November 3, 2018

"Is Ted Cruz really 'Tough as Texas'? Hardly. Here's one Texan's take on that Ted Cruz fella... Directed by Richard Linklater."



Pretty fine little film. Not sure whether it has the intended effect — seems too pro-violence! — but I'm a fan of Linklater's early film "Slacker," so, whatever.

ADDED: Source material from Linklater's 2011 movie "Bernie":

67 comments:

rcocean said...

LBJ = tough as Texas.

Cruz = tough as Harvard Law.

The Crack Emcee said...

That last "Ted" kills.

rcocean said...

How many real Texans are called "Ted"?

rcocean said...

Its a funny ad but 100% wrong.

Cruz's biggest mistake was in holding a petty grudge after he lost. He refused to endorse Trump till the last moment, made a big drama out of speaking at the Convention, and then refused to campaign for Trump during the General.

If he'd acted like Grown-up, put aside his petty hurts, been a good loser, and enthusiastically endorsed Trump, he probably would've gotten the AG job, or be in line for a SCOTUS slot.

But no....

robother said...

Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles Whitman. Now those were some tough Texans!

traditionalguy said...

Ted has the President's support now. It's over. All the world's a stage...and Ted in his time plays many parts.

Bay Area Guy said...

I still love Linklater. He's an Austin liberal, which means he'd probably be a California Republican out here in la-la land.

"Dazed and Confused" and "Everybody Wants Some" are classic teenage flicks depicting the 70s as it was.

Bob Boyd said...

Ted Cruz
Cordial as Canada

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

He should change his name to Tex.

William said...

Rick, at the end of Casablanca, was able to go off with a cop and an ex-Nazi collaborator instead of the most beautiful woman on earth. Sometimes the problems of two little people don't amount to a hill of beans when compared to the larger issues.

Mary Beth said...

Cruz's Halloween tweet was funny.

zaphod said...

@rcocean

Not clear what's petty about not immediately setting aside his anger about Trump's insults. It would take most people a while to dial back their anger. Some never would. Trump wouldn't. He'd hold the grudge forever. Cruz finally decided the election was more important than his feelings but he did decide. If Cruz was petty for not being quick enough to bury the hatchet, what was Trump who couldn't do it months later when he was staffing his cabinet?

Robert Cook said...

SLACKER is great! Perhaps my favorite of the many fine movies Linklater has made since that one.

Fabi said...

"He should change his name to Tex."

LOL

SteveR said...

Ted’s problem is he can’t cultually appropriate a redneck nickname like Bubba or Tex. Then he could drive around the state like a gringo.

mockturtle said...

This ad reminds me of the plaid-shirt guy in the DNC's ad in 2016. Laughable. I'll bet that Beto is one tough hombre, though!

Zaphod: You're wrong about Trump holding grudges. He's too much the pragmatist for that.

Clayton Hennesey said...

And, yet, at the end of the day Tuesday, Ted will still be Senator from Texas and Robert O'Rourke will still hold that ineradicable place in the fantasies of women of a certain age as they lounge in a candle-rimmed tub of suds, water tap adjusted just so.

And, of course, in the grateful hearts of a few no longer hungry illegal alien Hondurans.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/11/01/orourke-campaign-exposed-in-undercover-video-for-assisting-honduran-migrants-nobody-needs-to-know/

DEEBEE said...

Sounds like a good remedy for the Caravan too. Kick ass if they violate your laws.

robother said...

This ad fairly drips with the barely concealed aggression so many PETA-type vegetarians seem to suffer from. Red meat for the gut, not the head, Richard. Its what's for dinner.

FWBuff said...

I’ll still take Tough (Talkin’) Ted over Beto the Brave Boyfriend any day.

Darrell said...

Beto is helping the Caravan Invaders reach the US. There is a name for that.

Yancey Ward said...

This would a very powerful ad except for one thing.....Beto O'Rourke is the other candidate. This is an ad that would have been powerful in the Republican primary against Cruz, or if the Democrats had nominated an actual man.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

How's that an effective ad? It's just a grump old man shaking his fist at the sky.

