Big Red Car here while The Boss is skiing. Apparently, it’s even snowing in Steamboat.
So while I have had some time on my hands, I’ve been studying this notion of folks being “outsiders” as that appears to be a desirable trait.
Right alongside it is the notion that a person may or may not be a member of the GOPe — the Republican establishment.
Then, there’s the issue of whether someone is a conservative and what is necessary to earn that title.
I have to tell you it makes a Big Red Car tired to just try to figure it out — outsider, GOPe, conservative?
So, in studying the claims of certain folks, I stumble upon Ted Cruz and find out the following:
1. Ted Cruz is educated at Princeton and Harvard — a double Ivy Leaguer. He did well at both schools, very well.
2. Ted was a top adviser to President George W Bush’s 2000 campaign and worked on recruiting Chief Justice John Roberts.
3. Ted clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist for two years.
4. Our Ted worked for the US Department of Justice followed by a stint as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission.
5. Then he became the Solicitor General of the State of Texas where he argued eight cases before the Supreme Court. He was appointed by then Attorney General and now Governor of Texas Greg Abbott.
6. A self-described “ultraconservative” he defeated a former Lt Governor for the Senate seat vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. He caught a lot of people by surprise and enjoyed broad Tea Part support.
7. He had a very short stint in private practice wherein he represented the NRA (National Rifle Association).
In reviewing Ted Cruz’s credentials, work history, and employers it is difficult to see him as anything other than a very traditional member of the GOPe. Can you see it a different way?
But then, the story deepens with Cruz’s actual behavior in the Senate wherein he famously calls Mitch McConnell a liar (no argument from the Big Red Car — Mitch could be Barack Obama’s long lost twin brother based on his actions) and throws up a 21-hour filibuster on — can you remember what?
Haha, Big Red Car remembers. It was in opposition to Obamacare.
It was not until 2014 that Ted Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship (dual American and Canadian citizenship) to run for President. Odd timing.
Then there is this:
1 Ted is married to Heidi Suzanne Nelson Cruz, a formidable California woman equal to her husband on all matters. They met and were married while both worked for George W Bush.
2. She worked variously for Condoleeza Rice in the White House for the NSC and at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker.
3. She moved to Texas from DC to be with her husband and then worked for Goldman in Houston.
4. Her credentials are impressive.
What they are also is very establishment oriented.
It is difficult to see Ted Cruz as an “outsider” or as anything other than a fairly standard member of the establishment. One has to give him credit for screaming that he will “abolish” the IRS — good luck with that.
Final report card: Ted Cruz is a very standard member of the GOPe who wants to be an “outsider” but who is a full blooded member of the establishment married to another member of the GOPe.
Sorry.
But, hey what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
