Cruz Brings Tea Party Flavor to Texas Senate Race

Many Republicans view Ted Cruz as the Texas version of Marco Rubio, the Hispanic U.S. senator from Florida whose conservative philosophy and strong oratory skills helped make him a national tea party force seemingly overnight.

But unlike Rubio, who served several years in the Florida Statehouse before winning his Senate seat, Cruz has never appeared on a ballot. The son of a Cuban immigrant got most of his seasoning for next month's Senate primary by arguing in front of the state Supreme Court as the longest-serving Texas solicitor general.

Cruz systematically argues his case to voters as if standing in front of a jury. He jokes about politicians being "blood-sucking parasites" and proof that "invertebrates can walk upright."

"I confess, I'm a TV yeller," Cruz says, laughing about how he reacts to television news. But the joke reinforces his self-image as a conservative fighter, which happens to be what polls say Texas Republicans want.

To tea party leaders, and he has been endorsed by several in his race against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Cruz has the conservative background to match the rhetoric. The self-professed child of the Reagan revolution made college money in the 1980s by reciting the Constitution from memory to Houston-area Rotary Clubs and giving speeches advocating free-market economics.

Cruz brags about how his Cuban father fought with rebels supporting Fidel Castro against dictator Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, before Castro announced that he was a communist. Rafael Cruz fled the country and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, then moved to Canada to work in the oil fields near Alberta, where Ted Cruz was born. The family eventually moved to Houston, and his father became a U.S. citizen in 2005.

Oh, of course, not patronizing at all... wishing Cruz all the best, 25 years hence when he has morphed into a good RINO like Dewhurst, gotcha.

I chuckle at your description of Dewhurst and Perry as either “acceptable,” let alone “Conservative.” If La Raza Rick wants to demonstrate some Conservative ideals, he can do something very simple... resign as Governor. The fact that anyone is allowed to serve longer than 8 years straight as Governor is repugnant. Perry managed to spoil before he got to 2 years in, and we’re a decade past that point. A state like Texas having Rovian RINOs in the lead is just ludicrous. They deserve a helluva lot better.

Yes, the tent right now consists of letting the clowns of the left set the agenda while Conservatives are told to sit down, shut up, and take whatever they offer us. To that I say, screw that. Now, as for the “Rommel” reference, I hope that comment didn’t mean what I think you were attempting to slyly infer. After all, since I oppose leftism and totalitarianism being proliferated by the GOP establishment and their Democrat allies, Rommel would have a lot more in common with them than with those committed to a return to freedom and Constitutional values.

Good post! I darn sure want you on my side when the zombie apocalypse hits, because you you are on the alert for perceived slights to the point of paranoia.

I thought you might appreciate the Field Marshal Rommel mention on account of your screen name only! I guess I could have said Pat Buchanan or Newt Gingrich.

Again, it is not patronizing or a slight in any way to the young candidate with no legislative, elective office, or leadership experience like his older opponent has, to prefer the experienced candidate. Why would you think Cruz would morph into a RINO? If anything, guys usually get more conservative with age. And Cruz is ready right now if he wants to be a policy guy who writes law - just not at the level of U.S. Senate. That time may well come.

I’m less concerned about a zombie apocalypse than I am about the RINO-Democrat collusion, which makes the zombie thing seem positively sedate. Certainly no paranoia, as it is all out there to see... if you choose to open your eyes. Some like them shut because it makes them more comfortable.

As I’m sure you’re aware of Godwin’s Law, any mention of prominent members of the Third Reich or its military leaders in such a context is bound to invoke it. As for Buchanan and Gingrich, they also have problems (one reason I never supported the latter for President, although at present have ceased any overt objections to his candidacy if only by some miracle he can stop Willard and the leveraged buyout of the soul of the GOP).

Again, as for Mr. Cruz, he is going places and hopefully if he comports himself well in the U.S. Senate, he will find himself before long taking his place on SCOTUS, the ultimate goal (comparable to, but not ideologically equivalent to Indiana’s Sherman Minton, who prefaced his SCOTUS experience with service in the Senate). As for Dewhurst, I wish him and Perry well... in a very swift exit and permanent retirement from elective office.

I would also admonish you on one point, there is almost no example in our modern era of elected officials getting “more Conservative” as they have grown older (while still holding office). Indeed, in almost every instance, they soon become the very festering boil, cancer (if you will), that they pledged to come to DC to lance (or remedy). The media has a term for this, it’s called “growing in office.” I’d much rather they shrivel up or simply retire once that unfortunate “growth” spurt takes hold. 6 years tends to be the point between freshness and the spoiling date. Some get rotten before, some after, but it almost inevitably happens.

I made up my mind after years of walking the halls in Austin, watching the Senate and the Lt. Governor at work.

Dewhurst first ran for office in his 50’s. If he’s a “career politician,” it’s his 3rd or 4th, successful, career.

On the other hand, Cruz turned on me, a donor, for asking him - in November - not to go negative against Dewhurst. He will not answer specific prolife questions, such as what laws he would support in DC.
if you really want to see him lose his cool, ask him about becoming a judge.

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