Yancey Ward said...

Dazed and Confused is a wonderful movie- one of the best from the 1990s, in my opinion.

Darrell said...

Beto is going to get his ass kicked this week.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Get up in their faces.

Yancey Ward said...

Cruz should have not held the grudge against Trump because it is politics. Most non-politicians understand this about politics- tearing down an opponent isn't personal, it is business- after the battle, if you are in the same party, you work together and let bygones be bygones. Holding that grudge has hurt Cruz politically because it diminishes him to some extent, and I write this as someone who admires the guy. I was happy to see him finally let it go.

wild chicken said...

Trump wouldn't. He'd hold the grudge forever.


Yeah no. Woodward sez he doesn't hold grudges. Not if he needs you for something, even just advice. I love where he calls up long-gone Reince out of the blue because he's lonely and wants to BS.

See, it's worth reading lefty books once in awhile if the author is fairly honest.

Birkel said...

Robert O'Rourke? The guy who married a billionaire heiress? That man of the people? He is a pampered shit so he accuses the other guy to cover his own weakness.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Beto is going to get his ass kicked this week.

We'll see. As the papers say, "the nonpartisan Cook Report rates the race as a toss-up."

I'm also marked Silver as saying the Dems have an 86.5 percent chance of winning the House.

I'm just curious how accurate these pollsters are.

Darrell said...

I'm just curious how accurate these pollsters are.

Wishcasters. Their job is to create self-fulfilling prophesies.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ann Althouse said...

"SLACKER is great! Perhaps my favorite of the many fine movies Linklater has made since that one."

"Slacker" is one of my all-time greatest films. I was disappointed by "Dazed and Confused" and then just not interested in anything else he made, with the exception of the animated films "Waking Life," which was good and "In a Scanner Darkly," which was okay. Tried to force myself to see "Boyhood," but couldn't do it, even with it sitting in my DVR.

"Slacker" is just a brilliant, one-of-a-kind piece of works, so exactly in the zone of what I Iike that it hurts to think of how little of what I want is out there to be had.

Jill said...

TargetSmart has been modeling Early voting and absentee voting. Much more interesting than polls.

TargetSmart estimates that in Texas the votes as of 11/01/18 are:
GOP :2,539,779
DEM: 1,811,893
UNKNOWN: 384,919

Assuming most of the GOP is voting for Ted, he is in good shape. It will depend alot on how many voters the Democrats can round up on election day.

Yancey Ward said...

It is probably even worse for O'Rourke than even those numbers indicate- a lot of Democrats on registrations for states like Texas are historic ones- a lot of them are older people who stopped voting for Democrats in the 80s.

Ken B said...

That's actually pretty good. I hope Cruz wins. But this is a good negative ad.

Robert Cook said...

"I was disappointed by "Dazed and Confused"...."

DAZED AND CONFUSED depicted the end of the school year for high school students in 1976 in Austin, Texas. I graduated from high school in 1973 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Linklater's film so exactly recreates how that time and place (roughly speaking, the southern suburban United States) looked, sounded and felt to me that it's as if he somehow filmed it at that time and waited decades to release it, (as he later took ten years to film BOYHOOD). It's verisimilitude is eerily exact. I enjoyed the film when I saw it, but I find when it's on tv I can watch a scene or two but I don't feel compelled to stay with it and watch it again.

dreams said...

It's easy to be a bad-ass until you get some pushback.

Jill said...

I think it is a crappy ad. Might appeal to people who are impressed by Beto skateboarding across stage.

tim in vermont said...

Beto is still behind the Tom Brady of gigelos, John Kerry, who married two hyper wealthy heiresses. He could easily be a male model though, with those rent-boy good looks. It's what Texas needs, it's what America needs.

Big Mike said...

