Ted Cruz as a presidential candidate

[Benko]

Credentials: The former solicitor general for the State of Texas, Cruz attended Princeton University, Harvard Law School, and clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Tea party likes him, and the left has already started hit pieces on him (including birther like "inquiries"):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -same.html

so someone is worried (which is a good sign as opposed to e.g. McCain who the left liked).

There will be debates so we'll see how he does against Rubio, Christie, Paul, and Ryan.

Opinions all?

[Libertarian666]

Credentials: The former solicitor general for the State of Texas, Cruz attended Princeton University, Harvard Law School, and clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Tea party likes him, and the left has already started hit pieces on him (including birther like "inquiries"):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -same.html

so someone is worried (which is a good sign as opposed to e.g. McCain who the left liked).

There will be debates so we'll see how he does against Rubio, Christie, Paul, and Ryan.

Opinions all?

He doesn't seem terrible, but I much prefer Paul.

[Pointedstick]

He doesn't seem to get along with his fellow congressmen very well, judging by the C-span footage I've watched. That may be emotionally satisfying, but a president who can't work with Congress is, well... just look at our current president.

[Mdraf]

I think the Rep party will take Cruz down before anyone else. They are as entrenched as the Dems and don't want any spoilers. I suspect the Republicans will continue to nominate a "moderate" (read loser) who will promptly lose.

[doodle]

Please don't talk about Ted Cruz as a serious presidential candidate.

In Texas, it's widely understood that he is little more than an opportunistic demagogue.  He doesn't get close coverage in the rest of the country, but IMHO he is a grade A dickhead.

From what I have seen of him so far, that is my impression as well...

[MediumTex]

I'm just telling you guys that I've seen a lot more of Cruz than someone who doesn't live in Texas and he's an opportunistic demagogue.  I don't make this comparison lightly, but he really does remind me of a young Joseph McCarthy. 

He also strikes me as an arrogant jerk.

The rest of the country will get to know him as well if he decides to run for President and they may come to a different conclusion about him than I have.

The part that really creeps me out, though, is that to me Cruz actually looks like McCarthy as well:





***

[Benko]

MT,

The relevant question: is he a competent arrogant Jerk.

And Hillary is not an arrogant Jerk?

[MediumTex]

The expanding image size as one proceeds down the post is a nice touch.

That's a favorite promotional technique utilized by demagogues.

[Xan]

Didn't it turn out that Joe McCarthy was basically right about everything?

[MediumTex]

MT,

The relevant question: is he a competent arrogant Jerk.

And Hillary is not an arrogant Jerk?

Hillary is one of the most arrogant people I have ever seen in politics.

She's probably more arrogant than Cruz.

She's also probably more qualified than Cruz to be President simply because she has been around a lot longer and knows how to play the game a lot more effectively.

That's not to say that I want Hillary to be President, though.

As far as competence goes for Cruz, I guess he's competent to hold any political office because he is a sleazy opportunistic narcissist, and these people tend to make outstanding politicians, but Cruz actually scares me, in the same way that Michele Bachmann used to scare me when I saw people cheering for her.  When you put on that ideological facade as a way to accumulate power and people actually believe it, all sorts of bad things can happen.

In coming years everyone will have plenty of opportunities to get to know Ted Cruz better and they can all make up their own minds about what he's about and what he's up to.

To me, Hillary vs. Cruz is sort of like the devil you know vs. the devil that you don't know.

[MediumTex]

Didn't it turn out that Joe McCarthy was basically right about everything?

Here is a really good and balanced piece about McCarthy (don't be scared by the fact that it appeared in the New York Times):

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/he ... arthy.html

I guess I would say that demagogues just bug me, whether they happen to be right or wrong in the waves that they attempt to create and ride to greater degrees of power and influence.

Maybe it's just a style thing.  Maybe it's just me.  Maybe I need to change and see the good that people like this do in the world.

[Benko]

Mt,

As an aside, whether it is their doctor, plumber, or person running for president, people get hung up on appearence, personality, etc. etc.  The only thing that matters (at least to me) is will the person do a good job.  Not sure if this is still common (I've met a lot of really nice surgeons lately) but at least it used to be that there were stererotypically many asshole surgeons.  As long as they do a good job with the surgery that is all that matters (least to me).

[Ad Orientem]

Opportunistic demagogue... +1

I will take a look at Rand Paul in a couple of years and see how he has come along. If that doesn't work then I will likely stay home unless there are some state referendums that interest me.

