Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Politics' Leading Man Ted Cruz just put on one hell of a show
American Spectator ^ | November issue | Kyle Peterson

Posted on 11/13/2013 4:18:59 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

Pundits in Washington simply cannot decide about Ted Cruz. Does the Texas senator’s demagoguery more resemble that of Joe McCarthy (the New Yorker), or Father Charles Coughlin (MSNBC)? Was his fight to defund Obamacare a political version of General Custer’s last stand, or was it General Pickett’s charge (separate columns, both in the Washington Post)? Will Cruz hold the country hostage like the Taliban (the Daily Beast) or remake his party in his image like Vladimir Lenin (the Atlantic)? Should we imagine him as Don Quixote, the clueless would-be knight tilting at windmills (the New York Times), or as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the 10-story minion of evil from the 1984 film Ghostbusters (the Guardian)?

In fairness, the capital’s scriveners are used to one-dimensional characters and ready-made narratives, and Ted Cruz is a tough man to peg. He was born in bashful Canada, but raised in cocksure Texas. He drank from the gilded chalice of the Ivy League, but then spat out its bitter orthodoxy. He’s the thinking man’s Tea Partier, and the Tea Partier’s thinking man. He tromps through the country’s highest deliberative body in black cowboy boots and tosses off words like “Rawlsian” in a soft Southern drawl. He’s cool and unflappable under pressure, yet ambitious and—depending on your view—dangerous. “I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician I’ve seen in the last 30 years,” pronounced that shiny, hairless spheroid James Carville on television back in May. “I further think that he’s going to run for president and he’s going to create something.”

I ask the affable Texan about Cruzmania in a recent interview, reading from a list of quotations. “The Republican Barack Obama.” “Cruz is to public speaking what Michael Phelps was to swimming.” “Cruz is not just another whack job—he’s a highly intelligent whack job.”...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 113th; conservative; constitution; cruz; cruznpalin; donttreadonme; givemeliberty; livefreeordie; palinrocks; takebackamerica; teaparty; tedcruz; time2partyagain; treeofliberty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 next last
To: SoConPubbie

Can you add me to your ping list? Thanks!


21 posted on 11/13/2013 5:28:32 AM PST by tuffydoodle (Shut up voices, or I'll poke you with a Q-Tip again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Joe McCarthy or Father Coughlin? These people are so desperate to find a template for Ted Cruz they will grasp as the most slender of straws to try to portray him.

Ted Cruz is a genus unto himself, nearly unique in the contemporary scene, in ANY field. Articulate, with an air of charisma, and with a moral compass that shows a true bearing on logic and truth. Stretching back into American history, we must look to Thomas Paine or a foreigner looking upon the American scene, Alexis de Tocqueville.

Paine and Tocqueville were both critical of the old regimes with which they came of age, at a time in history when criticism was backed up with force of arms. The reign of King George of England and Louis XVI of France were both marked with a singular resistance to listening to the popular voice of the subjects, and resulted in almost simultaneous revolutions.

The American Revolution led to the establishment of a representative republic, the French Revolution was mainly concerned with decapitation of the royal family, but with no clear idea how to govern once they had overthrown the royal rule. That vacuum was finally filled by a strong military expedition by Napoleon Bonaparte into Paris that established as him the Emperor, and led to a series of some of the most brutal incursions into surrounding countries since the time of the Roman Empire.

And of course, the first Bonaparte clearly overreached, and this led to the Bourbon restoration, which was itself an overreaction. Until the French Republic was finally settled upon, it was a dangerous thing to live in France, as the authoritarian rule alternated with periods of chaos, until the last of the Bonaparte family was finally driven into exile.


22 posted on 11/13/2013 5:31:02 AM PST by alloysteel (Men may not always be capable of evil, but they are always capable of incompetence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billhilly

Defensive are we?

My post #5 was aimed at MY post #4.

Get it?


23 posted on 11/13/2013 5:31:14 AM PST by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer

Hear! Hear!

Thx, Gaffer. Well said.


24 posted on 11/13/2013 5:32:33 AM PST by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2016; I pray we make it that long.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: LibLieSlayer
The more I find out about this man. the more I am impressed and encouraged.

