Posted on 02/05/2013 6:37:33 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Ted Cruz (R., Texas) has been a United States senator for only 34 days, but already he is making his mark on national politics. His conspicuous presence and aggressive tone have thrilled his conservative cheerleaders, while inducing fits of rage in liberal detractors and Joe Scarborough.
In the past week alone, Cruz has tangled with veteran Democratic spin-master Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Meet the Press, sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, introduced legislation to fully repeal Obamacare, and recorded “no” votes on major items, including Hurricane Sandy relief, raising the debt ceiling, filibuster reform, and the confirmation of John Kerry for secretary of state. He also made headlines with his aggressive interrogation of prospective defense secretary Chuck Hagel.
Additionally, Cruz’s quick rise to prominence appears to have offended the sensibilities of the political press. During Hagel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, I overheard multiple groans from other journalists covering the event whenever Cruz began a pointed line of questioning. On Twitter, they noted their exasperation in more colorful ways.
If anything, the 41-year-old Texan has made clear he does not intend to abide by the conventional playbook for new members: Keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, and learn the ropes before inserting yourself into the national conversation.
That’s not Cruz’s style. More important, it’s not what he campaigned on. “If I go to Washington and just have a good voting record, I will consider myself a failure,” then-candidate Cruz said on the campaign trail in 2012. Last week, in an interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin, Cruz expressed disbelief at “how shocked people are when you actually do what you said you would do.” “In most of America that’s to be expected, and yet oddly enough in Washington, D.C., that seems to be unusual,” he said.
Republicans are delighted that Cruz, whom many regard as a skilled advocate for conservatism, has decided to play such an active role right off the bat. “Any member who has a point of view on a topic should not feel shy about expressing that,” says one Republican Senate aide. “For someone as talented as Ted Cruz, it’s vital that we have eloquent conservatives out there arguing for our side.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) sang Cruz’s praises in an interview with National Review Online, calling the freshman senator “one of the smartest, most articulate guys you’ll ever meet.” “He’s ready for prime time on day one, which is pretty unusual for somebody who just got sworn in,” McConnell says. “He’s a deadly weapon.” He is also “good company,” according to McConnell, who recently accompanied Cruz on a delegation to Israel and Afghanistan.
Republican leaders have already sought to deploy Cruz’s talents in critical areas. In addition to being tapped for coveted slots on the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees, Cruz was named vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where he is likely to play a key role in selecting and advising candidates in the 2014 midterm election.
Senate conservatives are similarly pleased to count Cruz among their ranks. “For the forces of those who favor limited government, Senator Cruz is a powerful addition,” says a conservative GOP Senate aide. “Based on our numbers, and the youth of many of these members, we’re going to have a much stronger voice in the public debate.”
Cruz may consider a solid conservative voting record to be a meaningless metric for success, but he has already established one for himself. The Washington Times noted that Cruz has been on the losing end of all eleven votes he has taken so far this year, a record the Texan is perfectly content with.
For example, he voted against the $50 billion Sandy-relief bill, which he decried as a pork-laden mistake. “Hurricane Sandy inflicted devastating damage on the East Coast, and Congress appropriately responded with hurricane relief,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, cynical politicians in Washington could not resist loading up this relief bill with billions in new spending utterly unrelated to Sandy.”
He was one of only three senators to vote against John Kerry’s confirmation to be the next secretary of state, citing the Massachusetts Democrat’s “longstanding less-than-vigorous defense of U.S. national-security issues and, in particular, his long record of supporting treaties and international tribunals that have undermined U.S. sovereignty.”
Cruz was also one of the first Republican lawmakers to voice skepticism about the Senate framework on immigration reform, citing “deep concerns” about the proposed pathway to citizenship. “To allow those who came here illegally to be placed on such a path is both inconsistent with rule of law and profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who waited years, if not decades, to come to America legally,” he said.
Cruz’s position has put him at odds with Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who helped draft the framework. The political relationship between the two Hispanic Republicans will certainly be something to watch over the coming months.
Cruz has sought to shape the political discourse in other ways, beyond the confines of Capitol Hill. Last week, he issued a colorful retort to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for mass-scale divestment from firearms manufacturers.
Cruz sent a letter to the CEOs of gun makers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co, as well as to leaders of Bank of America and TD Bank, financial institutions that Emanuel specifically urged to cease their relationships with the firearms companies. He slammed the mayor’s actions and urged the companies to bring their business to his home state.
“In Texas, we have a more modest view of government,” Cruz wrote. “We do not accept the notion that government officials should behave as bullies, trying to harass or pressure private companies into enlisting in a political lobbying campaign.”
Matt Mackowiak, a Texas-based Republican consultant, praises Cruz as “someone who really understands the outside game,” who spends his weekends “aggressively” traveling the state and meeting with constituents and grassroots organizations. It’s only a matter of time, Mackowiak says, before Cruz masters the inside game and “starts to have a real impact.”
Cruz supporters see him as a natural heir to former senator and soon-to-be Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), one of Cruz’s earliest backers. “DeMint changed the whole paradigm in the Senate, shook it up in way that you can be a freshman and have a national profile and be aggressive and still be effective,” Mackowiak says.
Like DeMint, Cruz has already become a favorite target of the establishment press. The New York Times penned an editorial on January 20 urging Republican leaders to “marginalize lawmakers like Mr. Cruz,” which began: “Ted Cruz, the newly elected Tea Party senator from Texas, embodies the rigidity the public grew to loathe in Congress’s last term.”
