Associated Press
Given how much Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is in the news, it's easy to forget that we're still counting his Senate tenure in weeks, not months or years. The right-wing Texan was sworn into office just last month, and as a rule, first-year Senate rookies traditionally keep their heads down, learning how to do their job.
But Cruz is a unique character. The Republican senator has earned a reputation for embracing McCarthyism, smearing decorated combat veterans, and making ignorant policy arguments. Frank Bruni noted that Cruz is "an ornery, swaggering piece of work," preoccupied with "grandstanding and browbeating." The Atlantic added, "Less than six weeks into his term, a remarkable number of both Republicans and Democrats have come forward to say that they think Cruz is kind of a jerk."
And just in case it seemed Democrats couldn't get any more disgusted by Cruz's belligerence and offensive antics, now he's dabbling in racial politics (via Ed Kilgore).
Sen. Ted Cruz says some of the attacks on fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio by Democrats are motivated by race. Cruz said today the fact that Rubio is a Republican Latino poses a threat to political adversaries. "I think Democrats and the media are afraid of Marco Rubio because he is a smart, intelligent, conservative Hispanic. And they are looking for any excuse they can to attack him, because that threatens them," Cruz told reporters during a tour of a Texas gun manufacturing plant north of Austin.
Seriously?
First, much of "the media" seems to have gone out of its way to bolster Rubio -- Time labeled him the Republican "savior," for crying out loud -- not "attack" him. His SOTU response was widely panned, but deservedly so -- it was genuinely awful. His ethnicity had nothing to do with it.
Second, for Cruz, a member of the Republican "Self-Deportation" Party, to play the race card in such a ham-fisted way is pathetic, even for him. Are Democrats critical of Rubio and his far-right agenda and voting record? Yes. Is this because Rubio is a "conservative Hispanic"? No.
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Jerk, no, @zzhole, yes.
Only one thing that says it all about Ted Cruz. "Texas" Senator Ted Cruz.
Cruz makes me ashamed to be from Texas, even though I have not lived there in 20 years. We used to have some good Democrats in Texas: remember Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Ann Richards. And what about those Castro brothers, one a congressman and one the mayor of San Antonio.
I know we have to put up with Cruz for six years, but maybe by then Texas can run one of the Castro brothers or someone else against Cruz and get not just a Democratic, progressive Senator, but also a reasonable, pragmatic one.
His belligerence is his shield - he is in constant attack mode, because he himself is a fraud with nothing to offer our beloved nation! -Kevo
Ted Cruz, another great T-Party intellectual.
So Cruz is preoccupied with "grandstanding and browbeating". Lindsey Graham must LOVE this guy.
Rubio looks and acts like he just graduated from High School, he is the villian at the Washington High school Musical. Clowns to the left of me jokers to the right. Here we are stuck in the middle with us.
I don't think he could have graduated from Lubbock High School in 1959. They taught us to think and to be good citizens back then.
"Sen. Ted Cruz says some of the attacks on fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio by Democrats are motivated by race."
Latinos are caucasians. And so are Cubans. Yet someone told me Cubans are not Latino.
Anyone? Thanks in advance.
jrHarp, Rubio is Caucasian.
Rubio and Cruz are just Caucasians of Spanish decent, meaning that their ancestors came to the American's from Spain. They do not either one of them look like they have a drop of Native American or African blood in them.
A lot of this racism when applied to Latinos is just anti-Native American.
Treat Cruz as we would any other troll and ignore him. He is prime material for SNL skits and that is about it.
Apparently "white Hispanics" are separate subset of Hispanics, which would mean they aren't Caucasian. Ergo Democrats are racist when they attack Rubio. Who by the way, has gotten more bad press for his water grab, than Menendez's ethical and sexual failings. As always IOKIYAD.
Is the larger context of American politics, there's no such thing as IOKIYAD. People can pretend there is, but they would be wrong. Again. And again. I suspect that doesn't matter to the unhinged Right, but that's just a guess.
Oh, and one more thing... Benghazi!
LOL
I always saw a difference between those photoshops of Obama in tribal get-up and Republicans pointing out that Obama's race gave him an advantage in certain voting sectors. The former seems racist, the latter is sociology.
Accounting for the fact that Rubio's Latino heritage affords an advantage to a party dominated by the image of old, white men is more akin to the latter. If Democrats were making comments like "Silly Rubio, Poland Spring goes on your back!" - that's racist.
Plenty of things can pose an advantage for a candidate: Race, gender, religion. At some point you have to be able to discuss or reference those things without being labeled racist, sexist or prejudiced.
Cruz is one Gusano who needs to be sent back to Canada - of course they won't take him.
Could someone tell me why it is that in 50 years I have only ever met one Cuban here in the US who wasn't an ignorant asswipe? Is it just because they're all wingers and we all know that asswipery is a requirement for being a winger?
I forget which panelist it was, a Democratic woman from the Miami area, explaining pre election to Lawrence or Ed, that the younger Cubanos, do NOT support their grand parents, and parents xenophobic martyrdom from Castro complex.
@ TCinLA
Now that is a racist comment.