Now Beto O’Rourke, there’s a true Texan. Still having “youthful indiscretions” at age 26. Where he blows 1.36 after getting into an accident on Interstate 10, after clipping a truck with his Volvo (Wait! A Texan driving a Volvo???) and spinning out across the entire width of the lanes in the other direction. A true Texan would be proud to have that on his record.

tim in vermont said...

McConaughey says the director met him in a bar one night and invited him to be in the movie. Put him in that "alright, alright, alright" scene with no prepared lines.

You learn a lot from the Golf Channel, which I stopped watching because they kept throwing anti Trump "promos" for MSNBC into regular programming.

gilbar said...

Big Mike said...
Now Beto O’Rourke, there’s a true Texan. Still having “youthful indiscretions” at age 26. Where he blows 1.36 after getting into an accident on Interstate 10, after clipping a truck with his Volvo
A true Texan would be proud to have that on his record.

It's not really On his record; you see, IF your daddy is a judge (and your mother is RICH (the owner of a high-end furniture store)), things like burglary or OWI or driving a Volvo just DISAPPEAR from your record. Later you can marry a Billionairess and NO ONE will notice

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

So if Cruz isn't "Texas tough", does that mean MasturBeto is?

I hardly think so.

Bad Lieutenant said...

1.36? Isn't that fatal?!?

gilbar said...

.136

Etienne said...

As soon as his finger hit my chest, he'd be choking on those store bought teeth.

gilbar said...

you folks, the choice is REALLY simple

do you want the democrat; a Latino immigrant, whose father escaped oppression; who then worked and studied hard, and made a name for himself, By his self.

or

do you want the playboy republican, whose father was BOTH a judge And a county commissioner; that drank and partied his way through his teens, twenties AND thirties (with DADDY getting him out of all the troubles he got into); A 'man' who LITERALLY walked around, IN DRAG; while PRETENDING to have 'musical talent'? A man that married into one of the Richest families in the state. A man that Has NEVER Wanted, FOR ANYTHING (except, maybe another hit of DRUGS!). A man who PRETENDS to have a Latino name.

The choice, people; IS CLEARER THAN CLEAR!
VOTE for the Decent, Hard Democrat. REJECT the Ultra Rich Spoiled Daddy's boy Republican

{think i've got all those facts right, don't i? Did i get any of it twisted around? hope not}

Fernandinande said...

Linklater's 2011 movie "Bernie"

That was an amusing show because Jack Black is rather strange.

The pics show the same guy wearing the same hat but at different tables.

Wince said...

That guy reminds me of a character being played by Jerry VanDyke.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Linklater's 2011 movie "Bernie"

That was an amusing show because Jack Black is rather strange.


That was a nice little movie. I thought it was real funny when the prosecutor asked for change of venue because the defendant was so well liked.

I've never heard of Linklater before. I looked up slacker and dazed but they are not on Netflix.

robother said...

Many mistakenly think that "Beto" is an attempt to impart an Chicano flavor to an otherwise bald and unconvincing Anglo candidate. In fact, it is a misspelling of his high school nickname, "Beta" (as in male).

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I found Boyhood brilliant... As far as his verdict on Cruz, I too was disappointed in Trump's attacks on Cruz and briefly Never Trump. Like Cruz, however, I put that behind me for the good of the country. If Beto had been similarly insulted by Trump, then put it aside to work on policy changes, to govern, then Linklater would have done a promo talking about how Tough as Texas Beto is. Just because he's a brilliant film maker, it doesn't mean he isn't a partisan political whore, and judging by his politics, a very ignorant one.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Etienne said...
As soon as his finger hit my chest, he'd be choking on those store bought teeth.

11/3/18, 11:28 AM


Etienne, meet Chuck. Chuck, meet Etienne. Chuck, show Etienne your finger-jabbing power move, won't you? Right in his chest, there's a good LLR. Show him what you're made of!

Darrell said...

Beto is Taxes Tough.

Oso Negro said...

