree. What are you going to play? Huh huh huh. What? Did you practice enough? If she didn't....then what?

How very off putting. Creepy.

Tim said...

Professor, I have a hard time believing we're referring to the same person, when you say of Obama: "Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person."

Only going by what I see on TV, since I've never met him, he appears aloof, disconnected, disinterested, extremely condescending... pretty much the exact opposite of how you believe him to be. Yes, he does appear to have a normal, happy home life -- which is great. But so did the Bushes (you can't deny how much that family loves each other & went out of their way to express), and of course the Reagans were famous for their incredible love story.

Brando said...

"Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '"

Must be in the eye of the beholder. I don't see him as the worthless sack of crap that some of his critics do, but he does come across as a bit prickly and aloof--maybe because he's an introvert and a bit of a nerd, maybe because he's defensive and hasn't spent much time in politics--but "entirely appealing"? He must reach some people in a way many of us just don't see.

Titus said...

OMG-the video was fucking hilarious. Thanks for sharing. Laughed my ass off.

The kids obviously hate him.

He is so unlikable. And that face-yikes.

Anonymous said...

What MathMom said. I think Obama's response to the San Bernadino, Belgium, and French killings was emotionally abnormal, and grossly so. More like a hop-head who doesn't give a rip. Not to mention he is thin-skinned and thinks everything is all about him.

'Emotionally normal'? Only in an extremely superficial way. BHO simply can give that appearance.

jimbino said...

In English, I appreciate you sharing your views would read I appreciate your sharing your views.

...one of the things that hopefully someone has told you is that children should actually speak with respect. would read I hope that one of the things that someone has told you is that children should actually speak with respect.

and

...when a child behaved that way, they’d get a spanking. would read ...when a child behaved that way, he’d get a spanking.

Achilles said...

Ted Cruz is a bad candidate. That is why he lost. Trump has people yelling worse at him all the time and deals with it much much better.

dreams said...

"Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '"

Something about that comment reminds me of the movie The Manchurian Candidate.

Phil 314 said...

"Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency."

Funny, that's what I thought of George W. Bush.

Derve Swanson said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Brando said...

"Something about that comment reminds me of the movie The Manchurian Candidate."

I wondered why that sounded familiar! Now to figure out whether Althouse was in Obama's platoon in Korea.

Keep Obama away from decks of cards!

robother said...

Ann Althouse: "Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person."

Bennet Marco:
"Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

He's too sanctimonious and ideological

I can't recall a President more sanctimonious than Obama. I would also say he's about as far to the left as Cruz is to the right. YMMV

TobyTucker said...

No doubt you came across this via the Drudge Report. I assume you've noticed that Drudge is totally in the tank for Trump, so if you're looking for disparaging articles about Cruz, it's the place for you.

While I kinda agree with some of Trump's stands on various issues, Trump himself is such a disagreeable person. But we are now in the Internet Age, where making snarky, dismissive remarks to belittle someone you don't like or agree with is the new norm. Trump is a master at this, having spent so many years as a tabloid celebrity, relying on insults of those more well-known than him to get his name in the news and apparently many find his approach appealing.

The headline Drudge uses to link to the Daily Caller article is "BOY SMITES CRUZ: YOU SUCK!", which shows how far round the bend Trump supporters are getting. I'm sorry, but yelling "You suck!" at somebody hardly qualifies as a "smiting" in anybody's book. (My reply would've been more like "Is that all you've got? That's pretty weak.") I thought Cruz's reply was excellent and this article helps Cruz rather than hurting him, which isn't the result I think Drudge was intending.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like our esteemed blogmaster voted for Obama in 2008 because she liked him. And she absolutely won't vote for Cruz because she intensely dislikes him. I don't like Cruz very much either, but he strikes me as principled and very smart, and, he's willing to take unpopular positions because he believes they are the correct ones. I would much rather respect a president than like him/her.

Rit said...

Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person.

Seriously? He strikes me as the most arrogant and narcissistic person I've ever seen in the presidency. A man seemingly incapable of giving credit to anyone or anything other than his own superior intellect. A man who seems to find fault in all who surround him, but never within himself.

robother said...

Meade breaks out the Queen of Diamonds card every so often, and Ann gets like this, rhapsodizing about Obama. Hopefully, she's not heading out to a Cruz rally tonight in the truck with the gunrack.

