Monday, March 23, 2015

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas, has engendered savage criticism from the left reminiscent of the Sarah Palin attacks. A recent report showed him frightening a three-year-old in a speech. Usually that means something.
I have never heard him speak and know little about him, but I have read up on him because he is going to declare his presidential candidacy. Some of his is excerpted speeches are a bit goofy but usually are from his filibuster where he spoke for a day and said just about anything. His background is accomplished, though, and he should not be dismissed. This is some of the superficial stuff available:

His father, Rafael, was born in Cuba. After being imprisoned and tortured by the Batista regime, Rafael Cruz came to America on a student visa with nothing but $100 sewn into his underwear. He made his way through the University of Texas by washing dishes
Ted Cruz was born in Canada while his father worked the oil fields there.
He says he considered dropping out of high school and moving to California to pursue an acting career. He graduated from Second Baptist High School as valedictorian in 1988.
He went to Princeton where he was a champion debater. Cruz studied public policy at Princeton. His near-perfect score on the LSAT helped him fulfill a dream of going to Harvard Law School.
At Harvard, “Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant,” Prof. Alan Dershowitz told the National Review. In his second year, Cruz joined the Law Review and became a principal editor. He graduated magna cum laude.

No real position here except he seems like a very competent guy--competence being currently in short supply in leadership--and people really dislike him. How could a guy with a history like this have such a tin ear to his impression? Or, like Palin, are the powers-that-be just devoted to wrecking him?

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