I cannot imagine the courage, energy and commitment it must take to endure the relentless assaults upon he and his family.

I am supporting Sen Cruz with enthusiasm and optimism.

25 posted on 11/13/2013 5:34:20 AM PST by Awgie (truth is always stranger than fiction)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: G Larry

OK wiseguy. Even jerks sometimes read the American Spectator, as I have been doing for the past 43 years. You may read that any way you want to.


26 posted on 11/13/2013 5:36:34 AM PST by billhilly (Has Pelosi read it yet?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: PubliusMM

Was awesome on Leno, defining the problem as not “rich vs. poor” but entrenched politicians vs. those that would support the American People and a Constitutional form of government.

The more he speaks the more stupid Americans may wake up and realize that what they want is the same thing that conservatives want and have wanted all along.


27 posted on 11/13/2013 5:38:08 AM PST by LibsRJerks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: pax_et_bonum

I with you 100%!


28 posted on 11/13/2013 5:38:56 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS! BETTER DEAD THAN RED!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Ted Cruz is ready for the country but is the country ready for Ted Cruz?


29 posted on 11/13/2013 5:39:17 AM PST by teletech (Say NO to RINOS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Awgie

Ditto!


30 posted on 11/13/2013 5:39:38 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS! BETTER DEAD THAN RED!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
He reminds he of


31 posted on 11/13/2013 5:50:15 AM PST by McGruff (Obama lied. Period!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
But the Left see him as Joe McCarthy.....


32 posted on 11/13/2013 6:01:14 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer
"Demagoguery is a manipulative approach — often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians — that appeals to the worst nature of people. Demagoguery isn't based on reason, issues, and doing the right thing; it's based on stirring up fear and hatred to control people. For example, a politician who stirs up a fear of immigrants to distract from other issues is using demagoguery. Demagoguery is one of the most negative aspects of politics, but it's also one that's all too common.

This is the spitting image of Obama in action and words... but to try to place Cruz under the same umbrella is itself Demagoguery...

33 posted on 11/13/2013 6:05:00 AM PST by dps.inspect (rage against the Obama machine...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer
Amen!

The actual demagogues are Obama, his minions, & the pundits.

34 posted on 11/13/2013 6:11:36 AM PST by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

This is a snarky article from a publication that I thought was on our side. Near the end, the author says, “Cruz now leads the field of potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, up eight percentage points since July, according to Public Policy Polling.”

It’s kind of significant that Cruz is the leading contender for the Republican nomination for President. It would be nice if publications that pretend to be on our side were somewhat respectful toward our leader.


35 posted on 11/13/2013 6:11:49 AM PST by Puzzleman ("Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government. " -- Edmund Burke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

McCarthy was right about Communist infiltration.


36 posted on 11/13/2013 6:13:25 AM PST by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Puzzleman

Did you read the last paragraph?

I think that put a nice PERIOD! at the end of the piece.


37 posted on 11/13/2013 6:14:28 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: LibLieSlayer

Rare Film From 1932. Can It Happen Again?

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain

NEWS VIDEO: 1932 - young Patton, young Eisenhower, young MacArthur,Pres Hoover, Walter Winchell reporting.

Do you think the military, acting on orders from a broken federal government won’t march against
it’s own??

Bonus Army: US military attacks demonstrating American War Veterans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sNOsIB5VMSQ


38 posted on 11/13/2013 6:14:44 AM PST by KeyLargo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Mister Da

He certainly was.


39 posted on 11/13/2013 6:14:46 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: KeyLargo

I also remember the Soviet Union and how when their army was ordered to fire on the people that they turned their tanks on the politburo and demanded that the government step down. Are we any less than the Russians? I also spoke with four Marines two weeks ago and they told me that they swear allegiance to the US Constitution and no man and that they will not follow illegal orders. Most troops know the score. Some of the Military will act against civilians... but they will be facing their own in battle because many in the Military will stand against them.


40 posted on 11/13/2013 6:21:52 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS! BETTER DEAD THAN RED!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson