Likely GOP Senate Shoo-In Cruz Stirs Unease
Even as the national media focuses on Paul Ryan following his veep nod from Mitt Romney, come-from-behind winner of the GOP nomination for Texas senator Ted Cruz has some folks concerned about some radical and even fanciful right wing notions he espouses. In his corner are such hard-right types as Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Sen. Jim DeMint.
Actress, activist and Austin resident Beth Broderick noted the following in a Huffington Post blog a few days ago:
“Mr. Cruz has made some eye-popping assertions. He believes that U.N. Agenda 21, a treaty that explores sustainable development, is a threat to our very sovereignty. He believes that the folks at International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICELI) with the backing of Jewish bogey man George Soros are secretly developing a plan to force people out of the suburbs into tiny ‘Hobbit sized’ homes crammed into city centers. Yes! Be afraid! They are also plotting to do away with grazing pastures, golf courses and paved roads!”
Salon writer Santiago Wills quotes this exchange between Cruz and Chris Wallace on Fox News:
Wallace: Let’s look at where you stand on the issues. You want to abolish Education, Commerce and Energy Departments, TSA and the IRS. You support a flat tax and you serve Chick-fil-A at your victory party. You are pretty conservative?
Cruz: Without a doubt.
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank posits that Cruz playing a full-hand of wingnut rallying cries as a result of his ambitions rather than any true ideological commitment:
Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I prefer to believe Cruz is playing the tea party for his own gain. The Senate can tolerate an operator more easily than another ideologue.
By the time he sits in his Senate seat it may be too late to learn, as Milbank asks, "Which is the real Ted Cruz?"
