We return to the Department of Obvious Reactions to Dumb Things.
I hear Cancun is nice
Heading into the heat of his reelection race against Dallas Congressman Colin Allred, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is testing the waters with a rebrand.
Cruz, who has made a name for himself as an uncompromising conservative stalwart, is casting himself as a bipartisan lawmaker with a penchant for reaching across the aisle.
“I actually have very good relationships with many of my colleagues across the aisle,” Cruz told The Texas Tribune, citing his work with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. “I’ve worked with all three of them and all three are friends.”
The interview was part of Cruz’s recent media blitz highlighting his work with Democrats, off the heels of his “Democrats for Cruz” announcement which aims to attract left-leaning voters this November. He debuted that messaging during a Laredo meeting with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, where he stressed the value of bipartisanship legislating and enumerated several bills he’s written with Democratic senators. Meanwhile, Cruz is blasting Allred as not as bipartisan as he claims, citing the Democrat’s voting record with his party’s leadership.
“It is easy and probably more fun to cover the battles that I have waged against the Obama administration or the Biden administration, or [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer,” Cruz said. “Those may make for easy headlines, but often overlooked are now 99 different pieces of legislation that I’ve authored and passed into law in my time in the Senate.”
The rhetorical shift comes as polls show another tight race for Cruz. A February poll by the University of Texas at Tyler showed the two candidates equally polling at 41%. Another poll conducted in March by Marist College found Cruz ahead by six percentage points.
His critics say he’s trying to rewrite history, noting that Cruz has built a persona that demonizes Democrats. In his podcast, countless radio and television appearances, and his books, Cruz routinely blasts the other party as actively working to destroy the country.
Cruz consistently votes against some of the biggest bipartisan bills in Congress and is routinely ranked as one of the most conservative members in the Senate. He was ranked 91 out of 98 senators in 2021 in the Lugar Center’s bipartisan index by Georgetown University (Two senators weren’t included in the ranking because they hadn’t served for at least six months). Texas’ senior Sen. John Cornyn was ranked 8th.
“I don’t think Ted Cruz is fooling anybody,” Allred said. “He spent 12 years being the most divisive — and proudly so — partisan warrior in the United States. And I think it’s kind of laughable actually that at this point, when he’s in a close race, that he wants to now stress, ‘Oh, actually I have been working in a bipartisan way.’”
Please see here for my previous entry in this series. I will not be taking questions at this time. Also, if you happen to be close to someone in the “Democrats for Cruz” group, please ensure they stay indoors during rainstorms, to minimize the risk that they might drown like a turkey. Thank you.
The stars have finally aligned for us. A moderate Democrat can win a statewide race in Texas, especially against an unpopular nutjob like Cruz. Allred should run commercials showing Cruz fleeing to Cancun during the Texas winter storm. Cruz’s Cancun fiasco adds a new meaning to the saying, “When the going gets tough, the “tough” get going!”
I love what Al Franken said about him: ‘I like Ted Cruz more than most Senators and I hate Ted Cruz.’