Free Republic

The Texas senator convinces all of his enemies to praise his intellect. Here's why they're wrong -- and should stop. Even Ted Cruz’s critics seem to concur on one point: whatever else you might say about him, the man is very smart. Mother Jones magazine has called him the “thinking man’s tea partier.” Josh Marshall, in a mostly withering assessment, made the same obligatory concession to his being an “incredibly bright guy.” Jeffrey Toobin’s recent, ostensibly critical New Yorker profile of Cruz is full of quotes about his being “the smartest guy in the room,” his “sophisticated” constitutional views, and...

Statement regarding Halbig v. Burwell.July 22, 2014 | (202) 228-7561WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following statement regarding the Halbig v. Burwell decision: "The D.C. Circuit's decision today in Halbig v. Burwell is a repudiation of Obamacare and all the lawlessness that has come with it," said Sen. Cruz. "The Obama Administration, through the Internal Revenue Service, has attempted to dispense revenues to the states without proper congressional authorization, robbing Congress of its constitutionally-provided power of the purse. This decision restores power to Congress and to the people and if properly enforced, should shield citizens...

As I’ve noted here before, the current crisis of unaccompanied minors crossing the border has had one upside. It has forced the actual GOP stance on immigration out into the open, increasingly boxing Republicans into a position where their main solution to the broader immigration crisis is effectively advocating for maximum deportations from the interior, including of the DREAMers. Now, as the battle over the crisis continues to roil the political landscape, the point is being underscored by none other than Ted Cruz: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz plans to take a hard-line stand that could rile up conservatives just as...

The John Ben Shepperd Leadership Institute at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin raised some eyebrows Wednesday with the announcement that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the speaker at its Distinguished Lecture Series event on Feb. 12. For many of our readers, a night with Sarah Palin is a must-attend event. Fortunately for some of those readers, there will not be a four-digit-a-plate price tag to hear the former Republican nominee for vice president. If you are into politics, we would encourage you to make the event at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center on UTPB’s...

We have an immigration problem along our southern border, mostly with the Texas portion. The border is leaking like a sieve, with hundreds of children fleeing Central America and the drug induced bloodshed that has moved recently from Mexico down to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. A child has a higher chance of being killed in Central America than they do in Chicago’s South Side. Who are buying the drugs that are causing all the violence in Central America? Americans are. So if we want to stop the influx of children from Central America we need to do something about...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Google Map directions to border towns from President Obama’s planned fundraiser stops in Austin and Dallas. “If President Obama wants to have a real border meeting with @GovernorPerry, here are a couple suggested detours,” the Republican tweeted Tuesday to his 327,000 followers. Mr. Cruz has joined Gov. Rick Perry in criticizing the president for refusing to visit the troubled southern border while he fundraises in Texas, a Houston CBSaffiliate reported. One map shows the driving route from Austin to the border town of Laredo, and another shows the route from Dallas to border town McAllen....

Some of Texas' moderate Republicans say the state's far-right turn since Sen. Ted Cruz's political ascendancy could have unintended consequences.At a breakfast in Washington’s St. Regis Hotel in June, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, took a moment to gather his thoughts before he was ready to answer a question about how junior Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had changed his home state. “Texas is pretty big and pretty diverse,” Perry said peering intently through his black horn-rimmed glasses. “I’m not sure one person has the ability to change all of that.” A few seconds later, he clarified exactly where he think...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The Obama administration is facing fresh criticism for its handling of the immigration crisis from two voices at the center of the debate. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Mayor Alan Long of Murrieta, California - the small town that rose up in protest after federal officials bused illegal immigrants to a facility there - both criticized the administration for failing to fix a broken system and address what they called a foreseeable problem. "With all due respect to the administration, they're one step behind. They should have seen this coming a long time ago," Cuellar, a red-state Democrat, told CNN's...

HOUSTON, Texas—The enormous growth of the Hispanic population does not seem to be turning Texas blue as fast as many political pundits expected. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed a decreasing non-Hispanic white population and a rapidly growing Hispanic population. The growth of the Hispanic population over the past fourteen years was expected to make a huge difference in Texas’ Republican vs. Democrat voting patterns. It appears it has not. A report in the Washington Post indicates this may not be the case. The article by Philip Bump, contains a series of interactive demographic maps that illustrate several...

After an absence of several years, the new Pew Research Center political typology poll was just released. It breaks the American political electorate into eight groups. And, it makes clear what the Democratic challenge is in November midterm election. The Pew political typology has two dimensions. One is the likelihood of voting. Pew factors voters into three categories: "General Public," "Registered Voter," and "Politically Engaged." I'll assume the "Politically Engaged" are those likely to vote in the November midterm election and focus on those percentages. The second Pew dimension is the degree of partisanship. Pew sees three clusters. The first...