[MediumTex]

Mt,

As an aside, whether it is their doctor, plumber, or person running for president, people get hung up on appearance, personality, etc. etc.  The only thing that matters (at least to me) is will the person do a good job.  Not sure if this is still common (I've met a lot of really nice surgeons lately) but at least it used to be that there were stereotypically many asshole surgeons.  As long as they do a good job with the surgery that is all that matters (least to me).

He will have a few more years in the Senate to show what kind of job he can do.  If he is able to make any progress of any kind in reducing the unconstitutional scope and reach of government into the lives of private citizens then I will definitely reconsider my position on him.

All I've seen from him so far, though, is cheap and cynical grandstanding in what seems like a pretty transparent effort to get his face on TV.

[Mdraf]

Senators make lousy Presidents. They are used to endless debate while Governors are used to managing. For competence always go with experience.

[Libertarian666]

Senators make lousy Presidents. They are used to endless debate while Governors are used to managing. For competence always go with experience.

So Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, W, and Bill Clinton were good Presidents?

[Ad Orientem]

Senators make lousy Presidents. They are used to endless debate while Governors are used to managing. For competence always go with experience.

So Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, W, and Bill Clinton were good Presidents?

I wouldn't call any of them good. But excepting Carter, all of them were competent. Some of them distressingly so.

[MediumTex]

In general, Senators are never elected President in the first place.

In the last 50 years or so, there have been two, and ironically they were both pretty awful when it came to actually getting any of their legislation passed, with the exception of one really bad piece of legislation that the more recent Senator/President was somehow able to get through Congress.

[RuralEngineer]

Opportunistic demagogue... +1

I will take a look at Rand Paul in a couple of years and see how he has come along. If that doesn't work then I will likely stay home unless there are some state referendums that interest me.

Ted Cruz gives me a bad vibe as well.  Even though I don't believe they can win, if I can't vote for Ron or Rand Paul in the general election this time, I might just stay home.  I'd much rather "throw away" my vote on someone doomed to lose but who I think has integrity than spend it on another douche.

This episode of South Park perfectly encapsulates my feelings on the matter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkRNqDEJmHI

[Ad Orientem]

It looks like Cruz just discovered that he is in fact a Canadian citizen. He has said he is going to renounce his dual citizenship. Meanwhile the birther types, who generally really like him, are having a hard time figuring out how he can be eligible if Obama is not.

[Mdraf]

It looks like Cruz just discovered that he is in fact a Canadian citizen. He has said he is going to renounce his dual citizenship. Meanwhile the birther types, who generally really like him, are having a hard time figuring out how he can be eligible if Obama is not.

Same way as Obama. by getting voted in

[MediumTex]

Ted Cruz gives me a bad vibe as well.

That's how I feel.

Maybe the reason I feel that way is that deep down I don't think that anyone who truly believes in a small federal government that operates within the tight boundaries established by the Constitution would actually put himself through all of the sacrifice and suffering that is necessary to get into a position of political power in the first place.

Ronald Reagan is a great recent example of a politician who ran on the concept of a government of reduced scope and expense, but while he was President the scope and expense of the government expanded just as much as it had under any of his predecessors, and in some ways expanded much more.

Ron Paul is a great example of an honest politician, but there are very few out there like him, and one of the reasons is that virtually all politicians have more complicated constituencies to keep happy than Ron Paul does.

[MediumTex]

It looks like Cruz just discovered that he is in fact a Canadian citizen. He has said he is going to renounce his dual citizenship. Meanwhile the birther types, who generally really like him, are having a hard time figuring out how he can be eligible if Obama is not.

Same way as Obama. by getting voted in

I don't think that the birther arguments have anything to do with whether you won an election.

[Mdraf]

It looks like Cruz just discovered that he is in fact a Canadian citizen. He has said he is going to renounce his dual citizenship. Meanwhile the birther types, who generally really like him, are having a hard time figuring out how he can be eligible if Obama is not.

Same way as Obama. by getting voted in

I don't think that the birther arguments have anything to do with whether you won an election.

I didn't say that.  I'm saying that getting elected trumps everything else

[Ad Orientem]

Same way as Obama. by getting voted in

I don't think that the birther arguments have anything to do with whether you won an election.

I didn't say that.  I'm saying that getting elected trumps everything else

I don't think that's true. If there were a serious constitutional impediment to either of them it would have been a problem. But there isn't. Both men are the children of mothers who were US citizens. That makes them both natural born citizens. And in the case of Obama he was also born on US soil.