Saint Croix said...

Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person.

2008: Obama the boyfriend
2009: Althouse marries Meade
2012: Obama gets dumped

More weddings! Less socialism!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Lucifer is the morning star, the bringer of light, and is a name that has often been used for Jesus X.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ted's been expounding on his love of corporal punishment for some time now. You'd think it would get old after a while, hearing him going on about his fetish like that.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Eh, I guess I see it both ways when it comes to Obama. I always thought he seemed the most in touch with his emotions - but that obviously includes anger, grief, passion, and all sorts of other things that aren't always the most flattering to an opposition that wants to feel no less pandered to than his core constituency does. So now I'm much more aware of his condescension than I ever was (as well as those moments when he sucked up too much), but I still think it's not somehow worse than being a phony panderer. And if it were, then why is the Republican front-runner now the epitome of an insult artist? Obviously something needed to change, Obama ushered it in, and Trump is taking it to a whole new level.

At the other end of the spectrum you have a bitch like Hillary who will say anything, pretend to do everything, and not even have the presence of mind to get it through her thick head exactly how many people she DID piss off and insult in the process. Until her aides remind her a week later. Doesn't care what she says, who she insults AND is too patently, unprecedentedly dishonest to use the "brutal honesty" card as an excuse for it. When it comes to the delicate balance between honesty and humility, she is the absolute worst of all worlds.

Known Unknown said...

How very off putting. Creepy.

Not a Cruz fan, but the video is very, very edited (using weird pans, repetitious cuts, and reverse edits) to make it even creepier.

cubanbob said...

I don't think he has the kind of mind that belongs in the presidency. He's too sanctimonious and ideological... and just plain weird. If you like him because you like the place where he happens to be ideologically, it may not be so apparent to you. Imagine him with completely different ideological positions, but with that kind of sanctimony and attachment to his positions with ideological certitude and you might have a sense of how he makes me feel."

Throw in criminal, traitor and paranoid control freak and you describe Hillary perfectly. Speaking of feelings, that is how Hillary makes me feel.

Sammy Finkelman said...

rightguy2 said...5/2/16, 3:31 PM

[Cruz] strikes me as principled and very smart, and, he's willing to take unpopular positions because he believes they are the correct ones.

I think that's what he plays on TV, and other media, but I think he says things he can't possibly believe. And not just the claim that voting for him is the only way to stop Trump. He claimed that if Obamacare wasn't prevented from going into effect in October, 2013, it could never be repealed. That was nonsense. And furthermore, he claimed that refusing to pay for it was a way to stop it, and could work. (of course the problem theer was many Republicans elected to Congress in 2010 and 20132 hadn't had a chance to vote against it.)

Now, he casually talks abolishing the IRS without, I think, any good explanation.

Every time I see a soundbyte from him - almost every time - I think: He doesn't believe that. I mean especially his reasoning.

He said some nonsense the other day as an explanation of why he picked Carly Fiorina now. Or rather he tried to make it sound like he was explaining it, but all he was saying was that that wasn't a terrible thing to do, which was OK, but it wasn't an explanation of why he did pick a vice- president now. He does like to pretend to answer questions. He can't possibly believe he is answering the question, but yet his intonation is like he is answering the question. This is a minor fault, and the real question is what position he takes. Which I don't think in many cases is because he sees genuine merit in it.

I think he's somewhat smart, but not at all principled. Somewhat consistent, at least over longer time spans than Donald Trump, but not at all principled. If he were principled, there might occasionally be somebody else in the Senate who might agree with him on what to do. He doesn't try to win people over; he wants to be alone - the only one who takes the position he does. Except that Trump trumped him on that in the election campaign. Being the most consistent, or principled, conservative was his campaign theme. The proof he was principled and consistent was that he stood alone. Or just with the Tea Party caucus in the House.

Now I think Obama also doesn't believe things he says, or at least he certainly doesn't know he's right. He always reaches for arguments - the political position comes first, and the arguments come later - and sometimes gives "explanations" as to why other people take the positions they do, which explanations may irritate people because they are not at all true.

The way he explains political divisions in Washington is false. Right now, with the Supreme Court, he's pretending there are not genuine ideological differences between judges, and that people have come to pay attention to them. Not all republicans may in fact be ideologies, but they do have constituencies. I did hear something that came from Obama. That the entire appointment process might be broken. Well it is, it is.