Last year, Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker’s legal affairs writer, famously called Edward Snowden “a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.” This is far from the only reason not to take Toobin seriously. Sometimes, though, he does have a point: for instance, when he argues, as he did in The New Yorker’s June 30 edition, that Texas Senator Ted Cruz should not be underestimated. Ted Cruz? Really? Even John McCain called him a “wacko bird.” This from the man who offered the Vice Presidential nomination to Sarah Palin! If McCain knows anything, it’s his wacko birds. Paradoxically, Toobin’s...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Wednesday named Nick Muzin as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for strategy, effective Monday, July 14. “Nick’s broad range of experience and networks make him the ideal person to help us craft a positive, forward-looking vision for America and take that message to every corner of the country,” Sen. Cruz said in a statement. “I am delighted to have him on our team, and look forward to working together.” Muzin, 38, an Orthodox Jew, is a physician and attorney, and is currently the director of coalitions for the House Republican Conference,...

Update: 2:34 p.m. EST: Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, issued a statement condemning the court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case. “Today’s disappointing decision to restrict access to birth control puts employers between women and their doctors. We need to trust women to make their own health care decisions — not corporations, the Supreme Court, or Greg Abbott,” she said. Abbott, the attorney general and her opponent in this fall election, issued a statement praising the ruling, which is below. Update 1:09 p.m. EST: Former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, the current president of...

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is taking heat for his anti-gay views and vocal opposition to marriage equality by none other than a fellow Republican figure. Prominent Republican lawyer, Ted Olson, who is a strong supporter of LGBT rights, thought Cruz's comments on marriage equality were "very, very sad." Cruz had a lot to say to the crowds at the Texas GOP convention about the "threat" that is gay marriage. His speech appeared on an article of The New Yorker (emphasis mine): "Marriage is under assault," Ted Cruz said to the crowd. "It is under assault in a way that is...

DALLAS – Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis said Saturday it’s “absurd” to suggest it’s too late for her to overtake Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott in the race for governor Davis, pausing to speak to reporters after a breakfast speech at the Texas Democratic Convention, said her campaign will have the resources to compete with Abbott. He has a substantial war chest, years in the making, and his campaign recently confirmed to the Express-News that he has reserved $10 million of airtime in October ahead of the general election. Davis, however, has raised millions since announcing last year, and observers are...

Last fall, not long after the federal government’s partial shutdown ended, The New Yorker’s David Denby alleged that shutdown point man Ted Cruz seemed to be pursuing the presidency “by sowing as much confusion and disorder as possible—playing the joker in a seemingly nihilistic charade whose actual intent is a rational grab for power.” There’s nothing as pointed or nasty as that in “The Absolutist,” Jeffrey Toobin’s 8,400-word New Yorker profile of Cruz, but Toobin does paint Cruz as an extremist – more of a Goldwater figure than a Reagan figure – as well as a hypocrite regarding judicial activism....

He’s not on any campaign payroll, but you could call him an informal adviser. Several of the GOP’s potential 2016 presidential candidates have, over the past few years, sought the advice of former president George W. Bush in Dallas. Although the former president has deliberately kept a low profile since he left Washington in January 2009, his door is always open for ambitious Republican politicians. He has welcomed a succession of likely 2016 candidates to his office in Dallas for private conversations about life, politics, and the all-consuming quest they will confront if they decide to seek the nation’s top...

“Sarah said God bless you. She wrote it,” I pointed to the picture, he leaned over, looked straight into my eyes and said: “She is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.” That was the brief exchange not caught on camera. It was the “moment”. His words were deliberate, genuine and unequivocal. He admires Sarah. The noise in the room, the glare of the lights, the chatter and commotion disappeared just for that moment. All of it. Gone. Frozen in time. It was awesome. He carefully chose where to sign his name, too, and did not ruin the little “treasure” which had traveled from Texas to...

Democrats are publicly rooting for Wendy Davis to turn Texas blue. But privately, many of her supporters are resigned to her losing. And, already, some political operatives are pondering how she can stay politically relevant beyond November. Davis is down by 12 points to opponent Greg Abbott in the race for governor, a disadvantage that many liberals believe could mean a blow-out in November. But even if Davis suffers a big loss, she could still score a win for her political career — setting herself up as an important player in the party regardless of the final score. It’s a...

Ted Cruz gave a rip-roaring speech at the Texas Republican convention last week, pretty much confirming the speculation that he’s running hard for president (not that there had been much doubt). All accounts are that he was very well received by the ultra-right conservatives of the Texas GOP. They like their Angus steaks bloody and rare and he delivered. First he laid out his agenda, which is actually quite clever: … from repealing “every blessed word” of Obamacare and the Common Core educational standards, to auditing the Federal Reserve and standing with Israel and dissidents around the world. He even...