Who is behind the curtain?
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” — William Shakespeare
If the Texas GOP political delegation were a cast of characters they would almost certainly come from the Wizard of Oz. Louie Gohmert would almost certainly be the scarecrow in search of a brain. Dan Patrick would play the role of the Tin Man searching for a heart. That would place Ted Cruz as the lion searching for courage.
Whether he’s bailing the state when the freeze comes, buckling under to Donald Trump even after Trump insulted his wife and father, or assuming the position with Tucker Carlson, Cruz has long established that he is far from being the king of the jungle.
One could analyze his statements about the insurrectionists and then his overwhelming desire to somehow take it back. Psychologists could analyze the whys and what fors until the cows come home. I think what we know and what we suspect are not all that far away from each other. Cruz was a part of a plan to delay the certification of the election. I’m sure they trusted him with the parliamentarian side of the plot. No one ever accused Cruz of being dumb.
The less you know in a conspiracy the better. I’m willing to guess he didn’t know about the violence before January 6th. Goodness knows what he would have done with that information had he known. Maybe he would have assumed the position. Maybe he would have blown the whistle. My guess is that the human part of him was horrified at what transpired.
That’s the part that came out and called the participants terrorists. It is one thing to steal an election through parlor tricks and slight of hand. It’s another to steal it on the tip of a sword. As per usual, his first words spoke the truth before he forgot who was in charge.
This brings us to the real scary part of this dilemma. The story is not that Cruz was groveling, but who he was groveling to. We would expect him to grovel to Trump. Having him grovel to a prime time talking head is a cross between bizarre and unsettling. How did Carlson get this much power and who exactly is Carlson accountable to?
A number of folks have thought Carlson could make a run for president. I suppose it makes sense. He has money. He has name recognition. He has a brain. He can match being an outsider with his knowledge of the key players on the inside. However, this would involve him getting in the game. He can snipe from the outside and wield much more power. Power and a lack of responsibility is a dangerous combination. No one on the left has this kind of power. It could be about Carlson, but it really isn’t. Democratic politicians don’t grovel to the talking heads. As long as the wizard denies Cruz and others their courage people like Carlson will be in total control.
All of the L. Frank Baum characters you mention were likeable, unlike any of the politicians named.
1Bad analogy, methinks.
“My guess is that the human part of him was horrified at what transpired.” Wait! What? Ted Cruz has a “human part!” All I’ve ever seen is an utterly self possessed narcissist. Other than serving as an obstructionist, can anyone point to any actual accomplishments from Cruz? Why does such an obnoxious person get so much press?
2I challenge you to prove any magat has any redeeming social values or human traits.
3Governor Greg Abbot as the Wizard, hiding behind the curtain.
4If Ted Cruz had any human part, he left it to freeze with 200 other souls when he skipped off to Cancun.
5Cruz sees himself in Trump: a physical and moral coward.
6I see Tucker Carlson’s goal as being the new Rush Limbaugh in the Republican toxic swamp. Running for President would conflict with that – and he’d have to do more than “ask questions.”
7Teddie Crooze is a self dealing hypocrite with no redeeming values. Hell at one point even Leningrad Lindsey had a modicum of charm. As for any alleged intelligence Teddie possesses, it is totally flawed. Much like the jeniuses who dashed into Afghanistan and Iraq without an exit strategy; Teddie lacks an “end game.” His minute corner of the QOP base would be the Batista-lites, an exceptionally small percentage of the QOP base and one in which Marco Rubio would eat Teddie’s lunch.
So why does Teddie continue posturing? Or maybe the better question is when can we expect Heidi to give him the boot?
8Can you honestly say you didn’t enjoy his session in Room 101 with O’Brien/Carlson? I wanted to hear him squeal like a pig (reference to the late, great Ned Beatty in “Deliverance”).