This fella Cruz is a living example of Karl Roves concerns, the dude is a vote losing machine. At the end of the term you can check voting records of Senators for how often they voted the same way as Cruz. Cruz will stop unanimous consent votes for his own freaky pleasure it seems, so the pressure will amp up on Harry Reid and the no vote Senators on fillibuster reform.
I'm glad that Ted is shaking up the establishment! Screw them all. That's why we sent him to D.C. - anything less and I could have sent that other guy, Jerry-Jeff Patterson and had (lack of) business as normal.
Cruz was in on the US Attorney scandal for Rove, he's a six year version of Alan West.
He learned the ropes in the most corrupt administration ever in DC.
The ethos he subscribes to (for now anyway) is the same as that which brought us to Prohibition, and prevented women from voting, etc., etc., etc., to quote Yul Brenner.
Nothing but hate from the left as usual.
Don't hate decent people for hating the haters. That's just hateful.
The pot calling the kettle black, I see.
That Senator Cruz wants to suck the crazy air out of the room away from Rand Paul is one of the funniest things to happen in Congress since the last time Rand Paul spoke in public.
Sometimes dis-ingenuity simply oozes off the faces of self-promoting hypocrites, and Ted Cruz is one of those people. Speaking aloud only confirms what his expression portends.
So, it's okay for a Republican to play the race card, after lo these many years spent excoriating anyone who even MENTIONS racial issues on the left... Ah, the refreshing stench of hypocrisy.
Rubio is not a "Hispanic", he is a Cubano.
Outside of mainstream GOP world (feed back loop) that does not translate to Hispanic, as anyone who followed the election on MSNBC knows.
Just 'sayin.
Keep up the good work Steve.
He is biracial (mom, American; dad, Cuban immigrant) and was born in Canada. So, wouldn't he technically be a Canadian-Cuban-Texan recycled from the Bush Administration (He previously served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign; according to Wiki).
Unfortunately our generation of Republicans is all about marketing a package with no contents.
Maybe I'm missing something, but if what Sen. Cruz said was:
"I think Democrats and the media are afraid of Marco Rubio because he is a smart, intelligent, conservative Hispanic. And they are looking for any excuse they can to attack him, because that threatens them."
Then I don't think it is fair for that statement to be described as:
"Sen. Ted Cruz says some of the attacks on fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio by Democrats are motivated by race."
That latter description makes it sounds as though Sen. Cruz is saying the Democrats' attacks are racist, when his statement actually is saying that the Democrats' attacks are based on a strategic understanding of the what Sen. Rubio brings to the table. Now I strongly disagree with Sen. Cruz in that regard, as we aren't afraid of Rubio because he is "smart" or "intelligent", and I personally am not all that afraid of Rubio's chances for future success, but I can point to his heritage and youth as assets for his political career. And if someone says "you're focused on him because of his heritage and youth", well, that would be correct. If someone said "you're racist because you're focusing on his heritage and youth", that would be incorrect.
Try substituting the word "Black" for "Hispanic"...
I grew up in Sen. Joe McCarthy's home town in N.E. Wiscosnin. Thank God for Sen. Tammy Baldwin now, BUT Ted Cruz looks like and sounds a lot like Joe. Prediction-he will go down in flames like Joe did- Hubris indeed!
Nobody elects their senators to "keep their heads down". Someone pls name veteran Senators that are "doing their jobs"? Senate has not passed a budget in 3 yrs! I commend Ted Cruz for representing his constituency.
With respect, nobody elects their Senators to "keep their heads down". One would be hard pressed, Democrat or Republican, to find ANY current Senators who knows how to "do their job". The chamber has not passed a budget in 3 yrs! I may not agree with his political views, but I commend Ted Cruz for representing his constituency and making good on his campaign promises. I'd rather see a partisan politician than a whipping boy for the special interests.
His "constituency" is the entire state of Texas and includes those who didn't vote for him.
Yet another HS Civics failure.
This article is at least the third one I've seen that is ragging on Sen. Cruz for not "keeping his head down" -- ie. for not being a good little rookie and knowing his place.
Can anyone remember if the rookie treatment was applied to dyed-in-the-wool Empire Stater Hillary Clinton when she moved to New York to win a Senate seat?
We can only hope that Cruz will step over the line and the Senate expels him. The Senate has authority to make its own rules and it can expel any member for "conduct unbecoming a Senator." I don't know if the Senate has rules governing this procedure but the House has expelled members, e.g. Adam Clayton Powell. I would expect the first disciplinary move would be censure by the Senate, but it depends on how egregious the conduct by Cruz.
Cruz and Rubio are both children of the priviliged white elite of old Cuba. That's no crime, but when they talk about race, they should remember that theirs is the same "race" as Bush's and Romney's.
The majority of Latino U.S. citizens, of Mexican and Central American origins and of browner skin tones, have little in common with the likes of Cruz and Rubio.
" a remarkable number of both Republicans and Democrats have come forward to say that they think Cruz is kind of a jerk."
Kind of a jerk? He's a Mega-jerk!