The mainstream press was particularly incensed by last week’s Hagel hearing, where Cruz pressed Hagel to explain remarks he made in a 2009 appearance on Al Jazeera. The senator’s staff had rolled a big-screen television into the hearing room to play clips of the appearance, in which Hagel concurred with a number of controversial statements from Al Jazeera viewers — that the United States is “the world’s bully,” and that Israel has been (referring to a specific past event) complicit in a “sickening slaughter.”
Cruz’s blunt approach, and perhaps unorthodox tactics, became a lightning rod for liberal critics, especially after many of them had all but given up defending Hagel, whose performance was widely panned on both sides. Cruz was derided for his “bogus attack” on Hagel, for “hectoring” the nominee, for turning the hearing “into a clown show,” and even for channeling the spirit of Joe McCarthy.
For conservatives, that may be one of the surest signs that Cruz is doing something right.
— Andrew Stiles is a political reporter for National Review.
Saying Perry was/is better than the alternative is not saying much. He should have backed Cruz and he showed his colors when he didn't. He even went as far as to tell Palin and others to stay out of Texas' business. Apparently, he failed to realize that who Texas sends to Washington is everyones' business. But La Raza Rick Perry isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, that much is clear.
'liberal detractors and Joe Scarborough.'
Should read ' liberal detractors including Joe Scarborough.'
'liberal detractors and Joe Scarborough.'
Should read ' liberal detractors including Joe Scarborough.'
It looks like your boys Rove and Romney did a bang up job this last election.
Oh, wait. It looks like “your boys” are just as incompetent as you say Angle and Mourdock supposedly are.
I’m “sickofRINOs.”
Where can we find 50 more Senators like him?
In the past week alone, Cruz has tangled with veteran Democratic spin-master Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Meet the Press, sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, introduced legislation to fully repeal Obamacare, and recorded “no” votes on major items, including Hurricane Sandy relief, raising the debt ceiling, filibuster reform, and the confirmation of John Kerry for secretary of state. He also made headlines with his aggressive interrogation of prospective defense secretary Chuck Hagel. Additionally, Cruz’s quick rise to prominence appears to have offended the sensibilities of the political press. During Hagel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, I overheard multiple groans from other journalists covering the event whenever Cruz began a pointed line of questioning. On Twitter, they noted their exasperation in more colorful ways.Sounds like some Twittering partisan twits need to find actual jobs.
As I 'say they are' ? Did they get elected in your fantasy world? Well then Coffee time, Reid is Senate Majority leader.
Are you one of those nutbags who claim that Angle and Akin lost because of Rove and Romney? I have read that before.
I have seen him in interviews and he is pretty sharp,
he had David Gregory interrogating Schumer on NBC MTP when they debated on it.
No. I’m one of those sane persons who calls a “spade” a “spade.” Something apparently beyond your RINO abilities.
Just call me, “sickofRINOs.”
You seem to take it personally that someone would be mad that Angle and Akin helped Obama and Reid keep the Senate. What is your connection to those losers?
I mean do you like what Obama and Reid are doing? You act like it.
Each of these people, including Akin, stood for lower taxes and a limited government. The fact that any of them lost their election does not equate to their supporters believing “stupid stuff.”
What it does prove is that cowards run from those who support their core beliefs if a candidate makes a single misstatement on an ancillary topic that the MSM blows out of proportion. Well, either that is true, or perhaps those people who most promote a rational economic theory such as Austrian economics are otherwise devoid of rational thought elsewhere in their lives.
Which is it?
I'm “sickofRINOS.”
Hope he’s had his shots and can resist the DC Rinoitis disease. Most of them catch it before long after they get to town and start going to the Good ‘ol Boys parties. Must be something in the booze.
The difference between Cruz and those two crackpots you claim you gave money to (and still cant learn the obvious) is that Akin and Angle blew easy elections for no valid reason, just being stupid.
It doesnt matter if you like what you thought they stand for because they are not in office, in the Senate, Reid and that hog are in the Senate instead of them because they are so stupid they lost easy wins for no good reason.
If you are going to give money to losers like them you might as well be honest with yourself and become a Democrat.
I am sick-of-those-who-help-libs.
This is the only bright spot right now. We got rid of Kay Barely Republican.
Go kick ass Ted!!!
Because Obama and Reid are destroying this country and Angle, Akin and Mourdock were key to getting him where they are now.
Romney did the same as them with his 47%. He is the same as them in my eyes, a loser.
If you love O you should love them. I don't. Following losers just gets you more losing.
And many really want that, they love the cult feeling of bathing in victim hood and endless losing and 'everyone against us'. They cant get enough of it.
Your accusing me of being a Romney supporter was very entertaining. Better yet a Rover supporter, yep, I just look back fondly at GWB era , right guys ???? LOL
Boy, I can't wait for you to tell us of the idiots you've supported, by vote or by pocketbook, so we can call you ‘someone who helps losers and whom ought to just become a Democrat.”
Oh, wait, I'll bet that all the people you've supported actually did win. Which is why you must be happy with O’s re-election, right RINO? I mean, you couldn't have been stupid and supported a loser like Romney, right? I mean, the election was “in the bag” for Romney if you believed Rove, et al, so, surely you didn't support Romney, right?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm “sickofRINOs.”
Boy, I can't wait for you to tell us of the idiots you've supported, by vote or by pocketbook, so we can call you ‘someone who helps losers and whom ought to just become a Democrat.”
Oh, wait, I'll bet that all the people you've supported actually did win. Which is why you must be happy with O’s re-election, right RINO? I mean, you couldn't have been stupid and supported a loser like Romney, right? I mean, the election was “in the bag” for Romney if you believed Rove, et al, so, surely you didn't support Romney, right?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm “sickofRINOs.”
IF you supported them at some time before their loss that is one thing.
But your defending them afterward is another, it means you either cant accept reality or you are a covert Dem paid by MSNBC to help Dems win elections.
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