Thursday August 9, 2012, 12:40 pm
(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

If you thought right-wing politicos couldn't get any goofier, take a peek at Texas on "Cruz Control."

Ted Cruz is America's latest tea party darling, having just pulled off a political contortion in Texas that few would've thought humanly possible: He got to the right of Gov. Rick Perry! The "Oops" governor is himself a former tea party darling who's such a far-out know-nothing that he's renowned for putting the goober in gubernatorial. By the time of last week's Republican runoff election in Texas, however, Cruz had squinched himself Houdini-like into even farther-out political positions than Perry has taken, thus wowing the tealeaf crowd and defeating the guy whom Perry was backing to be the Party's nominee for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

How far out is he? One of the white-hot talking points Cruz used to fire-up the narrow extremists who now control the Texas GOP is that he will, by God, defend America's golf courses! You might not have realized that golf course defense is a burning national issue crying out for the attention of U.S. senators, but such keen vigilance on even the most unimaginable threats to our nation is the kind of stuff that makes Cruz a tea party fave.

Defend golf courses against what, you ask? Not turf rot, rampaging moles or those bothersome environmentalists, but against that old right-wing bugaboo: the United Nations. "Stop Agenda 21," cries Cruz in an alert posted prominently on his campaign website, even taking this war whoop onto talk radio and TV, including an enlightening appearance with the always thoughtful Glenn Beck. Agenda 21 is a 20-year-old innocuous and nonbinding UN resolution (agreed to by then-President George Bush the First). It encourages governments to develop plans for sustainable development of "open spaces" — and that's what rubs Ted raw. Open space, you see, includes golf courses.

To the barricades, patriots! Grab your putters and mashies and rush to your local links, for the UN is coming over yon hill!

To double-down on his political wackiness creds, Cruz notes ominously (and falsely), "The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros." Doubling-down yet again, Cruz adds (also falsely) that the hobgoblin Soros is a socialist devil who believes in "eliminating national sovereignty and private property."

Thus, he concludes, "The real question is will we have senators in Washington who will take steps to stop this nonsense..." Yes, Ted, right back at you.

We need some sane senators who'll stop the nonsense and start dealing honestly with America's real problems.

Unfortunately, golf goofiness is not the only nonsense this guy embraces. He's also a Social Security privatizer, a "tenther," a turn-'em-loose front man for Big Oil, an opponent of extending unemployment benefits to America's jobless millions, a die-hard champion of deregulating Wall Street greed (his wife, coincidentally, is a top regional executive for Goldman Sachs), a regressive flat-tax acolyte and a shameless promoter of the anti-Islam poppycock that the stealthy spread of Sharia law is "an enormous problem" in the U.S.

Nonetheless, Cruz did win and is now celebrated as "the people's choice" in Texas, having piled up a whopping 57 percent of the vote last week. The media reported this as politically earthshaking, blaring that "high turnout" by tea partiers created a "surge at the polls" that carried Cruz to his "huge" win. The Lone Star result, concluded many pundits, shows that the people want candidates aligned with "tea party values."

Hog poop. The "big story" in politics often is not the one trumpeted by the myopic media and political cognoscenti, but the one they don't report at all. In the Cruz case, we should step back from the hyped results, take a deep breath and look at two big, honking, neon-lit numbers that reveal a stunning truth about the state of our democratic process. First: 631,316. That's how small the actual vote was for Cruz and his whole kit and caboodle of far-right-wing balderdash. Next: 15,915,758. That's how many eligible voters there are in the state.

Do the math (which the media failed to do), and the real story turns out to be that Cruz is the choice of no more than 4 percent of the voters of Texas.

This is what America's politics has become: so empty and asinine that a guy wins a nomination to a U.S. senate seat with a pathetic 4 percent of the vote — and then is hailed as the choice of "the people."
****


By Jim Hightower, Truthout | Op-Ed

Thursday August 9, 2012, 12:42 pm

Because what we really need is more crazy in DC, and Ted Cruz has all the credentials for crazy, wacky and if it were not so serious, funny.

Thursday August 9, 2012, 3:43 pm
The only thing that I'm close to agreeing with him about is "the stealthy spread of Sharia law is "an enormous problem" in the U.S." and that's because RepubliCONs are pushing Sharia Laws on American Women, just without the veils & of course changing the names to Pro-Life, etc..:(

Friday August 10, 2012, 2:24 pm
Dayum, Yvonne, have we got the ESP going or what girlfriend???LOL

I was going to say they only Sharia Law that Ted 'Yes, I AM certifiably INSANE' Cruz is honking about is the exact thing the GOP REALLY wants to do to America.....the American Taliban way. It is identical to Extremist Islam. Dawg help us, Kit, we live this insanity every single day in this Dawg forsaken state of Perryville.

That's why my mind and my soul have already escaped to Finland....or at least to the Yukon.....LOL It is the only way I can survive here anymore.

Friday August 10, 2012, 8:05 pm
He managed to find a place for himself to the right of Perry? That couldn't have been easy! Did he pry Perry loose with crowbar or grease himself up with some of that Texas crude? With all due respect to you, Kit, and other Texans who vote and study the issues and the candidates --you get what you don't vote against!

So, the "People's Choice" in Texas, as stated in the article, is a "Social Security privatizer, a "tenther," a turn-'em-loose front man for Big Oil, an opponent of extending unemployment benefits to America's jobless millions, a die-hard champion of deregulating Wall Street greed (his wife, coincidentally, is a top regional executive for Goldman Sachs), a regressive flat-tax acolyte and a shameless promoter of the anti-Islam poppycock that the stealthy spread of Sharia law is "an enormous problem" in the U.S." Sounds like the Tea Party to me!

It's an absolute shame for those people of Texas who truly care that they have to live with the consequences of those who don't. What am I saying? If he wins a seat in the Senate, we'll ALL have to live with the consequences!

Great story, Kit! Thanks for posting it.

Friday August 10, 2012, 8:06 pm
Well it is Texas. What can we expect.

Friday August 10, 2012, 10:26 pm

Let me put it this way...Ted Cruz make pond scum look good. He is sleazier than sleaze. Pond scum at least is useful. I actually did vote in this election and held my nose as I did so...and no way I voted for this OIL whore.

Saturday August 11, 2012, 8:32 am
Noted, thanks.

Saturday August 11, 2012, 1:51 pm
"This is what America's politics has become: so empty and asinine that a guy wins a nomination to a U.S. senate seat with a pathetic 4 percent of the vote — and then is hailed as the choice of "the people."

+++++++++++++++++++ DAMN! That is depressing!

Lucky Texans will have their "open spaces" without the annoyance and inconvenience of pesky animals....just lots of water-wasting GRASS...play areas for the wealthy.

Monday August 13, 2012, 3:36 am
thanks...

Monday August 13, 2012, 6:43 am
I voted in the election and I voted for one of the 2 democrats running against Dewhurst and this pitiful excuse for something passing as human. What is pathetic is the voting in this state is rigged and we all know it, hence the low turnout. JMO.

All I can hope for is that every single democrat, regardless of the knowledge of rigging, gets to the polls this November and votes for the democrat runnning against this monster.

Monday August 13, 2012, 8:56 am

Terrie there is a petition for all Americans, not just for Texans to sign and demand that Ted Cruz debate with Paul Sadler. It may be a Texas election but, should this man be elected as a Senator it will affect the entire country.

Warped, superficial ideas, that have no depth of meaning, appeal only those who feel disenfranchised and angry, will not move this country to path for the future.