As a Texas resident, I can tell you Betophiles that you are going nowhere come Tuesday. California residents may want higher taxes, open borders, and a lot more homosexuality, but we don't. And Beto is not only a national press darling, but the kept man of a billionaire heiress, AND the facilitator of the illegal caravan. FUCK HIM.

hstad said...

11/3/18, 10:09 AM
Blogger Bill, Republic of Texas said...
Beto is going to get his ass kicked this week.
"the nonpartisan Cook Report rates the race as a toss-up."

LOL - Charlie Cook is trying to reinvent himself because his previous gig of advising only Democrats has lost him a lot of revenues. So over the past several elections his website, and MSM, have pushed the nomenclature of ...non-partisan... Like the NY Times republican Brett Stephens? Find a pattern? If you don't believe me here are some interesting quotes: ".... "....CBS News' Bob Schieffer called the Cook Political Report "the bible of the political community." "...The New York Times has called Cook "one of the best political handicappers in the nation..." "...David Broder wrote in The Washington Post that Cook was "perhaps the best non-partisan tracker of Congressional races." Finally, if you look at Cook's political history, he has only advised Democratic politicians.

MB said...

Should have been called Linksooner, amirite?

tim maguire said...

Maybe he's right, but the alternative is still Robert O'Rourke.

rcocean said...

If actually look at the voting details, Hispanics in Texas aren't that much more conservative than California Hispanics. And of course, Blacks vote 90% no matter where they are.

The big difference is that White Californians are 50-50 Lib/Conservatives while in Texas its more like 65/35 Conservative.

If you do the math and assume minorities vote overall 2-1 Democrat, the only way your state can stay Republican is that (A) You have very few minorities or (B) white votes 2-1 Republican.

rcocean said...

I thought the breakout of Texas was interesting. For all the talk of Diversity, California isn't really. People are more conservative in the Eastern Part, SD and in the Far North but culturally its all the same.

I get the feeling Texas has some deep "Cultural" diversity. Piney Woods vs. Tex-Mex vs. Panhandle, etc.

BTW, I see George Bush was from the Panhandle, the part of Texas that just as easily could have been Oklahoma.

rcocean said...

"Cruz finally decided the election was more important than his feelings but he did decide."

When did he do that? After the election? Because he refused to endorse Trump before the August convention, gave a convention speech were he avoided praising Trump, and did ZERO General election campaigning for Trump.

Yeah, he wasn't an asshole like McCain/Bush/Lindsey Graham who were calling Trump a "racist Nazi" all the way till November 2016, but he never got over his feelings.

Which is what we expect of Grown-up Politicians.

rcocean said...

I'm reading a book by Pat Buchanan "The Greatest Comeback"

Richard Nixon's win in 1968. You know one big reason Nixon came back in '68 and got the Republican nomination?

Its because in 1964, when Rockefeller and Romney turned their back on Goldwater and trashed him, Nixon went out and campaigned for him. Even thought Nixon didn't really like him that much.

And then in 1966, Nixon went out and campaigned for ALL Republicans candidates, liberal and conservative. And 1968 came along, everyone remembered that. And they also remembered how Romney and Rockefeller had stabbed the conservatives in the back.

Martin said...

The ad is cute but it's hard to see how it would either change anybody's mind, or increase an O'Rourke persons chances of voting.

Like a lot of the O'Rourke stuff, it's just too precious. The kind of thing that "girly-boy" liberals like to congratulate each other on how clever they are, but most people just see as weird and weak.

gilbar said...

rcocean said...
"Cruz finally decided the election was more important than his feelings but he did decide."

I assumed they meant, Cruz finally decided *HIS* election was more important than his feelings

mccullough said...

Linklater has made too many movies with Ethan Hawke.

Slacker was enjoyable. But his style is limited and is dull.

His daughter is also a weak actress who shouldn’t have been in Boyhood. The lad was a good actor, especially as he got older. The rest of the cast was trash and hurt what good have been a good movie.

Not surprised he’s a typical liberal. Most of them are.

Anonymous said...
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