Last week, the New York Times ran an opinion piece headlined “Anyone but Ted Cruz“. It is widely known that Cruz is utterly despised in Congress. Maybe it is because of things he has done, like when “He likened Senate Republicans who recognized the impossibility of defunding Obamacare to Nazi appeasers.”
Cruz tries to spin this as “the price invariably paid by an outsider who challenges the status quo, clings to principle and never backs down.”
However, it turns out that virtually everyone who has ever worked with him (or even just knew him) loathes him. As someone who worked with Cruz in 2000 on the Bush presidential campaign put it, “Why do people take such an instant dislike to Ted Cruz? It just saves time.” Indeed, he was the only campaign staffer who did not get a job in the White House. Even his former boss, Dubya, said “I just don’t like the guy.”
It goes even further back than that. His freshman roommate in college at Princeton hates him so much he said publicly “I would rather have anybody else be the president of the United States. Anyone. I would rather pick somebody from the phone book.”
A political blog in Texas (where Cruz is the junior senator) picked up the story, and added that Cruz is so busy trying to put himself in the limelight that he has accomplished nothing for the state that elected him.
The best part are the comments. One comment says:
Cruz is an untrustworthy, narcissistic, plutocratic, theocratic fascist who speaks with a forked tongue. He lies as easily as he breathes. Truly, he is an insidious snake oil salesman–lacking any sense of ethical and social responsibility–not an ounce of compassion or loyalty in his bones. He has no respect for anyone. Cruz is all about Cruz.
Someone else responds “and those are his good points”.
Another series of comments goes:
i used to like Cubans until this fraud came up, which is everything Fidel Castro fought against. He is obnoxious to a stinking level, a parasite whose accomplishments in Texas amount to zero.
so you lump all cubans in with him? Come on
Yeah, lay off the Cubans. This bozo is Canadian anyway. Wait… Sorry Canada!
Extra special bonus: Watch unedited video of Cruz coaching his family to say nice things about him for campaign ads. There’s even a small argument between Cruz trying to talk his mother into saying some stuff, but she is uncomfortable and resists. Another video has his wife talking about her brother, who she says “is presently a missionary in Haiti”. But then she stops the taping, saying “My brother’s thing’s too much” because actually “He doesn’t live there”. Cruz tells people what to say, and hugs are repeated over and over until they have just that right feeling of warmth and spontaneity. Warning, watching Cruz try to appear human can be painful, and the discomfort of his own family is palpable.
