Remember the Republican tag for Bill Clinton — “Slick Willie”? You could get what they meant but it didn’t work for Clinton whose character (bad and sometimes good) ran deeper than slick. “Slick” refers to something superficial, visible, maybe nasty, but easy to remove without much work. “Slick” is a word that’s made for Ted Cruz. It’s what he is and it’s all he is. Though don’t kid yourself, he’s as dangerous as black ice.
The photo of him in the New Yorker (the setting is the Senator’s office … a man cave?) accompanies a Jeffrey Toobin’s profile of Senator Cruz. The photo rewards more than a passing glance. Check out all those white guys. Note the proliferation of stripes and stars. Another view here.
Cruz has an unusually off-putting, cruel face. He definitely spends quality time in the shower and with his wardrobe. He is the epitome of the Wall Street con artist… in curious contrast to Mitt Romney who had and has a lot to answer for except one big thing: Romney didn’t, unlike Cruz, look exactly like a stand-in for the devil.
Photograph by Pari Dukovic
Slick is just the beginning. Toobin writes:
Cruz speaks of challenging “the corrupt bipartisan cabal in Washington,” but what he’s really proposing is a purification ritual, the fulfillment of a conservative agenda that has moved well to the right of that of his hero Ronald Reagan. The only Republicans he wants to challenge are those who want to coöperate or compromise with Democrats. As he told the delegates in Fort Worth, Cruz wants to “abolish” the Internal Revenue Service, “audit” the Federal Reserve (though it’s not clear what that means), and, of course, repeal the Affordable Care Act. Cruz’s sincerity in these goals is beyond question. When he was solicitor general of Texas, he had a piece of advice for the lawyers on his staff. “I tried to stress to every lawyer in the office that if any lawyer from the S.G.’s office stands in front of the judge and says, ‘The law is X and the facts are Y,’ then that judge would always, always trust that we are levelling with them and telling the truth.” He’s approached politics the same way. “Since I became a senator, a year and a half ago, I’ve kept two promises to the people of Texas,” he said. “I have endeavored to do what I said I was going to do and I have always told the truth. It says something about Washington that those are perceived as radical acts.”…JeffreyToobin,NewYorker
And they love him — or at least some do — in the way people fall for a pop star, a fitness guru, or a tent preacher of that old time religion. “I have always told the truth” may be a considerable stretch, but what the hey. This is about winning, not about truth.
Cross-posted from Prairie Weather
TMV Editor’s UPDATE: Some reaction on Twitter:
GOP makeover alert: It appears Ted Cruz will make crusade against gay marriage key to his prez candidacy: http://t.co/EREGVUa16v
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 24, 2014
Justice Alito reportedly provided then senator-elect Ted Cruz w/ the "idea" to author a series of anti-Obama reports http://t.co/9T0ZCu91Gv
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 24, 2014
Jeffrey Toobin thinks Ted Cruz is a "serious person." What does this tell us about Toobin? I'm asking for everyone. http://t.co/LMv8hnDUVP
— Shoq (@Shoq) June 24, 2014
THE ABSOLUTIST: Ted Cruz is an unyielding debate & the far right’s most formidable advocate: @JeffreyToobin http://t.co/0Uae58jwxj #tcot
— slone (@slone) June 23, 2014
A Ted Cruz Presidency would be roughly identical to a Sarah Palin Presidency. http://t.co/s4bV4P0tAA via @NewYorker #p2 #RWNJ
— Chien Jaune (@TheYellowDogDem) June 23, 2014
Toobin kills it. Great dissection of the Texas Trailblazer. –> Jeffrey Toobin: The Rise of Ted Cruz http://t.co/iWP4HZhgyy via @NewYorker
— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) June 23, 2014
Jeffrey Toobin: The Rise of Ted Cruz http://t.co/jT9t2h6Ef5 via @NewYorker~Could Cruz be the next Reagan?
— Chuck Bledsoe (@BledsoeChuck) June 23, 2014