The Republican National Committee recently conducted an?online straw poll?identifying 32 candidates who could get its nomination in the 2016 presidential race. Each of the 32 has quite a questionable history, though, that contrasts with the GOP’s consistent claim of it being the ?moral? option for voters.
Philander, racism, thievery, bribery, and combinations of these and other?sins?are?found across the slate, in fact.?In this series on the 32 potential candidates (updated every other day), Liberal America will offer a quick rundown on the hypocrisy clouding each one’s ?holier than thou? claims.
Ted Cruz
U.S. Senator from Texas
Ted Cruz hasn’t changed much since his college days. He’s only changed stages. In grad school at Harvard, he took a stab at acting; while performing ?The Crucible,? Cruz was so tanked up and hungover (from Everclear, no less) that no one could understand what he was saying. He had to exit stage left in the middle of the show, leaving a crowd mystified.
And now look at him today: in D.C., Cruz hams it up at the podium on the Senate floor, still makes bizarre and nonsensical claims that no one understands, and the general public is left mystified with how he ever got elected to begin with.
Cruz had ample political ties and activism before being elected Senator from Texas in 2012. His law firm’s clients included the NRA, and he helped form the legal argument against Bill Clinton in the 1998 impeachment attempt. He even represented House Speaker John Boehner in a 1998 lawsuit. In 2000 he was organizer of George Bush’s legal team in the infamous Bush v. Gore election scandal, and is credited with devising the winning strategy in that Supreme Court case.
Since being elected, his performance in the Senate hasn’t gotten him any rave reviews, however. Cruz’s filibuster last September is credited with creating the 16-day government shutdown that followed in October. When other Republicans distanced themselves from him, even avoiding being seen with him in public, Cruz threw another hissy-fit, threatening another filibuster while complaining about ?trickery? in his Republican Party.
He also issues bizarre comments that make him seem more like a?high school?dropout than an Ivy League attorney. His filibuster, for example, included discussion of ?Green Eggs and Ham,? the World Wrestling Federation, and his newly-purchased black sneakers. He even stooped to call implementation of the Affordable Care Act ?Nazi,? for which he was reprimanded, even by his own party’s Sen. John McCain.
Cruz recently angered both parties again, this time when contesting President Obama’s nomination of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense with tantrum-like opposition, making the bold (and proven-false) claim that the appointment was ?publicly celebrated by the Iranian government.? (That earned Cruz more flak from McCain, too.)
In his latest hissy fit (dubbed ?a partisan hackathon? by one national media), Cruz called for impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder, but on an intangible argument. Cruz says Holder, who is with the Justice Department, should be impeached for a problem with the IRS ? which is under the Treasury Department. He’s apparently attempting to recycle the ?IRS is targeting conservatives!? claim, which went to the trashcan last year after being proven false. That his IRS argument was already proven false is one thing; that he wants to impeach someone who has nothing to do with the IRS is a whole new deck of cards.
When it comes to the 2016, race, though, Cruz might have to reflect back on his Harvard ?acting? days and be prepared to exit this stage, too. Why? He might not be eligible to run for president. The Tea Party doll was born in Alberta, Canada, and Cruz’s Cuban father was not a U.S. citizen at the time, either. Wonder how the rightwing birthers will handle this one?
(BONUS: Cruz’s father was a Fidel Castro supporter and helped overthrow the Cuban government, replacing it with communism. He says he had to bribe a government official to be allowed to enter the U.S. years later.)
Here’s an MSNBC ?Top Lines? segment on Cruz’s maniacal behavior, appropriately titled ?How stupid is Sen. Ted Cruz and his Tea Party Minnows? ? enjoy!
Visit Liberal America for future updates on?the other?GOP 2016 hopefuls.
What’s your take on these?hypocritical Republicans? State your case on?Liberal America’s Facebook?page.
See previous posts on GOP 2016 hopefuls:
Kelly Ayotte??| Haley Barbour?|??John Bolton?| ?Jeb Bush?|?Hermain Cain? |?Ben Carson |? Chris Christie
