Ted Cruz to headline annual Gridiron Club dinner

Sen. Ted Cruz will test his comedy chops as the featured Republican speaker at the annual Gridiron Club dinner, to be held in March.

Chuck Lewis of Hearst Newspapers, current president of the Gridiron Club, confirmed the choice Thursday. Lewis said the search for the Democratic headliner is ongoing.

The president is also invited each year to speak at the dinner, which is attended by an invitation-only crowd of boldfaced names in the press and their guests.

The dinner is a storied opportunity for prominent politicians to let loose — and, in many cases, foster buzz among the capital's elite in advance of a bid for the presidency.

That's what then-Sen. Barack Obama did in 2006, when his successful routine at the dinner injected him into the conversation as a contender for higher office in 2008. And Mitt Romney tried to make light of his Mormon faith and his standing in the Republican primary race at the dinner in 2007.

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton

"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792

"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

Anyone who doesn’t think Cruz is in position to become the leader of our party is fundamentally clueless. He’s THE guy in demand for events, speaking engagements, etc. He still has to execute, but he’s got all the tools to do it.

I also think it’s interesting that the same people who hyped Rubio because he’s Latino are deathly silent when it comes to Cruz. They knew Rubio, while strongly conservative (outside of immigration), could be controlled. They know they can’t control Cruz (no pun intended). Cruz will lay out his agenda despite the power structure.

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