Ted Cruz is a snake.
Ted Cruz is a manipulative self-promoting sleaze who will do or say anything to further his personal agenda.
For me to make such an accusation would be inappropriate without offering substantive facts to corroborate the assertion.
Consider…
In 2013 congress was negotiating an omnibus bill to fund the government. Republicans were deeply concerned about the country’s rising debt and deficits. They were determined to block the funding bill unless it included significant reductions in spending. Chief among the items they wanted cut were the tax dollars to fund Obamacare. Ted Cruz spearheaded the effort to block the bill unless the Republican demands were met. He met clandestinely with freshmen and neophyte House Republicans where he lobbied them to stand by their fiscally conservative principles; even if it meant a government shutdown.
The conservative coalition held. Absent funding the government was forced to shut down. 800,000 government workers were furloughed…the GDP lost $25 billion…and for the first time in our history the credit bureaus downgraded the country’s credit rating. It was the most costly shutdown in the history of the republic.
As you might expect, a firestorm of anger swept the nation. The harsh spotlight of criticism landed squarely on the House Republicans. As for Ted Cruz…he hid quietly in the shadows. When the press finally corralled him he said: “I always believed that shutting down the government was a bad idea. But I applaud the House Republicans for standing on their principles.”
Here’s another example of Ted Cruz at his best.
October 1, 2013 marked the rollout of Obamacare. As everyone knows the rollout was a disaster as the website was fraught with errors. Ted Cruz, a staunch opponent of the president’s signature piece of legislation, saw an opportunity to sink the program. Cruz understood that critical to the success of Obamacare was the infusion of young healthy adults to offset the deluge of elderly and sickly individuals who were certain to sign up. So Cruz took every opportunity to lobby young adults not to join; telling them that they were just wasting their money on a program that would not last two years. Cruz was literally encouraging young impressionable adults to put their financial security at risk.
Ted Cruz entered the presidential race in March of 2015. His wife Heidi quit her job at Goldman Sachs to join him on the campaign. Ted Cruz and his family’s health insurance coverage was provided through Goldman Sachs. When Mrs. Cruz left her job she lost her health insurance benefits. Did Ted Cruz stand by his principles…refuse to sign up for Obamacare…and place his family’s financial security at risk…just as he had encouraged tens of thousands of Americans to do? Hell no! Cruz immediately signed up for Obamacare.
There’s more…
Fast forward to April of 2016. Ted Cruz’ presidential bid is in trouble. He enters into an agreement with fellow candidate John Kasich that he hopes will prevent Donald Trump from securing the Republican nomination before the convention. Cruz agrees that he will pull out Oregon and New Mexico leaving Kasich to go one on one with Trump in those states. Kasich in turn will pull out of Indiana allowing Cruz to go won on one against Trump in the Hoosier state. The strategy is to avoid splitting the anti-Trump votes in these three states thereby denying Trump as many delegates as possible. Too little too late…but plausible. A midnight deal is struck.
The very first thing the next morning Cruz grabs a microphone and tells the world that John Kasich is pulling out of Indiana. He makes no mention of the quid-pro-quo that in return he, Cruz, is pulling out of Oregon and New Mexico. The effect is to give the clear impression that Kasich is quitting the race.
In the two weeks prior to this setting up Kasich, Cruz had been using every opportunity to call on Kasich to pull out of the race. Kasich was at the point where he could not mathematically win the nomination. Cruz had been beating the drum that once a candidate became mathematically unable to win the race he or she should get out of the way. When Cruz’ call for Kasich to step down failed, Cruz moved to set up Kasich.
Which brings us to yesterday.
The Cruz campaign is on life support. Cruz has lost the last six primaries by 30+ points. In five of those six contests Cruz finished a distant third. Of the 267 delegates awarded…Cruz won 5. In Pennsylvania he did not win a county.
As a result it is now mathematically impossible for Cruz to win enough delegates to win the nomination before the convention. Does Cruz pull out as he has encouraged others to do? No. Instead Cruz announces that Carli Fiorina will serve as his running mate.
Carli Fiorina’s claim to fame is that she was fired for running Hewlett Packard into the ground; leaving with a $30 million dollar golden parachute. Her political bona fides are limited to losing a California senate bid to incumbent Barbara Boxer and a presidential run this year that saw her bow out after finishing 7th in both Iowa and New Hampshire. The shocking move has the pundits wondering just what it is that Fiorina brings to the campaign. Do two losers suddenly make a winner?
That is exactly what Cruz wants…to change the conversation. This has nothing to do with Carli Fiorina. This is nothing but a snake oil stunt to distract the press and voters from the stench of Cruz’ last six beat downs. Typical Cruz.
Donald Trump like to refer to Cruz as: “Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”
Truer words were never spoken.
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