Now Cruz is very didactic, but Obama doesn't try to push things on people with his tone of voice.

Cruz's tone is one of saying emphatically "this is right, and this is why it's right" but Obama's tone is one of sweet reasonableness, basically saying: "I can't understand why anyone would disagree, and I even understand that people have some darker motives, but they shouldn't do this, and they don't need to - their self-interest should not cause them to do this, or it's carrying things too far." Most times what he says is not a fair assessment.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Rhythm and Blues:

Hillary who will say anything, pretend to do everything, and not even have the presence of mind to get it through her thick head exactly how many people [she irritated]

She's only trying to fool some of the people, some of the time, and get enough other people to vote for her to win because she's the lesser of two evils. In fact her whole strategy is to be the lesser of two evils. Except that she does need a small base of support.

Saint Croix said...

And she absolutely won't vote for Cruz because she intensely dislikes him.

Nah, she voted for him in her primary. Don't kid yourself on the toughness of AA! Just put a clothespin on her nose and pulled the damn switch. Atta girl. And I know she's been kicking herself, but I think she's in for a happy surprise tomorrow.

I don't like Cruz very much either, but he strikes me as principled and very smart, and, he's willing to take unpopular positions because he believes they are the correct ones.

The fate of the Republican party depends on tomorrow, and what Donald Trump and Ted Cruz do and say. I think it's going to be an exciting day! Just keep in mind, Jiu-jitsu.

BN said...

I don't know about the good professor, but I will drink lukewarm shit every time I vote. Or at least what i think is lukewarm.

BN said...

Or at least whatever bad choice i face that is the lukewarmest.

BN said...

Achilles with the weak heelies: "Trump has people yelling worse at him all the time and deals with it much much better."

No comment. Speaks for itself.

BN said...

The Good Perfesser: "Imagine him with completely different ideological positions, but with that kind of sanctimony and attachment to his positions with ideological certitude and you might have a sense of how he makes me feel."

I know:

Principles! Eewww!

Right?

MadisonMan said...

You know, I think Cruz says You Know too much in that transcription.

Comanche Voter said...

I dunno. Somebody spared the rod on that little varmint, and now he is spoiled. He'll grow up to be like that fat slob ranting on you tube about keeping "hate speech" off her precious campus. Meanwhile she's larding her rant (with a physique like that "lard" comes to mind rather quickly) with F bombs. Too bad her mom didn't wash that mouth out with lye soap.

Achilles said...

Saint Croix said...

"The fate of the Republican party depends on tomorrow, and what Donald Trump and Ted Cruz do and say. I think it's going to be an exciting day! Just keep in mind, Jiu-jitsu."

I agree. Cruz will have a choice. He can join the america first team under the big tent in the fight against the make america mexico crowd. He can keep the party center right.

Or not. He can continue tilting at windmills and take the 10ish% of the population that is conservative first and american second and go vote 3rd party or insist they write him in. The Trump led republican party will absorb someone else to make up a majority. Probably some Ron Paul/Bernie millennials who will not want to vote for the only democrat to vote for every war for the last 2 decades. That party will move center left particularly on social issues. Conservatives will be a whiny irrelevant group for a generation.

Hillary will draw all of the open borders globalists either way but they are not particularly numerous, and she is possibly the most mediocre candidate to make it this far since James Buchanan. Trump will beat her with or without Cruz.

Mr. D said...

Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person.

He's likable enough.

tim in vermont said...

That picture is why Cruz never should have run. He doesn't have all the tools.

tim in vermont said...

Another picture:

Side by side rallies in Indiana

Beaumont said...

I don't think he has the kind of mind that belongs in the presidency. He's too sanctimonious and ideological... and just plain weird. If you like him because you like the place where he happens to be ideologically, it may not be so apparent to you. Imagine him with completely different ideological positions, but with that kind of sanctimony and attachment to his positions with ideological certitude and you might have a sense of how he makes me feel.

Cruz arrogantly and unconsciously communicates contempt for those who do not hold his point of view. By unconconsciously (to Cruz) demeaning the views of other, Cruz cannot fathom 'why' others respond to him with such disdain. Put another way, Cruz, with absolutely no awareness, dumps his scorn into us and we are stuck having to deal with these very unpleasant feelings.