Today’s political thought
I preface this by stating that I am just a little to the left of the late Paul Wellstone, so my observations may be a bit skewed.
Too many times, people on the left side of the aisle have dismissed Ted Cruz as “stupid”. I will reiterate that the man is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. He can say outlandish things, tell big whopping lies and say calculated things that appeal to his base, but stupid? The last two months should put that to bed. Cruz knows his audience. What WE think is stupid, speaks to a group of voters he is counting on and last night shows just how skilled he is.
Look at his “wacky” statements not through your eyes but through the eyes of someone who hates the government, life revolves around “Guns and God” and thinks that Obama is the most evil, liberal, Muslim to walk the face of the Earth…and you’ll see he is talking directly to them.
He HAS to win in Iowa. His strategy is to sew up the evangelical vote and bring along that people who hate Government for the ride. He also needs to attack Trump, but he knows that other people have tried it and failed, so…he went for the dog whistle. He said Trump is from New York City. To his target market, New York City means: Liberal, not Christian, not REAL Americans…and the ones who sent your job away. Sarah Palin used to say the same thing for a cheap applause line. It’s like blaming all of your problem on the Media, a quick way to tell the base that Liberals Did It To Me AND YOU again.
And last night, Cruz went into the final debate before Iowa, on Fox’s “Business” Channel. Fox Business has become where people who aren’t mainstream enough for Fox News show up. If you think Hannity is fratboy smug, Stuart Verney makes him look like Al Franken. So, he hits all of his talking points and then, with Trump, goes in for the kill. He taken the Birther stuff Trump has been flinging and turns it into a rousing “god Bless America” minute where Trump is, for the first time, at a loss for words.
Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor degree. He ran the Harvard Law Review and edited Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. This is not some goober who spouts goofy stuff for no reason. This is a man who planned everything he has done so that he can run for President as an outsider, hated by Washington with a record of throwing sand in the gears and breaking things. His father is a prominent Dominionist, a movement that believes that the Book of Genesis mandates that ‘men of faith’ seize control of public institutions and govern by biblical principle.
Dismissing him would be a big mistake.