9Like many of the Qop magat politicians, teddie crooze is always looking for the biggest ass to kiss. Would that be carlson or trumpf? Hard to decide which is the biggest ass. Same goes for the other texas repugnantican politicians, but not just a Texas problem. They’re everywhere.
10Buttermilk Sky @7, better yet let Joni Ernst make him squeal like a pig. She did promise, and she is in closer proximity to Teddie.
11We all wonder about Cruz because he’s in the news but I think the GOP members that are stealthy, like John Cornyn, are even more dangerous. He voted against impeachment – twice – has supported everything the former guy did – quietly – and just hangs in there to give his donors everything they ask for.
12Grandma,
I wrote about that topic a few weeks ago (although I don’t remember if I posted anything here). Cruz would be classified under the category of performative politics. As others have pointed out above, he has no major policy achievements or any achievements period to speak of and he has been in politics for more than 20 years. He seeks the limelight through various PR stunts and what not. As the joke goes with a number of those congress critters, the most dangerous place to be is between Cruz and a television camera/mic.
Cornyn is more old-fashioned. He bides his time and keeps getting reelected. That gets him seniority and eventually gets him crucial seats on committees and what not. I can see the point of him being more dangerous, but I think the Cruz’s, Louie’s, MTGs, and Boebert’s are more corrosive to the whole process. They don’t serve a purpose or contribute anything meaningful. They just gum up the works.
13The reviews are in:
https://i.etsystatic.com/23438128/r/il/b1ad52/3099116744/il_794xN.3099116744_kiif.jpg
One too many stars, however.
14Nick, we’re just describing two end points to a circle of political jerks. Whether as with Cornyn they belong to Moscow Mitch’s old guard conservatives who are there to obstruct or the Qcumber Caucus there to disrupt, there is no “serve” in the QOP. It’s all con from both camps.
For your next article Nick, why not “Democratic messaging”? Should be totally in your wheelhouse as both an educator and a wordsmith. Seriously, how do we educate the electorate to the possibilities with Democratic leadership unobstructed by Moscow Mitch, et al?
15With Republican politicians acting as characters in the Wizard of Oz, they simultaneously convinced voters they (the voters) were playing Let’s Make A Deal, with solid doors instead of flimsy curtains. When voters picked the door with a goat wearing Ted Cruz’s beard behind it, Ted “Goatbeard” Cruz convinced people dumb enough to vote for him the other doors were even worse.
16HEALTH
US Surgeons Transplant Pig Heart Into Human Patient
Didn’t they already do this with Trump?
17I might have agreed with you before last winter.
But Cruz showed a callous disregard for the people of Texas during the energy crisis.
He up and left instead of helping.
I personally think it was the horror of getting caught and being held accountable that led to his remarks.
18Trying to seem like he cared after the fact.
My Rep Elise Stefanik has also disavowed the violence.
Yet she couldn’t quite bring herself to vote to certify the election.
None of them could.
They are moral cowards one and all. And possibly worse.
Diane @15
Peter Navarro suggested there was the “sensible” plan for overturning the election, which was spoiled by the violence of the insurrectionists’ action. My thought is those two approaches were kept separate — with Cruz in on the “sensible” Congressional plan and in the dark when it came to the plan for violent disruption.
As best I can tell, Cruz has always stayed carefully inside the lines of legality. he may have been an obnoxious debater with eccentric social manners, but he wouldn’t have been one to use the “out of town” time for illegal smiles (from the elegant John Prine song). He may have benefited from backroom dealings to get various jobs in the courts and legal firms — but I don’t think he was the one cutting the deals. And in the Senate, I’ve not heard of anyone suggesting Cruz is a creative tactician and able to gain support from his colleagues.
19Remember during his last campaign when his slogan was “Tough as Texas”? The party of “family values” has a genius for generating oxymorons.
Not to mention their actual morons…
20There are too many episodes to count where Ted Cruze behaves like a whipped dog.
21BFSMan and UmptyDump, remember this one?
22https://youtu.be/mH4yj6YwA2g